What the BBC can learn from its journalists' use of Twitter | Tom Mills

In the first quantitative study of 90 BBC journalists on the platform, we examined to whom reporters pay most attention

British journalism has never been held in high esteem by the public, though the BBC and other broadcasters have always been more trusted than the tabloids, and for good reason. In recent years, however, levels of trust in the BBC have fallen across the political spectrum, and particularly on the left. The Reuters Institute, shows the percentage of those identifying with the left who mostly trust the BBC dropped from 75% in 2019 to 60% in 2020.

In the BBC's annual plan last year it acknowledged that its reputation for impartiality had been weakened, and said that new editorial guidelines were being developed to try to restore trust. Alongside these new rules on impartiality, which were published in October, is new guidance on the use of social media, which has been a particular focus of recent debates around BBC bias.