BBC Trust opens review of BBC News output such as Newsnight, Panorama, The Today Programme and Question Time
The BBC Trust has begun a public consultation into the news and current affairs output by the BBC, which will see programmes such as it’s daily news bulletins, Newsnight, Panorama and BBC Radio Four’s The Today Programme, scrutinised for quality.
The review will aim to examine the performance of the BBC’s news output across TV, radio and online, and will include the BBC News channel and BBC Parliament, as well as Question Time and the Daily Politics.
Audience research will also be carried out alongside the review, which will now cover impartiality or the impact of BBC News.
BBC Trustee Richard Ayre said that the journalism at the BBC was the most important part of the corporation to its audiences.
“The Trust is going to ask in detail what those audiences expect of the BBC, what they appreciate most, and where they think we could give them an even more distinctive service. In a world where people can choose their news when and where they want it, and from a huge range of sources, we want to understand how best the BBC can retain their trust and confidence so that it remains clearly their number one choice,” he explained.
The review follows the resignation of former director general over George Entwisle earlier this year after Newsnight falsely claimed that Lord McAlpine was a paedophile in a report, while questions as to why the programme scrapped an investigation into the sexual attacks by former presenter Jimmy Savile were also asked, leading to another internal review.
The conclusion of the review is expected in Spring 2014.