BBC Defends Election Special

The BBC have announced that they have no intention of altering their plans to broadcast an extended, hour long Nine O’Clock News in the lead up to the General Election.

Despite cries of ‘overkill’ and ‘boredom’ from both the press and the public at large, the BBC still feel that they acting in the greater interest of the general public, and are fulfilling a common demand. There has been a large amount of speculation that a significant part of the usual audience are ‘switching over’, although as the figures below show in the first week of the extended broadcast there has been no real dramatic drop in audience figures. A spokesman at the BBC commented “it is still early days, and there has been no dramatic switch-off”.

The first two sets of figures show audience viewing figures for the Nine O’Clock News in the two weeks prior to its first week of Election broadcasts. The final set shows figures for the Nine O’Clock News in its first week of extended programmes, beginnning on Tuesday the First of April.

Source: BARB