A BBC online article detailing a letter from the Scottish government to the office of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, requesting urgent talks, has been completely removed by the corporation.
The article – ‘Scottish referendum: EC urged to hold ‘early talks’ on independence’ – which followed claims by the EC President that new independent states would have to re-apply for EU membership, was originally published just hours after the letter was sent by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
However, only hours later, the text of the original article had been wiped and replaced with a completely different story on John Swinney challenging Barroso’s claim.
The practice of overwriting such an important article is unusual. Typically, stories of significant importance remain published for several days before being moved from the web page as new stories come in, however the articles often remain available for several years afterwards.
http://www.newssniffer.co.uk/articles/586547/diff/2/3