Blogs

The Beeb Does Transparency

By Hillary Profita

June 26, 2006 / 12:15 PM EDT / CBS News

(AP)

We've noted recently that more news outlets are taking their audiences behind the scenes for a closer look at how news is produced -- a feat obviously very close to our hearts. And it appears BBC News is hopping on the transparency bandwagon, offering a new blog called "The Editors." According to The Beeb, "Each day, 'The Editors' will include a round-up of where the BBC has been in the news, what members of the audience have told us in the previous 24 hours, our responses to that feedback, and the resulting discussion."

Since its launch, the blog has already started logging some of the complaints the BBC has been hearing from its audience about programming.

Among the audience response to the BBC in the past 24 hours were calls complaining that BBC Two's Daily Politics was biased against the Conservative party, and others claiming it was biased against the Labour party. Some callers thought generally BBC News had given Michael Owen's injury too high a priority. Several complained at the degree of football coverage on radio and TV. One complaint said it was wrong to refer to 21 June as "the longest day", since all days are 24 hours long.

And they're keeping track of what the BBC audience really likes:

So far, it's confirmed some things we already knew - that stories about sex, space, technology, showbiz, the environment or animals (or, better, a combination of any of the above) somehow always gets a lot of attention from our readers and viewers. There are also the perennially popular sub-categories, like animals doing human things.

(Not to mention the other ever-popular animal category, the death of the world's ugliest dog, one of CBSNews.com's more popular stories last year.) Well, cheers to transparency, BBC. We'll be tuning in.