Celtic League General Secretary, Rhisiart Tal-e-bot, has written a letter to the Western Mail newspaper in Wales, in response to a printed letter from Ian Lucas, Labour Member of Parliament for Wrexham (23rd August 2007).

The letter from Mr Lucas referred to the comments made by Adam Price MP in his weekly column in the Welsh magazine Golwg, which were picked up by the Western Mail earlier on in the week.

In his column in Golwg, Mr Price had criticised the BBC's poor coverage of Welsh affairs on network news programmes and commented:

"broadcasting House's attitude only reflects the general stance of the 'London' media. Ignorance bordering on the contemptuous. To prove a point the Guardian ran only one story about the Assembly election campaign, ironically under the headline 'The Forgotten Election'. Forgotten by whom I wonder?…"

Mr Price went on to say that:

"A quarter of a century after establishing S4C, maybe the only way for metropolitan minds to take us seriously is for us, including MP's, to refuse to pay our TV licence, which pays for their expensive headquarters in London."

The response from Mr Lucas had attempted to trivilialise the serious intent of the comments from Mr Price. It also demonstrated that despite the new accord between Plaid Cymru and Labour some Labour Mps in Wales cannot moderate their automatic stance of opposition to any positive ideas eminating from Plaid Cymru sources.

The text of the League's General Secretary's letter is set out below:

"Dear Editor

Letter sent by Ian Lucas MP on 23rd August 2007

The letter sent by Ian Lucas MP expressing his bemusement and subsequent comments over the column in the Welsh magazine Golwg, written by Adam Price MP, compelled me to write.

Mr Price rightly draws attention to the fact that the 'London' media, which includes the BBC, has little interest in covering Welsh political issues on a UK wide basis. This is not only the case in Wales, but also in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Cornwall. No 'Balkanisation' of the BBC, as Mr Lucas puts it, has taken place, but the only solution is a fully devolved broadcasting service. The BBC remains completely anglo-centric and reminiscent, ironically enough, of a state controlled media outlet in the former Yugoslavia.

Mr Price should be applauded for taking a stand on this issue by refusing to pay his TV licence. Perhaps only then will the BBC's "foreign propaganda", as the Russians so rightly called it earlier this week, will come to an end.

Yours faithfully

Rhisiart tal-e-bot"

J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

25/08/07

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