BBC Trust

On Friday 21 October 2011 Audience Council Wales hosted an outreach event with Glyndŵr University Art and Design Students, Wrexham.

This event involved around 12 students most of whom were in their early 20s. They were from geographically dispersed locations, though all at Wrexham for their academic studies.

News

Particpants indicated that they tended to view BBC news and find it of a 'good quality' and 'balanced'. BBC was not thought to have a hidden agenda 'not trying to prove a point just stating a view/observations'. One Canadian student said that there was an international perception that the BBC was a revered institution in itself, compared, for example to 'FOX NEWS', which was perceived to have a political agenda. They had used it to follow events in Libya.

Some attendees complained about a perceived BBC Wales bias towards south Wales. There was a feeling that the north was neglected in news about Wales and one guest used the example of car crashes : 'Crashes in the south are always reported yet there seem to be few or no road collisions in the north'. Recently the developments at the Broughton Airbus Factory were highlighted but only perhaps because of its huge importance to the economy of Wales as a whole, some thought. People felt that community television broadcast via the internet could be a new platform for expression which could reflect grass-roots interests and increase the feeling of inclusion by the audience.

SKY News's practice 'embedding' a presenter at Dale Farm during the eviction of gypsies and travellers from the site was given as an example of engaging journalism, whereas, at the same time, the BBC had people on a studio sofa discussing the difficulties of bringing up triplets. It was felt 'SKY could afford to be there all the time' and that the BBC was increasingly seen as the 'poor cousin'. Sky's coverage in Libya was also seen as risk taking and adventurous and really engaged the audience. 'We want unbiased risk-taking journalism'.

TV

Those present watched popular television shows such as The Great British Bake Off and Strictly Come Dancing.

When questioned whether they believed the BBC to be distinctive, one student responded that he thought the BBC was distinctive. He had been enjoying a ceramic series which he could not find elsewhere and found it extremely useful for his course. There was a perception amongst the students that any quality wildlife programmes were made by the BBC.

There was felt to be a paucity of arts and culture output from the BBC and this was contrasted with SKY ARTS which aired specialist shows not available elsewhere such as animation festivals or programmes on eighteenth century French composers. It was felt that the BBC was becoming more 'low brow' and it was felt that BBC Three and BBC Four would be the natural networks to broadcast this kind of content. Jools Holland on BBC Two was commended for music performance that you might not find elsewhere. There was a general feeling that the BBC used to be known for producing great music performance and that this was much less evident now. The Pop Factory on S4C was used as an example of the sort of performance programming which was missed.

There was felt that the BBC could to 'go a bit retro' by investing more in one off dramas. Good plays were considered to have been a foundation of the BBC in the past but no longer.

It was suggested that currently Channel 5 broadcast shows that should be broadcast on BBC One, Two, and Three. One student felt the BBC should be a place for upcoming playwrights and bands and letting them show their talents by giving them slots to write or perform pilot series. 'It feels like the BBC is only looking for safe established options not new talent' and there was a feeling that the 'BBC had lost its nerve a bit'. One student said when she was babysitting the parents stipulated that the BBC was the only channel the children were allowed watch, as they were guaranteed not to be disturbed or upset by any of its content. 'They should be a bit more risky like Channel 4 but with more high brow content'.

It was said that Channel 4 did a lot for animation by raising the profile of animators through sponsorship and that the BBC should be doing something similar. The opportunity for experimental short films to be broadcast on Channel 4 was a fantastic opportunity for artists to get their work across to large numbers of people. Also the Channel 4 short films and animations competitions were considered a fantastic idea.

One guest complained about the BBC expenditure on sport saying that when there was a big sporting event, BBC Three scheduling was side-tracked and this was felt to be unfair.

Radio

The vast majority of guests were radio listeners. It was felt that BBC Radio 4 was very London orientated and while it had fantastic drama and comedy, the accents of presenters made it sound almost exotic.

On-line and on-demand

Online content was relied on heavily, with programmes streamed and the BBC News page viewed regularly. This was due to reliance on laptops as many student houses didn't have televisions. They felt content was readily available but one guest expressed his concern about people with poor internet connection being marginalised. There was a discussion about whether the BBC should have a pay-wall for its online content, similar to The Times, so as to increase revenue but it was felt that this would be the commercialisation of the BBC leaving out poorer people and impeding social mobility.

Many younger guests said they had used the BBC Bitesize websites. The point was made that it was interesting that even though we are increasingly using iPlayer and other online streaming media methods to view content again this was not considered to be 'annoying repeats'. 'These are chosen or selected repeats'. It seems choice is becoming as important as convenience and 'It is not enough to broadcast a show, you also have to make it accessible at any point.' Channel 4's archive system was commended. 'Convenience, and choice are king nowadays' and so the BBC needs to keep up with technology. An example was given of 'Emmy' award winning content on Sky Atlantic. 'This is big competition and the BBC needs to realise and start competing'. Another participant expressed the view that 'Sky is like a hypermarket whereas BBC is like a corner shop'.

General

When questioned as to whether they believed the BBC provided value for money the students generally agreed that it did. A mature student who subscribed to both the BBC and Sky felt that although there was a growing perception that BBC was providing less value for money, when compared with the cost of Sky it provided exceptionally good value for money. 'You get Sky+ and ITV+1 but there is no BBC+1 so perhaps there is not as many repeats as people think there are'.