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.

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