Media coverage of Scotland and England is fuelling ignorance and creating tension between the two areas of the United Kingdom, according to a report published today.

The Institute for Public Policy Research North claims that the English and the Scots are drifting further apart and it, in part, blames the media for failing to provide informed coverage of events from around the UK.

The think-tank's report will make depressing reading for Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, who is keen to emphasise the importance of Britishness, and it will provide ammunition for the nationalists who believe that the London media have an anti-Scotland bias.

In a paper examining whether the media creates cultural distance between Scotland and England, IPPR North found that, since devolution, the Scottish and London media frequently neglected to tell audiences about what was happening in the English regions, Wales or Brussels.

It says that is because the Scottish media are preoccupied with the Scottish Parliament and that the London media think they can ignore news from Scotland and Wales because it is no longer as relevant to their audience.

The study claims that the London-based newspapers which produce Scottish editions strip the Scottish news out of their English editions, leaving their readers South of the border with too little information about events in Scotland. It also accuses the London-based media of treating Scotland as a foreign country, covering only “heroin or haggis” stories, which it says limits the understanding of Scotland south of the border. The study also uncovered evidence of anti-Scottish sentiment in the English edition of newspapers which was removed from the Scottish versions.

It quotes Ann Leslie, the Daily Mail columnist, who wrote in the English edition: “Scotland was on course to become some tiny, relatively unimportant nation, on a par with Finland its identity defined by shortbread tins and tartan souvenirs and the auld enemy, England, was, in fact, their saviour,”

The report argues that coverage which focuses on the perceived inequities of devolution, such as the public spending disparities between England and Scotland and policy differences, can fuel resentment between the two nations.

The paper, Nation Speaking unto Nation, gives warning that this type of coverage makes the two nations seem increasingly distant from each other and fosters cross-border tensions.

London-based media organisations are often accused of failing to take proper account of events outside the M25 and the report repeats that criticism, suggesting that the way Scotland is covered is the most obvious example of “metropolitan myopia”.

The report, one of a series the IPPR is publishing on the Union, was written by Douglas Fraser, the political editor of The Herald newspaper. He said that inadequate media coverage could have serious consequences for how Britain understands itself as a nation.

Mr Fraser said: “The UK is badly served by a media which fails to reflect the regional and national diversity of the country.

“Too much of our national conversation is mediated by people who don't get out of London enough. It is easy to dismiss these issues as more whingeing from the Jocks, but there are important issues here about how Britain understands itself as a nation.” The paper also concludes that the long running debate about whether the BBC should broadcast a “Scottish six” replacing the UK-wide news at 6pm has been overtaken by changes in technology.

Digital optouts mean it is easier and more cost-effective for broadcasters to provide local coverage.

Guy Lodge, IPPR's senior research fellow, said: “The media is a good indicator of how much we know and care about each other.

“During a time when there is so much debate about the future relationship between England and Scotland, what is clear is that since devolution the English and Scots are drifting further apart and growing more ignorant of each other.”

The report's findings add weight to calls for more programmes to be made in Scotland. The Scottish Government set up the Broadcasting Commission last year after it emerged that only Scotland won only 3 per cent of the investment made in programming by the main broadcasters. The BBC has pledged to raise its quota to 9 per cent.

Times Recommends

• Milk: do we need a dairy godmother?
• DIY: the women doing it for themselves
• First double portrait of Princes unveiled