BBC Trust

BBC News was the preferred choice of many of the participants, with the local, national and international news held in high regard. The BBC’s local news was praised for giving coverage to local planning issues. A typical comment was “I trust it [BBC News] and I find it as accurate as it can be at the time – solid, dependable, informative and good quality.”

Many participants used the BBC News website during the day to keep up with developments in news stories with some using the BBC News app on their mobile phones, though opinion was mixed as to whether the app was as user-friendly as other news apps.

Radio Wales and Radio Cymru were praised for their local news coverage and many participants listened to those stations in the morning, though one participant felt the latter’s coverage “was too heavy in the morning” but the regular travel updates made it required listening at that time of day.

Some participants felt that there remained a north-south divide in terms of Network news, but that coverage of north Wales on BBC Cymru Wales news was generally good.

There were mixed views on whether news was presented in sufficient depth during news bulletins, with some participants praising BBC News for its comprehensive coverage while others felt that this was very dependent on the time available. Some participants felt that Newsnight was the best forum for an in-depth discussion of news items. Other participants felt that while sport news was given a  place in every bulletin, this was not the case for other subject areas such as business or the arts. Many participants felt that current affairs programmes were not long enough to properly discuss substantial issues, and they welcomed the continuation of discussions on issues raised during BBC One’s Question Time programme on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Some participants felt that it would be good if stories given attention in programmes in the past could be followed up  later to report on subsequent developments. In this context, particular reference was made to the issue of fly-grazing covered on BBC Wales’ Week In Week Out some time ago, but given little or no attention since, despite it being a very important issue. Other participants criticised another episode of Week In Week Out about highly paid local authority officials, with one describing it as “appalling journalism of envy” and expressing the view that the salaries paid were reasonable for such senior public servants in Wales, and that the comparison with the Prime Minister’s salary was inappropriate, and that it would be better to compare their salaries with those of senior civil servants.

The lack of coverage by BBC of issues relating to sustainability was criticised by one participant, with the point made that the Sustainable Development Bill, currently being considered by the National Assembly, was leading the world in this area, and merited more coverage. Other participants praised the accessibility of BBC Cymru Wales’ journalists, saying that they were easy to contact and make aware of newsworthy events.

Some participants praised BBC Parliament’s coverage of the UK’s legislatures, considering that it provided lots of information that was otherwise ignored, and expressing the view that it fulfilled an important public service function.

Other issues raised included the enjoyment of participants of drama content with BBC Four being specifically mentioned. Other participants also praised BBC Four for its coverage of music and musicians on Friday night.

Concern was expressed regarding the use of background music during programmes, which some participants felt made it more difficult to hear the narrative, especially during news programmes. Other participants felt that the background music was often very appropriate and carefully designed to enhance programmes, with Life on Earth used as an example in this regard.

Radio listening encompassed a wide range of BBC radio stations, including Radio 6 music, Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 4, Radio Cymru and Radio Wales but many participants saying that they listened less to the radio these days, than they had in the past.

Participants praised the BBC Radio iPlayer, with one participant saying “It’s fab! I like the scrolling aspect since it makes you look at things you might not have done otherwise, a bit like a newspaper”.

The BBC’s websites were widely praised by participants and considered required viewing for keeping up with news during the day.

The BBC’s sport coverage was praised, though some felt that the BBC was losing ground to other broadcasters in terms of securing sports broadcast rights, and that it was a shame that sport coverage was being taken away from the population at large and being limited instead to those who could afford to subscribe to premium sports services.

The BBC was praised for its broadcast coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games with many participants feeling that its coverage was far superior that of Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympic Games.

Participants raised issues regarding reception problems for both TV and radio in various parts of Wales during the event. One participants said that the FM signal of Radio Wales was poor in Porthcawl while  another complained about terrestrial digital TV reception in the Dyfi valley. 

TV licensing was criticised for its heavy handed approach to collecting the licence fee and participants raised questions regarding the future of the licence fee, since their perception was that a decreasing amount of content was now consumed at the time of broadcasting. Participants confirmed that they structured their viewing of TV material themselves by using recording services such as the BBC iPlayer, TiVO and Sky+. A key criticism was that material did not remain on the iPlayer for long enough.

There was a consensus that being able to access the BBC Archive would be huge educational and social resource.

Concern was expressed regarding the possibility of digital switchover for radio, with most participants of the view that the availability of DAB radios in cars was very low as yet.