Roger Bolton hosts a Brexit special and also asks if the BBC was right to air the Rivers of Blood speech in full. A panel of high-ranking BBC journalists and executives chew over listener complaints about the corporation's coverage of Brexit. Before the referendum, Feedback was inundated with complaints from listeners who felt that the BBC was overly biased in favour of Remain. But, in the months that have followed, that has shifted and the programme now receives more complaints from Remainers w...
Apr 20, 2018•31 min
Radio 4's forum for audience comment.
Apr 13, 2018•34 min
Has BBC News over-reported allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party? Also, Roger Bolton has breakfast with Petroc Trelawny, Home Front's editor discusses the end of the series, listeners weigh in on Soul Music, and Michael Sandel discusses The Public Philosopher. Listeners have been speaking to Feedback about the BBC's coverage of Jeremy Corbyn's recent attendance at a controversial seder dinner, which reignited the ongoing row over claims of anti-Semitism in his party. Some cite this as...
Apr 06, 2018•28 min
Roger Bolton hears from listeners concerned by coverage of anti-Brexit marches, Garry Richardson defends a controversial interview with Kim Hughes and Lynn Bowles says farewell. The weekend saw the March For Our Lives in Washington DC and a series of anti-Brexit marches across the UK, but BBC news executives only covered the first of these. Pro-EU listeners were incensed. UK News Editor Richard Burgess joins Roger Bolton to defend the BBC's decision and discuss what makes a demonstration newswor...
Apr 03, 2018•28 min
Roger Bolton with listener views on BBC radio. This week, the BBC World Service has made an unprecedented complaint to the UN, a drama divides the audience for its treatment of immigration and Brexit, the BBC puts a brake on plans to abandon FM transmitters and Fi Glover's emotional documentary. According to a complaint the BBC has registered with the UN, Iran has been harassing the families of BBC Persia journalists. The Director of the BBC World Service Group, Jamie Angus, sits down with Roger...
Mar 23, 2018•28 min
Roger Bolton asks if the BBC was slow to report allegations of sexual abuse in Telford, and the BBC's News Editor responds to concerns. Also this week - listeners' least favourite phrases, the new Welsh breakfast show, and memories of hearing the late Professor Stephen Hawking on the radio. After the Sunday Mirror reported allegations of wide ranging sexual abuse of more than 1000 girls over a 40 year period in Telford, a number of national commentators and columnists accused the BBC of failing ...
Mar 16, 2018•28 min
Roger Bolton asks if BBC journalists should describe political parties as "populist", discusses soft power with the head of BBC Arabic and finds out about the return of comedy to Radio 1 after more than a decade. In the wake of success for the Five Star movement and the Italian League in the Italian elections, listeners have been reacting to the BBC's description of them as "populist". Some consider that it implies a pejorative view of the parties in question? The BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler...
Mar 09, 2018•24 min
Roger Bolton hears listener views on a shocking death on The Archers, Brexit, Breakfast- and a radio classic gets rebooted. Nic Grundy's sudden death from Sepsis has shocked the residents of Ambridge and Archers' fans. Some have taken issue with how it was handled, but most have been queuing up to praise the powerful storyline. The show's acting editor Alison Hindell joins Roger to answer listener comments and discuss the thinking behind Nic's untimely demise. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galax...
Mar 02, 2018•28 min
Is it impossible to cover Brexit impartially? What goes into a hit detective radio drama? And why has Quentin Letts decided to quit listening to the Today programme? Roger Bolton returns with a new series of Feedback and starts by hearing listeners weigh in on the ongoing row over equal pay at the BBC. Chris Morris sits down with Roger to answer listener concerns over his programme Brexit: A Guide for the Perplexed and explore how the passion of the Brexit debate affects impartiality. Hugo Speer...
Feb 23, 2018•28 min
Roger Bolton with a round up of listener views on the big BBC radio stories of the year. Following our interview with Sarah Sands, the then-new Editor of the Today programme, we hear from one listener about how she is getting on. How does Radio 2 and Radio 6 Music strike a balance between too much and too little Christmas music? Jeff Smith, the Editor of Music for both networks explains. Listeners give their views on BBC radio's Brexit coverage and the direction of The Archers. Also, we go behin...
