Maxwell Modell

@perkinskeighley.bsky.social has done a brilliant job taking the lead on this report. It was a pleasure to be involved

Oh my god.

Have I Got News For You just referred to this completely false claim as a fact!!

This coverage should provide a glimpse of what we can expect from the BBC going into the Senedd elections in 2026. Let's see what it has in store for us

I wonder if and when the #BBC will take a deep, thorough look at the past, the ideology and associations of the leader of #Reform? If we can’t rely on our national public service broadcaster to scrutinise in detail a person who wants to be our PM, then what’s the point of defending it?

The damned BBC - annoying, wrong headed, essential It is the worst media and news service, except for all the others

It is probably a rash decision, but I've written about why the BBC - and especially BBC News - isn't all bad.

And now, I'd best retreat to my bunker.

open.substack.com/pub/mattwals...

🙌

There's a wrong way and a right way to report this

Ed Davey accuses BBC of 'copying Reform press releases' and urges broadcaster to expose Nigel Farage | LBC Sir Ed Davey has accused the BBC of

At the Lib Dem conference, Sir Ed Davey accused the BBC of giving Nigel Farage and Reform UK too much uncritical airtime — going so far as to say its coverage sometimes looks like “copy and paste” from party press releases.

🔗 www.lbc.co.uk/article/ed-d...

TLDR 👇

#impartiality #journalism

Committee To Protect Journalists says preliminary investigations show at least 201 journalists/media workers were among the those killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel & Lebanon since October 2023, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.

Has Reform UK rolled out the Nottinghamshire media ban to Wales? Following Reform UK’s shocking yet unsurprising media blackout in Nottinghamshire, Nation.Cymru’s news editor Emily Price discusses the party’s recent behaviour towards the press in Wales. Last…

Following Reform UK's shocking yet unsurprising media blackout in Nottinghamshire, NationCymru's news editor ✍️Emily Price discusses the party's recent behaviour towards the press in Wales

Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning The white Christian nationalist provocateur wasn't a promoter of civil discourse. He preached hate, bigotry, and division

I wrote my own Charlie Kirk obituary, and about valuing truth over manners: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Should the BBC be giving Reform UK so much coverage? (Cardiff Uni School of Journalism found it featured in a quarter of all News at Tens in the 6 months to June).
Latest BBC Newswatch from midnight Fri on iplayer or Sat 745am BBC1/Breakfast www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC under renewed pressure over Nigel Farage coverage following study

The BBC is coming under fresh pressure over its coverage of Reform UK after a university study found it featured in a quarter of News at Ten bulletins over six months

Amazing write up of our new study on the coverage Reform and Liberal Democrats on bulletin news.

We found prior to the local elections in May coverage of Reform and the Lib Dems was low and broadly balanced.

After Reform's success in locals their coverage spiked and sustained at a higher level

I had a great time test driving my new project on politicians being interviewed on celebrity podcasts.

Podcasts are transforming the dynamics of set-piece political interviews. Moving from news logic to content logic.

We need to start integrating this new set of practices and their consequences.

Day 1 of the Future of Journalism conference 2025 at @cujournmedcul.bsky.social

It's time to get nerdy!

Another great write up of our balance on political panel and debate programme study, feeding into the news cycle about Tim Davie's appearance before the Culture, Media and Sport committee earlier today

The BBC are taking a strong stance to defend the prominence they are giving Reform UK in coverage given their recent success in local elections and opinion poll lead.

But is there more they could be doing to scrutinise Reform and display a more diverse range of third party perspectives? I think so.

Great coverage of our @cujournmedcul.bsky.social study on journalistic impartiality - how should broadcasters allocate airtime to parties - should it by votes won/share or sustained polling data? Its an issue the @libdems.org.uk and @eddavey.libdems.org.uk are currently campaigning on...

No, Farage is not given more airtime than other politicians, new research finds A study by Cardiff University has challenged accusations Farage is given a disproportionate amount of coverage on political shows, although four in 10 Reform claims go unchecked

Does Reform UK and Nigel Farage feature more in TV news than Lib Dems and Ed Davey? Our new study in @theipaper.com shows they do which suggests broadcasters are applying more weight to the latest polls than no. of MPs in impartial news reporting (thread 1/5): inews.co.uk/culture/tele...

While there’s a lot of criticism focus on Chris Mason’s Reform story representing BBC News, important to acknowledge BBC Verify’s rigorous analysis- shame this story below isn’t prominently displayed on the BBC homepage because it represents high quality public service journalism👇

Broadcast debate shows prioritising Labour and Tory guests despite third-party surge ITV's Peston and Sky's Sunday Morning were found to under-represent Lib Dems, Greens, Reform, Plaid Cymru and SNP relative to their vote share and current polling.

Great write up of our political debate show study in The Media Leader - 'Broadcast debate shows prioritising Labour and Tory guests despite third-party surge' uk.themedialeader.com/broadcast-de...

Research team:
@stephencushion.bsky.social
@mattwalshjourno.bsky.social
@perkinskeighley.bsky.social

Follow us and stay tuned for more impartiality research from our AHRC funded project (7/7)

🔗 www.enhancingimpartiality.com

Contrary to claims that Nigel Farage is given more appearances than other politicians on discussion programmes, we found he appeared only five times. This could be an attempt by Reform to distance themselves from the idea they are a single personality party by pushing other figureheads. (6/7)

Table 1: Most frequent guests for each party on UK panel and debate programmes in the 24/25 Parliamentary season A Flourish data visualization by Maxwll Modell

Third parties tend to be represented by a handful of figureheads. Major parties spread appearances across senior cabinet and shadow cabinet figures. While third parties are less visible overall, their figureheads are some of the most prominent individual politicians. (5/7)

🔗 shorturl.at/Fg4lX

Broadcasters have somewhat taken into account growing public support for Reform UK and the party’s strong performance in the regional and local elections.

In the last quarter of 2024, Reform UK made up just 2.5% of guests. In 2025, Reform UK appearances more than doubled to 5.9%. (4/7)

Graph 1: Politician appearances on UK panel and debate programmes in the 2024/25 Parliamentary season compared to the General Election Result 2024 A Flourish data visualization by Maxwll Modell

Reform UK made up only 4.7% (27) of politicians, despite gaining a total vote share of 14.3% in GE24. The Liberal Democrats and Greens were also underrepresented, making up 8.6% (49) and 3.7% (21) of guests, respectively, against a 12.2% and 6.7% vote share (3/7)

🔗 shorturl.at/FAu8F

We analysed politicians selected across five of the UK’s most prominent political discussion programmes in the 24/25 Parliamentary season:

Any Questions (BBC Radio 4), Peston (ITV), Question Time (BBC), Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg (BBC) and Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips (Sky News) (2/7)

Interpreting Impartiality: An Analysis of politicians appearing on the UK's leading debate and panel — Researching the impartiality of political news Political debate programmes, such as the BBC’s Question Time and Any Questions , make a significant contribution to the democratic health of the UK. They allow the public to directly question polit...

New impartiality study 🚀

We analysed which politicians appear on UK debate and panel programmes. Broadcasters prioritise balancing Labs and Cons instead of reflecting the vote share in the GE or recent opinion polls, which show growing support for third parties. (1/7)

🔗 shorturl.at/pZjwv

Third parties tend to be represented by a handful of figureheads. Major parties spread appearances across senior cabinet and shadow cabinet figures. While third parties are less visible overall, their figureheads are some of the most prominent individual politicians. (5/7)

🔗 shorturl.at/Fg4lX