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>> News and Comment >> "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
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Message started by Phil_J on Aug 2nd, 2018, 6:33am

Title: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by Phil_J on Aug 2nd, 2018, 6:33am

Another own goal with new figures showing listeners being driven away. So sad that people say they trust Sky News more for impartial coverage on brexit, and C4 News should get a % of the licence fee because unlike the BBC it's unbiased. :(

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by Burstner55 on Aug 2nd, 2018, 8:12pm

With you on this, Phil. The Today team should be hanging their heads in shame. Possible reasons? Too many to mention but I personally gave up on the prog when it dropped amusing, interesting, informative, courageous and ground-breaking packages from experienced local radio reporters and freelancers in favour of long, rambling, dictatorial "interviews" and "follow my leader" topics created by faceless mandarins ordering the whole news output to have themed weeks usually of a social-conscience-centric pattern. Eddie Mair is probably the last of the truly independently minded broadcasters....and even he is saying "Stuff it".  Meanwhile on the Online pages you can read such meaningful stuff as  thingy size, the importance of breasts, what it is like to have a rare but not fatal disease,
or, tonight, how not to lose friends (Phone etiquette).  The Good Lord Hall isn't listening, doesn't care. And I empathise entirely with Lord Grade in his article in The Times this week when he asks why Tony Hall isn't  facing up to reality. The truth is the UK news media is in crisis, not just because of Brexit, but because of a total abandonment of principle and fervour. No wonder the Great British Public are left floundering in a mire of fake news and silly season editorial.  I am so glad I am out of it.

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by Burstner55 on Aug 2nd, 2018, 8:15pm

Admin has ruled that the ***** word should only appear as "thingy". Excuse me I am off to use my thingy in the loo.

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by WG on Aug 3rd, 2018, 5:04pm

So much more listening is done on DAB and internet radio ,where there is now so much choice.A slump in Today's figures should not surprise a great deal -since many listeners don't hesitate to switch over to LBC or even World service. R5 needs to be omitted as a morning news speech option, due to it prioritising sport in favour of all other topics.  
Of course another real issue is that younger listeners are migrating in droves to streaming services, both music and speech. The BBC are getting wise to this with the messy launch of their new app -BBC Sounds-which takes over from Iplayer Radio when the former app has been properly developed .

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by aashton on Aug 5th, 2018, 1:33pm

I wish I was there, i.e. back on Today. At least you can do something inside, but nothing outside. I did get a prompt  reply from Sarah Sands to my moan about the Carney interview (too long). He was only repeating the same siren call since the referendum. I bet the EU big wigs were  well pleased!
Another 1,000 Brexit supporters probably left the programme...
PS I did Bcc in Tony Hall...I wonder i :(f that helped.....

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by Amigo on Aug 5th, 2018, 1:52pm

I wish you were there as well.

I wish I was there (sometimes!).

The world has changed. Expectations have changed.

On second thoughts, perhaps I’m glad I’m not.

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by Phil_J on Aug 7th, 2018, 12:06pm

Quote - "Another 1,000 Brexit supporters probably left the programme..." Really?
I didn't think brexit supporters liked experts, and Today does interview a lot of them, so it's probably a programme that didn't appeal to leavers. After all brexit supporters ignore warnings from experts in Agriculture, Science, Medicines, Health, Defence, The Police, Manufacturing, Finance, Banking, Trade and Industry, The Environment, Air travel, Tourism, Catering etc, seemingly preferring to get their facts from the Daily Mail or their local Wetherspoons.  
The listeners leaving Today appear to be the educated professionals which have been its core audience. At least they have The Guardian, The Independent, Reuters, Channel 4 News and now Sky News to rely on. Like many others though, they might just question, as the pound falls, food and medicine shortages kick in and prices shoot up, why we're still paying a licence fee.

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by John on Aug 7th, 2018, 1:25pm

There will no doubt be some hardship for a while when we leave the clutches of the EU but at least then, the UK will be able to chart it's own progress in the wider world. One newspaper suggested that the cost of leaving the EU would be £500 per uk citizen, a price well worth paying.

Now I'll get my head down  :)

Title: Re: "Today's audience dropped by 839,000"
Post by Phil_J on Aug 7th, 2018, 4:24pm

£500?  "Real household incomes are about £900 lower than we forecast in 2016." Mark Carney. That's without the £40 billion wasted so far.  Remember the £350 million a week for the NHS? The UK Statistics Authority has criticised this as “a clear misuse of official statistics”. Remember the figures for 77 million Turks? - "Michael Gove has conceded that the official Brexit campaign was wrong to fuel fears over an influx of Turkish immigrants." Buried in a 19,800 word Spectator essay written by former Vote Leave director Dominic Cummings is an admission:"The Brexit referendum was won by lying to the public". So I really wouldn't believe the Leavers' figures.  

However, this post was about the rapid fall in listeners, viewers and importantly the loss of trust in the BBC as a credible news source, something which is both very worrying and very sad.
A global research and analytics organisation, Edelman, in its 2018 "Trust Barometer" indicates that one third of the people they surveyed follow the news less than they used to, while a fifth now avoid it completely.

The three most common reasons given were that the news is too depressing (40 per cent), too biased (33 per cent), or reflects “hidden agendas”.

In a recent piece in the Independent, Tom Mills, author of ‘The BBC: Myth of a Public Service’ writes: "The BBC in general has come under fire from anti-Brexit campaigners in the past year – who allege that the corporation has been too soft on the Brexiteers and has failed to report adequately on the misdemeanours of the Leave camp during the campaign. The Today programme in particular, and John Humphrys most particularly, are a focus of complaints. We can also expect another chunk of the departed listeners to be Labour supporters who are exhausted and exasperated at the programme’s treatment of the party leadership."

He concludes: "if the BBC is serious about maintaining its legitimacy it needs to at least start taking its critics on the left and its audiences – past and present – more seriously."

Perhaps current bosses should also listen to former staff who spent many years upholding its traditional values and standards.

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