BBC Trust

There was a perception that Network News was on the whole very England-centric, with too little coverage of both overseas news and news from the UK’s other nations. The perception of many of the participants was that large areas of the world was not covered adequately by BBC Network News – with references to Africa and South America in particular. However, there was widespread praise for the BBC World Service which participants felt was an excellent service.

It was also felt that the news was too often presented through an English prism – with reference made to sustainability, health, education and planning in particular and a recent example being coverage of the Lib Dems Annual Conference and their policy suggestion that a charge should be paid for carrier bags – something which has been in place in Wales for several years, but which wasn’t mentioned in any of the reports. Other participants said that changes in the planning rules for England often appeared in isolation, with no reference to the planning laws of the UK’s other nations. A key criticism was lack of clarity in news items, particularly in relation to planning – with news items sometimes being introduced by the phrase “introduced by the Government” but no explanation as to which Government. Too often participants felt that it wasn’t made clear that a matter related to England only and so audiences in the UK’s other nations were in fact being misled – “the public in Wales think they can do things like extension planning, but in fact they can’t”. It was also felt that this was the case in relation to sports news – “The main sports reporter only ever talks about England – cricket, rugby, football, England this, England that – it’s a major complaint”

Northern Ireland was felt to be particularly short changed, even in comparison to Wales, in terms of Network News coverage with one participant who regularly worked in Northern Ireland saying “They only get featured because of the Troubles which is a real shame since it puts people off from going there and it is such a beautiful place.”

Some concern was also expressed regarding pronunciation of place names, with some participants expressing the view that standards had slipped during recent years.

Generally, there was a consensus that the BBC’s News services were much better than those offered in other countries – one participant said for example “I’ve had ABC for the past two weeks – by comparison the BBC are flying”.

Breakfast was popular with many participants though many said that they “took it with a pinch of salt”, and felt it was more of a ‘magazine show’ than a serious news programme. There was a recognition however that the lighter items tended to be later in the programme.

There was a  perception amongst some participants that it was sometimes difficult to understand why some news items were classed as ‘rolling news’ – with the righting of Italian shipwreck Costa Concordia and the wait for the birth of Prince George being two recent examples.

Some participants criticised the recent changes to the set of the BBC News channel, with the journalists working in the background was considered distracting.

There was a general consensus that having a presenting team of two people on the BBC News channel was good in terms of gender balance and variety.

Radio was the key means of accessing news in the mornings for many of the participants with Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live mentioned in this context. The latter was considered to be a good source of in-depth news and sport during they day and the phone-ins were enjoyed in the evenings, with the range of perspectives presented also considered useful.

Radio 4’s News bulletins was praised for placing a greater emphasis on international stories, particularly as the day went on, with The World Tonight attracting praise in this context. The BBC World Service was considered by far the best source of international news however, with one participant saying “Full marks and I hope you’re able to continue to pay for it – tremendous.”

The Radio app was warmly praised by those participants who used it as was the BBC News website. Several participants said that they would often visit the BBC website to follow up on news items in more depth having first become aware of them during TV or radio news programmes.

The news website was also praised by participants for allowing them to ‘filter’ information or sports news and to find the news of interest to them. The News app was used by participant and considered a useful element of the BBC’s Network News offering.

None of the participants made an explicit reference to using social media to become aware of news, but reference was made of their perception that there seemed to be an increasing number of references on BBC News to information having been gleaned via Twitter. It was felt that this was increasingly the case in relation to economic news, and concern was expressed in this regard.

Some participants said that they often watched Sky News which was considered authoritative and quicker with breaking news than the BBC. It was felt too that Sky News featured a range of different accents and personalities.

Another participant felt that Al Jazeera’s English language service was a good source of international news.