Channels
The Broadcasters
What each UK TV news channel focused on, what they left out, and how their agendas compare across the full archive.
Channel 5 Leans health
“opinion polls suggest the public is split on the question of independence though this pollster says it isn't high on people's list of priorities so overall for scott it's pretty low it's 12th on the list of big issues even for SNP supporters it's only number three it comes behind the cost of living and the nhs”
BBC ONE West relays John Swinney's claim of a growing consensus for Scotland's right to decide, whereas 5 reports polling that the public is split and independence ranks low among priorities.
BBC News Leans international
“Trump right now is the only leader in the western world which is doing something for peace.”
BBC News airs the Russian claim that Trump is the only Western leader working for peace, whereas Channel 4 frames the US as tilting toward Moscow.
BBC One Leans sport
“Well this is extremely serious, but fortunately it's a good news story.”
BBC One West frames the PHP incident as fortunately a good news story, whereas Sky News characterises the vulnerability itself as a bad one.
BBC Two Leans politics
“but it's quite clear that the people of Scotland should be in charge of our destiny, not politicians at Westminster.”
BBC NEWS characterises the SNP's democratic mandate for a referendum as an invented notion that would trump the law, whereas BBC TWO presents the people of Scotland, not Westminster, as having the right to decide.
Channel 4 Leans war
“probable criminal activity for their use of an undercover reporter.”
Channel 4 relays Reform's claim that ITV's undercover filming is probable criminal activity, whereas BBC ONE West presents it as ITV's legitimate journalism.
GB News Leans immigration
“And if you teach them this, which many believe the whole pro-Palestine and Palestine action and all of that are very anti-Semitic, this isn't a good thing.”
Sky News treats criticism of Israel as sometimes legitimate but liable to bleed into antisemitism, whereas GB News characterises the whole pro-Palestine movement as very antisemitic.
ITV Leans environment
“but the code involved is so common it's feared many will remain unsafe.”
Sky News presents the fix as quick and manageable, whereas ITV1 warns that many websites may remain unsafe because the code is so widespread.
Sky News Leans international
“So as these things go, this is a bad one.”
BBC One West frames the PHP incident as fortunately a good news story, whereas Sky News characterises the vulnerability itself as a bad one.
⚑ Flagged quotes reflect the language a broadcaster used, not a judgement of its accuracy.
All-Time Comparison
Coverage, news density, flagged omissions, disputed language, and how each channel's mix of stories changed over time. Flagged omissions is a count, not a rate: channels running shorter bulletins are already excused, so read it against the days on air beside it. Click a column to sort.
| Channel | Coverage | News density | Flagged omissions | Days on air | Flagged quotes / hr | Agenda change | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC News | 166h 57m | 79% | 52 | 111 | 2.0/hr | Highly distinct | |
| BBC One | 159h 25m | 83% | 17 | 113 | 3.1/hr | Distinct | |
| Sky News | 148h 6m | 82% | 49 | 113 | 3.1/hr | Typical | |
| ITV | 113h 56m | 74% | 32 | 114 | 3.1/hr | Distinct | |
| GB News | 111h 27m | 66% | 176 | 110 | 1.9/hr | Highly distinct | |
| Channel 4 | 75h 46m | 78% | 64 | 111 | 3.4/hr | Typical | |
| BBC Two | 56h 7m | 86% | 40 | 78 | 0.9/hr | Highly distinct | |
| Channel 5 | 48h 22m | 62% | 37 | 112 | 2.4/hr | Highly distinct |
Difference measures how far a channel's topic mix sits from the cross-channel average, adjusted for how many topics we observed the channel covering — a narrow programme would otherwise look distinctive purely for having no room to cover much. It is a description of emphasis, not a judgement.
News density is the share of each analysed slot spent on identified news stories — ad breaks, weather, sport and trails count as “not news”.
How bleak, how hard
The share of each channel's airtime given to bad-news stories and to light ones. This is about which stories a channel chose to run, and for how long, not about how it covered them. Hidden until enough of the window has been scored.
Each channel's position is the share of its airtime given to bad-news stories and to light ones: what it chose to run, and for how long. It is not a measure of how any channel covered anything.
- Bad news, good news
- Whether things got worse or better for the people in the story. Most stories are neither, which is why the two never add up to a whole bulletin.
- Light
- Human interest, sport, curiosity: a story with no consequence beyond the people in it. A record-breaking water lily is light; a defence spending shortfall is not. This is a separate question from good and bad, so a light story can still be sad.
- BBC News
- ITV
- Sky News
- Channel 4
- BBC One
- GB News
- Channel 5
- BBC Two
| Channel | Bad news | Good news | Light | Stories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC News | 42% | 13% | 11% | 281 |
| ITV | 45% | 15% | 21% | 338 |
| Sky News | 41% | 13% | 10% | 296 |
| Channel 4 | 38% | 14% | 8% | 200 |
| BBC One | 43% | 16% | 16% | 449 |
| GB News | 29% | 4% | 11% | 194 |
| Channel 5 | 35% | 23% | 38% | 245 |
| BBC Two | 19% | 7% | 5% | 79 |
Dashed lines mark the average across all channels, weighted by airtime. Based on 30 of the last 30 days, counting only days where at least 90% of story airtime has been scored.
Disputed language over time
Contested and charged quotes per hour of analysed airtime, by day. Flagged quotes reflect the language a broadcaster aired, not a judgement of its accuracy.
Distinctive vocabulary
Words and phrases that set a channel apart from the rest over the last 30 days — word choice, not a judgement of accuracy or bias. Only channels whose vocabulary differs measurably from the rest appear — 4 of 8 here; the others sit too close to the average to have distinctive terms.
Agenda Alignment
How similar each pair of channels was in the topics they covered. Darker means more alike.
Channel Differences
Where each channel covered more or less of a category than the average channel.
Broadcaster Agenda Comparison
How each channel divided its coverage between topic categories across the full archive.
Topics That Travel Together
For each channel, the two topics it most often runs on the same day — set against how often the rest of the roster pairs those same two. Same-day co-occurrence describes what shared a bulletin day, not why.
- GB News Immigration + Energy 70% vs 0% 7/10 days
- BBC News US-Iran + West Bank 67% vs 0% 6/9 days
- Sky News Royal Family + FIFA 75% vs 7% 6/8 days
- Channel 4 US-Iran + Climate Change 45% vs 18% 5/11 days
- BBC One Ukraine + Formula One 70% vs 6% 7/10 days
- Channel 5 Wimbledon + Heatwave 63% vs 21% 5/8 days
- ITV Wildfires + Drowning 50% vs 9% 4/8 days
No pairing clears the evidence floor yet for BBC Two — a channel needs 4 days running both topics, out of at least 8 days covering either.