BBC Innovation Academy: 21st Century Local News

A personal take on where we are, and where we may be going

Damian Radcliffe 1st April 2011

damian.radcliffe@ofcom.org.uk@mrdamian76

Running Order – nine ideas in as many minutes (ish)

State of Play

a) Defining local

b) Does local matter?

c) Current consumption

Ofcom’s role

d) Delivering our statutory duties as set out in the Communications Act

e) Providing regulatory and technical advice to Government

f) Undertaking and publishing research

Crystal Ball gazing

g) Hyper-local

h) Social Media

i) Impartiality

1. State of Play - understanding local news today

3

a. Definition of local

‘Local is whatever you can relate to’ (F 40s Oxford)

‘It’s towns near me. Or where I can walk, without getting in the car’

(F 60s Darlington)

4

Source: Ofcom ITV regional news deliberative research 2008

5

There is no consistent definition of ‘local’

MY COMMUNITYMY LOCAL

AREAMY REGION

MY NATION

UK

• Local boundaries are not clearly defined and vary according to:

– Individual perception– Location– Size of population – e.g. regional boundaries can be considered

national in Scotland, Wales and Ireland

• As a result, definitions of community vs local vs regional media differ by individual

Source: Ofcom qualitative research 2006

6

My village My town or city

My village and sur-

rounding vil-lages

My town and sur-

rounding vil-lages

My town and other

towns nearby

My city and other towns

nearby

My town or city plus

around half the county

My county My county and another

county

My county and more than one

other county

Other0

20

40

60

16

41

12 8 114 2 3 1 1 1

Definition of local area

Source: Ofcom local media survey, 2009, Q1 What do you think of when we talk about your ‘local area’?Base: UK adults (n=1034). Rural (n=278); urban (n=756)

Immediate and

surrounding

Surrounding and wider

Wider region

People define local as their town, city or village

Immediate location

% o

f U

K a

du

lts 1

6+

b. Localness matters

7

Consumers value local and regional content – particularly news

8

% saying local and regional content is very important - weekly users

Scores based on respondents importance rating 9/10 on a scale of 1-10. Source, Ofcom research

9

Local News

Local sport

Travel information

Weather information

Life and community

Events/entertainment

Council updates

Classifieds

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

5

17

11

7

6

8

10

11

12

20

22

17

24

24

23

27

32

29

40

38

43

41

38

36

49

31

23

35

25

25

25

23

2

3

4

2

2

3

3

3

1 to 4 5 to 6 7 to 8 9 to 10 Don't know

Importance of local content

Mean score8.1

6.9

7.1

Source: Ofcom local media survey, 2009. Q11 How important are the following types of content to you?Base: UK adults using each source at least weekly (Local news n=969; Local sport n=514; Travel information n=490; Weather information n=785; Life & community n=640; Events/entertainment n=643; Council updates n=374; Classifieds n=449)

7.6

7.2

7.1

7.0

6.8

SCALE: 1 = not at all important and 10 = extremely important

Local news and weather are most important local content

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Local media can play a functional or emotional role in people’s lives

EMOTIONAL“Things I want to know

to feel like I belong to my local area.”

FUNCTIONAL“Things I need to know

to help me live in my local area.”

Council services

Weather

Traffic updates

Signposting events

Job listings

Entertainment

Newsworthy incidents e.g. crime

Features people and places I know

Town planning and

developments

Celebrating local events

Local interests – sports and politics

Opportunities to get involved in local issues

INFORMATION INFORMATION AND REPORTED NEWS Source: Ofcom Local media qualitative research, 2009

c. Current consumption

12

13

Regional/local TV Local radio Local newspapers Websites0

20

40

60

80

100

85

7376

56

37

2933 33

25

40

16

49

62

46

20

54

29

22

51

36

1824

5349

9 7

2733

4 6

43 43

News Sport Travel Weather Life and community Events/entertainment Local government (council updates /plans) Classifieds

Local content consumed via each media

Source: Ofcom local media survey. Q9 What do you use each media for?Base: UK adults who use each source at least weekly (Local radio n=598; Local newspapers n=739; Regional/local TV n=947; Websites n=240) * Note: Base for Council publications too low to show (n=38)

News is most popular type of local media content

TV has remained consistently high as main source of local news – newspapers have declined

14

1% 4% 4% 4%

92%91%92%92%93%

48% 44%46% 46% 46% 47%

49%49%

32% 37% 36%29% 29% 27%

23% 24%

12%11%10%11%10%12%12%

13%

6%7%6%5%4%5%2%3%1% 2% 2%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Total use oflocal media

TV

Newspapers

Radio

Talking topeople

Internet

Ofcom’s Media Tracker, 2002-2009

Which if any is your main source for news and information about local area?

