THE BBC's political coverage is biased in favour of stories about England, with too much emphasis on Westminster, a new report has warned.
A review for the BBC Trust said the corporation was "falling short of its own high standards" and "failing to meet its core purpose of informing democracy".
Research found 37 per cent of viewers thought BBC news reports were often not relevant
to where they lived.
The study was commissioned by the trust – the corporation's governing body – after complaints that too many news stories were relevant only to England.
Sir Michael Lyons, trust chairman, said affection for the BBC dropped the further people lived from London, partly as they did not see their lives reflected enough by programmes.
The report stated political coverage was seen as unduly focused on Westminster and referred to a "general bias" towards stories about England or telling stories from an English perspective. The report included an assessment by Anthony King, professor of government at the University of Essex, and research from Cardiff University.
Academics studied the accuracy and impartiality of network coverage of the four nations – particularly on devolution during the English local elections and national elections in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales in spring 2007.
Professor King found many people in London and the south of England appeared unaware of the scale of changes taking place elsewhere in the UK.
An analysis of BBC network news and current affairs programmes over a four-week period last year by Cardiff University found 19 per cent of stories involving or relating to devolution were vague and confusing and, of 136 stories about health and education, all of them dealt with England alone.
The vast majority of politicians on network news programmes were members of the Westminster parliament. And when Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland did feature on the news, the stories were more likely to be on sport and crime than devolved policy issues.
Pete Wishart MP, the SNP's broadcasting spokesman who gave evidence to the review, said the BBC was "failing to keep pace" with Scotland's evolving political and cultural life, leaving a skewed perspective of events north of the Border.
Renewing calls for a "Scottish Six" bulletin focusing on issues north of the Border, he added: "We need to look at UK and international news being delivered through a Scottish-produced 6pm and 10pm news service."
Ted Brocklebank, the Scottish Tories' culture spokesman, said the BBC had failed to adjust to the reality of devolution.
BBC managers said they would provide the trust with an action plan next month.
A recent survey found a small majority of Scots backed a "Scottish Six" news bulletin.
Children's TV 'obsessed with UK and US'CHILDREN'S television focuses too much on the UK and United States, leaving viewers in the dark about the rest of the world, according to a new report.
The International Broadcasting Trust commissioned a study of how children's news and factual programmes have portrayed world affairs in the past year.
It found that nearly half of the international children's programmes on British terrestrial TV came from North America.
Over a two-week period monitoring 19 digital channels, 79 per cent of international children's programming was from the US, with only 7 per cent representing the developing world. The report, carried out by the University of East Anglia, praised BBC's Blue Peter for its coverage of developing countries.
The full article contains 572 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
