It’s not in your head. Hundreds of thousands of listeners just hit back at BBC Radio 4.

John Humphrys and Nick Robinson
Avatar


It’s not in your head. 800,000 listeners have deserted BBC Radio 4‘s Today programme in a year.

The figure throws doubt on the show’s shift further to the right since Sarah Sands became editor in January 2017.

Sands spent almost five years as editor of the Evening Standard, which backed Zac Goldsmith’s ‘racist‘ campaign to become London mayor in 2016. The Media Reform Coalition accused the paper of acting as a “mouthpiece of the Conservative Party” during the campaign.

Between April and June 2017, the Today programme reached 7.8 million people per week. But by 2018, the show had lost 800,000 listeners for the same period.

“Unconvincing state narratives”

Indeed, the Today programme has received a huge amount of criticism for what’s perceived as intensified pro-Conservative coverage:

The BBC pointed out that there was a snap general election during the 2017 period, which could explain the decrease in listeners since. However, other news stations such as LBC expanded their audience.

“Rampant” bias

For many, the views and words of the most prominent people on the Today programme are cause for concern. Host Nick Robinson has faced a barrage of criticism over his treatment of Jeremy Corbyn. For example, Robinson personally peddled Conservative Party style attack lines against the Labour leader. In April 2017, even a Daily Mail journalist asked Robinson to “step down” after the presenter suggested Corbyn was idealistic and incompetent:

And it goes beyond Robinson. Some have also accused fellow host John Humphrys of using his public platform to scaremonger about foreigners. On 27 June 2018, Humphrys made a link between immigrants and pressure on healthcare, schooling and jobs, saying “millions, upon millions, upon millions of them” were seeking to come to Britain.

The Today programme has also faced criticism for its coverage of Brexit. Author A.C. Grayling has attacked the “rampant pro-Brexit” bias of both Humphrys and editor Sands.

Exodus

In short, there has been an exodus of listeners from the Today programme.

This suggests the show needs to move on from pro-government spin to its stated aim: public interest journalism. And fast.

Get Involved!

– Join The Canary, so we can keep holding the powerful to account.

– Read and support other independent media outlets:

Media Diversified, Novara Media, Corporate Watch, Red Pepper, New Internationalist, Common Space, Media Lens, Bella Caledonia, Vox Political, Evolve Politics, Real Media, Reel News, STRIKE! magazine, The Bristol Cable, The Meteor, The Skwawkbox, Salford Star, The Ferret.

Featured image via BBC Newsnight/ YouTube and Johnpagenet/ Flickr

We need your help ...

The coronavirus pandemic is changing our world, fast. And we will do all we can to keep bringing you news and analysis throughout. But we are worried about maintaining enough income to pay our staff and minimal overheads.

Now, more than ever, we need a vibrant, independent media that holds the government to account and calls it out when it puts vested economic interests above human lives. We need a media that shows solidarity with the people most affected by the crisis – and one that can help to build a world based on collaboration and compassion.

We have been fighting against an establishment that is trying to shut us down. And like most independent media, we don’t have the deep pockets of investors to call on to bail us out.

Can you help by chipping in a few pounds each month?

The Canary Support us

Comments are closed

Related articles