BBC TRUST REVIEW OF BBC NETWORK NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS COVERAGE OF THE FOUR NATIONS OF THE UK

PROGRESS REPORT FROM BBC MANAGEMENT September 2009

BACKGROUND

In June 2008, the BBC Trust published an impartiality report on the BBC’s network news coverage of the devolved UK, and the extent to which it was successfully reflecting the constitutional changes begun 10 years earlier. Included in the report was an independent assessment, commissioned by the Trust from Professor Anthony King of Essex University. In July 2008, BBC Management submitted to the Trust a proposed strategy for responding to the issues and concerns that had been identified in the report. The management strategy was accepted, and published, by the Trust. It proposed a significant number of specific actions, and also undertook to report back to the Trust, after 6 months and again after 12 months, on the progress that had been made in putting those proposals into action. A report was duly submitted and approved in January 2009. This further progress report, completed in July 2009, evaluates the situation one year on from the publication of the Trust’s original report.

Like its predecessor, this report offers an assessment of the improvements in the range, richness and clarity of BBC coverage of the UK’s nations and regions, including external responses where available.

ASSESSMENT OF BBC NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS COVERAGE OF THE UK NATIONS

A number of operational changes and significant initiatives have come to fruition since the January 2009 interim report, which taken together will result in sustained and long-term improvements in the quality of BBC coverage in this area. The changes extend across different parts of the editorial chain, including planning, newsgathering, output/services and training. They include the following:

• All senior editors in BBC News have attended a two-hour workshop, examining the findings and implications of the Trust’s report and looking in detail at the practical ways in which they should be responding. An abridged version of the workshop has been discussed with all editorial staff.

• The College of Journalism has produced an entirely new and vastly expanded Reporting the UK online module, containing films, guides, online glossaries, guides to terminology and titles and interactive exercises.

• All senior network editors are taking part in a programme of placements, involving visits to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English Regions. These are intended to help improve their understanding of the devolution story from different perspectives, meet politicians and officials from the devolved bodies, and cultivate contacts with BBC colleagues and others.

• Subject specialists from across the UK in health, science and the environment, education and social policy and home affairs have been brought together in a series of day-long workshops designed to help them establish better sharing of information and ideas.

In addition, the merger of BBC News with the English Regions has had the effect of creating much stronger ties and much closer co-operation between London and the BBC presence in the rest of England. This will contribute significantly to our continuing efforts to report the whole of the UK better, and in particular will assist us in our efforts to base more of our reporting outside London.

Similarly, there has been improved coordination between the BBC’s network and nations teams with greater sharing of intelligence, correspondents and resources. The nations’ political editors, for example, have contributed regularly to UK-wide news output and the newly-appointed Scotland Business Editor has begun to feature more prominently in network coverage of the financial crisis.

These operational changes and initiatives are all designed to feed through into improved performance on television and radio in particular, and allow us to demonstrate that we have sustained and built substantially on the progress we reported in January 2009.

At a micro level, the vast majority of news items across the output now make clear which part or parts of the UK are being referred to. Demanding this clarity was one of the first management actions in response to the report. Our own monitoring shows that although we have occasional lapses, we are considerably ahead of where we were, and are exercising constant vigilance. Applying a broader brush, we can point to a wide range and increasing number of stories from around the UK, and particularly in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which are finding their way on to network news when they would not have done so before; or are the product of increased co-operation between network and nations news teams; and often both. We are also taking more opportunities to reflect the reality of devolution and key political developments in the nations, to a UK-wide audience.

The following sections of the report provide a more detailed assessment of progress in relation to the main areas of concern identified by the Trust’s review: (i) the overall range and richness of network news coverage of the nations and regions; (ii) coverage of devolution and significant political developments in the nations; and a broader approach to coverage of the English regions as part of this drive to improve reporting of the whole of the UK; and (iii) the clarity and precision of news reporting

Drawing on the rich variety of the UK in network coverage The 10th anniversary of devolution in May 2009, during the campaign for the local and European elections, offered an obvious opportunity to reflect on these matters, and it was fully seized, especially with reference to Scotland and Wales. The delay in establishing the Northern Ireland Assembly meant that ‘10 Years On’ reflections would not have been appropriate, and indeed the political developments there have been documented more closely and on a more regular basis over the last few years, because of the particular circumstances.

