International television news in the UK focuses on a very limited number of stories and countries, according to a new research report published by the CBA. The report was written by Martin Scott and produced in partnership with the International Broadcasting Trust [IBT], with funding from the UK Government’s Department for International Development [DFID].
The research analysed broadcast news coverage in the UK and also investigated how UK audiences engage with international and development stories in other genres of TV programming. The results of the two week news study showed that more than half of all international coverage in the main bulletins focused on the USA, Australia and Israel. For a wider range of international news stories audiences have to turn to the digital rather than mainstream channels.
TV reality formats and drama were praised for finding creative and entertaining ways to show audiences the reality of everyday life elsewhere but in general the report highlighted that TV did not fulfil the potential it has to reflect the wider world to UK audiences.
Sally-Ann Wilson, who commissioned the research for the CBA said, “We live in an increasingly interconnected world and most people in the UK now have a range of connections with other parts of the world. The report clearly shows that audiences are curious to see more of how people elsewhere live their lives and it is an essential role for all Public Service Broadcasters to reflect that reality.”
A PDF of the full report and methodology is available for download.
- Download full report here (PDF file: 18 full-colour pages, 1.39MB)
- Download methodology here (PDF file: 6 pages, 41.6KB)
(Source: Commonwealth Broadcasting Association)
on Jun 29th, 2009 at 15:32
I have thought the same for a long time now. The rest of the world can enjoy BBC World News which according to them has the highest audience of any global news channel, but the only times that UK viewers can watch BBC World News bulletins are between 00:30 - 05:59 on the BBC News Channel and between 19:00 - 19:30 on BBC Four - we do not even get the full hour of World News Today at 19:00 UK time. If you wish to watch BBC World News within the UK on the internet it is blocked to UK viewers even when trying a proxy. The only way to watch it outside the above times is on Satellite and it is not on the same satellite as Sky and Freesat, so it is virtually impossible to watch here in the UK. The reasoning behind it is that BBC World News is a commercially funded tv channel but that doesn’t prevent it from being simulcast overnight or for half an hour on weekday evenings here in the UK. The adverts are simply replaced with a summary of UK news or BBC promos. Why can’t they do this 24 hours a day? I appreciate that there isn’t the justification for putting BBC World News on UK terrestrial freeview due to lack of space and duplication of major world news stories, however they could make full bulletins of world news available through the red button in the same way that they do with live sports coverage and there is no reason why a UK version of BBC World News should not be available to UK viewers through the BBC iPlayer or on Freesat. The reason why we should have greater access to BBC World News here in the UK is that the domestic BBC News Channel focuses primarily on domestic news stories. Only world news stories that are deemed to be internationally significant or impact on British citizens are generally shown on the domestic BBC News service. There are many news stories covered by BBC World News that don’t make it to the UK news channel, yet here’s the one compelling reason for what I’ve written above, as licence fee payers we are funding the journalism in order to create the news stories for BBC World News, yet we cannot watch it other than at inconvenient times!
on Jun 29th, 2009 at 15:57
As a British citizen living in the Netherlands, where we have BBC1 and BBC2 on the cable, I can easily compare the BBC’s international news coverage on any given day with the Dutch TV news broadcast by NOS (public) and RTL (commercial). I must say that I find there’s much more international news on the Dutch bulletins than there is on BBC1. And of course, since part of my working time is spent on current affairs coverage for the RNW website, I have access to the international newswires and I know what stories are regarded as important by the international news agencies.
My impression is that the BBC doesn’t like carrying foreign stories if it doesn’t have a correspondent on the spot, or it can’t get any English-language reports. Here in the Netherlands, a lot of the news reports are subtitled, because Dutch viewers are used to subtitling, and much more use is made of international news exchanges. It’s as if the BBC considers using reports by overseas broadcasters as a last resort rather than a standard way of getting things on the air.
But if you look at the viewing figures for the BBC’s flagship 10 pm bulletin, they’re often below 5 million, and ITN even lower at below 3 million. So the majority of people apparently don’t think it’s even worth watching the news. Here the 8 o’clock NOS news on Nederland 1 is something of an institution. It frequently has more viewers than ITN’s News at 10. Between 2 and 3 million is normal, which is not bad considering that the population of this country is about a quarter that of the UK. And the NOS bulletin follows the other popular bulletin at 1930 on RTL4, which also has a large audience. So the Dutch are just a lot more interested in what’s going on in the world, or so it would seem.
on Jun 29th, 2009 at 17:30
I’ve been talking to former NOS correspondents in Moscow who note that the number and depth of foreign stories in the NOS Journaal is actually smaller than it used to be - more short reports with a Q & A than commissioned reportages. Audience research showed that domestic stories were not getting enough coverage -and RTL was climbing higher in the ratings. Watching Russia Today, DW TV, Euronews, France 24 and BBC World News in my hotel room, I would agree with the CBA findings that coverage of developments outside the Anglo Saxon world (sphere of influence) is getting increasingly poorer on the Beeb. Euronews does a nice round-up of European news, especially from the southen and Eastern parts of the continent and France 24 has more lively analysis than DW-TV. BBC World News is driving me mad with the same generic promos for programmes in the ad breaks - I think they must be suffering more than most with the ad downturn.
on Jun 29th, 2009 at 18:04
A few years ago I spent two weeks in London. I had a great time there but I was a bit disappointed with virtually no world news coverage on local BBC channels. I guess I was expecting that the bulletins will be as comprehensive as those on BBC World News. Not at all!
I guess it’s a world-wide phenomenon… Besides, pretty soon watching TV will be like reading a morning newspaper. - Something that only older folks do!