22nd June 2006
New research:
3WE
Bringing the World to the UK:
Don Redding at 3WE
There is an accelerating gap between the BBC's
provision of non-news factual programming about the
wider world, and the performance of the
advertiser-funded public service TV channels,
according to new research .
'Bringing the World to the UK' was commissioned by
3WE, a coalition of international charities working
for development, the environment and human rights, and
produced by Professor Steven Barnett and Emily Symour
of the University of Westminster.
It is the 8th report in a unique longitudinal study
which tracks trends in factual international
programming since 1989-90, and this update examined
all such programming on channels 1-5, BBC Three and
Four and More4 during 2005, the year of the G8, Live8,
the Tsunami aftermath and the Africa Commission.
The good news was that the total of 1000 hours of
factual international programming on the five core
terrestrial channels was the second highest in that
period, just below 1989, and indicating a resurgence
in factual international programming after a historic
low in the last study for 2003.
The bad news was twofold. First, despite a particular
focus on Africa by the BBC and continuing coverage of
Iraq, factual programmes which feature developing
countries did not recover as strongly: 291 hours in
2005 on the core terrestrial channels compared with
387 in 1989.
Second, the recovery was almost entirely driven by the
BBC. Its factual international output since 2000-01
report increased by 18% on BBC1 and 39% on BBC2. In
the same period, such output fell 2% on ITV1, 32% on
Channel Four and 14% on Five.
There was a similar pattern in developing country
factual programming, where BBC1 posted its highest
ever total, 51 hours, and BBC2 provided its second
highest total, at 118 hours. Channel 4 has increased
its current affairs coverage of developing countries,
but continued to reduce its general factual
programming, while ITV1 and Five remained near their
lowest levels.
With the BBC being given a new purpose of 'bringing
the world to the UK', while regulatory pressure on the
ad-funded channels is eased, these findings may
reflect a deliberate policy which has the BBC bearing
more of the public service burden.
If the gap is widening there are challenges for all
the core channels. For the BBC, can it uphold these
standards for a decade to come? For Channel 4, can it
refocus its factual international programming to match
the commitment it shows to news and current affairs?
For Five, can it extend its factual programming remit?
And for ITV1, can it reverse its apparent abandonment
of serious factual international coverage?
The ad-funded channels could take encouragement from
the fact that audience impact data published for the
first time in this report show clearly that serious
factual programmes about other countries generate high
levels of viewer interest. Viewers are likely to find
such programmes to be of high quality, original and
different, and to learn something from them. |
