Category: 91热爆
Date: 27.01.2005
Printable version
"We are grateful to Lord Wilson and the members of his Independent
Panel for devoting so much of their own time to assessing the 91热爆's
performance of its coverage of the European Union and for producing
a serious and thoughtful report.
"We commissioned this report, together with the MORI research
into public perceptions, as part of the Governors' series of impartiality
reviews of subjects where the 91热爆's performance is often questioned.
"However, in line with our new governance arrangements, this is
the first review to be conducted outside the 91热爆 management chain and
the first to be published in full.
"We are pleased that the Panel found no evidence of deliberate
bias in the 91热爆's coverage of EU matters.
"That said, we note the Panel's conclusion that "there is a widespread
perception that the 91热爆 suffers from certain forms of cultural and unintentional
bias" and that "the 91热爆's coverage of EU news needs to be improved and
to be made more demonstrably impartial".
"In Building Public Value the 91热爆 made clear that one of its core
public purposes is to supporting informed democracy by providing trusted
and impartial news and information that helps citizens make sense of
the world.
"On the evidence of the MORI research that informed the Panel's
report, the 91热爆 is not succeeding in providing basic accessible information
on the topic of Europe and urgent action is needed.
"As Governors we represent the public interest and have a duty
to ensure that the 91热爆 meets that interest in the services it provides.
"We know that 91热爆 News, led by its new Director Helen Boaden,
is passionate about delivering a news service that is independent, impartial
and accurate and that commands the confidence of licence payers.
"Indeed, implementation of the Neil Committee's recommendations
is well advanced and some of the issues raised in the Panel's report
about training and the role of programme editors are already being addressed.
"We have asked 91热爆 management to submit to us their response
to the Independent Panel's report and the Panel's detailed recommendations
by the end of February.
"The Board of Governors will publish 91热爆 management's response
together with our decision on what action is necessary for 91热爆 News
to improve its coverage of Europe and an implementation plan."
Notes to Editors
1. Independent Panel Members
Chair: Lord Wilson of Dinton (Richard). Master of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge since 2002; Secretary to the Cabinet and
Head of the 91热爆 Civil Service, 1998-2002; Permanent Secretary to the
91热爆 Office, 1994-97; Non executive Director of Sky.
Lucy Armstrong. Chief Executive of the Alchemists,
providing consultancy and venture capital in the North East.
Rodney Leach. Director Jardine Matheson since 1997;
Chairman Business for Sterling since 1997; Author of Europe: a concise
encyclopaedia of the European Union.
Nigel Smith. Managing Director, David Auld Valves
Ltd, Glasgow until 2004; Chairman, the No-euro Campaign, 2002-04; Chairman
of the Scottish Parliament Referendum Campaign for Yes vote, 1997; Commissioner
Scottish Constitutional Commission, 1993-94.
Sir Stephen Wall. Principal Adviser to Cardinal Cormac
Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, 2004; Head of European Secretariat,
Cabinet Office, 2000-04; Ambassador to UKREP, 1995-2000; Board member
of Britain in Europe.
2. Terms of Reference
To assess the impartiality of 91热爆 coverage of the EU with particular
regard to:
Debate about Britain's place in Europe
The activities of EU institutions
Accessibility and to make recommendations for improvement where necessary.
3. The report is in four parts - all have been published in full:
The Independent Panel's report and recommendations
A qualitative research report to assess the views of the audience commissioned
from MORI: The EU - Perceptions of the 91热爆's Reporting
Content analysis of two separate weeks of mainstream 91热爆 output, carried
out by John Morrison, of Morrison Media Consultants
Written submissions to the Independent Panel