Some highlights of the 10th anniversary coverage in Wales and Scotland: Special correspondent Allan Little reported for the Ten O’Clock News and The World Tonight from his home county of Dumfries and Galloway, highlighting among other things the way Scottish policy diverges from that in England and elsewhere in fields like university tuition fees and long-term care for the elderly.

Wales network correspondent Wyre Davies did companion pieces on both programmes, assessing the effect of policy decisions taken by the Assembly Government over that period. There was extensive coverage elsewhere too, from both countries – on Radio Five Live (including an interview with First Minister Rhodri Morgan) on the morning radio and television programmes (focussing on the big changes in health, education and transport policy) and on the News Channel, where, for example Welsh political editor Betsan Powys was on air, interviewing guests from the four principal parties. A sequence on the Six O’Clock News brought Wyre Davies together with Scotland correspondent Lorna Gordon, for a double-location report dramatising the contrast between policies in the two nations.

In June 2009, an entire edition of Panorama was devoted to a study of the effects of devolution over the past ten years, and an examination of the future constitutional position of Scotland.

The European elections threw up strong news stories from both Scotland and Wales, which, even against a backdrop of dramatic political events in London, were duly noted and analysed.

The Home Editor, Mark Easton, has responded with enthusiasm to the widening of his role to take greater account in his reportage of the realities of devolution. It is a natural fit with the extensive work he has done in the last couple of years in charting the changing face of the UK through social trends and the effects of phenomena such as globalisation, demographics, new technology and climate change. As well as travelling more widely throughout the UK, he writes a blog (Mark Easton's UK) which features a Map of the Week. It has become a place for a series of essays and discussion on the changing character of Britain and the story of the devolved UK.

The recession

The final paragraph of our progress report in January 2009 read as follows. “We see the economic downturn and its consequences, which are likely to extend far into 2009 and perhaps beyond, as one obvious opportunity to offer a depth and richness of coverage across the whole of the UK, which will represent a benchmark for our future efforts in this area.”

The economic downturn has again been the biggest domestic story over the six months since those words were written, overshadowed only in May by the revelations on MPs’ expenses and the subsequent political fallout. Our report in January 2009 demonstrated the way in which we had brought a genuinely UK-wide approach to our multi-award- winning coverage of the recession. We have maintained and extended that approach through early 2009. The BBC’s portfolio of news outlets have again combined effectively to provide a full picture of the impact of events across the UK.

In October last year, network news offered a snapshot of the economy across the whole day. Branded The Downturn, it encompassed all the BBC’s UK-wide and nations/regions news outlets. In April 2009, the day the latest GDP figures confirmed the deepening of the recession, we undertook a similar exercise, asking BBC News correspondents across the country to report on the way each region was being affected by the downturn. Several of them wrote pieces for the website (at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8015082.stm), others appeared on the airwaves throughout the day to give localised snapshots of a national crisis. The BBC News Channel coverage featured no fewer than 11 regional correspondents and two Nations correspondents, as it built a UK-wide picture of the effects of the downturn. All this was possible because of a huge level of co-operation and co-ordination between BBC news teams across the UK in both the planning and execution.

Some other examples of the way in which the recession and its consequences have been reported on a genuinely UK-wide basis:

• Network business and economics correspondents have reported from Stoke-on- Trent, Swindon, Cambridge, Kettering, Inverness, Ebbw Vale, Dublin, Birmingham, Carlisle, Luton, Manchester, Belfast, Middlesbrough, Hereford, Oswestry, Colchester, Ashford, Boston and Bristol in order to understand the geographical dimensions of the recession • Network regional correspondents have all reported on the story from the perspectives of their own areas, as have network teams in Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff. Nations and Regions correspondents have frequently featured on network outlets. • Coverage of UK-wide stories – unemployment figures, car sales figures, economic indicators – always offered at least one element of location reporting outside London, often more.

