Roger Bolton explores whether recent major incident coverage has been too graphic and intrusive and why the BBC is making signing in to iPlayer Radio compulsory, and also goes behind the scenes at Dame Hilary Mantel's Reith lectures. In the light of major terror attacks in London and Manchester, followed by the tragic fire in West London, listeners give their reactions to the BBC's coverage. Did the reporting veer too often towards sensationalism or was it upsetting but essential? Roger chairs a...
Jun 16, 2017•27 min
On the morning after the night before, Roger Bolton talks to the BBC's Head of Newsgathering, Jonathan Munro, about the corporation's election coverage, responding to audience complaints about bias and over-aggressive interviewers. Also, listener Marcia Hughes gets to the heart of Radio 4's Soul Music with producer Maggie Ayre. And audio addict Anthony Frost explains why his all-consuming passion for radio means he finds it difficult to find time to talk to his wife. Producer: Will Yates A Whist...
Jun 09, 2017•28 min
Now Article 50 has been triggered, Roger Bolton speaks to BBC News Editor James Stephenson about whether the BBC can move on from broadly balancing remain and leave sentiment in its discussion of the Brexit process. With Radio 4's Midweek programme at an end after 35 years, presenter Libby Purves is Roger Bolton's latest guest for our Open Mic interviews about the careers of some of your favourite radio broadcasters. Also, can young panellists teach old hands some new tricks on Moral Maze? Liste...
Apr 07, 2017•31 min
Roger Bolton puts listener questions about coverage of the Westminster attack by Khalid Masood, to the Deputy Editor of BBC News, Toby Castle. And Roger reports from the Nations and Regions Media Conference in Salford on the important BBC radio headlines from the event. While there, he talks with the Editor of The Archers, Huw Kennair-Jones. Huw answers listener questions on all manner of subjects from sex and fruity language, to whether he wants to run another Helen and Rob-style hard-hitting s...
Mar 31, 2017•30 min
Roger Bolton hears listeners' responses to BBC Radio's coverage of the Westminster attack. Also, following a letter from more than 70 - mainly Conservative - MPs to the BBC which called the Corporation's coverage of Brexit pessimistic and skewed, BBC Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed discusses his role in uncertain economic times. This week, a documentary took listeners inside a hospital in northern Israel for 24 hours. Tim Samuels' Sleepover: Inside the Israeli Hospital followed doctors at Ziv hospi...
Mar 24, 2017•28 min
Radio 4's forum for audience comment.
Mar 17, 2017•28 min
This week a storm of controversy has surrounded Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray. Many listeners feel a newspaper article she wrote breached the BBC's guidelines on impartiality and compromised her presenter role. Others supported her right to free speech. We hear from listeners on both sides of the argument. John Humphrys has also attracted criticism. During a Today programme interview he suggested that referring to MP Jo Cox's murder as an act of terrorism could "muddy the waters". Listener...
Mar 10, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton hears listener concerns about satirising Donald Trump in a news programme, and considers how far writers can go when dramatising real disasters. Every Friday on the World at One, reporter Jonny Dymond has been documenting the movements of Trump's first 100 days in office with a wry twist. While some listeners have enjoyed the touch of humour, others have said it's out of place in what they say should be an objective news programme. Roger chairs a discussion between two listeners wit...
Mar 03, 2017•28 min
Listeners have been voicing their concerns about a significant shake-up to Radio 2's schedule including time changes, the moving of beloved presenters and an apparent lack of diversity. As the new schedule comes into effect this weekend, Head of BBC Radio 2 Lewis Carnie answers a range of audience questions - from his side of the Brian Matthew story, to ensuring Radio 2 will fill the space left by Desmond Carrington with a similarly eclectic sound. Earlier this month, the new editor of The Arche...
Feb 24, 2017•30 min
Roger Bolton asks if journalists are stuck in cold war thinking about Russia, and discovers if Radio 4's interactive drama Hashtag Love was truly interactive. Following National Security Advisor Michael Flynn's resignation this week and stories of alleged Russian involvement in the US elections, some listeners have suggested that reporting about Russia follows only one narrative line - presenting the country as enemy of the West. So are journalists sticking to a one-sided portrayal that sounds l...
