Seòmar agus comataidhean

I return to the idea of quotas.

This will mortify my children, but I have never watched “The Traitors”. Last night, on my family’s WhatsApp group, there were 32 different interactions about the latest episode. My kids and their partners are all obsessed by it, but I have never watched it. I hear the objections to its being imposed on BBC Scotland and now being used by the BBC to justify what it does here, but it is hugely successful and is being exported all over the shop. The point was also made that “River City” will be finishing, which is another issue that the committee has discussed.

I am not sure that there is a huge deal of confidence that Ofcom will do the right thing in holding the BBC to account to ensure that there is more Scotland-based activity. Is there an agreed standard in the industry for what people would like to see as quotas for Scotland? Is there a way of defining the quotas, or are people happy with the current definition that is used, as long as it is used well, which might be the case with Channel 4 but not so much with the BBC? Is there a proposal that people in the industry agree would serve Scotland well?

I do not know whether it still does this, but I have mentioned before that Canada had a requirement whereby, whether on radio or TV, a certain proportion of output had to be Canadian. That was because it is right next to the powerhouse that is the United States. That seemed to be accepted by everybody. Within that, I think that it also had French-language quotas, but I could be wrong. The French, too, are very good at that. Would hard quotas not be a good thing for Scotland?

I took it from your answer to my second question that there would be no merit in trying to put together an offer that was inclusive of all the different interests in Scotland that could be marketed to appeal to international companies? If that is the case, I am more than willing to hear it.

On your point about our having the technicians and so on, the committee has previously heard, in a different inquiry, that that is under real threat, because “River City”, for example, is ending, with the result that the benefits of that long-running drama will be lost. Am I right in saying that you are not concerned about that, because you think that the offer that we have is the right one?

I have just two questions. One of them is on STV, but the first one relates to the discussion that there has been on whether Sky might be taking over ITV.

This might not be central to our questioning so far, but I am interested in Ofcom’s view on the absolutely atrocious “Press Preview” that is on Sky every night, in which you get a vaguely leftist or Labour-supporting journalist and an avowedly right-wing journalist to give their unbiased views on the unbiased print media to an unbiased interviewer. How that serves Scotland or anywhere else, I do not know. Has Ofcom ever looked at that or taken a view on it? Given Cristina’s previous experience at Sky—I do not know how long ago that was—I am interested to hear her view.

I will have a look and will get in touch if I can find an example.

I understand that, but my point was about staff involved in broadcasting, such as camera people, sound recordists and so on. Perhaps it was the wrong question for you.

My final question is about some points that John McLellan made. I represent an area that includes Clackmannanshire and part of Stirling. In the area, we have the Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser, which has no reporters in Alloa that I am aware of. I think that it is run in Dunfermline as part of the Johnson group and much of its content is done by a reporter who uses AI to generate it. I am not being critical of that, because that is the way that things are going to some extent.

My question is for each of the witnesses. Is broadcasting in Scotland aware of and, as far as it is possible to be, ahead of the way in which AI might impact on it? How is AI being treated?

Although I lament the fact that the Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser has no local reporters, it might well be forward thinking to have somebody use AI in that way. Are there other examples of how AI is being used in broadcasting? I will go to John McLellan first.

I am talking about journalists as well.

More generally, one of the issues that the committee is discussing is the opportunities that exist in broadcasting in Scotland for people right the way from sound engineers to actors, producers and directors, and the impact that, for example, the cutting of “River City” has had or the changes at STV have had.

Given that, very occasionally, we have had big streaming organisations coming to Scotland to do a blockbuster—I will not say, “Is there not a case for this?”, because it seems unlikely that it will happen—it strikes me that there would surely be a benefit to having a standing cohort of people in Scotland who could provide such services, whether camera folk, producers or directors, and a process by which people could get into that cohort through education. In that way, you could sell to streaming organisations the case for doing things in Scotland by saying that we already had such people here.

My question is driven by the fact that, as the committee has heard in evidence, we are losing people as a result of the cutting of “River City”. Because it is a continuing soap, that means that people’s long-term prospects are going. There is also what we are hearing about STV news in the north-east. It would surely be a great selling point if we were to help to establish a block of people in Scotland who were qualified and able, at a moment’s notice, to turn their hand to that kind of work if, say, Netflix wanted to come in and do a story on Kirkpatrick Fleming, to give an example local to the Borders. Is there no way that such collaboration could happen between public sector broadcasters, the other mainstream broadcasters and the streamers? I put that to Nick in the first instance.

I agree, but I think that the critical friend has to be listened to sometimes, and that is the frustration that I have.

This is my last comment—it is not a question. In 2002, the Scottish Executive held a consultation on being able to smack your children—it was a big consultation at the time. In Clackmannanshire, people voted to be allowed to continue smacking their children. The headline in the Stirling Observer was “Clacks backs smacks”. I do not think that AI would give you that kind of individual headline. Anyway, that is all I wanted to ask.

My questions are about broadcasting in Scotland, which is the subject of our inquiry. We sometimes get very involved in what is happening elsewhere, such as in the rest of the UK and in print media, but the inquiry is into broadcasting in Scotland.

Catherine, my first question is for you. One of the big sources of frustration for people is when the ITV, BBC or Sky network coverage—in other words, the UK-wide coverage—tells them that the health service is getting a certain amount of money or that something is happening regarding mobile phones in schools, but that has nothing to do with Scotland. You are in a unique position, as you straddle the border. Do you bite back at the bosses in London when ITV does that? How do you cope with it in your area?