Should Sarah Smith be taken off air

[Opendraw]

Aibu to think this kind of biased opinion has no place on the BBC

“It has been obvious that Nicola Sturgeon has enjoyed the opportunity to set her own lockdown rules and not have to follow what's happening in England and other parts of the UK”.

Sarah Smith, BBC News at 10 (18/5/20)

Waiting for the scottish persecution complex in 3,2,1

Ooops missed that one.

I’m suprised 89 % YABU

We were a few weeks behind England in the curve so it makes sense to hang fire

I think the point is that we were behind the curve and locked down earlier and have no benefit from that.

So all those shouting that the UK in general should have locked down earlier don't really have a point as apparently it makes no difference? It could of course be down to selfish folk not doing what they have been told?

Sarah Smith is a staunch Unionist. She knew exactly what she was saying to.

YADNBU. But the haters will shoot you down because they're biased and pathetic. Any opportunity to bash the Scotland that appears to have ideas above its station! Sturgeon has lead during this awful time, not something anyone could claim about Johnson while keeping a straight face. But you know the score. Nothing will be done, the BBC will defend SS and probably pushed her to tweet an apology for the avoidance of doubt. Whatevs! We know the Beeb's partiality and they're no better than the DM. Sycophants and influencers.

Oops, forgot my adjective: reprehensible influencers. That's better

Baroque, yep!

@GrumpyHoonMain my understanding was that European countries were reporting deaths in the community. France was definitely reporting them before the uk because they had a huge surge when they added them.

Laguna ah that makes it all good she meant to say embraced hmmmmmm

that’s not an apology that is a covering your arse comment taking no ownership at all.

I saw the clip and it is absolutely awful. How can the BBC possible claim NS is ‘enjoying my this crisis. She is reflecting real concerns and looking at the point on the curve where Scotland currently sits. It’s the same for Wales and the North of England. The government seems to be making very London centric decisions (as always).

She isn't reporting news, she expressed an opinion. That isn't what she is paid to do.

Tell that to Kuensberg and Peston who consistently ignore the "news" i.e. facts and constantly put their own spin on their reports.

What a storm in a bloody teacup. Of course NS has enjoyed the opportunity. I agree with her stance btw. A sacking matter? Get lost.

There is everything wrong with stating a personal opinion when you are employed as a journalist.
The job of a journalist is to report the facts. If S Smith wants to become a political commentator and give her opinion she needs to resign as the BBC Scotland Editor. See also L Kuenssberg.

Did she not mean enjoying in the sense of benefiting from rather than taking delight in? There are 2 meanings to the word, you know. SS even acknowledges she meant the latter in her Twitter comment.

It is appropriate SS apologised and explained in this context. But no, lose her job because she used a word with 2 meanings, the former of which is more in popular usage. Ffs.

She apologised! So there must be something to apologise for. The BBC are not impartial. BBC Scotland ran a report last week on 'how 2,000 lives could have been saved had Scotland locked down earlier'.

Really!!!! I'm sure anyone with an iota of intelligence would know this without such a report. A report that was actually commissioned by the BBC Scotland, but they only put that much further on in the report, in such a subtle way that a reader could be excused to believe that they had been given such a report rather than actually commissioning it. And the report was 'could'!!!! Extremely biased because NS is having a better war than BJ. She turns up live, is concise and clear and takes questions which is more than her counterpart at Westminster does. Even non SNP and non nationals are thinking she's doing a better job than BJ and the establishment don't like that!

Scotland also doesn't have fiscal autonomy over furlough, that lies with the Treasury and Westminster, so would have had some bearing in any lockdown decisions made. The only way to have autonomy would be to have full control, which would only happen with full independence. So this report could be flipped to say that 2,000 lives 'could' have been saved if Scotland was independent.

The media needs the same scrutiny as the government because they all have an agenda.

Silencing opinions you don't like...hmm

Also completely agree SS ‘apology’ is a complete non apology

FGS enjoying the opportunity to determine Scotland’s path isn’t the same as enjoying Coronavirus/lockdown.

That said, knowing that Independence & the impartiality of the BBC are controversial, she should have been more careful in her phrasing. IMO she has acknowledged this through her apology & should be given the benefit of the doubt. I’d contrast this with Laura Kuennesberg who NEVER acknowledges when she may be wrong.

I said taken off air not sacked ie for the duration of the pandemic due to her truly disgusting comment. But to be fair people have been sacked for less.

Or what MummyDragon said!

I think it was a genuine mistake. Sarah Smith knows that many people question her impartiality because her father was John Smith. I think what she was trying to say that the coronavirus crisis has given Nicola Sturgeon more media coverage on a UK basis. Voters can see the contrast between the differing approaches across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We don't often see this because health, education & much else are devolved matters. Nicola Sturgeon will be hoping that voters in Scotland contrast her approach to the crisis favourably with Boris Johnson and that it will influence the votes of those opposed to independence.

Nicola Sturgeon is generally agreed to have come out of this well outside and inside Scotland. Nobody would ever intentionally say she would have wanted this at the expense of so many lives and disruption.

Sarah Smith is notoriously anti SNP and struggles to keep her bias out of all her reports. Could be something to do with her father being John Smith - a great labour politician who, had he lived, could have changed the course of the Labour Party in Scotland. She can't stand what has happened to Labour in Scotland and never ceases to put the boot into the SNP. YANBU - she should have been taken off air years ago following her appalling coverage of the independence ref.

I’m with @Mummyoflittledragon, I believe she was using ‘enjoyed‘ in the slightly legal, very old-fashioned sense. She blatantly didn’t mean it in the ‘Nicola sturgeon is dancing round her office in glee’ sense.

It’s still an incredibly poor judgement on her part though, as she should have known it would be misinterpreted as implying the latter.

Too right she's spot on.

The SNP hate the BBC because they hold them to account. Unlike the Scottish branch of ITV who fawn all over them. Sarah Smith is a highly respected journalist who has been reporting on Scottish politics for years.

Par for the course for them to call for the sacking of anyone who speaks out against their Great Leader.

Funny isn’t it how all kinds of shit can be thrown at UK or more specifically English politicians by the media and no one bats an eyelid, but say something derogatory about wee Nippy and all hell breaks loose?

Nicola Sturgeon stands up her podium like she's the leader of some major world power. She's nothing but a bigoted nationalist tinpot dictator and is relishing every moment of being able to address 'her people' on a daily basis and undermine the UK, of which Scotland remains a part. Scotland (5.4million) has a similar population to Yorkshire (5.3million) and of those only 45% of the electorate voted SNP - just 1.2 million.

Talk about the tale wagging the dog.

The good news is that once this is over she'll have Alex Salmond to contend with who has a few scores to settle. With luck the SNP will tear itself apart.

Meanwhile she can carry on making her dour daily pronouncements to her heart’s content and if she gets a bit of stick off the media, I actually find that quite refreshing. The whole Saint Nicola thing is boring and bordering on reverence, so good on this journo whoever she is for saying what is bloody obvious to most of us.