Feb 17, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton hears the comments and concerns of listeners on the past week's radio broadcasting and raises their issues with those involved in making the programmes. As In Our Time prepares to celebrate its 750th episode, Roger Bolton talks to the programme's presenter Melvyn Bragg, who reveals how he ramps up the pressure to achieve the best live programme and talks about the programmes that have transformed his thinking. Long-standing BBC Correspondent Hugh Sykes considers the importance of ac...
Feb 10, 2017•31 min
Roger Bolton asks if interviews with President Trump supporters require more care - or even censorship. And listeners give their reaction to the announcement of a new Today programme editor. Earlier this week, the Today programme interviewed Frank Gaffney. Introduced as a former government official, Gaffney was invited to discuss his support for Donald Trump's ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries. But some listeners thought his so-called controversial political stance and...
Feb 03, 2017•29 min
Roger Bolton hears from listeners who claim the BBC may be out of step with popular opinion, and staffed by people from privileged middle-class backgrounds. Following Radio 4's recent series The New World, Commissioning Editor Mohit Bakaya and one of the presenters, Jo Fidgen meet some of those listeners to discuss their thoughts about the series and its ideological starting points. GF Newman's The Corrupted has just finished its third series of ten episodes, broadcast across two weeks. It's a g...
Jan 27, 2017•29 min
Roger Bolton follows up the issues that are concerning listeners and asks if the BBC Reality Check team can combat the spread of 'fake news'. With audiences across the world getting caught out by viral stories, and dodgy statistics and shocking facts beginning to have a direct impact on politics, the BBC is responding with concrete efforts to tackle the growing phenomena of 'fake news'. The corporation has established a permanent statistic verification team called Reality Check. From the central...
Jan 20, 2017•30 min
Roger Bolton investigates the demise of Detective James McLevy, protagonist of the much-loved and long-running Radio 4 drama. Also, many listeners want to know why the former Cabinet minister Michael Gove got so much airtime this week, with lengthy interviews on the World at One and a 15 minute special on The Pursuit of Power. The programme goes behind the scenes at a recording of The Kitchen Cabinet, talking to panellists, audience members and the programme's presenter Jay Rayner. Everything We...
Oct 28, 2016•28 min
The editor of Today defends his programme against audience accusations of sexism in its coverage of Donald Trump's obscene comments, and a listener goes behind the scenes at Radio 5Live. When the Today programme ran an item on so-called "locker-room banter" following Donald Trump's comments about women, it prompted an angry reaction from the guest who had been invited to discuss the story on air. Laura Bates from Everyday Sexism accused the programme of a serious error of judgement in conflating...
Oct 21, 2016•30 min
With the US presidential elections less than 3 weeks away the BBC's North America Editor, Jon Sopel talks to Roger about the challenges of covering a campaign dominated by personalities rather than policies. He responds to listeners' suggestions that the BBC has been too focused on Donald Trump and too soft on Hillary Clinton. The Radio 4 documentary Body Count Rising argued that modern fiction is increasingly portraying violence against women in a voyeuristic way. Listeners were divided over th...
Oct 14, 2016•30 min
Roger Bolton hears listener views on BBC radio programmes and developments. From next year, users will need to login and give their postcode to access BBC iPlayer, iPlayer Radio and some mobile apps. The BBC says the move will enable it to offer a more personalised service - tailoring content to individual preferences. Some Feedback listeners and concerned the information gleaned will be used to crack down on the non-payment of the licence fee. The BBC's Director of Homepage and myBBC, Phil Fear...
Oct 07, 2016•29 min
Roger Bolton discusses audience views on BBC radio programmes. The news coming out of Aleppo in Syria becomes more horrific each day but, while the human suffering of civilians caught up in the conflict is undeniable, hard facts about what's happening on the ground are very difficult to come by. As in everything else, the BBC's duty is to remain duly impartial in its reporting. But some listeners believe the BBC has been less than even-handed in its coverage of recent events. Can the BBC ever be...
Oct 04, 2016•30 min
Roger Bolton with views from the audience on BBCX radio programmes and issues. Sir David Attenborough's two part documentary series for Radio 4, The Waterside Ape, delved into the developments on the aquatic ape theory - the idea that our human ancestors evolved not on the wide savannahs of Africa, but alongside water. It's a contentious idea and some scientists have claimed it played fast and loose with the evidence and promoted a minority thesis unnecessarily. Roger hears the views of listener...
