BBC Trust

On Thursday 12 May 2011 Audience Council Wales hosted an outreach event with the Chwarae Teg Women's Forum at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff to hear their views about the BBC.

Nine women represented Chwarae Teg at the event and were of a wide age range. All were from the wider south Wales area.

TV

Continuing drama series/soap operas were considered to provide positive role models in some respects, with the point being made that such programmes had been shown by academic studies to provide more positive portrayal of powerful older women than most other genres. However, concern was also expressed at what participants considered to be the high emotional pitch prevalent in some soaps. Anger and conflict appeared to be key themes in the storylines of many continuing dramas and this was considered to have an impact on behaviour - particularly the behaviour of young people.

From the factual genre, Human Planet was highly praised - "I loved that!" Other factual programmes which had been appreciated and which were specifically mentioned included The History of Wales which was considered a good way to learn more about Wales and its role in history. Children's Crano-Facial Surgerywas also considered to have been a riveting series.

BBC Parliament was also appreciated for both professional and personal reasons, with some enjoying seeing some of the 'characters' in action at the UK Parliament.

BBC 4 was highlighted by participants as being a very attractive channel - with the diversity of music represented on the channel being considered good and something that was missing before BBC 4 was introduced.

Radio

The listening habits of participants present at the meeting varied with some expressing a preference for Radio 1 while others switched between Radio 2, Radio 4 and Radio Wales at different points of the day depending on what was on. Radio 2 was seen as the place to be for "more of an overview" of news, while Radio Wales was more about knowing what was happening in Wales. One question raised more than once was whether Radio Wales was pitched at too local / community a level? Many felt the station was still too dominated by "Valleys boys" (which wasn't the case for Radio Cymru which many participants felt had a more Wales wide perspective). Others said however that Radio Wales presenter Roy Noble "warms the cockles of everyone's hearts".

It was felt that Radio Wales succeeded in being distinctive on special occasions e.g. Royal Wedding, March's referendum on greater legislative powers for the National Assembly, election night coverage etc. Participants wondered however whether it was "still pitched at too old an audience?" Morning output on Radio Wales was praised for being closer to Radio 4 - and "it is really good to listen to for professional reasons".

Radio 5 live had been discovered by accident by one participant because of lack of reception of other stations in her car. She said she liked sport coverage on the radio because it was well described. "You can use your imagination to visualise what's happening, just like you do when reading." News and sport, as on Radio 5 live, was considered an attractive combination by several participants.

Turning to the recent BBC Trust Service Review of Radio 4, one participant said that she felt that the conclusions highlighted in news reports had raised concerns for her - "I don't want Radio 4 to provide everything for everyone. We want what it currently provides."

On-line and on-demand services

Many participants felt that the BBC's on-line service was an important source of news from and about Wales and was excellent. One participant said "I watch Wales Today then go on-line to get more in-depth information about news stories". It was felt however that it was difficult to find past news stories on-line and this was considered a problem.

Several participants praised the BBC Wales political blogs by Betsan Powys, Vaughan Roderick and David Cornock, saying "They are really excellent and present a fresh perspective on political stories."

iPlayer was now important for many of the participants and it was considered to be increasing their viewing. One participant said "it is good to be able to watch stuff you want to see during the time you have for viewing."

News

News coverage on the BBC in general was felt to be good and it was acknowledged that BBC News 24 seemed to be channel of choice on television screens in public buildings and workplaces, reflecting "what people want." One participant explained that she had noticed more stories from Wales on the Network news recently, but emphasised that this needed to continue so that people recognised the differences between the nations of the UK and that this would also help to "break down stereotypes".

The coverage of the National Assembly election campaign was praised, especially on Radio Wales, which had the best coverage of views from many different localities. On Network news it was felt that the Scottish Parliamentary elections seemed to have overshadowed the election results from Wales. The BBC's news website was felt by some participants to contain "too much information and is a bit 'overwhelming."

Some participants also felt that the coverage of the Royal Wedding had diminished the political coverage in the weeks leading up to the elections, and that perhaps there would have been more coverage of say, the debates surrounding the Alternative Vote, if news programmes hadn't focused to such a degree on the Royal Wedding. Some amongst the group felt that the general public might have had a better understanding of the issues associated with the Alternative Vote referendum had it not been overshadowed to the degree it had been.

Sport

On the whole it was felt that sport coverage was too male-dominated.

Portrayal of Wales

Participants acknowledged the good work done by BBC Wales in raising the profile of Network production in Wales and expressed the hope that this good work would be carried on in the future with the development of Roath Lock.

Programmes like Doctor Who, Torchwood and Gavin and Stacey were referred to as specific examples of how productions about or produced in Wales and showing Wales across the UK, were having a positive impact on people's perceptions of Wales, as well as boosting tourism. One participant who rents out a holiday home in the Cardiff area said she had many visitors from all over Europe who come to the area specifically to visit the locations featured in the programmes.

However there was a feeling that more could be done to utilise what we have around us and to promote the nation. It was felt to be important that the rest of the UK and the world saw what Wales has to offer. Whilst people from Wales might recognise that programmes are filmed and made in Wales, more pointers needed to be used in productions to show this reflected on screen - examples, including using Welsh actors, were given by participants.

Portrayal of Women

There were contrasting views about The Apprentice with some participants praising the programme for its positive portrayal of women in the workplace and demonstrating that they had the same skills and abilities as men thus encouraging women who might be considering going into business. Others criticised The Apprentice for perpetuating old stereotypes regarding business, with one participants saying "The Apprentice promotes certain type of person - dog eat dog - when real life in business isn't like that." Many felt that Dragon's Den was a better reflection of the contemporary business environment and many participants emphasised the importance of having positive and aspirational role models for women in business.

There was criticism that opportunities to demonstrate the achievements of women in the workplace (particularly Welsh women) were being missed by the BBC. An example given was that a number of the most popular 'comparison websites' were in fact set up by women.

Police dramas were criticised too in this context in portraying women police officers more often than not as "hard nosed individuals" - women who had had to become like men - rather than women who had kept their own attributes.

It was also felt that women from ethnic minorities were not often portrayed- and when they were these more often than not conformed to stereotypes.

Participants also wondered whether the BBC does enough to break down male/female stereotypes with this seen as a particular issue in continuing drama series. Why is a man at home looking after a family considered unusual on screen? Participants said that it was equally important for men to be seen on TV breaking stereotypes e.g. non-widowed stay at home father. One suggestion made was to wonder whether the BBC Wales factual series Snowdonia 1890would have been made more exciting if the gender roles within the historical reality TV series had been reversed - even for a day. It was considered by participants that DIY SOS was a particularly poor example of gender stereotyping.

Disappointment was expressed by participants at the BBC's apparent attitude towards older women with one example being Arlene Phillips removed as a presenter of Strictly Come Dancing "because she's an older woman" when one of her strengths had been her ability to discuss aspects of dancing from a technical perspective. Participants at the event also considered that Miriam O'Reilly had been dismissed from her role presenting Countryfile because of her age.

Participants said that it was frustrating that in male/female presenting partnerships the trend continued to be for an older man to be teamed up with a younger woman and considered that there was still pressure on women to conform to a certain "look" in order to "make it" on TV.

There was support for younger people to be seen on TV but within a diverse age range of presenters. Participants felt that the BBC should be able to be trusted to present a more diverse age range in its TV output.