All of these themes – London-based correspondents travelling the country, network and nations/local correspondents contributing to the coverage, increased co-operation between newsrooms – can be illustrated in the case study of one typical story.

The saga of whether the Birmingham van maker LDV would survive the recession lasted some three months. Throughout this period, the business team in London were in close contact with the network bureau in Birmingham. A London business correspondent, John Moylan, and the Birmingham business reporter, Peter Plisner, led the coverage across all outlets. Plisner broke several developments live on the News Channel and for network radio from Birmingham, and our regional network correspondents, Fiona Trott, Claire Marshall and Anthony Bartram, all covered the story extensively on both regional and network outlets. Through Plisner’s contacts, BBC News was the first with the story that the rescue deal had collapsed, and gained exclusive access to the plant. The BBC alone accompanied the administrator as he went in for the first time when the company finally went under. This material was used both regionally and on the networks.

The Business and Economics Unit has also undertaken two significant exercises in public engagement, in Newcastle and Manchester. Business editor Robert Peston travelled to Newcastle to meet stakeholders affected by demise of Northern Rock – the story he broke in late 2007. He was interviewed extensively by the local media – both BBC and non-BBC.

At least 500 members of the public received advice from BBC experts and more than 20 independent financial advisers, at a Money Matters Roadshow at the Trafford Centre in Manchester. In addition, live editions of Working Lunch, You and Yours, and Moneybox were broadcast from the Centre, and there were live contributions to Radio Manchester, Breakfast, the News Channel and other radio, television and online outlets. A second Money Matters Roadshow is planned for Scotland in early October 2009, in association with BBC Scotland. A roadshow for small businesses is also being planned.

Improving the balance of coverage, and reflecting devolution The BBC has taken more opportunities to reflect the complexities of devolution. Its television, radio and online output have offered clearer and more frequent illustrations of the effects of the devolution process in key areas. Policy areas where the different approaches across the UK have been covered on network outlets include health provision, welfare provision, education at all levels, university fees, the legal system, and aspects of social policy such as combating alcohol and drug abuse.

Across the agenda, the increased awareness on the part of network news outlets to the possibilities of carrying a broader range of stories from across the UK and reflecting more consistently the reality of devolution, is underpinned by closer co-operation with national and regional news teams, sharing intelligence, correspondents and resources.

Network news and BBC Scotland

The publication of the Calman Commission recommendations, the furore surrounding Michael Martin, the row over the Scottish budget, the 10th anniversary of devolution and the results of the European Elections, all helped push Scottish political and devolution issues well up the BBC’s network news agenda. The European Election results programmes were a joint venture, and another good example of Political Programmes and the Nations working well together to enhance the output of both.

We have already noted that the effects of the economic downturn in Scotland were well documented, and there have been individual policy stories of Scottish-only application which have been featuring on network news. Most prominent of these were the proposals to impose minimum prices for alcohol. The BBC was first with this story, thanks to a combination of the efforts of BBC Scotland and the contacts forged by London-based health correspondent Branwen Jeffreys. This meant that we were able to obtain details of the plans and plot our coverage early – allowing us to run with the story in some depth and detail while other media organisations were still being briefed.

Reports from Scotland were also frequent elements of network coverage of swine flu, owing to the large number of cases to emerge there. This story offered further opportunities for close co-operation between newsrooms.

The network team in Glasgow continued to supply an increased number of Scottish stories for the Six and the Ten; and BBC Scotland’s specialist correspondents such as Brian Taylor and Glenn Campbell (politics), Eleanor Bradford (health) and Douglas Fraser (business) have been regular contributors to the News Channel on a number of big stories.

BBC Scotland’s investigations team has continued to make documentaries for Panorama. The 60 minute undercover special Britain’s Homecare Scandal was watched by 3.5 million people and achieved an impressive AI of 89.

In addition to those already mentioned, some 50 stories from Scotland have appeared on network news output over the past few months, ranging from the helicopter crash to the reintroduction of the beaver.

