News-Watch Reports

News-watch monitored and logged every edition of Today between 17 September and 20 October, a period of five weeks or 30 editions.  Detailed monitoring was undertaken for the weeks of the European Council meeting in Salzburg (17-22 September) and the Informal Meeting of Heads of State and Government in Brussels (15-20 October). This involved the full transcription of all reports pertaining to Brexit or the UK’s relationship with the European Union, as well as the analysis of these transcripts both quantitatively and qualitatively.

News-watch monitored and analysed all thirteen editions of ‘Brexit: A Love Story?’, broadcast between March and September 2018 as part of Radio 4’s lunchtime news and current affairs programme, The World at One. The series was also made available as a podcast, and for download through iPlayer from its dedicated web page.

On March 29, 2018 BBC Radio 4 broadcast a day of programmes about Brexit designed to reflect the issues involved one year before the EU departure date.

Eight separate programmes were involved: special editions of Today, The Long View (a historical discussion programme), The World at One, Dead Ringers and the World Tonight, along with ad hoc commissions The Channel, The Brexit Lab and The EU after Brexit.

News-watch monitored the five editions in Series 3 of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Brexit: A Guide for The Perplexed’, broadcast each lunchtime between Monday 19 and Friday 23 February, 2018.

Each programme was a 12-minute pre-recorded package, presented by the BBC’s Europe Correspondent, Chris Morris. The titles were: ‘Medicines’; ‘Food’; ‘Gibraltar’, ‘Brexit’s most Vulnerable’ (principally about post-Brexit prospects in the West Midlands), and ‘Status Quo’ (about the transition period).

This survey focuses on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme during the period of the fifth round of Brexit negotiations, 4 October – 9 November 2017.

How pro-Brexit views have been marginalised in the BBC’s news coverage

The survey covers EU content in the campaign period (3 May to 7 June) of the 2017 General Election on BBC1’s News at Ten and BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

This paper examines the BBC’s coverage, since 2002, of those on the left who wanted to leave the EU, including during the 2016 Referendum and the 2017 General Election. Data is from 30 individual News-watch surveys, analysing over 5,500 hours of BBC output, and 274 hours of EU-related content.

News-watch analysed all EU and Brexit-related coverage broadcast on the Today programme for one week between 29 March and 4 April 2017, coinciding with the delivery of the letter informing the European Union of Britain’s intention to leave, as set out in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The Today programme carried 5 hours and 5 minutes of EU coverage, almost half of its available airtime and carried contributions from 124 guest speakers.

News-watch analysed all Brexit coverage broadcast in the Today programme’s dedicated Business News slots for a 26 weeks between 23 June and 21 December 2016.  The survey focused on 130 separate editions of Today and ecompassed 208 individual programme items.