THE SNP have called on the BBC to offer assurances that it will "get the party's name correct in the future – as the broadcaster was asked to explain "editorial judgements and basic errors" made in its weekend coverage.

The party delivered a letter to BBC senior management over failings in covering Nicola Sturgeon's address to 20,000 people at our rally on Saturday, and after a reporter "referenced a fictitious political party".

On the Sunday evening bulletin, presenter Clive Myrie reported on Ian Blackford of "The Scottish Nationalists Party" saying the election would be a chance to provide another mandate for indyref2.

The party also accused the BBC of "jarring and minimising" the scenes from George Square on Saturday, with the pictures accompanying the report only showing small sections of a march prior to it.

This came after the event was entirely omitted from the main evening and late bulletins on the BBC.

The letter asks: "There was no equivalent event of this scale held by any other party in the UK on Saturday, so a major news event in itself was wiped from the main coverage for what editorial reason?"

The BBC News channel did cover the rally, but showed no images of the crowd during the event – they could only be seen leaving after the speech, behind a reporter on the scene.

On the choice of images, a BBC spokesperson in London told us: “This was a replay of an earlier live report from the protest and our reporter made it clear that thousands of people had attended the pro-independence rally, with organisers estimating around 20,000 people there and the police putting the figure closer to 10,000 people. We made it very clear in the report and in the live introduction that crowds had started to disperse following Nicola Sturgeon’s speech.”

A report on fracking in the Saturday evening news also came in for criticism from the party.

The piece on the suspension of fracking in England made no mention of the fact it was already banned in Scotland – despite this being a UK news bulletin.

The SNP's letter concludes: "As we enter into a regulated election period I seek to understand these editorial judgements and basic errors.

"All assurances you can give me that the BBC will accurately and fairly build in the complexities of a devolved UK would be welcome.

"And if you can guarantee me that the BBC will at least get the SNP’s name correct from now on, all the better."

SNP depute leader Keith Brown called on the broadcaster to up its game.

He said: “Viewers in Scotland should be able to expect so much better from the BBC.

“If the BBC are serious about trying to regain trust from audiences north of the Border then they need to get their act together immediately.”

The BBC have been approached for comment.