BBC Scotland has issued its third correction linked to reporting on the SNP and Scottish Government in a month.
On Wednesday, the corporation published an apology after mistakes across its reporting on an issue related to the use of a herbicide on Scottish farms.
The SNP-Green government had opted to follow expert advice from the UK Government’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and not allow the use of Asulox to control bracken.
Asulox – a brand name of the chemical herbicide asulam – was therefore banned for use in Scotland and Wales for the first time. It is also banned by the EU.
However, England chose to go ahead and authorise the use of the chemical against HSE advice.
The BBC reported that the Scottish Government had said “the risks to the environment and human health do not outweigh the potential benefits”.
In fact, this was the opposite of what both the experts and Scottish ministers were saying.
In a correction issued on Wednesday but relating to June 22, the BBC said the mistake had occurred across “BBC Scotland News outlets”.
The corporation wrote: “In reporting that the Scottish Government had decided that a herbicide previously used to control bracken on farms in Scotland will not be authorised for use this season, we stated that this was because the risks ‘don’t outweigh the benefits’.
“In fact, the decision was made because the risks do outweigh the benefits. We apologise for the error.”
Despite the expert advice, the Tories and UK Government had attempted to pressure the Scottish Government into allowing the use of Asulox on farms.
Alister Jack (below), the Scottish Secretary, claimed that banning the chemical was “absolutely the wrong decision”.
Jack said it had been approved for use in England, adding: “Bracken spreads across upland land, for upland sheep farmers it’s a serious problem.
“As it goes it creates a biodiversity desert, but it also harbours ticks and ticks are not only bad for animals, but ticks are also bad for humans and the potential of lyme disease, which is a terrible disease and one that when you’ve got it you can’t get rid of it.
“So I think the decision is the wrong decision.”
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said the SNP-Green government was “acutely aware of the risks associated with uncontrolled bracken and did not take this decision lightly”, but warned the herbicide poses risks to “human, animal and environmental health”.
The BBC’s correction comes after it issued two others related to the SNP and Scottish Government in the space of a month.
On June 12, the corporation accepted it had reported on Margaret Ferrier, the MP facing a recall petition in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, without making clear that she no longer represented the SNP.
And later in June it apologised after accusing Humza Yousaf of U-turning on an SNP manifesto commitment about free school meals when he had not.
The UK-wide BBC also had to issue a correction over its coronation coverage after falsely reporting that all British coronations since 1066 had taken place at Westminster.
