Audience Council for Northern Ireland

A key part of the Audience Council’s role involves engaging directly with audiences to understand what they want from the BBC and identify any particular issues or concerns.  

2011 proved a busy year for the Audience Council. Our engagement with audiences in the first half of the year focused on BBC Radio 5 live/5 live sports extra, the BBC News Channel and BBC Parliament. This is because the Trust reviewed these services as part of its five-year rolling programme of reviews, in which each BBC service is scrutinised to assess how well it is performing for audiences across the UK. The reviews involved public consultations.

The second half of the year was focused on the Trust's review of Delivering Quality First - BBC management's proposals for delivering the BBC's strategy within the constraints of a significantly reduced licence-fee income.

BBC Radio 5 live/5 live sports extra

Amongst those we spoke to, there was good overall appreciation for Radio 5 live/5 live sports extra. Listeners felt that the stations’ content and presentation style offered good value for money and something a little different to other BBC radio stations and the wider commercial radio market.

Listeners suggested that a personality-led approach to programming contributed to the stations’ distinctiveness, but that this needed to be carefully balanced with appropriate levels of gravitas, authenticity, subject knowledge and broadcasting skills.

It was clear that local audiences appreciated hearing different voices from around the UK and want to hear about sports from across the UK, including Northern Ireland. Some believed that close collaboration with the nations’ radio stations could be one way to achieve greater diversity and UK wide representation in content.

While some listeners viewed Radio 5 live sports extra as the home of minority sport, others suggested it was almost like a competitor to Radio 5 live when different sporting events were being covered on the stations at the same time.

Listeners enjoyed and valued the stations' programmes, but accessibility was a problem for some who experienced poor reception. Some also noted that, as a digital only service, Radio 5 live sports extra was only available to audiences with access to digital radio services.

Read our response to the Trust' public consultation here>> and the Trust's conclusions here>>

BBC News Channel and BBC Parliament

There was considerable praise for the quality of news coverage on the BBC and a general consensus that the standard of BBC journalism is high. Audiences told us they expect BBC news to provide consistently balanced and impartial coverage, delivered by journalists with appropriate levels of knowledge, experience and gravitas.

The News Channel was highly valued as a trusted service to viewers who wanted to be kept informed of domestic and world events as they happened. Many expressed a particular appreciation for the professional and measured way in which the channel delivered breaking news. Viewers felt this offered the space to absorb and evaluate a story without feeling overwhelmed with rapidly changing detail.

Suggestions for improving the service focused on the potential for even more in-depth and wide ranging news coverage - both domestic and international - and offering audiences an increasingly diverse range of views and perspectives. Also, there was a view that news tended to focus too much on negative events at the perceived expense of numerous positive stories, at home and from around the world. It was felt that a better balance between the positive and not so positive, was needed.

Coverage of world affairs appeared to be very important to audiences and there was significant praise for international coverage. Audiences valued the richness and depth of coverage provided by the BBC's overseas bureaux. Some suggested the addition of more in-depth thematic reports on global issues and events, particularly those that impact on the UK and Northern Ireland.

Viewers were generally satisfied with political coverage, and particularly appreciated coverage of the Northern Ireland Assembly. They commented on recent noticeable improvements in the contextualisation and labelling of national coverage of devolved issues, and were keen that time was taken in reports to explain any differences in public policy across the nations of the UK.

Comments on BBC Parliament reflected a strong appreciation of the service amongst its viewers. Described as "a window on how democracy functions", audiences felt the channel delivered a high quality, value for money service. There was similar praise for the content provided by BBC's online service - Democracy Live.

Read the response to the Trust's public consultation here >> and the Trust's conclusions here >>

Delivering Quality First

In October, the Trust launched a public consultation on Delivering Quality First - a set of proposals from the BBC management in response to a new licence fee settlement which significantly reduces BBC income. These proposals set out a planned programme of efficiencies together with proposed changes to the scope of the services that the BBC provides to audiences.

Engagement work over the year involved talking to members of the audience and key stakeholders to understand their views on the proposed changes and what they believe Delivering Quality First might mean for audiences in Northern Ireland, to provide advice to the Trust.

The Trust has published its final conclusions on Delivering Quality First.

The Council's advice to the Trust is published here >>

Get Involved

If you have a view on BBC services which you feel should inform the Audience Council’s understanding of audience needs then please get in touch.