15

Local area

UK news

International news

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

49

73

75

22

8

6

11

7

6

TV Newspapers Radio Talking to other people Internet Teletext Other Do not get/use Don't know

Main media source used for local, UK and international news

Source: Ofcom Media Tracker 2009, ‘Can you tell me what if anything is your main source of news about what is going on in your local area/in the UK/ in the world?’ Base: all UK adults (n=2114)

But proportionately newspapers more important locally, with TV as main media source for all news

Source: BARB, 2009, 2005Note: ITV regions are used for this analysis, and so BBC One share does not correlate exactly with distinct BBC regional news programmes

Channel 3/ITV 18:00 BBC One 18:30

• On BBC One, share was down 2% in Scotland, and 3% in Wales, but up by 1% in Northern Ireland comparing 2005 and 2009.

• On Channel 3, share was down 3% in Wales and 2% in Northern Ireland, while share was increased in Scotland by 1% compared with five years ago.

Nations/Regions news share has held up for both BBC and ITV since 2005

Source: BARB, 2009, 2005Note: ITV regions are used for this analysis, and so BBC One share does not correlate exactly with distinct BBC regional news programmes

ITV 18:00 BBC One 18:30

Nations/Regions news share has held up for both BBC and ITV since 2005

The share of viewing of Channel 3 and BBC One evening nations/regional News programmes in 2009 compared to 2005 shows that the average UK share of the main weekday evening nations/regions news fell by 2% on Channel 3 compared with 2005, but held steady on BBC One over the same period.

2. Ofcom’s role includes:

Delivering our statutory duties as set out in the Communications Act

Providing regulatory and technical advice to Government

Undertaking and publishing research

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Some relevant statutory duties

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• Securing availability of wide range of TV and radio services of high quality and wide appeal

• Maintaining sufficient plurality of providers

• Licensing national and local analogue and community radio stations

• Ensuring optimal use of spectrum

As well as :

• Applying adequate protection for audiences against offensive or harmful material, unfairness or the infringement of privacy

Provide appropriate assurance to audiences on standards

• Implementing streamlined broadcasting standards procedures

• Considering new regulatory approaches to content regulation

• Content regulation remains relevant for the protection of adults, minors, the democratic debate and individuals as subjects of the media

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3. Crystal Ball gazing....

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“Nobody knows anything.”

William Goldman

“ There are known knowns; there are things we know we know.

We also know there are known unknowns;

that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.

But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know

we don't know. ” Donald Rumsfeld

...Clearly futile, but still, let’s have a go...

a. The emergence and growing importance of hyper-local

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Big Society Launch, No 10, 18 May 2010

....And the web more generally...

25

People are consuming more local media online

Regional/local news on TV

Local radio

Free local newspaper

Paid for local newspaper

Newspaper/radio websites

Community websites

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

18

19

15

12

43

34

75

72

75

77

49

55

6

8

8

8

6

5

1

1

1

2

3

5

Do more About the same Do less Don't know

Use of local media now compared to two years ago

Source: Ofcom research, 2009

b. Everything is social

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Social isn’t just driving search, it’s also driving what news people read.

“ 75% of news consumed online is through shared news from social networking sites or e-mail. Social news is finding us.”

Mashable, Summer 2010

• Click-throughs on news stories or items friends post to their Facebook wall.

• Following trends via a twitter #tag.

• Social bookmarking like Del.icious.

• And many, many more….

c. Impartiality

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Is impartiality on television outdated in the internet era?

"There was a logic in allowing impartial broadcasters to have a monopoly of the broadcasting space. But in the future, maybe there should be a broad range of choices? Why shouldn't the public be able to see and hear, as well as read, a range of opinionated journalism and then make up their own mind what they think about it?

"The BBC and Channel 4 have a history of clearly labeled polemical programmes. But why not entire polemical channels which have got stronger opinions? I find the argument persuasive."

Mark Thompson at a Whitehall seminar on impartiality in broadcasting, Dec 2010

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/dec/17/mark-thompson-bbc-fox-news

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“In the UK, television and radio channels are required by law to be impartial. Newspapers and the internet, while still having to be accurate, do not need to be impartial. How important do you personally think it is that news in general is impartial?’

• 63% felt that it was ‘very important’; • 28% felt it was important. • Only 1% of respondents felt that it was unimportant.

Respondents were then asked how important they personally felt it was that news from a variety of different sources was impartial.

A strong majority of respondents felt that it was important for television news to be impartial (93%), followed by radio (89%), then newspapers (88%), internet (79%) and magazines (73%).

Source, Ofcom PSB Report 2010 – Information Pack H

But impartiality still matters to consumers

Thanks for listening.

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damian.radcliffe@ofcom.org.uk@mrdamian76