I’d love to see any editorial guidelines you can send on where the importance of number of MPs is considered to be important as opposed to opinion polls

Thanks Carl. But what do you mean by saying the result was “inaccurate”? We’ve not argued that the bbc was inaccurate.

There should be more evidence based monitoring but that’s what our project is doing (see below for monitoring & survey studies). I think the bbc very conscious of criticism but how they report politics is similar to other broadcasters who don’t receive criticism: www.enhancingimpartiality.com/blog

All good debating points - the impartiality rules are flexible and open to a considerable degree of editorial discretion

Thanks for covering. Full study can be read here @josiah.writes.news - bsky.app/profile/step...

The bbc explained judgement - see below - which related to opinion polls trumping past electoral performance (no. of MPs). It would be fascinating to see past bbc guidelines to check critters had changed e.g. if importance of MPs and surveys has changed: www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comp...

Hi Carl. Yes, we took guidelines into account. : “Our study cannot determine whether there has been a ‘disproportionate’ level of Reform coverage… It remains a subjective judgement based on broadcasters’ internal discussions about how…they want to weight coverage according to a range of criteria”.

Thanks - we'd like to but our project is primarily focused on media required to be impartial. But you're right it would be useful to widen the net of media we monitor.

Full study was produced by @mattwalshjourno.bsky.social @perkinskeighley.bsky.social @maxwellmodell.bsky.social and myself at @cujournmedcul.bsky.social - and funded by the AHRC Thread Ends.

On X, the parties most referenced in political coverage generally was Labour (39.4%, 28), followed by Reform UK (22.5%,16), the Conservatives (21.1%, 15), Plaid Cymru (15.5%, 11), and the Welsh Liberal Democrats (1.4%, 1) 9/10

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. 8/10

….the Green Party’s Gareth Hughes (10), the Liberal Democrats’ Steve Aicheler (10), the Green Party’s Gareth Hughes (10), Gwlad’s Anthony Cook (5) and UKIP’s Rogar Quilliam (5). 7/10

Reform UK’s Llŷr Powell was the most referenced by-election candidate on TV and online news (19), followed by Labour’s Richard Tunnicliff (16), the Conservative’s Gareth Potter (13), Plaid Cymru’s Lindsay Whittle (13)… 6/10

Other key findings include: Labour was the protagonist in 19 news items, compared to 11 for Reform UK, 4 for the Conservatives and twice for Plaid Cymru. 5/10

Given more people in Wales rely on UK-wide news than news produced in Wales, this could prove a significant influence in what news and analysis people are exposed to before they cast their vote next May 2026. 4/10