BBC 'failing to reflect devolved UK'

BBC news and current affairs coverage is failing to reflect the social and political variations of the UK nations, according to a BBC Trust report.

Research commissioned by the Trust found there is not enough coverage of Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish issues and that BBC reporting, more than a decade after UK devolution began, did not reflect the nations' individual powers and policies.

In one four-week news monitoring session, researchers identified 136 BBC items dealing with education and health, two areas where the nations' devolved authorities have significant power. All 136 dealt with England alone.

Surveys showed large numbers of people in the north of England and in the nations find coverage London-centric and not in touch with the "real world".

In light of the work led by Professor Anthony King, professor of government at the University of Essex, the Trust has told BBC management to come up with an improvement plan by July.

"The BBC's reporting of the United Kingdom is – on the face of it – much better than what is provided by other broadcasters," said Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons. "But the resounding message from this review is the BBC is falling short of its own high standards and is not meeting properly its core purpose of helping to inform democracy."

The Trust said there "concern that BBC network news and current affairs programmes taken as a whole are not reporting the changing UK with the range and precision that might reasonably be expected given the high standards the BBC itself aspires to".

"As examples, political coverage is seen as unduly focused on Westminster in volume and style; there is seen to be a general bias in favour of stories about England or telling stories from an England perspective; and there is evidence that several stories in the nations which may have been significant to the UK were not taken up by the network. Overall, Professor King concludes that the BBC has not responded adequately and appropriately to the UK's changing political, social, economic and cultural architecture."