IS Scotland a nation or not? If you believe, like this newspaper does, that we are indeed a nation equal to any other - then it is beyond ridiculous, beyond insulting and beyond toleration that Scotland is being denied its own nightly news programme. Any free country must be able to reflect the world as it sees it through its own independent media.
As such the decision by BBC chiefs in London to permanently rule out a Scottish Six TV news programme could not be more toxic. Scotland's will is already being flouted over Brexit - and now grey men in London have added insult to injury by crushing the opportunity for us to have a simple news programme.
Campaigners have been making the case for a Scottish Six since before the devolution era. There will be those who view the BBC's decision to kill it off as reminiscent of Tory governments sneering at Scottish aspirations.
The SNP sees the move as a politically motivated decision aimed at concentrating power in London at a time when a second independence referendum is back on the agenda. Who can blame them?
Scotland is being treated like a region. We are not Yorkshire or Cornwall or the Welsh valleys or the Glens of Antrim - we are a country. When the BBC's director general Lord Hall appears before Holyrood's culture committee on Thursday he should be told exactly what an insult he has dealt this country - and he should be left in no doubt that if this decision was taken to quell the Yes movement then it has backfired horribly ... as so many BBC decisions often do.
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It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
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We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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