Is there political bias at BBC Wales News - favouring @plaidcymru.bsky.social? Our new systematic study of the Caerphilly by-election coverage on BBC TV, online and social media found NO evidence supporting this allegation - BBC Wales broadly balanced coverage of the major parties 👇

Since joining the impartiality project, I’ve been been diving into debates on impartiality (trying to catch up with @stephencushion.bsky.social, @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social & @maxwellmodell.bsky.social!). Nick Bradshaw’s new IDA piece is a must-read. 🔗 tinyurl.com/ycxkbu8s 🧵👇 #impartiality #BBC

Important thread about how the BBC mitigates political polarisation in the 🇬🇧 because it’s so widely consumed compared to the 🇺🇸 where people rely on a wide range of information sources 👇

"The main UK BBC analysis of the Caerphilly result read: 'Extraordinary by-election humbles Westminster’s big beasts' with a narrative centred on the decline of Labour & the Tories. "Plaid Cymru, who won by 11%, was the fourth party mentioned." Its leader was not. Farage had a photo AND quotes.

Important article shining a light on how BBC News regulates itself, including when confronted by allegations of breaching impartiality 👇

Great write-up of our latest Caerphilly by-election report by Martin Shipton and Nation Cymru

Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social study of how the #Caerphilly by-election was reported featured in @nation.cymru - the distinction between how Wales and UK-wide media cover the Senedd elections next year could be significant given more people rely on news produced in England than in Wales 👇

A really fascinating piece of research.

New impartiality study: Contrasting media coverage of the Caerphilly by-election in Wales with UK-wide news: how did broadcasters balance parties and leaders? Thread 1/10 www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/caerphi...

Despite shifting politics and declining support for the industry, Dudfield said the goal hasn’t changed. “We’re fact-checkers. We check facts,”

“On BBC News at Ten, the time provided to the Reform candidate UK (1m 01s) was much longer than those given to candidates from Labour (36 seconds), Plaid Cymru (30 seconds) and the Conservatives (16 seconds). Nigel Farage was the only UK party leader referenced.”

New impartiality study: Contrasting media coverage of the Caerphilly by-election in Wales with UK-wide news: how did broadcasters balance parties and leaders? Thread 1/10 www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/caerphi...

Ofcom has ruled TalkTV breached its impartiality rules after host Kevin O’Sullivan claimed the UK Government had “cancelled” local elections out of fear of Reform UK’s rise in the polls. 🔗 tinyurl.com/u55jmwbp TLDR 👇 #impartialityproject #politicalnews #politicaldiscourse #Ofcom #impartality

Today on Newscast Kemi Badenoch discussed her love of the Marvel, comparing her leadership to a superhero origin story. Kemi is not the first Tory leader to do this. Rishi Sunak also presented himself as a popular nerd, talking about Star War. I wrote about this in Journalism tinyurl.com/49krntzr

A potentially important moment in Ofcom regulation well outlined here - does this represent a Nandy effect or just a one off intervention?

Ofcom just ruled that Talk breached due impartiality rules in Jan 2025 because a presenter said the Government was “scared of Reform UK” after cancelling some council elections. But offered no alternative perspectives. A sign of Ofcom becoming a more robust regulator? ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/res…

📢 It's out: The new @worldsofjournalism.bsky.social report ➡️rich data from 3rd wave of WJS study ➡️ survey of more than 32,350 journalists across 75 countries ➡️ perspectives from diverse media systems, political regimes, and cultural contexts Free download www.worldsofjournalism.org/reports-wjs3/

“Being attacked by UK media will help Plaid reach an even wider audience. Media outside of Wales tends to be so clueless about Cymru that it could serve to position Plaid as the people standing up for Wales.” Given how much people rely on 🇬🇧 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 media in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 - big call on their likely impact👇

Thought-provoking piece, asking whether the BBC’s long connection with time is over. Does it still act as the nation’s time keeper? In my view, broadcasters still police many people’s daily routines and the BBC acts as a security blanket when national emergencies happen. But great Q to debate…

Our systematic study of how TV and online news reported the by-election campaign provides similar points about the impartiality of broadcasters - see here: www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/final-w...

Been a bit behind on my listening, but caught up onlast few weeks of @beebwatch.bsky.social while batch cooking yesterday PM. There’s another one out today, shining a vital light on broadcasting. By people who love the industry, but also hold it to account. podfollow.com/beebwatch/view

"My interpretation of the rules... Sir Keir Starmer could potentially present BBC Newsnight, and it would be within the Ofcom rules. Of course, the BBC wouldn't allow it, but I think it would be permissible." Thoughtful interview with @stephencushion.bsky.social

Ofcom keeps the rules the same — but the game has changed Prof @stephencushion.bsky.social on Ofcom’s decision & what it means for impartial broadcasting. Are we heading for more opinion-led TV and radio? 🎧 Full episode podfollow.com/beebwatch #Ofcom #BBC #Impartiality #Media #BeebWatchPodcast

If anyone wants to hear me talk about the impartiality of broadcasters, check out Roger Bolton’s latest Beeb watch podcast 👇 I discuss the latest findings of our @cujournmedcul.bsky.social AHRC project with @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social @perkinskeighley.bsky.social @maxwellmodell.bsky.social

We've updated our analysis of media coverage of the Caerphilly by-election to go in-depth on the final week of campaigning. Including an analysis of Chris Mason's BBC News at Ten report which gave Reform UK's candidate twice the airtime of Labour's or Plaid Cymru's. tinyurl.com/4kw6m5a6

NYT to debut new TikTok-like "Watch" tab in its app TikTok has changed social media with its algorithm. Now it’s changing the mainstream media. It’s not clear what the consequences are of algorithmic attention seeking, other than it works. www.axios.com/2025/10/21/n...

