BBC news website extends coverage

By Mark Coyle
Editor, BBC Scotland news website

A survey showed people wanted more news closer to home

The BBC Scotland news website has undergone some major changes which reflect the expansion of our team around the country.

We've launched six new sections of the site, each of which contains news and features from a region of Scotland.

Each region has its own dedicated online journalist whose job it is to find and write stories from their area.

The six regions are Edinburgh and East, Glasgow and West, Highlands and Islands, North East (including Shetland and Orkney), South of Scotland and Tayside and Central.

Where a story is relevant to more than one area, it will appear in the appropriate sections. We aim in the future to offer a postcode search which will give you content from across the BBC's websites which relates to your locality.

The new sections are accessible via links on the existing Scotland news page. They are also available alongside our present output on mobile devices such as WAP-enabled phones and PDAs.

'On demand' news

Our decision to appoint online journalists around Scotland was the result of views expressed by people who said they wanted to see more stories about their area.

It's also part of BBC Scotland's move towards offering more of its content "on demand" when you want it instead of the focus being on traditional television or radio programmes at fixed points during the day.

The regional sections also include individual items of audio and video which are relevant to those areas.

Here are some of your views on the new service.

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If Highlands and Islands have their own section, then population wise, how many sections should Glasgow get?
Murdo Macdonald, UK

I love the idea of more local news, however, as someone who lives smack in the middle of Scotland I am wondering why Central has been put in the same area as Dundee. Being in the middle I often visit both Glasgow and Edinburgh, but don't really have anything in common with Tayside at all, so why could there not be a separate area just for Central ?
Susan, Clackmannanshire

Like Dave from Newport-on-Tay, the 'drawn line' appears to be confusing. Browsing the Tayside and Central page I found a link regarding opinions on restaurants. Included is Cupar, Fife. Although the demarcation would indicate I should look at Edinburgh and East, the images of the Tay bridge and the 'Tayside' tag would suggest this is the correct page but are we to surf both sections to include items that may interset us?
Ian Macdonald, Tayport

Brilliant. I can now see at a glance the news in the areas I'm interested in. Well done.
Bill, Romsey, Hampshire

Even though its been about a day or so since its added, i've found myself reading the scottish news less per day than i used to with the mix up of regions as a few have said before, im unsure which region i should be looking at as i stay in north lanarkshire surely the 320,000 plus people that live in the area should have better coverage of what actually goes on
scott chisholm, coatbridge

Thank you for splitting the Scottish news into regional sections. Having been born in Angus I always folow the news in that area and it is refreshing to see that more local content from that area will be available and I am looking forward to the new innovations when they become available.
Victor Krajewski, Tamworth Australia

I live in Falkirk, nd would have assumed my local news would be in Tayside and Central. (Although why Tayside and Central are 'lumped' together leaves me a bit bewildered). I clicked on 'Regional news.. Got a story you want us to cover? Contact your local reporter', and discovered that 'Tayside and Central' covers right down to Stirling (only 8 miles away), but Falkirk is in Ediburgh and the East! Considering the fact I live in Central Scotland, this does not make sense, and I feel that the Edinburgh and East section will concentrate on Edinburgh. If I want to look up 'Cinema' on the BBC website, it's under 'What's on in Central, Angus and Fife:' Despite my criticisms, I am pleased that you have finally realised we are a large country, and will now be able to find 'local' news easily. I also look forward to the Postcode Search.
Wendy Ross, Falkirk, Stirlingshire

Great improvement to this section of one of the best websites around, hopefully will be updated regularly, how about up to date travel information for each region. "Highlands and Islands" section does not include Orkney and Shetland and maybe should be named "Highlands and Western Isles" or "Highlands and Hebrides". Oh aye, and a business section covering important (but much ignored) industries such as oil, fishing & agriculture - currently only covered by the Press & Journal. See licence payers, you give them a few bytes and they demand megabytes..
Iain Mackenzie, Edinburgh

I'm delighted to see that the BBC has divided its Scotland site at last. Now we can access far more news stories, including a variety of stories that are particular to our geographical area. Well done!
Amy Mackay, living in Glasgow but from Falkirk

Can you add a map to show the actual area covered by each heading to help those of us who live in the 'middle' areas to work out where our area is covered?
Julie, Callander

It's a great idea... but until we get the postcode finder do you think we could see a map of how the areas break down?
Graham William, Alva

Very good... Now how about a Scottish Business page as well?
Dick, Aberdeenshire

I hope that this will be worthwhile development but it will need the stories to be kept up to date. Sites with out-of-date stories look shoddy and unprofessional.
TLJ, Linlithgow

As a student living in Glasgow, it's great to be avble to read the news from back home. The local paper's website is updated weekly so the news is usually out of date! Look forward to the more in depth coverage of news.
Student, Perth and Kinross

Congratulations on the inauguration of the new style website. It's high time that this part of Scotland was recognised as having a distinct and important character, deserving of its own input into the national news arena. I look forward to keeping up to date through your website with all that's happening in our area.
Innes Murchie, Aberdeen

Thank you for this, BBC News! I think it's great that Scotland is now recognised as a diverse collection of regions where lots of things happen, rather than a town somewhere north of Newcastle, as many BBC radio and TV personalities seem to assume! Unfortunately the way you've sub-divided the country leaves me confused. For news from Fife, where I live, I don't know whether to look to "Tayside and Central" or "Edinburgh and East". For news from the Borders, where I grew up, should I be looking in "Edinburgh and East" or "South of Scotland"? I wonder what was wrong with using well-known names like "Lothian", "Fife" and "Borders" to make things clearer?
Dave, Newport-on-Tay, Fife

I think this is a great improvement. As an expat Welshman, this regional service has long been available on the BBC News Online Wales microsite and it's great to see the concept now being introduced to Scotland!
Alun Williams, Denny, Scotland