A broadcaster from the north-east has described an ongoing argument between the BBC’s outgoing political editor and Scotland’s former first minister as “bizarre” and “weird”.
Earlier this week, in his regular Press and Journal column, Alex Salmond launched an attack on Nick Robinson over his coverage of a nationalist demonstration in the run-up to last year’s referendum.
Mr Salmond described Mr Robinson’s reporting of the event as an “embarrassment” and “a disgrace” after he compared the protest – which took place outside of BBC Scotland’s Glasgow headquarters – to something from “Putin’s Russia”.
The demonstration came after Mr Robinson claimed in a report that the then SNP leader Mr Salmond had failed to answer a question on the economy after RBS announced it would leave Scotland in the event of a Yes vote.
Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival yesterday, James Naughtie, a presenter on Radio 4’s Today Programme and a former journalist at the Press and Journal, said Mr Salmond should move on from the incident.
Mr Naughtie, who is originally from Rothiemay, said: “I do think that the personalisation of it, a year one, is bizarre.
“I just think it’s weird that Alex Salmond should sort of waste his time still pursing that argument.
“A year later, to be banging on about one individual as a result of a spat at a press conference is, well, I think it should be an end of it.”