THE BBC AND ‘EUROPE’ ANALYSIS OF EU COVERAGE ON BBC RADIO 4's TODAY PROGRAMME 9 APRIL – 30 JUNE 2012 SUMMARY – Survey of BBC Radio 4 Today Programme 9 APRIL – 30 JUNE 2012 • The proportion of speakers who were clearly identified as eurosceptic was lower than in any of the eighteen previous Newswatch surveys. 99 guests (27%) spoke in favour of the EU or specific legislation, 60 (16%) were against the EU or specific legislation, and 207 speakers (57%) offered a neutral, factual or unclassifiable viewpoint. • This bias was compounded by that the programme rarely mounted coverage which genuinely investigated matters from the eurosceptic perspective. The expression of eurosceptic opinion amounted to only around 50 instances in 18 hours of EU coverage, most of them incidental comments. There were only a handful of interviews with those who were advocating a radical reappraisal or criticism of EU policy, compared to at least 20 alone on the subject of banking and fiscal union. • Those who could be defined as ‘robust’ eurosceptic – figures such as the Conservative backbench MP, Mark Reckless, who has stated publicly that he wants a radical re-shaping of the relationship with Brussels, including a referendum on the subject of ‘in or out’ – also made a very low level of appearances. There were no appearances by eurosceptic members of the Labour Party. The combined input of ‘robust’ eurosceptics was around 1,661 words. There were only four relatively short interviews with them – three with Lord Lamont and one with Mr Reckless. • No ‘robust’ eurosceptic was interviewed about the subject of a referendum on EU membership. The only figures that were Kenneth Clarke, who stated the idea was preposterous, and Lord Owen, who – although arguing that radical organisation of the EU was required to protect the single market – said he was a firm supporter of the acquis communautaire and the principle of continued UK membership. • Although a number of senior Conservative Party figures appeared on the programme, and they were asked about whether there should be a referendum on the changes in the eurozone, all of them said baldly this was not necessary because of the referendum ‘lock’. In balance terms, this made the absence of ‘robust’ eurosceptics even more puzzling – and especially so because all the senior Conservatives argued at length on the programme that closer integration of the eurozone was essential. • Labour figures who appeared, such as Chuka Umunna and Alistair Darling, made sweeping claims about the failure of ‘austerity’ policies, that they were fuelling a growth in right wing parties, and it was claimed that 3m UK jobs depended on the EU. Such views were not balanced by appearances from eurosceptics or sufficiently challenged by Today’s presenters. • Relatively few UK politicians figured in the EU coverage during the survey. There were more appearances by European politicians and EU officials. This created its own imbalance because all those who appeared from ‘Europe’ were broadly in favour of the EU and its policies. Those from Greece, for example, while they may have wanted a radical re-drafting of their bailout, were unanimously in favour of remaining in the eurozone. • The programme devoted 14.6% of its output to EU affairs, double the long term average. The coverage focused very heavily on the unfolding problems of the eurozone – and only eight and a half minutes per week dealt with other EU issues, equating to just 1.3% of Today’s available output. Only 9.4% of Today’s EU coverage focused on issues other than eurozone economics. In consequence, many EU-related matters of significant concern to the UK were seriously under-reported. A proposed 6.8% increase in the European Commission budget, for example, was deemed to merit only one short interview (with a Commission spokesman, who of course supported it). A proposed major overhaul in fisheries quotas ignored the eurosceptic perspective and had only minimal input from representatives of UK fishermen. • The EU ‘summit’ at the end of the period adopted measures towards further banking union as a solution to the eurozone crisis. Throughout the period, Today included contributions – some of them lengthy interviews – with speakers who favoured this approach. Proponents encompassed senior Labour and Conservative politicians, various EU figures, and a range of experts and commentators who appeared especially in the Business News sections. In contrast, there were only two contributors – their appearances both very brief - who disagreed with banking union. • Today projected in most of the coverage that the main battle of the period was between ’austerity; - as advocated especially by Angela Merkel, who was dubbed ‘the Iron Lady’ by BBC presenters – and ‘growth’, as championed by the British Labour Party, Greek left, President Obama and Francois Hollande. Programme coverage brought numerous examples of why ‘austerity’ was not working including a range