BBC 'Could Do More' To Improve Balance

More could be done at the BBC to ensure voices outside the mainstream political debate are given equal weight on air, a report has found.
The latest review led by the BBC Trust found that the Beeb broadcasts a "broad and impressive" range of opinions on its news, current affairs and factual programmes, but said it could include more extreme points of views held by the public.
The review is the latest in a programme of impartiality reviews looking at different aspects of the BBC's output.
The review includes an independent assessment by former ITV CEO and independent producer Stuart Prebble, audience research, and content analysis by Cardiff University.
It found that "overall the BBC reports and reflects an impressive range of opinions, although it needs to exercise constant vigilance in maintaining this and should make efforts to ensure it is monitoring changing public opinion and reflecting this on air".
It also said politicians can tend to dominate views seen and heard on the BBC, and therefore affect the range of opinions heard.
The Trust said it expects the BBC to "find ways of addressing opinions that have not emerged through Parliament or other formal institution."
BBC Trustee David Liddiment said: "Ensuring that a wide range of views are seen and heard on the BBC is at the heart of the BBC's enviable reputation for impartial journalism, and I am grateful to Stuart Prebble for his independent assessment of the BBC's progress.
"Our impartiality reviews are an important inducement for the Executive to question itself, in this case on its breadth of opinion, to ensure it is doing all it can to achieve what licence fee payers expect and that it is constantly alert to changing public opinion.
"We deliberately chose some complex and controversial subject areas for the review in immigration, religion, and the EU, and our generally positive findings are testament to programme-makers across the corporation. It is clear that there is more to do and we will look to the Executive to deliver on this."
Stuart Prebble added: "I have been impressed by the commitment of the BBC's journalists to ensuring that they bring a diversity of voices and viewpoints on a wide range of news stories to audiences across the country. However it is also clear that the BBC cannot afford to rest on its laurels and it should ensure it does all it can to keep up with the ebb and flow of public opinion, which means avoiding over-reliance on Westminster voices, making efforts to find new voices even if they are contentious, and challenging their own assumptions on the accepted consensus."
www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust
(IT/JP)