The Today programme is preparing to revamp its business coverage from September, in a bid to secure stories that occur as the London Stock Exchange opens at 7am.
One BBC Radio news executive said the feeling was that “after 7am, business news falls into a vacuum,” and that the flagship Radio 4 news programme has often had to play catchup on certain key business stories.
Today editor Kevin Marsh said the programme was looking to attract more business leaders and shareholders, and will take more advantage of business editor Jeff Randall.
The BBC and as such, Today, has suffered in the past from a perception by business leaders that the broadcaster was “anti-business”. Now the programme wants to become as compelling to the business world as it is to politicians.
The BBC Business and Economics Centre provides the programme’s business coverage.
“One of the things that Today could be good at is looking at the whole issue of corporate responsibility. It’s a whole area of power that is unarticulated,” Marsh told Press Gazette.
“Because shareholders are fairly diverse and companies can be quite secretive organisations, the whole power is never very well explored, so that’s another thing we are keen to do.”
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