BBC Trust

Most participants considered BBC News trustworthy and impartial. There was also a consensus that it was educational and comprehensive. As one participant said “I’ve grown up with the BBC – it is aimed at people like me.” Several of the students who were from outside the UK (China, Hong Kong and Italy) considered the BBC a “well known international brand – iconic”. One overseas student had watched the BBC news regularly before coming to the UK to practise her English.

There was some criticism however, with a number of participants of the view that Network News was too concentrated on the ‘Westminster bubble’, to the detriment of both international and domestic coverage. Several participants felt that Network News’ coverage of Wales was inadequate.

Some also felt that BBC News presented news to too great an extent through the prism of politics, and that this was the case with both domestic and international news stories. The example was given of a recent factory fire, which had been covered, and had presented the news through the eyes of experts and politicians, rather than through relating the experience of the victims and their families.

Some participants felt that scientific stories were explored inadequately and generally superficially. More widely some felt that particular stories were focused on for a short period of time to the exclusion of all others – with the Syrian civil war given as one example.

It was felt that the BBC was good at covering breaking news – though some participants said that they also routinely consumed news from different sources so that they could compare them.

Some participants felt that BBC News was predominantly “targeted at the upper and middle classes. This can alienate some people – though it is hard to make it appeal to everyone”.

There were two participants who watched the TV Network news bulletins either daily or regularly (every few days), and felt that the BBC early evening news was best. Other participants said that they would watch the flagship TV Network News bulletins only if a particularly important news story was running.

BBC Three’s 60 Second news was praised for presenting the news is a swift and easily digestible format.

Most participants were not radio listeners but of those who were, their main listening was to BBC Radio Cymru, Radio 2 and Radio 1, with the latter’s Newsbeat programme praised for its mix of ‘hard’ and celebrity news stories, and for making news stories accessible for younger audiences. Other participants however praised the BBC for being sparing with its coverage of ‘celebrities’.

The BBC’s on-line news services, both website and apps, was for many of the participants their main means of accessing news. Most participants said that they used their smartphones to access both written and audio/video material on the BBC News website.

Twitter, Facebook and Weibo were all mentioned as sources of news for them by some participants. Many accessed news stories that had been recommended by friends via social media.

The BBC’s news twitter service was praised for providing a comprehensive service, though some criticised both it, and the BBC News app, for according disproportionate importance to some news stories. It was felt that only 40% of the time did the news story to which they were alerted on the BBC News app justify that billing.

One participant said that she listened to Radio 4 in the morning while travelling by car, and accessed newspapers via her iPad. Several others said that they accessed the Daily Mail site for celebrity news and gossip.

The BBC’s documentary and drama productions were praised, with Merlin attracting particular praise.

The absence of adverts on BBC outlets was widely praised.

Some participants felt that the consumption of news was important and that parents had a duty to develop a ‘news habit’ with their children.