Other activities

Members attended events on wider broadcasting topics, monitored the logs of audience comments made to the Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ, and considered research on Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ performance in Scotland. After its meetings, the Council advises the Trust on issues of concern to licence fee payers in Scotland. In November Council noted the strength of audience feeling that the handling of the edition of on 22 October, which had included the BNP's leader, had not met the standards of impartiality they expected from the programme. In January, members highlighted concerns about the inclusion in news bulletins of stories arising from other Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ programmes, questioning whether the stories always justified inclusion on news merit alone. After the timetable for the Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ ALBA review was extended in April, members emphasised that making Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ ALBA available on DTT remained, in their view, a high priority for the delivery of the Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ's public purposes in Scotland.

The Council welcomed two significant initiatives by the Executive in response to audience concerns which had been raised by the Trust with the Director-General: plans for research on news provision in Scotland, and a proposal to fill in the gaps in Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Radio Scotland reception on the A9. Members also welcomed the decision to release for re-use the Gaelic learning resources from the former Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Jam.