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.