Paucity Of 'Regional' TV News Coverage For Budget

This news published by the Celtic League:

NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

PAUCITY OF 'REGIONAL' TV NEWS COVERAGE FOR BUDGET

Whether you liked Treasury Minister, Eddie Teare’s, Manx Budget, or were somewhat sceptical about it, (as the Celtic League was) one thing we can all agree about was it generated some media coverage and interest on the Isle of Man.

Manx Radio ran its budget special and its newsroom team reported every angle seeking and getting a diverse range of view.

The radio news team at Energy/3fm pitched in as well and although their ‘on air’ news time is limited the story got a very good run.

The print media ran its usual Budget day special and will probably in coming issues of the Examiner, Independent and Courier dissect the political exchanges in Tynwald.

Finally, the Islands on line TV service MTTV also pitched in with good pre and post budget analysis.

The Budget is important to the people of the Isle of Man and never more so than in these straitened times.

Meanwhile the BBC in the North West has an obligation to provide ‘regional’ TV news coverage and indeed the Manx people pay handsomely for this service (just under £5 million per year). Granada TV has the regional franchise which includes news cover for the Isle of Man. We believe there was a paucity of information from both providers.

However we could be wrong so we have asked both stations a few questions (see below);

“Head of Regional and Local Programmes
Aziz Rashid
BBC NW
Quay House
Salford Quays
England
M50 2 QH

18th February 2015

Dear Sir,

Bearing in mind the significance of the recent Isle of Man budget to the Manx public could you advise how much broadcast time BBC NW television news devoted to reporting it?

On a related point could you advise the amount of broadcast time the BBC NW has given to reporting of Manx political news in the past six months?

I understand that licence fees levied in the Isle of Man currently stand at (approx) £4.8 million (2013/14). Can you advise the total funding that BBC NW news and current affairs devote to Isle of Man programming?

Yours sincerely,

J B Moffatt (Mr)

Director of Information
Celtic League”

“Head of News
Granada TV
MediaCityUK
Salford Quays
Greater Manchester
England

18th February 2015

Dear Sir,

I understand that as part of its Regional broadcast licence Granada TV is the designated ITV Company covering the Isle of Man.

Bearing in mind the significance of the recent Isle of Man budget to the Manx public could you advise how much broadcast time Granada television news devoted to reporting it?

On a related point could you advise the amount of broadcast time that Granada TV News has given to reporting of Manx political news in the past six months?

I see that on the ITV News Granada Reports web page on Wikipedia it says “Reporters are also based at newsrooms in the Royal Liver Building, Liverpool, Lancaster and on the Isle of Man. In relation to the Isle of Man is this accurate? Does Granada (ITV) News have any staff based in the Isle of Man ?

Yours sincerely,

J B Moffatt (Mr)

Director of Information”
Here’s the Granada Reports Wikipedia entry we mentioned;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_News_Granada_Reports

We are thinking of offering a reward for anyone who can find their ‘newsroom and reporters’ on the Isle of Man !

Celtic League

J B Moffatt (Mr)
Director of Information

19/02/15

(Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.)

ISSUED BY THE CELTIC LEAGUE INFORMATION SERVICE.

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