THE BBC have effectively pulled the wool over the eyes of YouTube by false claims over copyright infringement on the Wings over Scotland You Tube site.

Broadcasters and other media are permitted to use clips of material shown on BBC for ‘fair comment’ use.

This right is widely used by other media across the political spectrum – and irrespective of the other broad/web-casters’ political inclinations.

The law should – rightly – be blind to the fact that Wings over Scotland supports Scotland’s Independence.

But YouTube has allowed itself to be conned by the BBC to censor the leading independent media channel that happens to support Scotland’s Independence.

As a (supposedly) non-partisan and independent public service broadcaster, the BBC has now put itself in an impossible position of taking unjustified and heavy-handed level action against a bona fide media publisher.

And even worse, it has (so far) – and highly significantly – failed to duly report its action on its own media channels.

But worst of all, it paints the BBC very firmly into the same politically-biased corner it stood when reporting the civil war in Northern Ireland.

As a result, the BBC is rapidly losing its reputation for apolitical broadcasting.

What is also curious in this matter is the equally-stunning silence (so far) from the Scottish Government and/or the Scottish National Party – indeed also from the other political parties.

Just think what their reaction would be if Channel-4 hood-winked You Tube into suspending the London Times would be.

This kind of creatively-sleekit thinking is usually above the brains - or pay-grades - at BBC Scotland and appears to be 'dark thinking' at the highest level of corporation.

MARK R WHITTET,

Leader

Scotland's Independence Referendum Party.