Consultation Response - Media 12 - Cardiff University PDF 2 MB

improvements – in some cases, striking improvements – in every area where
comparisons were possible. In this section, we turn to new or more refined
categories of analysis added in 2009, so that we might explore issues raised
by the 2007 study. Since these are new forms of analysis, no meaningful
comparisons with 2007 are possible. We can, however, continue to compare
BBC outlets with the record of other UK broadcasters.
One of the key issues raised by the 2007 study was the tendency of UK
network news, both on the BBC and other channels, to cover stories that only
applied to England (or England and Wales) as if they were relevant to the UK
as a whole. This usually involved a failure to inform audiences about the
geographical relevance of a policy or issue (typically in devolved areas like
education, health or policing).
Indeed, the 2007 study suggested that the main problem with broadcast
coverage of devolution was not blatant or overtly inaccurate reporting: we
found no litany of egregiously false statements or unsubstantiated claims. The
problem was much more likely to be a sin of omission- specifically the failure
of UK broadcasters to inform audiences when policies or issues applied only
to part of the UK (usually England) rather than UK-wide. To the well-informed
listener or viewer, this is arguably less of a problem. If they know enough
about devolution, they can make an informed assumption about its
geographical relevance. So, for example, they might hear a story describing a
debate about schools and know - without being told - that it applies only to
schools in England.
Unfortunately, public knowledge about devolution in the UK remains patchy at
best. When a UK broadcaster covers a story about schools but does not
specify where it applies, viewers or listeners may well assume that it applies
to all schools in the UK. It is, after all, reasonable to assume - unless we are
told otherwise - that when a domestic story is being told by a UK broadcaster,
it is applies to all four nations. The failure to provide the appropriate
geographical context for a story is, therefore, potentially misleading.
Accordingly, we added two new levels of analysis to shed light on the extent
of this problem. First, we drilled down into the 340 news items relevant to
devolution (identified in Table 3.1 in Section 3 above) that applied to England
(or England and at least one other devolved nation, usually Wales) to see
how often their geographical applicability was specified. Second, we switched
our focus away from an analysis of overtly inaccurate coverage to include
every instance where coverage was potentially misleading.
The complexities of devolution mean that some stories may only apply to
England, some only to England and Wales, and some to England, Wales and
either Scotland or Northern Ireland. We categorised all these news items in
three ways:
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