TV news programmes are failing to engage ethnic minorities with the way coverage of news from their communities is reported on television, according to a YouGov survey.
The poll, commissioned by the Cultural Diversity Network, showed that 51 per cent of the adults questioned felt that television news programmes generally reported on minority issues fairly badly (30 per cent) or very badly (21 per cent).
Speaking about the results, ITN managing editor Robin Elias said: “There are a lot of trends in society and in the television landscape, ups and downs that send us a pretty clear message that we need to change at our peril.”
YouGov used a sample size of 780 non-white Britons. The figures were weighted and representative of all English-speaking non-white adults (aged over 18).
The survey revealed that Channel 4 News was perceived as the best news broadcaster in covering ethnic minority issues, with 23 per cent of respondents naming the programme as top.
BBC1 News came second with 19 per cent and Newsnight came third, being named by 8 per cent. ITV news bulletins were rated fifth below Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera’s news bulletins.
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