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However, the Trust has concluded that there is still room to build further on this groundwork and it has commissioned its own independent research to assess the progress that has been made so far.

The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Executive's report assesses its progress in implementing the findings of the Trust's initial review of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ network news and current affairs coverage of the UK published in June 2008.

That review concluded that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ needed to do more to improve the range and precision of its network news coverage of the UK's nations, and the Trust asked the Executive to address this.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Trust Chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, said:

"The Trust is determined that the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ should serve all audiences, and licence fee payers themselves tell us they want to know more about what's going on in the nations and regions of the UK.

"The Trust's report last year showed that whilst there was no doubt about the impartiality of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's news reporting, greater accuracy was needed to improve coverage of the UK's nations.

"It is encouraging to see that ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ management have acted on this, and made operational changes to ensure network news and current affairs coverage reflects the different politics and policies around the UK more precisely.

"We now look to the Director-General and his team to build on this progress and demonstrate to the Trust that they can sustain the momentum already built up in order to deliver long-lasting change."

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Management progress report findings

The report points to various areas in which improvements have been made.

• An increase in stories from around the UK - particularly Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - are being broadcast across ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ network news and current affairs output where they had not been before
• Structural changes - including the merger of ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News and English Regions into a single department - have created stronger ties and closer co-operation between London and the rest of the UK’s News operation
• The introduction of new training – such as workshops attended by all senior news editors examining the implications of the 2008 review and how they should be responding.

Management's report also concludes that there remain areas for improvement including:

• Accurate labelling – for example stories have not been accurately referenced in terms of the constituent part of the UK from which they originate. In all cases the issue has been raised with programme makers who have been tasked to attend more closely to this in future
• Important local issues and stories being adequately covered - Audience Councils, the advisory bodies to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Trust, have noted improvements in accuracy but also cite cited examples where opportunities for clarity and comparison were missed
• Better coverage of the nations' diverse communities, as demanded by audiences.

Next Steps

The Trust has commissioned its own independent research, which will be carried out within the next six months, to inform its assessment of the progress that has been made. The Trust's conclusions and the research, carried out by the Cardiff School of Journalism, will be published in summer 2010.

Notes to Editors

The report published by the Trust in 2008:

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ network news coverage of the four UK nations: the Trust's conclusions

The press release that accompanied that report:

Trust impartiality report: network news and current affairs coverage of the four UK nations