Archiving the Referendum

Using the contents of BBC Scotland’s television archive pertaining to the 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign, this book argues that television archive material is a powerful memory tool which shapes how we connect with the past. The referendum was a seismic moment for Scotland and its repercussions are still being felt today. BBC Scotland provided the lion’s share of television coverage of the referendum and even became part of the story of the campaign. This book offers a unique insight into the work of the archivists and programme-makers involved with preserving and reusing footage of the campaign held in the broadcaster’s archive. Combining textual analysis with interviews with programme-makers and archivists, this book also explores the labour conditions and institutional policy around access to BBC Scotland’s television archive which play a crucial role in how material is chosen and used, thus shaping the stories that BBC Scotland tells about the referendum.

Author Biography

Mhairi Brennan is a Research Associate at Aston University, UK. Her specialism is in television, television archives, and memory. Brennan previously worked for several years as a television archive producer. This book is based on her experience of working as an archive producer in BBC Scotland’s Referendum Unit during the 2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign.