How can BBC Scotland justify sending reporters to America to cover the election of Barack Obama?
The question sums up the classic ‘no win’ situation that we find ourselves in. Some criticise us for being too parochial. Others criticise us for being international. Our audience research tells us BBC Radio Scotland listeners expect us to be outward looking. They want to know about local, Scottish, UK and international stories. When we get such a mega story as this recent US presidential election, we’ve got to cover it well on Radio Scotland. We decided the best way to do that was to send Gary Robertson to co-present Good Morning Scotland live from Washington for three hours on the Monday and Tuesday of the election week. The coverage was excellent and the response from the audience overwhelmingly positive. We can’t rely on colleagues from Radio Five Live or Radio 4 to co-present our programmes as we they will be appearing on their own shows at precisely the time we need them. We will continue to cover big global stories but we will make our choices carefully as to when we need to sen
