BBC Scotland reporter Andrew Kerr gave a summary of the Michael Matheson sanction votes on GMS this morning. The summary omitted key facts, contained false claims and ended with a quite extraordinary claim that defied belief.

Short thread ... Kerr repeated the lie that John Swinney had defended Michael Matheson when he did no such thing.

Thread
1-14
When we use the term 'BBC Scotland' we aren't referring to the whole organisation, we're referring to the BBC Scotland News & Current Affairs Dept. For brevity in this thread we will use 'BBC Scotland'. BBC Scotland produces neither news nor covers current affairs. 2-14
It used to, but that ceased sometime after 2011. From that point it became a full-blown defender of the British establishment. BBC Scotland is a political entity. It has to be. Why? Because it's a branch of the BBC which is the British establishment's state broadcaster.

Yesterday we de-activated our account. We gave no notice. Followers deserve an explanation. Here it is.

THREAD 1-6 1/ Over the course of the SNP leadership contest we've detected a rather poisonous tone amongst some Yessers on twitter. Many appear to have developed a pathological loathing towards one or other of the two main contenders.

THREAD 1-8

1/ Moments before Prince Philip's death was announced, BBC Scotland broadcast a news bulletin in which Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross attacked Nicola Sturgeon for allowing hospital discharges into care homes at the start of the pandemic.

2/ The attack was halted in its tracks by the Royal death, but it will re-emerge once the official mourning period ends and will dominate BBC Scotland news. However, reporters are unlikely to mention the fact that Ross's own party demanded the discharges.

The 11th January edition of BBC Scotland's flagship morning news programme, Good Morning Scotland, was so extreme in terms of anti-SNP propaganda that we decided to analyse key segments to highlight just how bad things were.

This thread deals with untruths. On January 11th there were several untruths. The clip below is Good Morning Scotland presenter Laura Maxwell as she introduces an interview with Scottish Tory MSP Dean Lockhart.

The 11th January edition of BBC Scotland's flagship morning news programme, Good Morning Scotland, was so extreme in terms of anti-SNP propaganda that we decided to analyse key segments to highlight just how bad things were.

This thread deals with the newspaper review. The review is broadcast every day at 0620. The newspaper chosen by presenter Laura Maxwell to lead the review that day was the Tory supporting, pro-Union Daily Telegraph.

You won't be surprised to learn it ran an anti-SNP front page.

THREAD 1-9

1/
Tonight, Sunday 10th, 2021 the top news story on BBC Scotland online is an attack on Scottish remote schooling and features comments from a group called '50-50 in school'.

The group was presented as an ordinary 'parents group'.

But was it? 2/
The group came to our attention in June last year when they appeared on BBC Scotland news attacking the Scottish Govt. The group spokesperson - and co-founder - was a Sarah Chisnall, who was presented as a 'Mother of two and public affairs professional'.

A thread exposing how BBC Scotland manipulated the findings of the 'Russia Report' to suppress criticisms of the UK Govt and manufacture fake news linking Russia to the 2014 Indyref campaign.

Page 1 of 12. Let's first recap what the report actually said.

1. The UK Govt made no attempt to find out if Russia had interfered in the EU Referendum.

2. Russian cash has flooded into UK politics.

3. There was some evidence Russia tried to discredit the 2014 Indyref result.

BREAKING!

We've caught BBC Scotland trying to hide a fake news blunder. The article was the top story on its online news page yesterday. It attacked the Scottish Govt. It's now disappeared. The fake claim also featured in Radio Scotland news bulletins.

Thread below: The story appeared yesterday just after 1pm. It claimed that Scottish GPs had not received coronavirus face masks despite having been promised them three weeks earlier by the Scottish Govt. As the image shows, it was the number one article on the BBC Scotland website.

THREAD

Ten ways BBC Scotland could improve.

There are ten very simple changes BBC Scotland could make to its political output [broadcast and online] that would improve that output. The changes aren't difficult. Indeed most should not have to be pointed out to them. 1. Stop placing newspaper adverts on the main online news page.

The advert appears as one of the top three news articles. Front pages are frequently politically motivated and reflect the constitutional leanings of the newspaper. Pro-Union titles dominate. It is bias by proxy.

Short thread ... 1-4

1. Friday's Reporting Scotland covered the Queen Elizabeth Hospital issue. An image of a 'leaked' report was shown that mentioned 'Deadlegs'. The implication was that 'Deadlegs' are not allowed and that this proved management knew about water contamination. 2. What the reporter failed to tell viewers was that 'Deadlegs', although not advisable, were acceptable when the hospital was constructed. In July 2014 NHS GGC published guidance that explained how to manage deadlegs. [hfs.scot.nhs.uk/publications/1…]

Thread ... A chronology of a smear [1 - 11]

1. On November 9th we predicted that a story would emerge in either the Daily Record or The Herald that would be used to smear the SNP during this general election campaign and that BBC Scotland would promote it ... 2. Six days later the Daily Record ran the following story ...

'Whistleblower claims child with cancer died after contracting infection from contaminated water supply at Glasgow hospital' ...

A thread showing BBC Scotland political news management.

1/

In 2018 the Welsh Govt reached agreement with the UK Govt over the 'Power Grab'. On Reporting Scotland that evening the SNP was in the cross-hairs. The keyword was 'isolated'.

2/

This week the FMs of Wales and Scotland held joint press-conference and attacked Boris Johnson's Brexit deal. Reporting Scotland took a very different approach to that taken in 2018. The UK Govt wasn't described as 'isolated' or 'under pressure ... and that wasn't all.