Scottish Referendum news thread

Not the BBC's finest hour.

That was absolutely awful tonight. I don't think Glenn Campbell was the right choice in moderator either. Guessing Brian Taylor wasn't available.

A breakdown slide after the debate on BBC One Scotland, with no breakdown.

Probably supposed to be a Radio Scotland slide - perhaps it would have come from the same machine.

Glenn Campbell was an awful moderator, based on what I've managed to watch. There were periods that lasted over a minute that were practically unintelligible. You only need to have Salmond interrupt the answer once or twice to demonstrate the point that he's interrupting the answer, not all the way through his cross-examination.

EDIT: Brian Taylor was available, it seems - he was watching the debate and is commenting on it on BBC News right now.

Sad - the BBC debate looked better than STVs (apart from the odd wobbly camera) but the moderation was poor. Wasn't blown away by Bernard, but Glenn was far too light-touch.

Very glad there wasn't an STV-style social media "spin room" and dodgy opening walk...

The audience questions were far better covered on the BBC debate.

A Guardian ICM poll says that 71% think Salmond won this debate; 29% thought Darling won this debate. I wonder how those figures would have come out if the loudest, brashest man (Salmond) was stopped from shouting all over the other debater.

In any case, the closest UK precedent would have us believe that these figures will either have no effect, or a negative effect, on the winning party in the debate.

It was a big shouty shambles.

Poor compared to the STV debate.

As it seems like these debates are going to become common for elections and referendums the role of a moderator is crucial - and when the moderator is below par it's not just a question of a bad day at the office, there could be quite serious consequences.

Hopefully most voters are intelligent enough to see through the Salmond shambles.

I wonder how much difference it made having the moderator off at one side rather than between the pair - could it have made it harder to intervene?

According to Digiguide, Reporting Scotland at 18:30 is extended to 60 minutes from Monday 8 September.

There will be the following programmes on Referendum day/night:

Main programmes on BBC & ITV following 2200 news, through to 6:00. No clue yet as to whether BBC Scotland and STV will host different programmes to the rest of their networks although the BBC programme does have a different title in Scotland.

On Friday 19 September, Reporting Scotland takes up the entire duration of Breakfast suggesting they are doing their own breakfast programme. There is extended Reporting Scotland at 13:30 (55 mins) and 18:30 (60 mins). Newsnight on Friday is extended to 55 minutes (usually 35 on a Friday).