BBC Trust

There was a perception amongst a number of the participants that news belonged to the ‘adult world’ and so was generally considered “boring”. When asked why this was the case, participants said that newscasters were serious people, and “slightly scary”. There was a perception too that “News 24 is one round of weather, sport, with the same stories repeated time after time” which was considered off-putting. However, in further discussion, it became apparent that many of them consumed news and did so for a variety of reasons, including becoming better informed for home work purposes, general interest in world affairs and politics and learning more about local events. One said that her news priorities were “the weather first, and crime second”.

While some participants praised Breakfast, and saw it as a platform for going on to view the 6 and 10 o’clock news programmes later in the day, many of the participants felt that the 6 and 10 o’clock bulletins were just too ‘heavy’ for them.

A large majority of the participants said that their main TV News source was 60 Second News on BBC three and felt it was both useful and attractive, and did attract viewers to watch other news or to go on-line in order to find out more about particular stories. It was also felt that 60 Second News was a good way of reaching audiences that would not otherwise get any news at all.

A large majority of the participants felt that Network News was still very ‘London-centric’ and largely ignored Wales and Northern Ireland, with Scotland only covered because of the forthcoming referendum on independence in 2014. There was also a perception that to their detriment important local news stories were not covered – with reference being made to the death of an acquaintance who had died recently in unusual circumstances not receiving attention.

Some participants also felt that politics dominated the news bulletins, which wasn’t particularly of interest to them, though one participant loved politics and would regularly watch big Parliamentary occasions on BBC Parliament, so as to see the event for herself, without the “prism of the TV news reporters”.

A range of opinions were expressed regarding the emphasis placed on breaking news stories, with a number of references to the recent birth of Prince George to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Some participants felt that too much emphasis was placed on breaking news stories on the BBC News channel, to the detriment of other newsworthy events. Others felt that the birth of Prince George had been interesting since this was the birth of the royal child for the pupils to have experienced. There was widespread consensus however that in the days of dedicated news channels it was unnecessary for breaking news to appear on BBC One and BBC Two, displacing other content.

The only radio station mentioned in the context of news by any of the participants was BBC Radio 1. Newsbeat was widely applauded and popular amongst most of the participants. One student said that “Radio 1 is the default radio station in the sixth form common room, and it is interesting that the volume of the conversation there reduces when Newsbeat begins – so clearly the students do want to catch a bit of the news.”

Accessing the BBC News websites and other sites was the main means of accessing news for many of the students and was widely considered to be an excellent resource – both for homework and research purposes, but also to get to know more about what was going on in the world, and in different areas of interest. The BBC News app was a favourite for some participants.

Several pupils made reference to the usefulness of the geographical sections of the BBC News website, while others said that they also liked to visit the entertainment and technology news pages.

Sports news was also considered important and a popular destination for on-line activity, with the recent transfer of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid being mentioned by more than one pupil. It was also felt that the video clips on the website were a significant attraction and made the site far more useful than it would otherwise be.

Several participants said that they would also use the BBC on-line news site to check the accuracy or otherwise of stories on other sites or other TV channels.

iPlayer was central to their viewing experience, as were the other on-line facilities offered by other broadcasters.

The Red Button services were widely praised, with one student saying that her grandparents used them extensively to keep up to date with their interests. It was also praised for its excellence during the London 2012 Olympic Games and more recently during the 2013 Wimbledon tournament. On a wider point, many of the participants were young women and  felt that the 2012 Olympic Games was their first experience of women’s sports being given proper coverage, and said that this had been a powerful influence on them and their peers in encouraging greater take up of sports amongst women. They felt that continuing coverage of women’s sports would be very worthwhile in terms of encouraging healthier lifestyles.

Social Media was central to the news experience of many of the participants. Some said that their main source of news was Facebook, while others said that they used Twitter extensively to get information, in particular to keep up with breaking news stories. The BBC was praised for its output in this regard. The BBC’s Twitter news output was also praised for its sports coverage, with one student praising the Formula 1 motor racing coverage provided by BBC Sports via twitter.

There was a widespread perception that BBC Network News, and indeed BBC News more generally was not particularly good at covering their local area. For this purpose, some of the students said that their only source was the local newspaper, The Wrexham Leader or The North Wales Chronicle. Other students said that they sometimes bought The Daily Post or The Sun.

Some students said that they sometimes bought magazines, though largely to “catch up on celebrity gossip” rather than to access news.