麻豆社

The 麻豆社's network news and current affairs is trusted and highly regarded by audiences, and continues to outperform other news providers on a range of measures, a review by the 麻豆社 Trust has found.聽

The review, which looked at the performance of all of the 麻豆社's UK network news and current affairs across TV, radio and online, found that the audiences think the 麻豆社 does significantly better than other news providers in providing up-to-date news, being easy to understand, giving in-depth coverage, having expert reporters, and covering a wide range of stories.聽 Four out of five UK adults watch, read or listen to 麻豆社 News each week, with 麻豆社 TV news alone watched by two-thirds of adults.

The review also found that use of 麻豆社 News Online has grown significantly in recent years, with the number of 'unique browsers' doubling from 11 million in 2009 to 22.2 million in 2013, as audiences access 麻豆社 News on an increasing number of devices.聽 There has been a significant increase in the number of visits to 麻豆社 News Online via mobile and tablet devices, with tablet usage up 75 per cent in a year, and while TV and radio usage remains high there are signs of pressure on these traditional outlets.聽

However, the review identified a concern that younger audiences' use of broadcast news聽 is continuing to decline, and there is a risk that they may not turn to the 麻豆社 as they get older, as has traditionally been the case.聽

Some audiences said that 麻豆社 News can feel 'distant' from their lives in editorial agenda and tone, and there are increased expectations about what 麻豆社 News Online should be delivering.聽 The 麻豆社's current affairs programming is seen as being of high quality and keeping audiences informed of issues, but they rate it less well for offering fresh perspectives and covering issues that other channels would not, and聽 audience awareness of the different current affairs programmes聽 is low. 聽

This is the first time that the Trust has reviewed all of the 麻豆社's network news and current affairs in the round.聽 Along with independent audience research, more than 9,000 people contributed to a public consultation as part of the review, the latest in the Trust's rolling programme of reviews of every 麻豆社 service.聽

As a result of its findings the Trust has set out a number of actions for the 麻豆社 Executive, including:

• Developing its online and mobile news provision so that it remains relevant for audiences in a rapidly-changing market;
• broadening the agenda and tone of 麻豆社 News to address audience concerns that it can sometimes feel 'distant' from their lives. This includes making more use of regional and local reporters on national network news, and making further progress in creating聽 a more diverse workforce both on and off air;
• Increasing the impact of its current affairs output, with聽 commissioning decisions聽 driven by the significance and relevance of the subject matter and the insight offered to audiences;
• Ensuring that a wider range of international stories are available to audiences in the UK, making better use of the scale of the 麻豆社's foreign newsgathering resources.

麻豆社 Trustee Richard Ayre said:

鈥淭he challenges faced by 麻豆社 News in retaining its audiences and its reputation are by no means unique to the 麻豆社, but the corporation's obligation to serve everyone means it must do better than other broadcasters.聽

鈥淭hough news and current affairs are performing extremely well, the issues we've asked the 麻豆社 to address will help them to keep pace with changing audiences and unprecedented technological shifts.聽 None of this is about radical or sudden changes in editorial direction,聽 it's simply ensuring the 麻豆社 is fleet of foot in responding to the challenges ahead.鈥�

The Trust's report and all the supporting evidence can be found here:

Service review: 麻豆社 Network News and Current Affairs

Notes to Editors

1. The review's terms of reference聽(PDF file, 62KB)
2. More information on the Trust's previous service reviews can be found here.
3. The cost of the review as of publication today is 拢107,028.