Over many pints I've pitched the idea of a book called 'Conservation Analysis for Screenwriters', merging my interest in social interaction with my love for film and theatre. I was delighted to find out @spencerhazel.bsky.social has written something along those lines. Perfect read to start 2026

It was a pleasure to speak at @ofcom.bsky.social's 'Making Sense of the Senedd Election' event yesterday. I discussed our upcoming @cujournmedcul.bsky.social study of impartiality in media coverage of the Senedd election campaign and our wider Enhancing Impartiality project.

The events of the last 24 hours show why it's important to build functional verification structures in public and counterpublic spaces to resist the authoritarian erosion of our democratic systems, as described in this thread.

After the killing of Alex Pretti by federal ICE officers, BBC Verify has stepped up to invalidate false accounts of the events from Trump and his representatives. This should be front and centre of all BBC coverage and give them permission to call out blatant lies. www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

With the new season of Question Time starting tonight, now's the perfect time to read the latest blog post from the Enhancing the Impartiality of News project...

A new blog from the Enhancing the Impartiality of News project takes a look at who appeared on Question Time throughout 2025 & what those guest choices reveal about how the programme interprets political balance. 🔗 bit.ly/4jLeYY2 🧵👇 #BBC #QuestionTime #impartiality #impartialityproject

EXCL: SNP appearances plummet and right-wing journos appear twice as often as left-wing...🤔 Some intriguing findings by media experts at @cardiffuni.bsky.social about Question Time in 2025👀 Thanks to @maxwellmodell.bsky.social for sharing insights! www.thenational.scot/news/2577777...

It was a pleasure to speak to @stephbrawn.bsky.social of @scotnational.bsky.social to discuss our latest analysis of Question Time guests in 2025. Research team: @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social, @stephencushion.bsky.social, @perkinskeighley.bsky.social, and myself www.thenational.scot/news/2577777...

With Question Time returning to our screens for 2026, we decided to look back at who appeared on the programme in 2025 to assess how producers interpreted impartiality when selecting panellists, updating @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social's study of panellists from 2014-2024. tinyurl.com/yc77s5mp

The first Senedd poll of 2026 puts Plaid Cymru in the lead just four months before voters go to the ballot box. While one poll does not decide an election, the Senedd elected in May 2026 may look different from anything Wales has seen before. 🔗 tinyurl.com/mtp35nfz 🧵👇 #politics #Senedd

NEW: Ofcom has launched a formal investigation into X under the Online Safety Act Ofcom has a range of enforcement powers it could use against X if it is found to have broken the law, including: - fines - the removal of the service in the UK - criminal prosecutions

BBC Verify coverage of the US and Venezuela is the main item on the BBC News app. The fact-checking service comes to the fore in moments of uncertainty where information is patchy and complex. I'm currently writing an article about the moments the BBC put fact-checking front and centre of coverage

This article pulls together more than a year’s worth of polling since Labour’s 2024 landslide & finds we’re no longer in a “two-party” era. Instead, we’re in a multi-party landscape—& that creates significant knock-on effects. 🔗 tinyurl.com/mprjccme 🧵👇 #impartiality #impartialityproject #polsky

You might have missed this if, like me, you took a break for socials over Christmas, but @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social has published his excellent analysis examining 10 years of panellists on BBC Question Time since 2014. It's a great read. We'll post an update soon with the 2025 numbers.

Some really (and qualifiedly) good news from Cardiff UCU @cardiffucu.bsky.social : No redundancies next year, no downgrading of professional services staff. And all without the need for disruptive industrial action, which nobody at all wants. nation.cymru/news/cardiff...

Rise of Reform's coverage in TV coverage through 2025 well illustrated in our new @cujournmedcul.bsky.social study 👇

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

Detailed summary of our latest report on opposition party coverage in broadcast news 👇

Exclusive: Reform overtook the Tories as the most referenced opposition party on both the BBC and ITV. “Reform UK was the dominant party in more than twice as many stories as the Conservatives and just under four times more stories than the Liberal Democrats." www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Nuanced and engaging write up of our latest impartiality study in @newstatesman1913.bsky.social by @rmcunliffe.bsky.social Empirical evidence of how broadcasters actually cover opposition parties and how successfully they reflect an emerging multi-party system. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Awesome talk from Dr Patricia Jimenez at the EMCA Doctoral Network. Patricia did an amazing job at penetrating the question of why we do membership categorisation analysis and how it can help us understand members' situated sense-making practices. Great data on classrooms and lay definitions of AI

New Office of National Statistics figures show net migration dropped to just over 200,000 in the year ending June. While the government will point to this as progress on a key pledge, the wider picture is much more complex. 🔗 tinyurl.com/2yaxnmtk 🧵👇 #impartiality #impartialityproject #migration

