Author Archives

Andrew

European Election Survey – Summer 2009

On Monday 27 April 2009, Newswatch began a 44-day investigation into the BBC’s coverage of European Union news and current affairs. The survey focused on the period approaching the Elections to the European Parliament held on Thursday June 4, and continued until Tuesday June 9, two days after the announcement of the results.   Ten BBC news and current affairs programmes were monitored during this period, five from Radio 4, and five from BBC Television. In total, this amounted to 289 hours of news broadcasts.

News-watch Survey – Winter 2008

On Monday 31 March 2008, Newswatch UK began a twelve-week investigation into Today’s coverage of European Union news and current affairs.  The monitoring interval included the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty on 12 June and the EU’s biannual European Council meeting on 19-20 June. Other significant EU issues to arise during the twelve week period included controversy surrounding MEP’s expenses, the re-emergence of a call for an EU-wide army, and the rise in the value of the euro against the pound.

 

News-watch Survey – Summer 2008

On Monday 31 March 2008, Newswatch UK began a twelve-week investigation into Today’s coverage of European Union news and current affairs. Each edition of the programme was recorded, logged and archived in its entirety, and every item of relevance to the European Union or its relationship to the United Kingdom was fully transcribed.

The monitoring interval included the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty on 12 June and the EU’s biannual European Council meeting on 19-20 June. Other significant EU issues to arise during the twelve week period included controversy surrounding MEP’s expenses, the re-emergence of a call for an EU-wide army, and the rise in the value of the euro against the pound.

Today Programme Survey, and response to BBC Independent Advisor’s Findings – Winter 2007

In November 2007, the BBC Trust published an Independent Editorial Adviser’s report into an appeal to the Editorial Standards Committee by Lord Pearson of Rannoch.[1] Lord Pearson’s initial complaint had been based on the findings of a previous Newswatch survey[2] undertaken in Autumn-Winter 2006, and the IEA report marked the first significant attempt by the BBC to engage with Newswatch’s methodology and survey data on anything more than a superficial level.  This survey addresses the findings of the IEA report, and also presents a fourteen-week survey of the Today programme, beginning on Monday 10 September 2007.

[1] Independent Editorial Advisers Considerations Regarding the Appeal to the Editoiral (sic) Standards Committee Concerning the Today Programme’s Coverage of Europe, From September to December 2006. BBC Trust.

[2] This survey was published under Newswatch’s previous name, Minotaur Media Tracking.