Well we’ve heard of particular publishers stifling digital and new media progress, but the most recent news out of Scotland’s, Scottish Newspaper Society president is just mind-boggling.

Michael Johnson and the SNS, have taken their complaints about the BBC to the media.  It seems the SNS is upset that the BBC is going down the path of creating smart phone apps.  ’Yes, you read right’.

Johnson holds the argument that the BBC was created to supplement news content that the commercial news groups could not provide.  Now this may have been the initial purpose of the BBC, but it cannot be disputed that today, the BBC is seen as a global news source, covering ground in multiple medias.  Lay users could care less about the original uses of the BBC, because all that matters now is how they fulfill the news consumption space.  With this being the mindset of its users, the BBC would be doing them (the users) and their internal journalists a disservice if they didn’t adopt current and forward-thinking mediums to keep their users engaged and loyal.

I think Johnson and the rest of the SNS are just a wee bit jealous, as the BBC has progressed into more of a news consumption competitor, as opposed to a complimentary partner.