BBC Trust

A review published today by the BBC Trust has found that the BBC’s Northern Ireland news and radio services are performing strongly, underpinned by the huge popularity of BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle, but that audiences want BBC News NI to better reflect Northern Ireland as it is today.

The review, which looked at services in all of the devolved nations, assessed the performance of BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle and BBC News NI and current affairs on TV, radio and online.

Overall it found that the nations’ services play a vital role in informing audiences about the devolved nations in a way that network services alone cannot. We found that there is strong demand from audiences for all these services and they greatly value them.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle was found to make a strong contribution to BBC Northern Ireland’s overall performance with 36% of adults listening each week which is higher than any other nations’ radio station.

While BBC News NI on radio is highly valued, some listeners felt that social issues were not covered to the same extent as political ones, and there was an appetite for a wider range of issues which would reflect people’s lives in Northern Ireland today.

The review found that audiences in Northern Ireland have a strong appetite for news and that BBC News NI on television was rated highly with 85% of viewers agreeing it is informative, 76% relevant and 75% that it is high quality.  Audience perceptions of BBC News NI on television were shown to be higher than BBC Scotland’s and in line with BBC Wales’.

The review heard from audiences that BBC News NI and current affairs needs to continue to develop to meet changing audience expectations, given the ongoing political, cultural and demographic changes taking place.

Audiences across all the nations also considered that the BBC needed to get better at holding decision makers to account and this was something the Trust’s review of local news and radio services in England picked up last year.

The review also found that services across the nations tended to reach older audiences and will need to find a way to modernise to also remain relevant and appealing to younger audiences who are increasingly consuming more online content and using digital services.

BBC Trustee for Northern Ireland Aideen McGinley said:

“The BBC is performing well in Northern Ireland but it must not become complacent. Audiences here are news hungry and with high expectations have made clear that while they value the BBC’s services, they wish to see a wider range of subjects and voices to fully reflect life in Northern Ireland today. This includes the need to develop online services.

“We welcome the fact that the BBC has recognised there is a challenge for its news programming to better serve its nations’ audiences. It must continue to consider the needs of audiences in the devolved nations carefully, alongside those of the many diverse groups it serves across the UK.

“We have recommended that key aspects of BBC performance in the nations should be part of the BBC’s future annual performance assessment and these issues will continue to remain a top priority for the BBC Board when it is established.”

As a result of the review the Trust has made recommendations for the BBC to address:

• Online offer - The challenge of adapting to give more and varied BBC content online is accepted by the BBC and the Trust would like to see clear plans to address it across the nations when licence fee funding for the next few years is finalised. Timing: We expect this to be part of the next round of financial planning across the BBC.
• News and current affairs hours - Each nations’ radio station has consistently outperformed its commitment for hours of news and current affairs output so the Trust has increased the level of these conditions to reflect more recent levels. Timing: immediate
• Audience expectations of BBC news - Audience perceptions of BBC news are very strong overall but the evidence gathered for this review shows that audiences have extremely high expectations of the BBC and these are not currently being met.
  - In Scotland the challenge is particularly acute with many audience perceptions of news output are lower than average and we heard a very critical opinion from some members of the audience. The BBC is already making some programming changes and it will be important to make sure the impact of these is tracked.
  - In Northern Ireland audiences show a desire for more coverage of a broader range of subjects and a wider range of voices to keep pace with changes in society. Again BBC Northern Ireland is aware of this challenge and is working to address it.
  - In Wales the BBC will need to find ways to ensure audiences are kept informed about Welsh matters, and that their expectations in areas such as Welsh political coverage and holding decision-makers to account are fully met.
  - Across all nations, research showed us that the BBC’s ability to hold decision-makers to account does not meet expectations. This was also highlighted to us in the review of BBC local news services in England. We recommend that the BBC seeks to understand how it can meet audience expectations better across all services. Timing: The extent to which BBC nations’ news output meets audience expectations should be part of the BBC’s future annual performance assessment.
• Indigenous minority language output - The BBC provides language programming onBBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC ALBA, as well as on BBC Northern Ireland services. Once BBC funding for the next licence fee period is finalised, the Trust recommends that the BBC agrees how its indigenous minority language services should evolve in the future. Timing: We expect this to be part of the next round of financial planning across the BBC.

Notes to editors

1. Each BBC service is reviewed against its licence at least once every five years. More information on service reviews carried out by the Trust can be found here along with links to the Trust’s 2011 review of the BBC’s radio services in the devolved nations and 2010 review of BBC ALBA.
2. The Trust’s work plan for 2016 set out its plans for reviewing the nations’ news and radio services in England.

The review launched in November 2015.