Study shows "significant improvements" by the broadcaster in levels of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland coverage, but shows clear bias remains on health and education
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The BBC's news coverage of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland has almost doubled in the last two years, according to a report released by the BBC Trust today.
But the broadcaster was also found to still show a bias in favour of stories about England in some areas including health and education, where only eight out of 112 stories related to the three other countries. The latest research , which was carried out by Cardiff School of Journalism and based on "detailed content analysis of four weeks of network news and current affairs in October and November 2009", found overall that the broadcaster had made "significant improvements" but that more progress was needed.
Today's release follows a trust report in 2008 which identified areas where improvements needed to be made, including reporting on the devolved nations of the UK.
The report shows references to devolved nations in news reports have increased from 71 to 480 since the 2008 report, as well as a significant increase in television reporting from the three countries and a doubling of news items comparing policies between the areas.
However, it has still fallen short in some areas, with the BBC Trust saying it will look to the Executive to ensure improvements are made.
This includes making it clear in all BBC news items which part of the UK is being referred to, rather than being reported as if they apply to the whole of the UK when they are actually only applicable to England.
Richard Tait, chair of the trust's Editorial Standards Committee, said in a release that licence fee payers have made it clear they want better coverage for all nations of Britain.
"The trust is clear that the BBC should serve all audiences, and licence fee payers themselves tell us they want to know more about what's going on in the nations and regions of the UK. As a result of the recommendations we made in 2008, the trust is pleased that audiences are now seeing more stories about the devolved nations on the BBC – and stories that more accurately reflect the key issues in these areas.
"We will look to the director-general and his team to build on the progress that's been made, and continue to improve in the areas where news is still falling short."
