News-watch analysed all lunchtime and evening editions of Radio 1’s ‘Newsbeat’ for a ten-week period between 15 April and 23 June – the period in which the BBC’s Referendum Guidelines were in effect, and ‘broad balance’ ought to have been achieved between the Leave and Remain arguments on Britain’s membership of the European Union.
News-watch monitored four BBC programmes for an eight-week period between Monday 27 October and Saturday 21 December 2014. The programmes were: The World at One and PM on BBC Radio 4, BBC1’s News at Ten, and BBC2’s Newsnight. This equated to approximately 131 hours of broadcasting.
News-watch monitored nine BBC programmes for a period of six weeks between Monday 21 April and Sunday 1 June 2014. The BBC Radio 4 programmes selected for monitoring and analysis were: Today; the World at One (including the World This Weekend each Sunday); PM; The Six O’clock News; The World Tonight. The television broadcasts comprised the three main BBC1 bulletins – News at One, News at Six and News at Ten – and BBC 2’s Newsnight.
The survey interval focused on the 31 days preceding the European election, polling day itself, and 10 days subsequent to the election. This 42 day period equated to approximately 280 hours of broadcasting.
This latest survey covers fourteen weeks between September 16 and December 21, 2013 and encompasses every word spoken about the EU over 84 editions, adding up 251 separate items and a total of 121,000 words. The analysis is based on widely accepted data analysis techniques used by academics in media schools at universities such as Leeds and Loughborough.
This survey investigates the Today programme’s coverage of EU news and current affairs over a thirteen-week interval between Monday 17 September and Saturday 15 December 2012. Newswatch monitored and analysed all 78 editions of the Today programme broadcast during this interval.