[DAL1189]

It's not the reality of the merger, no. The merged channel should focus on the major international and UK news. While this story is undeniably a talking point in the UK, it is frankly not actually particularly newsworthy, even before getting on to international viewers. Even though (rightly) not as patrician as it once was, the BBC should still be delivering news more based on what viewers need to/should know than on the tabloid-esque what they want to know. While there might be a level of coverage that can be given over to such a story on the channel, it should be low down the running order, if not an In Brief item. To treat it as not just a major world story but the lead story is a major editorial misjudgement and, in my view, unjustifiable.
I'm also not particularly sure the point you're making comparing the Schofield story to international elections. Sure, there is a knowledge imbalance, but the job of the news is ultimately to explain what has happened and why it matters. That's quite easy to do with an election - particularly in countries of reasonable size. It's a lot harder to do with a story about presenter turnover on a not particularly major UK TV programme.
Honestly, the whole shift in the last few weeks - most noticeable with the Schofield story - just reeks of a typical BBC reaction to criticism they likely got over the lower levels of UK news on the new channel. Rather than stand their ground and make their case or think any changes through, it looks like they've gone down their usual route of knee-jerk overcorrection and are now deliberately pushing UK stories up the running order, regardless of their news value.

I just checked Sky News' website and the Schofield story is their current breaking news splash. I checked the i, and the story is one of their 7 non lead featured stories when you open their website. Even The Times are featuring it as one of their leading stories. I struggle to see how it is "not actually particularly newsworthy" when many of the BBCs competitors are also prominently featuring this story. This is a story UK viewers will expect to hear about and one which the channel should feature, even if international viewers might not really know much about it. 

As regard to international elections, I'm not saying they shouldn't be featuring those stories either and I've very much enjoyed the increased prominence stories of an international nature have been getting on the channel, but the knowledge imbalance is the point here. International viewers are going to be interested in stories which have limited interest to UK viewers, and visa versa. Striking the correct balance is always going to be difficult when the entire premise of the channel is flawed, but I don't think they've got it wrong by giving this story prominence.