News is boosting the newsgathering capacity of the network team in Scotland by investing in VSAT (lightweight satellite) technology, due to come into service in September 2009. This will reduce travel time, make the network bureau more technically self-sufficient, and allow correspondents to produce material for multimedia outlets in a way not easily achievable previously. The team have also been equipped with Blackberrys to improve communications with base and allow correspondents to file more easily for the website.

Network news and BBC Wales

As noted, the 10th anniversary of devolution, and the European Election results, offered plenty of opportunities for coverage from Wales. The particular significance of the fall in Labour's vote in Wales was recognised and given prominence in network pieces.

The Jeremy Vine Show, and The Daily Politics with Andrew Neil broadcast successfully from the Assembly studios for special programmes on the tenth anniversary of devolution.

Network news also showed interest in the MMR vaccination story in Wales, though were perhaps a little slow to do so. Other stories have included the All Wales Convention, Welsh language LCO (a consultation exercise to discuss whether the WAG should be able to make laws about the Welsh language), the Assembly Government's efforts to ease the recession, Professor Hugh Pennington's E-coli inquiry and the Assembly Government decision to cull badgers in West Wales to help eradicate TB. All the stories that were flagged by BBC Wales as being of UK-wide significance were accorded BBC network coverage. Nor is this a one-way street. Network correspondents frequently appear on Good Morning Wales, and Welsh locations are often used to illustrate UK-wide stories, such as house prices.

Like BBC Scotland, BBC Wales also report a greater awareness and willingness among network programme editors and producers towards Welsh, devolution-related stories, and a greater appreciation that those stories are significant to UK audiences. Mistakes are much less common, because of this better understanding of devolution and more willingness to ask for advice.

Radio Five Live invited its reporter in Wales, Mark Hutchings, to chair some workshops with London-based staff to discuss the implications of King for the network and to offer guidance on how best to ensure that reporting of devolved matters is accurate, informative, interesting and relevant.

Wales Political Editor Betsan Powys reports that most Assembly Members agree progress was made in the immediate aftermath of the King Report but that they see further room for improvement. They feel that the Welsh Assembly itself is not routinely covered with enough prominence by network programmes. This may in part reflect differing expectations as to the appropriate level of coverage on UK-wide outlets as opposed to the BBC cross- platform services for Wales. Radio Five Live is often praised by both the First Minister and Presiding Officer for covering more Welsh stories and having more Welsh voices, perhaps even on stories which aren't specifically Welsh. Even so, there was little coverage by network as a whole of the election of a new Liberal Democrat leader.

Health correspondent Branwen Jeffreys arranged a series of meetings with ministers, officials and health organisations in Wales to get a Welsh perspective on health issues. Further such meetings may be organised in future.

An edition of the audience feedback programme Newswatch (which is produced by BBC News and aired on BBC1 and the News Channel) came from Cardiff on June 12. It was devoted entirely to Welsh issues, including an assessment of how well network news had responded to the Trust report in coverage of Wales. This was a worthwhile exercise, though the programme was not without its faults. Further, it caused unintentional offence to some members of the audience when the presenter, Ray Snoddy, closed the programme by saying that 'normal service' would be resumed the following week when it returned to its home base in London. This was a good example of how the benefits of a well-intentioned piece of programme commissioning can be undermined by a throwaway remark. The Director of News brought this to the attention of the programme producer, who immediately contacted Controller, Wales to offer an apology.

Network news and BBC Northern Ireland

Perhaps the biggest story in Northern Ireland in the first half of 2009 involved the killings in March of two soldiers and a police officer by dissident republicans. Although clearly a news story first and foremost, its political implications were obvious, heightened by the striking statements of Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. It was the lead story on network news output for a number of days. BBC Parliament went live with the ministerial statements on the murders and the continuous news channels took live coverage of the remarkable statement by the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, which had added significance in that he made it standing shoulder to shoulder with the Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde and the First Minister Peter Robinson.