Oct 04, 2016•29 min
Roger Bolton asks if BBC coverage has been biased against Jeremy Corbyn, putting listener concerns to Political News Editor Katy Searle. Have radio programmes looked too much at Jeremy Corbyn's personality at the expense of his policies? In the week that the Chair of the BBC Trust handed in her resignation, the draft BBC Royal charter was released. Chairman of the Voice of the Listener and Viewer Colin Browne talks to Roger Bolton about the Charter and its repercussions. Will it safeguard the in...
Sep 16, 2016•29 min
It's the first of a new series, and one of the big stories over the summer was the Olympic Games in Rio. But are Radio 4 news bulletins the place for sports coverage - and did the BBC go too far in championing Team GB? Feedback listeners have their say, and Roger Bolton puts their thoughts to Editor of Radio 4's Six O'clock News, Dominic Ball. The long-awaited trial of Helen for attempted murder has had many glued to The Archers this week, and the fictional village of Ambridge has featured in re...
Sep 09, 2016•29 min
Roger Bolton hears the questions and concerns of BBC radio listeners. This series, one issue has been top of the Feedback agenda - impartiality. The surge in questions and comments from listeners was initially sparked by the EU Referendum coverage, with concerns that striving for impartiality meant the BBC did not sufficiently scrutinise the campaigns and determine which conflicting claims were right. Listeners have also been highlighting other areas where they question whether the BBC has not m...
Jul 22, 2016•29 min
Is it right to refer to a politician using just their first name? It's a question posed by some Feedback listeners after reporters referred to the new Foreign Secretary as simply "Boris". They are asking why he appears to be an exception to the rule and, more pertinently, if this note of familiarity softens the tone of interviews. And are this year's Proms getting a shake-up? Having celebrated its 120th anniversary last year, the Proms have been given a new Director - David Pickard. As the 2016 ...
Jul 15, 2016•29 min
The unpredictable and fast-moving political landscape post-Brexit continues to dominate the headlines and listeners remain divided over whether the BBC's coverage has been as "duly impartial" as its Charter requires. The "political earthquake" caused by last month's vote has presented special challenges to BBC Radio News - not just in terms of balance but also because of the sheer speed with which the tectonic plates have shifted. And when Boris Johnson announced he wasn't running for the tory l...
Jul 08, 2016•29 min
Following the confirmation that the UK had voted to leave the European Union, BBC Radio 5Live cancelled their planned schedules and extended their phone-ins after being contacted by thousands of listeners. But some Feedback correspondents question whether the result merited the such comprehensive coverage and why some sports coverage was shelved. Other listeners have also queried the benefit of hearing "outlandish claims" being made by callers. Gill Farrington, 5Live's Breakfast programme editor...
Jul 01, 2016•29 min
The long-awaited decision day has finally arrived. Votes have been cast and campaigns have come to an end. But that hasn't halted your questions, comments and queries on how the BBC has reported on and covered the EU Referendum. In this special edition of Feedback, listeners put forward their views on whether BBC news as a whole has been an aid in your decision making. Throughout the campaign, the Feedback inbox has received numerous questions as listeners have flagged up the areas in which they...
Jun 24, 2016•29 min
Radio 4's Today Programme on Monday morning focused largely on the shooting at a gay club in Orlando. Unfolding details were assessed by a variety of interviewees, but some listeners felt the discussions failed to explore questions around homophobia. They called for Radio 4 aficionado Luke Howard tells Roger Bolton why he felt particularly let down and calls for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender views to be discussed as much as topics on gun laws, terrorism and IS. The Queen's 90th birthday...
Jun 18, 2016•29 min
Roger Bolton explores listener reaction to BBC radio. The death of boxing legend Muhammad Ali blazed across BBC output in the last week - but did this coverage fail to portray the two sides of his character? Listeners questioned whether the reporting focused too heavily on his success and iconic image and neglected his more controversial moments. Controller of daily news programmes Gavin Allen explains how these decisions are made in the editorial process and what he feels the news programmes ac...
Jun 10, 2016•29 min
With one of the biggest national decisions inching closer, listeners give their verdict on the BBC's referendum coverage so far. Some feel that the network is giving more attention to one side of the campaign - particularly in its headline reporting - others are concerned that the BBC is only reflecting a limited set of views. Most pertinently, those following the coverage ask whether the corporation's impartiality restricts its reporters from digging out hard facts. Assistant political editor N...
Jun 03, 2016•28 min
