RJ ARDERN (Letters, July 28) made several points about BBC Scotland’s regional and national radio bulletins. What he may be unaware of is that our most recent changes to regional schedules were in direct response to audience demand and this resulted in us providing the same number of bulletins at the same total duration as before, but broadcast at more regular times, on the half hour. Audience feedback had indicated a preference for more consistency in our scheduling and we were happy to oblige.
Sports news is covered in these bulletins on merit, and our regional services include weather forecasts for their areas. We also retain the flexibility to provide extra services during periods of extreme weather, and local information is incorporated in our national services throughout the day. News, sport and weather updates are also provided in our online service.
Ian Small,
Head of Public Policy and Corporate Affairs,
BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay, Glasgow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
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.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
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
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here