🚨 JOB ALERT 🚨 We’re looking for a brilliant producer to lead my @LBC Sunday show Come and help make news, provide the best insight, digital content and prove Sunday political shows aren’t boring Link below. Any Qs get in touch 👇 careers.global.com/jobs/R0009023

I started my day with some light ethnomethodological reading of @cathtam.bsky.social & @robinjsmith.bsky.social's engaging introduction to their new special issue on social asymmetries in action, arguing for the efficacy of EM/CA approaches to studying "big" sociological concerns in local contexts

Excellent talk from Dr Natalie-Anne Hall

A not very convincing day of evidence from the BBC board and its advisors to the media select committee mattwalsh.substack.com/p/crisis-wha...

There is so much messed up about this front page Express story today. There's no suggestion or evidence ANY alcohol or drugs was consumed. This is literally just people dancing. And buried in the piece: "The footage is believed to have been filmed just before Labour took power in July last year."

A new article by @stephencushion.bsky.social for @theconversation.com highlights while the BBC is no stranger to accusations of bias, the Prescott memo is far from the rigorous assessment many assumed it to be. 🔗 tinyurl.com/3cx8edjp 🧵👇 #journalism #journalismstudies #BBC #mediareporting

Excellent article from @stephencushion.bsky.social interrogating the quality of evidence in the Prescott memo and whether it proves its claims of systematic bias in the BBC. Ultimately, it is a rallying cry for robust, transparent and clearly evidenced research into the impartiality.

NEW: Lisa Nandy to look again at political appointments to the BBC’s board as part of charter renewal discussions. She said concerns have been raised over the appointment of Sir Robbie Gibb, a Conservative first appointed to the board by Boris Johnson.

NEW: The Prescott report that led to Tim Davie's downfall included claims of "systemic bias" on the trans issue at the BBC. But a reporter at the heart of the BBC's reporting on the topic disagrees. Story: www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

@perkinskeighley.bsky.social is doing great research. This short article is a concise and to-the-point introduction to it

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

The reaction to the Panorama edit has been nothing short of hysterical. Yes the BBC has some impartiality problems. But its biggest isn't the one you think. New piece from me. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

🔴The BBC’s Attempts to Appease the ‘Right-Wing Coup’ Against It Are Now Seeding Its Own Destruction By attempting to appease the forces seeking to destroy them, the BBC has helped trigger a crisis that now threatens its very future, argues @adambienkov.bsky.social bylinetimes.com/2025/11/10/t...

It’s been one of the most turbulent weeks in British broadcasting. This article from @theguardian.com provides a detailed timeline of what happened over the past week: tinyurl.com/3xu8tmaf 🧵👇 #impartiality #impartialityproject #BBC #bias #journalism #journalismstudies #media #mediastudies

The shock resignations of the Director General and the CEO of the BBC News are the culmination of a series of controversies over recent years (Gary Lineker, Gaza, Bob Vylan, and now the Trump documentary edit). Here is my list of academic literature to help unpack this extraordinary moment 👇

An extraordinary moment for the BBC as Tim Davie and head of BBC News are out. So much to say on this - not least that BBC folk had been hoping for a pushback on the idea of general bias at the BBC. But first, a story of the shock departure of two huge figures: www.theguardian.com/media/2025/n...

The BBC’s in a mess, but it’s not the mess you think www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/...

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

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...

UK media framed the Caerphilly by-election result around Reform's defeat, terminal decline for Labour and implications for Starmer's government. Victors Plaid Cymru played second fiddle. Welsh media gave Plaid Cymru and the immediate Welsh context greater prominence 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Full story below 👇

How Sky News investigated X's algorithm for political bias

Why is the BBC calling Zohran Mamdani "radical left"? A fair description or an echo of Donald Trump's language? open.substack.com/pub/mattwals...

Surprised that BBC R4 is using the tag radical left to describe Mamdani. Sarah Smith used it yesterday in a voicer at 8am, the newsreader did today in the same bulletin. Surely echoes Trump’s language.

Thoughtful and insightful reflection from the Caerphilly Observer's Richard Gurner on his experience covering the by-election. A reminder of the importance of strong local media and the danger of political reporting becoming personalised and individual journalists targeted. tinyurl.com/3m4v576v

Interesting 🧐 BBC just released their updated AI transparency labels. They have devised a simple, neutral shape (a hexagon) which is derived from the BBC blocks. The particular disclosure label is being trialled in BBC Sport live 👇 www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/...

The Trump edit in the BBC doc is bad. It links two parts of the speech in a way that is misleading. A basic journalistic error. But it’s a few seconds of archive 34 minutes into an hour long doc broadcast years after Jan 6. It doesn’t invalidate the BBC’s reporting of the day or its consequences.

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