Consultation Response - Media 12 - Cardiff University PDF 2 MB

Defence 2.2 +1.4 1.9 +1.0 2.2 +2.0 2.0 +2.0 2.1 +1.6
Disaster / Accident / Tragedy 4.6 +1.2 5.2 +0.9 3.8 +2.1 2.7 +1.4 4.2 +1.5
Economy 5.4 +1.6 4.1 +1.6 4.2 +1.8 3.9 +1.6 4.5 +1.7
Education 2.5 -0.1 0.5 -0.6 2.2 +0.6 1.7 -0.4 1.8 -
Environment 2.7 -0.8 2.0 +0.6 2.5 -0.7 0.6 -0.2 2.3 -0.2
Europe / EU 1.4 +1.4 1.0 +0.4 2.3 +0.5 3.5 +1.4 1.9 +0.6
Health NHS 2.2 +0.1 1.8 +0.2 2.2 +0.4 0.9 - 1.9 +0.2
Health General 1.8 -1.1 1.6 - 2.3 -0.5 1.8 -0.1 1.9 -1.0
Immigration / Refugees 0.9 -1.5 0.7 +0.1 0.6 -1.2 1.7 -2.1 8.5 +6.4
Industrial Relations 3.2 +2.2 3.4 +1.7 2.7 +0.6 2.9 +2.5 3.0 +1.5
International 13.7 +4.7 19.8 +8.4 16.3 +3.8 4.8 +0.1 15.0 +4.6
Iraq / Afghanistan 8.8 +5.1 8.5 +3.3 7.3 +3.0 7.7 +6.4 8.0 +4.0
Legal Issues 1.7 +1.2 1.8 +1.8 4.0 +2.6 2.9 +1.8 2.8 +1.8
Media 2.0 +0.2 1.1 -0.7 1.3 -0.7 1.7 -0.8 1.5 -0.4
Policing 1.5 -1.0 1.5 -2.0 1.7 -1.1 1.2 +0.6 1.5 -1.4
Sport 2.3 -1.3 3.4 -2.2 2.8 - 0.5 -2.5 2.5 -1.9
UK Foreign Affairs 2.8 +2.8 2.4 +2.4 1.3 +1.3 2.1 +2.1 2.1 +2.1
Other 0.8 -1.0 1.1 -0.1 2.7 +1.1 3.9 +1.6 2.0 +0.3
We found, overall, a modest increase in the proportion of news items where
the main topic involved devolved issues in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland (up from 1% in 2007 to 1.3% in 2009), but with a notable difference
between BBC and other news outlets. The proportion of news items about
devolved issues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland increased on all BBC
outlets, especially in online coverage (from 1.7% to 3.5% of online news
items) and on television news (from 0.7% to 1.2% of BBC television news
items). The increase in BBC radio was more modest (from 1.0% to 1.2% of
radio news items). The proportion of such items on ITV, Channel 4 and Sky
actually halved (from 0.6% to 0.3% on news items) suggesting that increases
in BBC coverage cannot be attributed to a change in the news agenda in the
2009 sampling period.
Table 2.5 also shows an overall shift in the proportion of news items about
Westminster politics (including both domestic and international stories), with
a decline from 15.4% in 2007 to 12% in 2009. Although the figures for BBC
television and BBC online remained roughly the same, BBC radio contained
significantly fewer items about Westminster politics (16.7% to 10.3%).
More generally, Table 2.5 needs to be seen in the context of the news agenda
for that period. So, for example, we found an increase in international related
news items (most notably those focused on the situation in Iraq/Afghanistan),
and fewer crime stories.
Table 2.6 below isolates the 1.3% of stories in which devolved politics in
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland was the main subject. Scotland, the
largest of the three devolved nations, with significant devolved powers,
dominates (as it did in 2007), although the proportional increase in the
coverage of Wales and Northern Ireland is higher. The number of Northern
Ireland news items almost doubled from seven to 13 and although there
remain fewer Welsh news stories, their number increased from one to seven.
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