Covering the story provided a major challenge for the small Belfast-based network news team, and there was extensive co-operation with BBC Northern Ireland. Network relied heavily on BBCNI for pictures and trucks, and in turn despatched the news helicopter from London. At the last minute, the family of the murdered policeman said they'd be happy to have cameras in the church at his funeral. As the result of a swift redeployment of limited resources on site, the News Channel was able to take the service in its entirety. With the help of senior staff at BBCNI, the deputy head of Newsgathering produced a briefing note for staff in London about dissident republicanism in its various forms, with a glossary of key facts and terminology.

Co-operation on this story was reflected more widely at other times. Indeed it is the view of BBCNI that relations between teams and newsrooms are very strong. There is an appreciation in London of the strains on the network team in Belfast, and steps have been taken to try to address this. BBCNI reporters now cover Network news three out of four weekends a month.

In terms of coverage, the breadth of news from Northern Ireland is reflected more fully than before on network TV and radio. One of the major complaints in the past has been that significant stories in Northern Ireland tend to be overlooked unless they are about politics or security. This is no longer the case. For example: the main TV bulletins ran pieces on the Presbyterian Mutual Society collapse and the young rising star of golf, Rory McIlroy. Moneybox also followed the Presbyterian Mutual story and network radio took a sustained interest in the sit-in at the Visteon car parts factory.

Resources were also shared on coverage of the sectarian murder of Kevin McDaid in Coleraine, the European elections, the judgment in the Omagh families case against the Real IRA leaders, and the persecution of Romanian immigrants..

Again, this is a two-way process. In recent months Mark Simpson has done two-ways for Good Morning Ulster and Newsline, and well as providing pictures on some breaking stories, for example the Visteon sit-in.

There continues to be a welcome trend of using Northern Ireland to illustrate UK-wide issues. For example, network correspondent Mark Simpson did a piece from Belfast on how the EU working time directive would affect the UK, and another featuring people who were doing unexpectedly well out of the recession – such as cobblers – or adapting to it in some way.

Apart from reacting, albeit rather slowly, to McIlroy's success, network news did give due weight to the Irish rugby team's Grand Slam win on March 20. There was a full report, including a live reaction piece from Belfast on the late TV bulletin, plus copious amounts of radio coverage - including the Dublin homecoming the following day.

Network news and the English Regions

The structural change that came into effect in March 2009, bringing together BBC News and the English Regions into a single department and under a single management, will underpin many of the actions we have taken to improve coverage of England. The Controller of English Regions, David Holdsworth, is now a member of the BBC News Board and the BBC Editorial Board, and the merger is creating many more new relationships, structures and contacts right down the chain. Some of these are detailed elsewhere in this report, and many are still being developed. The change will improve the range and breadth of our coverage of England outside London, helping us to extract maximum value from the resources and expertise that exist across a department now numbering 6,000 people. It’s important to stress that this is a two-way process, and that the benefits from this deeper relationship will be felt by both network news and the English Regions. As noted above, there is no indication that network news relationships with BBC Scotland, BBC Wales and BBC Northern Ireland will in any way suffer from the new structure. In all three cases, those relationships are stronger than they have ever been.

Current affairs programmes on network radio and television

Current affairs programmes, with less reliance on the daily news agenda, longer preparation times and extended space, are making a full contribution to the overall effort to improve the range, clarity and richness of BBC News coverage.

Under an arrangement that came into operation in April 2008, 18 editions of Panorama had been produced outside London by April 2009 – eight in Belfast, five in Manchester and four in Glasgow. A further programme, commissioned from an independent, was produced in Leeds. Special correspondent Richard Bilton has begun an 18-month attachment to BBC Northern Ireland, where he will work for Panorama. This is a high profile appointment – Bilton is a well-known news reporter who has fronted a number of Panorama reports and whose three-part series on the surveillance society was aired on BBC2 in May 2009. Panorama has also appointed two new producers, both of whom will be based in Northern Ireland. As noted, an entire Panorama, presented by Scotland political editor Brian Taylor, looked at the ten years since devolution and the prospects for an independent Scotland. Other recent editions of Panorama which have tackled devolution issues include: Does Your MP Work for You? – which touched on differences between transparency at Westminster and Holyrood; Britain's Homecare Scandal – in which differences in care provision were referred to; and Crime Pays – including references to Scottish agencies involved in asset recovery. Panorama also commissioned a citizen reporter-led investigation, produced by BBC Wales, into the future of steelmaking by Corus in the UK.

