Impartiality on Platforms: The Politics of BBC Journalists’ Twitter Networks

Abstract

Research shows the prominence afforded to political actors in BBC journalism strongly reflects the balance of power in Westminster, with major political parties, and the ruling party in particular, tending to predominate. This article examines the extent to which these patterns of news access and exposure are also evident in BBC journalists' following of and interactions with MPs on Twitter, using data from 90 BBC journalists' Twitter accounts (extracted in February 2019). We find that MPs from centrist parties have the highest average number of BBC journalist followers, and are interacted with and mentioned more by BBC journalists than other MPs. MPs in parties exclusively representing constituencies outside of England are the least followed, mentioned or interacted with. Of the two main political parties, Conservative MPs have the highest average BBC following, and are mentioned more often. Current and former Cabinet members have a higher BBC following and more interactions and mentions than their Shadow Cabinet counterparts. Our findings confirm that elite patterns of news access and exposure have been reproduced on new platforms. Though lending support to claims that the BBC is orientated towards the political centre, they suggest more of an orientation towards the Right than the Left.

‘Huge fan of the drama’: Politics as an object of fandom

“…In recent times, the perpetual news machine has operated out of, and through, Twitter. Mills et al have noted that among British journalists Twitter is ‘widely used for a range of professional purposes including monitoring news, gauging opinion, identifying and fostering contacts and sources, publishing live reports and commentary, and promoting content’ (2021: 3). Social media is also where the breadth of individuals identified above – from political editors to political scientists working in academia – come together.…”

“…Social media is also where the breadth of individuals identified above – from political editors to political scientists working in academia – come together. Although it is likely their in-person social networks would have overlapped in the past, social media permits this to take place without the constraint of needing to be in the same physical space (Mills et al, 2021) and, on Twitter, interested members of the public can also bear witness to their interactions in real time.…”

“…This development has run alongside a ‘deep and continuing crisis’ for ‘UK local, regional and national news media’ (Williams et al, 2015: 681) wherein the economic model that historically sustained traditional media – one based on print sales and advertising revenue – has come under strain as Internet access has become widespread. This has, broadly speaking, led to the domination of the media sector by a smaller number of bigger players and, in turn, ‘[D]igital technology has recalibrated and become integrated with existing media institutions, practices and power structures’ (Mills et al, 2021: 1). The nature of the ‘media economy’ (Meyer, 2002: 35) means that the imperative to sell entertaining content in order to produce profit will survive any shifts in how that content is initially funded.…”

Prensa cultural en España. Los usos del Patrimonio Cultural

“…La injerencia del periodismo en Twitter ha sido abordada por numerosas investigaciones (Arce-García et al, 2020;Arrabal-Sánchez & De-Aguilera-Moyano, 2016;Benaissa-Pedriza, 2018;Clua et al, 2018;Hermida, 2010Hermida, , 2013Marta-Lazo & Garcia-Idiakez, 2014;Larsson & Hallvard, 2015;Lewis & Molyneux, 2018). Las más actuales versan sobre la transmisión y la percepción de las noticias (Barnidge et al, 2020;Bentivegna & Marchetti, 2018;Hedman, 2020;Hine, 2020;Houston et al, 2020;Marenet, 2013;Oeldorf-Hirsch et al, 2020;Santos-Silva, 2019;Zhang & Ho, 2020), aunque otros trabajos puntualizan en las interacciones de los periodistas con otros actores (López-Rabadán & Mellado, 2019;McGregor & Molyneux, 2018;Mills et al, 2020), así como en las nuevas formas de aproximación al campo de estudio (Hermida & Mellado, 2020;Hernández-Fuentes & Monnier, 2020;. El centro de interés se agrupa como afirma Tong, (2018) en la relegitimación del periodismo cultural en la era digital, aunque en España, según Jaraba-Molina & Tejedor, (2020) los temas culturales se olvidan en Twitter: los periodistas dedicaron pocos tuits a los asuntos culturales, aunque los ciberperiodistas lo hicieron más (p. 12).…”

‘We need to start building up what's called herd immunity’: Scientific dissensus and public broadcasting in the Covid‐19 pandemic

“…Research has also pointed to the significance of the close correlation between the class and educational backgrounds—as well as mutual networks of friendship—between political elites and senior broadcast editors and journalists (Manning, 2000; Sutton Trust, 2019). These elite networks have also now reproduced themselves within the sphere of social media (Mills et al., 2021). In addition, along with the use of public relations, there is well documented evidence of threats and direct political intervention by senior politicians in an attempt to influence coverage—especially in times of intense controversy or crisis (Curran & Seaton, 1997; Miller, 1994).…”