Previous recommendations and progress
to date
4. Good progress has been made on the recommendations
we made in 2000.[4]
The recommendations in our Report covered a wide range of issues
relating to parliamentary broadcasting.
· We were concerned
that membership of both the Broadcasting Committee and the PARBUL[5]
Board could lead to a conflict of interest.[6]
The necessary changes have now been made to the membership
of the PARBUL Broad to prevent such a conflict of interest arising.
· We noted that
the Information Committee was considering providing coverage of
the devolved legislatures on the internal video network.[7]
Progress has been made in making the proceedings of the devolved
legislatures available but at present there is no cost-effective
means of providing coverage of the Scottish Parliament.
· We recommended
that the broadcasting facilities in Westminster Hall be put on
a more permanent footing if the sittings in Westminster Hall were
made permanent.[8]
A new camera system and control units were installed in Westminster
Hall in 2001.
· We noted that
the Administration Committee had approved an experiment that provided
a live interview point within the Palace.[9]
The number of live inject points[10]
has since been increased and they are now available across the
Parliamentary Estate. There has been a very positive reaction
by Members, broadcasters and the viewing public to this innovation
and we hope the arrangements will be made permanent.
· We also examined
developments in webcasting.[11]
A trial of webcasting has recently been completed and we look
forward to this service being established on a permanent basis.
We feel that webcasting has an important part to play in an integrated,
interactive set of information services providing access to the
general public.
5. Against these positive developments we must record
a level of disappointment that access to a dedicated parliamentary
channel is still limited.[12]
We welcome the fact that the BBC Parliament service, formerly
available only via satellite and cable, is also now carried on
the new free digital terrestrial television service. However,
we remain concerned that broadcasters continue to over-emphasise
sound-bites and confrontation.
1