On radio, ‘Beyond Westminster’ occupies the Saturday morning political slot during Parliamentary recesses. Its remit falls squarely within the response to the Trust Report, looking as it does beyond Westminster at the importance and effects of policy as it is experienced across the UK.

Improving the clarity and precision of BBC news reporting As noted, BBC News has been monitoring its own performance, this being one of the undertakings in the Management strategy. We have completed three separate monitoring reports since the Trust review, each of them of a week's duration. These reports are considered by the Editorial Board, run by the Director of News, and the Journalism Board, led by Mark Byford, Deputy Director General.

A range of the most important output is monitored qualitatively. Programmes are measured against the Management response to the Trust’s report which promised “better labelling of stories, more policy comparisons and greater richness of coverage from across the nations and regions."

The results have underlined the general feeling that big strides have been made, but that constant vigilance is needed to maintain progress and improve further.

It is clear from our monitoring that programmes have been making considerable efforts to improve the accuracy of their scripting by stating which reports apply to constituent parts of the UK.

Initially, it was possible to discern a division between the more strictly controlled scripting of news bulletins, and the slightly looser format, or colloquial approach, of presenter cues in longer form programmes, where many of the errors were to be found. But there were encouraging signs that Today, for example, has come to grips with the details of devolution even in the most tightly-written of its brief presenter cues.

Although there are still occasional mistakes or omissions in our scripts, there is no doubt that the trend is one of continued improvement.

In terms of the ‘enrichment’ demanded by the Trust review, there have also been signs of progress as described earlier. On 1 December, for example, the Six o’Clock News went to considerable lengths to provide an opt-out for the separate nations and regions, following an overall analysis of the changing face of the UK, presented in London by Mark Easton. It was an example of inventive editorial thinking which might not have existed prior to the Trust report.

Some coverage was, however, less successful. An edition of Newsnight at the end of July demonstrated that we are still capable of falling below the standards we have set for ourselves. A detailed study of the likely future pressures on health service budgets, the programme did not make clear which country or countries of the UK it was talking about; and its coverage failed to recognise that with each of the four nations having its own National Health Service, each with its own budget, it was not possible to discuss the subject in generalised, UK-wide terms. As the programme progressed, it became clear that the focus of the coverage was the NHS in England, but this was never made explicit.

The Director of News discussed these shortcomings with the editor of Newsnight, who accepted that they represented a lapse. He undertook to work with his team on improved performance in this area, and we will ensure that Newsnight features fully in all future monitoring exercises.

In reporting the decision by the European Court of Human Rights that innocent people (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) should not have their DNA kept by the national database (as is the case in Scotland), not all programmes made clear that there exists a distinctive Scottish policy, although those that did were assiduous in so doing. Moreover, no monitored programme commissioned a report from Scotland on the effect this policy has had, or has not had, on the fight against crime.

Devolution is not always a precise science, and uncertainty over the remit of some policies can mirror the confusion in parts of government itself over the reach of some of its policies. But such uncertainty is part of the developing story of the constitutional settlement – and we have not always been open about the inability of official sources of information to provide the clarity for which we have searched.

Overall, however, our monitoring confirms that programmes have shown a much greater awareness of the issue and a readiness to engage with it.

