Trust to examine distinctiveness and quality of BBC TV channels and network news services in 2013

Category: BBC One; BBC Two; BBC Three; BBC Four; BBC News Channel; BBC Parliament; BBC Online

The BBC Trust will carry out reviews of BBC News and BBC One, Two, Three and Four in 2013, in two of the largest scale assessments of BBC services it has conducted so far.

The reviews are being conducted as part of the Trust’s rolling programme of service reviews.  Under the Charter the Trust is required to review each BBC service at least once every five years.  

The review of BBC network news services will cover BBC News Channel, BBC Parliament, the national news bulletins on BBC TV and radio, daily news programmes such as the Today Programme and Newsnight, and the BBC News website. 

 BBC Trustee Richard Ayre, who will lead the review of BBC News, said:

“Last summer, when we completed the first round of reviews the Trust has to carry out on each and every BBC service, we agreed that News is so central to the BBC’s purposes that we wanted to ensure that it can deliver on its aspiration to provide the best journalism in the world, right across its networks and services.”

BBC Trustee David Liddiment, leading the TV services review, said:

“The BBC’s programmes on its four TV channels are at the heart of our viewing habits across the country, from flagship entertainment shows to dramas and documentaries.  We’ll be looking for evidence of progress since the last time we reviewed each channel, particularly on the distinctiveness of their schedules, and whether they’re continuing to deliver the high standards that audiences rightly expect.”

The review of TV services is expected to begin in the spring, with the review of BBC News expected to begin in summer. Terms of reference for the reviews will be published and extensive public consultations will be held for both reviews to ensure the Trust has a full range of evidence on which to form its conclusions.  The reviews will complete in spring and summer 2014.

Notes to Editors

 

  1. Information about previous service reviews can be found here.
  2. BBC One, Two and Four were last reviewed by the Trust in 2010 and BBC Three was last reviewed the same year as part of a review of services for younger audiences.  BBC News Channel and BBC Parliament were the subject of a Trust review in 2011/12, but the review announced today is the first review of the BBC’s network news output as a whole. 
  3. The review of BBC News will not cover occasional or weekly current affairs programmes such as Panorama, but these programmes will be looked at as part of the review of BBC One, Two, Three and Four.