Dec 22, 2017•28 min
Roger Bolton with listener views on BBC radio programmes. The way in which we listen to radio is radically changing. On Monday this week, the BBC launched its first full voice app for voice recognition speakers. Editor of Voice Mukul Devichand describes how the new way of listening works, demonstrating how this technology will allow greater access to the BBC's range of live radio stations and podcasts. Also, we hear from listener Roslyn Byfield about a recent item on World at One about teenage m...
Dec 15, 2017•28 min
Roger Bolton with listeners' views on a range of BBC radio programmes. When iPM broadcast an interview with a sex offender at length, some listeners wrote to tell us they disagreed that a convicted criminal should have been given such a platform. Listener Catherine Jackson tells us why she thought this was inappropriate and expresses her concern about the impact on his victims. And just how much of a predicament can BBC presenters find themselves in while on air? BBC World Service presenter Alex...
Dec 08, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton with listeners' views on BBC radio programmes. Earlier this week Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced their engagement, followed by their first joint interview with the BBC presenter Mishal Husain. But should the presenter have highlighted Ms Markle's mixed race background? We hear your views on the royal engagement coverage. In a fast-moving situation, how do you discover what is really going on? The BBC's Southern Africa Correspondent Andrew Harding tells us how he reported on...
Dec 01, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton with listener views on BBC radio programmes. Following a series of misogynistic and anti-semitic tweets, Josh Rivers was sacked from his position as editor of Gay Times and PM ran a 20 minute interview with the former editor. It was much to the consternation of some Feedback listeners who took issue with the amount of airtime Rivers was allowed and the way in which the interview was conducted by presenter Eddie Mair. PM Editor Roger Sawyer discusses his editorial decision and explai...
Nov 24, 2017•28 min
Roger Bolton speaks to Jon Manel about his series The Adoption and to Sioned Wiliam, Commissioning Editor for Comedy on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra. This week, the 17-part series that followed two young children through the UK adoption process drew to a close. Listeners wrote in to tell us of their interest and commitment to the series - with some expressing concern about the intrusive nature of the programme, particularly with regard to safeguarding measures for the two children. Others said they...
Nov 17, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton speaks to two listeners with opposing views on The Archers and we speak to Sam Wolfson about declining Radio 1 listener figures. Following the release of the latest RAJAR figures, which measures radio listening habits, Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 breakfast show has seen the lowest reach since RAJAR records began. We speak to the network's target audience at a college in Warrington to find out how they are now listening to audio and Sam Wolfson, Executive Editor of VICE UK explains why t...
Nov 10, 2017•28 min
Roger Bolton hears a range of listener views on the Today programme's 60th anniversary live edition. Did some of the presenters bray over gags about sexual harassment and assault? To kick off the new series of The Moral Maze, Radio 4 has been working in partnership with Dundee University to trial a new piece of technology that aims to help the listener become a more effective debater. Roger gives this innovation a try. Roger also goes behind the scenes at the Ken Bruce show to find out more abou...
Nov 03, 2017•28 min
Roger Bolton with listener views on BBC radio. The World at One has courted controversy by dedicating a whole show to the topic of abortion, marking 50 years since the passage of the 1967 Abortion Act. Some listeners found the coverage upsetting, while others were annoyed that one subject had been allowed to take over what they see as, first and foremost, a news programme. But some listeners say they found the focus both timely and touching. Roger hears views from all sides. Neil MacGregor has a...
Oct 27, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton airs listener criticism of a Today programme interview with the director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders on sexual harassment. A record number of sex offenders have been brought to justice in England and Wales and convictions for both rape and other sexual offences have risen sharply. But despite topping the news agenda, some listeners were not happy with John Humphrys' tone and line of questioning. Also, Radio 4's Commissioning Editor of Drama and Fiction Jeremy Howe discuss...
Oct 20, 2017•28 min
The Editor of PM defends his programme against listeners' accusations that presenter Eddie Mair's interview with Home Secretary Amber Rudd was hostile and biased. Roger Sawyer discusses the presenter's robust style of interviewing and sets out his editorial stance on the presentation of this and other items on the programme. When Amber Rudd sought to bring the focus of the interview back to the policy announcements made by the Prime Minister at the Party Conference, listeners expressed their fru...