of special reports chronicling suicide and hardship from Greece. Labour figures were given space to attack at length ‘anti-growth’ policies. But throughout the entire period, there was only one interview – with the German MP Michael Fuchs – with someone who thought that it was a valid policy, and no attempt to explore the eurosceptic viewpoint that unrealistic fiscal expectations had created inbuilt problems with the euro from the outset. The impression was strongly conveyed that the Today programme was a supporter of ‘growth’ rather than austerity. • Analysis of a range of EU-related topics covered by the programme – such as an Interview with Lord Mandelson, an examination of a claim by the European Commission of back duties on UK imports of garlic from China, the resignation of the Dutch government and the 6.8% budget rise being sought by the European Commission – also shows in microcosm the marked bias by Today against considering eurosceptic opinion. • A poll carried out on May 20 for the Independent on Sunday showed that amid the tumultuous events affecting the eurozone during this period, 46% of the UK population wanted to leave the EU. But despite this, only three speakers on Today were identifiably supporters of withdrawal. This was 0.8% of the total contributors. Only the survey undertaken one year previously, in summer 2011, yielded a lower figure. • Longer-term trends confirm that Today seriously under-reports withdrawal opinion. Since the publication of Lord Wilson’s report into the BBC coverage of the EU in 2005, Newswatch has monitored 1073 editions of Today, about half of those broadcast, covering three and a half years. In those programmes those clearly supporting withdrawal have been asked only 20 questions about the subject – that’s one question about withdrawal for every 54 editions (nine weeks) or every 153 programme hours. • Those who appeared who supported withdrawal were Nigel Farage – who was interviewed once and contributed a 90 word soundbite – and a vox contributor from Brussels. The combined contribution was 768 words, or 0.9% - less than one hundredth - of the total words spoken about the EU during the survey period. THE BBC’s TODAY PROGRAMME AND ‘EUROPE’ PART ONE: SUMMER 2012 MONITORING STATISTICS This survey investigates the Today programme’s coverage of EU news and current affairs over a twelve-week interval between Monday 9 April and Saturday 30 June 2012. Newswatch monitored and analysed all 72 editions in their entirety.. All programme items were timed and logged, and all items that had relevance to the European Union, or its relationship with the UK, were fully transcribed and subsequently analysed on a line-by-line basis. Information was collated in Newswatch’s bespoke database to analyse coverage patterns and to enable comparisons with data collected during the eighteen previous Newswatch projects undertaken since 2002. This methodology allows for weaknesses in individual programme items to be explored in detail, and also for longer-term trends and imbalances to be identified and investigated. 1.1 OVERVIEW Today is BBC Radio 4’s flagship news and current affairs programme. It broadcasts for three hours each weekday morning, and for two hours each Saturday. Each edition is also made available ‘on demand’ for those visiting the programme’s dedicated website and through the BBC iPlayer, and selections are included in a ‘Best of Today’ podcast.. The Today website also features an audio archive, containing programme material dating back to June 2003. RAJAR figures reveal that Today had a weekly audience reach of 6.76 million listeners during the second quarter of 2012 – the period 2nd April - 24th June. This was an increase of 100,000 listeners on the first quarter, but 400,000 down on the same quarter in 2011. 1.2 AIRTIME Newswatch’s airtime calculations focus on ‘feature reports’, to ensure totals are not affected by repeated content such as bulletins and newspaper reviews and ‘non-news’ items such as sport, weather and trailers for other Radio 4 programmes. The total space available on Today for features during the Summer 2012 survey interval was 132 hours and 50 minutes. Of this, 18 hours and 32 minutes – 14% of the total available airtime – was EU-related. All EU material broadcast during the survey was fully transcribed, categorised and analysed. These transcripts had a combined length of 269,000 words. Since 1999, Newswatch has monitored, tracked and analysed Today for 293 weeks, which equates to 1834 individual editions with a combined airtime of 4981 hours. This has generated over seven thousand EU transcripts, running to over 4 million words of broadcast output. This long-term monitoring has established that Today has, on average, devoted 6.4% of its ‘feature’ output to the discussion of EU themes. During the Summer 2012 interval, EU coverage was more than twice the long-term average, and the second highest of any Newswatch survey interval.