Our latest findings significant for @greenparty.org.uk and @zackpolanski.bsky.social - if they sustain poll ratings they will gain more media coverage with the public supporting more balanced reporting of political parties 👇

It’s another update from @stephencushion.bsky.social, @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social, @maxwellmodell.bsky.social & myself! We commissioned YouGov to carry out a survey exploring how the UK public thinks broadcast airtime should be allocated between political parties 🔗 tinyurl.com/5cms7mcp TLDR 👇

Thoughtful write-up of our latest audience study in @politicshome.bsky.social. We found the public supports the principle of impartiality, wants more balanced representation of political parties, and believe that more can be done to scrutinise the major political parties. tinyurl.com/yke8pkek

Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social research featured in the I paper showing news audiences want tougher scrutiny of Nigel Farage and Reform UK given the party could be heading for government. Thread 1/6

Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social research featured in the I paper showing news audiences want tougher scrutiny of Nigel Farage and Reform UK given the party could be heading for government. Thread 1/6

📺 New research from @cujournmedcul.bsky.social's Enhancing the Impartiality of Political News project Our latest study analyses how BBC Cymru Wales and ITV Wales have covered the Caerphilly by-election across TV, online & social media. 🔗 www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/bbc-itv... TLDR 👇

Last month @mrjamesob.bsky.social was on the BBC’s Media Show and the issue of public understanding of net migration in the UK was brought up and that most people knew it was falling - however our new You Gov poll reveals an overwhelming majority does not know www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

At @cujournmedcul.bsky.social we published a new study of BBC and ITV coverage of the by-election in Caerphilly so far. We found Reform and Farage featured prominently - which will benefit Farage as the most popular UK party leader in Wales. Thread 1/6 www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog/bbc-itv...

NEW: BBC lambasted again over Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone. Ofcom says it committed serious breach of broadcasting rules by failing to disclose child narrator was the son of a Hamas official. BBC has already apologised, but it will now have to broadcast Ofcom's finding at 9pm on BBC2 (date TBC).

Our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social study examined TV, online and social media coverage of @welshlabour.bsky.social @reformuk.bsky.social @plaidcymru.bsky.social @conservatives.bsky.social @walesgreenparty.bsky.social @libdems.org.uk during the Caerphilly by-election campaign so far. Findings 👇

“Immigration has been the main political theme in British politics for months, despite net migration to Britain almost halving to 431,000 last year” New research from @stephencushion.bsky.social & @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social reported in The Guardian www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

GB News viewers more likely to wrongly believe net migration to UK rising, study finds https://www.europesays.com/2496358/ GB News viewers more likely to wrongly believe net migration to UK rising, study finds …

GB News viewers more likely to wrongly believe net migration to UK rising, study finds, though majority of viewers of all news programmes believe that, down to 51% of ⁦‪Channel 4 News‬⁩. Also most viewers think politicians should NOT present news shows www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

An overwhelming majority of GB News viewers wrongly believe GB migration has increased, when it has gone down leftfootforward.org/2025/10/reve...

Our new AHRC @cujournmedcul.bsky.social research now focused on the impartiality of broadcasters in Wales during the by-election in Caerphilly - lots to debate and well covered in the Nation.Cymru 👇With @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social @perkinskeighley.bsky.social @maxwellmodell.bsky.social

New findings from our impartiality project

@vlvuk.bsky.social Autumn Conference 26.11. "Anything that (further) corrodes valuable public trust in broadcast news+current affairs programming ought to be strongly guarded against." @stephencushion.bsky.social will be presenting his research in discussion with @stewartpurvis.bsky.social

NEW: Net migration almost halved last year. But 84% of regular GB News viewers believe it went up. More importantly, new research revealing this also suggests the public opposes politicians presenting shows - contradicting Ofcom. Lisa Nandy now taking note: www.theguardian.com/media/2025/o...

Ofcom used qualitative "focus groups", including GB News viewers, to reach the view there was "no consensus" to stop politicians fronting "current affairs" shows. Farage's show not classed as "news". This new quantitative research appears to contradict that finding. Could Nandy/Ofcom reopen this?

Ofcom has rules on broadcaster impartiality – so why is GB News getting away with breaking them? theconversation.com/ofcom-has-ru...

GB News viewers more likely to wrongly believe net migration to UK rising, study finds

@mrjamesob.bsky.social could you please give me a follow back so I can DM?

Nice write up of our new study at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Culture in the Guardian - it’s time we debated the impartiality of broadcasters 👇