Nationalists march against 'biased' BBC Scotland vote coverage

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Pro-independence "Yes" campaigners stage a demonstration outside the BBC Scotland Headquarters in Glasgow

Pro-independence "Yes" campaigners stage a march towards the BBC Scotland Headquarters in Glasgow on September 14, 2014  to protest against alleged biased by the BBC in its coverage of the Scottish referendum
Pro-independence “Yes” campaigners stage a march towards the BBC Scotland Headquarters in Glasgow on September 14, 2014 to protest against alleged biased by the BBC in its coverage of the Scottish referendum

Some 2,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Glasgow Sunday to protest against the BBC’s coverage of Scotland’s independence referendum, four days before the knife-edge vote.

Demonstrators claimed that coverage by the British broadcaster has been biased against the separatist “Yes” camp, which wants Scotland to break away from the rest of Britain.

They chanted and waved banners in favour of independence as they marched from the city’s George Square along the banks of the River Clyde to the headquarters of BBC Scotland.

First Minister Alex Salmond this week accused the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson of heckling him at a media briefing.

Salmond, who is leading the “Yes” campaign, also told this week’s Sunday Herald newspaper that the BBC’s coverage was biased.

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“Don’t get me wrong, I like these folk, but they don’t realise they’re biased. It’s the unconscious bias which is the most extraordinary thing of all,” he said.

Pro-independence "Yes" campaigners stage a demonstration outside the BBC Scotland Headquarters in Glasgow
Pro-independence “Yes” campaigners stage a demonstration outside the BBC Scotland Headquarters in Glasgow

The BBC insists its coverage of the debate has been balanced and impartial and that Robinson’s questioning of Salmond was “valid”.

Opinion polls have showed the “Yes” camp narrowing the gap in the referendum campaign in recent days and now indicate that the result Thursday could go either way.

In the event of Scotland voting for independence on September 18, the “Yes” camp says BBC programmes would continue to be available in Scotland but a new Scottish Broadcasting Corporation would also be developed.

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