Oct 13, 2017•28 min
The new Editor of Today defends her programme against listeners' accusations that coverage is no longer focused on the news. Sarah Sands addresses concerns that 'softer' features have taken priority, discusses the future of the presenting team and sets out her vision for the future of Today. When the programme ran several items on Fashion Week, a long interview with actress Judi Dench and on-location reporting from Silicon Valley on the launch of a new Apple smartphone, listeners wrote in to exp...
Oct 06, 2017•27 min
In the last programme of the current series, Roger Bolton digs in to controversy about climate change, hears listener response to the BBC's Gay Britannia season and discusses Jim Al-Khalili's broadcasting career. Well known climate sceptic and former Chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson was invited onto Radio 4's Today programme to discuss the economics of climate change recently, following up an earlier interview with climate campaigner Al Gore. But Lord Lawson also took the opportunity to question som...
Aug 18, 2017•28 min
Roger Bolton presents a special edition of the programme, exploring science on the radio. Are BBC science programmes just "jocular froth"? That's the view of one listener, who speaks for many as he puts his point directly to Deborah Cohen, the Editor of Science Radio. Jim Al-Khalili, presenter of The Life Scientific, discusses the scientific consensus around man-made climate change and how that should affect the way the BBC covers the issue. Tom Feilden, Science and Environment Editor of the Tod...
Aug 11, 2017•28 min
Roger Bolton asks if Radio 5 Live was right to interview a controversial columnist, discusses BBC plans to reinvent audio, and finds out how to relax a Prom. Kevin Myers was the subject of enormous public backlash after he published a column in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times that many saw as anti-semitic. So should Radio 5 Live have invited him onto Emma Barnett's 5 Live daily for an interview? He apologised, and tried to explain his position, but Feedback listeners are split on whether t...
Aug 04, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton looks at the BBC's coverage of Donald Trump, the Dead Ringers team reveal what spurred them on in their latest popular series, and listeners react to the news that Saturday Review has been granted a late reprieve. At a press conference shortly after his inauguration, Donald Trump referred to the BBC's Jon Sopel as "Another beauty". On this week's Feedback, the beauty himself joins Roger to consider listener response to his coverage, how the BBC tries to remain impartial in the face ...
Jul 28, 2017•28 min
As parliament starts the summer recess, the BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith looks back at a tumultuous few months in Westminster, talking with Roger Bolton about the challenges of working under intense scrutiny and accusations of bias from MPs and on social media. This week, the BBC released its annual report, including the names and wage brackets of 96 of its on-air talent who are all paid over 150 thousand pounds a year. Licence fee payers give us their thoughts on presenter pay....
Jul 21, 2017•27 min
Roger Bolton investigates audience responses to BBC radio programmes. A number of listeners were shocked to hear description of an act of torture and murder on Radio 4's lunchtime series Cold War: Stories from the Big Freeze and considered it overly graphic for the time of day. Should listeners have been given more warning about the unsettling nature of the story? And was the station right to broadcast it at all? Producer Phil Tinline and Radio 4's Editorial Standards Editor Roger Mahony answer ...
Jul 14, 2017•27 min
In the past two weeks, former party leaders Iain Duncan Smith and Ed Miliband have been taking turns replacing Jeremy Vine on his Radio 2 show. But why did they say yes to this risky venture? And what did they learn from spending time on the other side of the microphone? Ed and Iain join Roger Bolton to look back at their time on air. The BBC has, for the first time, published an annual plan that lays out its commitments for the year ahead. But what does it mean for BBC radio listeners? Colin Br...
Jul 07, 2017•27 min
As Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen has one of the BBC's most difficult, and often dangerous, jobs. He sits down with Feedback's Roger Bolton to reflect on his career and his Radio 4 series, Our Man in the Middle East. Last week, Ed Miliband impressed listeners with an assured week sitting in for Jeremy Vine. This week it's been the turn of former conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith. Feedback listeners pass judgment on how he measures up to his predecessor in the Radio 2 hotseat. Over the last...
Jun 30, 2017•28 min
Ed Miliband has spent the week in an unfamiliar position; sitting in for Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. Iain Duncan Smith, the former conservative leader, has his turn next week. So far, most listeners are loving the experiment. Roger Bolton sits down with programme editor Phil Jones to get his take on how his new presenter has performed, and to ask why Radio 2 felt using politicians instead of more experienced broadcasters was worth the risk. Last week, Andrew Scott came on to explain why the BBC felt...
Jun 23, 2017•27 min