King on King

We took advantage of a meeting with Professor King to seek his views on the way BBC News had responded to his report and its findings. No-one made a closer study of the situation as it was prior to June 2008, and so no-one is better placed to make an assessment of how much progress we have made. Professor King remains an avid consumer of much BBC News output, although obviously not to the same degree as when he was working on his report. He believes that we have made substantial headway to correct many of the problems he identified. He made the following comments, which he was happy to have quoted in this report:

"Now that I have returned to being an intermittent consumer of BBC news programming, I think there has been a sea change in its performance over the last few months. Whether or not that is the consequence, or part consequence, of my report, I don't know. But whereas I used to glare at the radio or the television because of the bad reporting or non-reporting of the devolved nations, I am now much more apt to cheer at the coverage. It seems to me that the network coverage of these issues is - both quantitatively and qualitatively - hugely better than it was a couple of years ago."

BBC Audience Councils

The Deputy Director General has visited all four Audience Councils in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England during the year to discuss the Trust’s report and Management’s response. BBC Management has taken on board the views expressed by Audience Councils in their Annual Reports for 2008/09.

The Councils are generally of the view that network news coverage of devolved matters is now more accurate than previously and improvements in coverage have been made. But they say more could be done to explore differing policy contexts in the nations. This very much mirrors our own assessment.

Audience Council Scotland report: “We concluded that network news had achieved greater accuracy and combined a wider variety of perspectives following the Impartiality Review. However, there was room for further progress in accuracy and richness of coverage. News coverage from the devolved nations was often brief and could appear tokenistic’’.

Audience Council Wales report: “(Our) own assessment, conducted in January 2009, concluded that there had been some improvements in the way in which network news differentiated between the nations of the UK and the differing governance arrangements in each nation. However, there remained room for improvement, in particular presenting the differences in the approaches of the various nations to particular issues.”

Audience Council Northern Ireland report: “Overall we have found that there has been a clear improvement in the balance and contextualisation from around the UK. However, we have also observed instances where important local stories were not adequately covered on network programmes and where opportunities for clarity and comparison were missed. We also believe more could be done to reflect the breadth of issues which affect audiences in Northern Ireland, covering areas such as health, education, the economy and the arts.”

Audience Council England report welcomed the “greater accuracy” in the coverage of devolved matters. However, it added, “English audiences still wanted to see more matters relating to England outside London and the Westminster village, greater coverage of the diverse communities for whom England is home and a holding to account of the Regional Development Agencies and other large budget-holding public bodies in the regions.”

CONCLUSION

Our report in January 2009 demonstrated that the Trust Report had received a serious and wide-ranging response within BBC News, with some actions already established. In many areas, however, we reported that the foundations for future progress had been put in place, and that it would take time to build upon them.

This second report shows that significant progress has been made, and there is tangible evidence of delivery in virtually all of the areas earmarked for attention. Professor King himself acknowledges as much in the comments quoted in this report, and our progress has also been acknowledged by all four of the Audience Councils. Much of this progress stems from the strong and clear leadership of the BBC’s senior editorial team, which has given this process a high priority; and unprecedented levels of collaboration at every level between network news and the Nations and Regions The scope for collaboration with the English Regions was given a substantial fillip by the restructuring exercise which brought the Regions and BBC News into the same department.

There is now considerable momentum behind the changes that have been put in place. Our approach has been to engage with the issues arising from the Trust Report at all levels – from the basic accuracy of story labelling to raising the consciousness and changing the mindset of our editorial staff. The management strategy of July 2008 signalled a determination to pursue this comprehensive approach, and this report and its predecessor shows that there has been substantial follow-through.

Our assessment is that the quality of BBC journalism and the service we provide to audiences throughout the UK has improved very substantially as a result of the huge push behind this effort. The Trust Report and the King assessment constituted an urgent call to arms, and we believe that we have responded accordingly.

We agree with the Audience Councils that the value of all this work will be greatly diminished, however, if we cannot keep up the pace. That is also the message we hear from politicians in the devolved bodies, who recognise the efforts we have made thus far, but remain concerned about our ability and will to keep it up. To this end, we have emphasised in all our communications to staff, that our response must be sustainable over the long term. We need to consolidate and to maintain the improvements we have made. We are very conscious of the need to do so. We will be judged, and will continue to judge ourselves, over time. After the work we have done over the past 12 months, the prospects of success seem good, although we recognise the need to remain vigilant.

BBC Management September 2009