All Sections

View and post jobs in journalism
  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Comment/Analysis
  • Editor's Pick
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Broadcast Journalism
    • Digital Journalism
    • Magazines
    • Media Law
    • National Newspapers
    • People
      • Appointments
      • Obituaries
    • Regional Newspapers
  • Press Gazette Podcast
  • British Journalism Awards
  • Press Gazette Email Newsletter

In the news

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • Editorial standards
  • About/Contacts
  • Advertise/Partnerships
  • Privacy Policy
Close
[mashshare]
Skip to content
  • Editorial standards
  • About/Contacts
  • Advertise/Partnerships
  • Privacy Policy
All sections

Search

Search pressgazette.co.uk

Close

Press Gazette

Subscribe to our email newsletter Journalism email newsletter
  • News
  • Comment
  • Data
  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Marketing
  • Awards
  • Jobs
  • Partners

Menu

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • National Newspapers
  • Regional Newspapers
  • Digital Journalism
  • Broadcast Journalism
  • Media Law
  • Magazines
  • Wires and Agencies
  • Obituaries
  • News
  • Comment/Analysis
  • Jobs
  • British Journalism Awards

In the news

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
Close
Half of Brits say quality of news has declined in past five years as Cairncross Review heads to Brussels
Sun's Jeremy Corbyn 'Blood on his Hands' splash and Daily Mail's 'Legs-it' front among most complained about stories in 2017, IPSO reveals
September 6, 2018
  • Broadcast Journalism
  •    
  • Digital Journalism
  •    
  • News
  •    
  • Social media
  •    

BBC replaces top political shows on Twitter with single BBC Politics account in bid to 'reach more people'

By Charlotte Tobitt Twitter

Share this

  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • Reddit
Comments
6

Some of the BBC’s flagship political shows are no longer running their own Twitter accounts, a move the corporation said had been made to try to “engage and reach more people” in one place.

It was announced this week that the Twitter accounts for The Andrew Marr Show, Daily Politics (now Politics Live) and Westminster Hour would be closed and no longer updated.

Users are instead being directed to a central BBC Politics account which promises “the best of the BBC’s political coverage”.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We have consolidated all of our political programming Twitter handles into one central account, providing an opportunity for the BBC’s political content to engage and reach more people in one place.”

But not everyone has reacted positively to the change, as former BBC Newsnight acting editor Jess Brammar, now head of news at Huffpost UK, called it a “bad strategy”.

Press Gazette understands the BBC was planning to streamline its political Twitter accounts for some time.

In July it announced that it was making changes to its political and parliamentary output in a bid to produce more digital coverage and make £1.9m in savings.

The plans included creating a new team “giving better digital and social coverage” with the aim of bringing “trusted impartial political coverage to younger audiences”.

The BBC also ended Sunday Politics in its previous format, changing it to a half-hour regional programme to follow The Andrew Marr Show, and replaced the Daily Politics with Politics Live, which began this week.

BBC News has to make £80m in annual savings by 2019/20.

The former Daily Politics and Sunday Politics account posted a statement on Monday which said: “This account has now closed. Please follow BBC Politics for tweets from BBC political TV and radio programmes.”

The Marr and Westminster Hour Twitter accounts posted similar statements directing people to the BBC Politics account for updates from their shows.

The BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics Twitter account had 194,000 followers, the Marr account had 81,000 followers, and Westminster Hour had 11,000. The BBC Politics account has 439,000 followers.

In tweets, Brammar said of the changes: “I know BBC digital team want to centralise stuff but you have 80,000 people that want to follow your tweets, they might not want a steady stream of politics from the main account.

“Plus, in current climate political programmes need distinct personalities.”

Brammar was joined by Habiba Khanom, who said she had, until recently, been The Andrew Marr Show’s digital producer for four years.

She wrote: “[I] Tried hard to grow the Twitter account and built up a personality for the show via Twitter. Not sure what I think about it all going onto one account. It’s confusing and will turn people off.”

SIGN UP HERE FOR

MEDIA MONITOR

Press Gazette's weekly email providing strategic insight into the future of the media

Subscribe

Related Stories

  • Huffpost UK exec editor Jess Brammar says 'old-fashioned tabloid values' are at its heart
  • BBC Politics Live boss Rob Burley says balancing every show across political parties would be 'really boring'
  • Jo Coburn says she raised pay issue with BBC and defends against 'Brexit bias' claims ahead of Politics Live launch on BBC Two
  • Huffpost UK's pop-up Birmingham newsroom has been 'positive' week of 'shoe-leather reporting', says head of news Jess Brammar

Explore these topics

  • Andrew Marr
  • BBC
Browse, search and add journalism jobs
Comments

6 thoughts on “BBC replaces top political shows on Twitter with single BBC Politics account in bid to 'reach more people'”

  1. Alexsandr says:
    September 30, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    BBC need to get on gab.ai – many people now banned from twitter as they kill off right of centre accounts.

    Reply
  2. kanchipuram silk sarees says:
    November 13, 2018 at 10:31 am

    BBC need to get on gab.ai – many people now banned from twitter as they kill off right of centre accounts.

    Reply
1 2 3

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More content

Post a job on Press Gazette

Most Popular

  1. Sunday Times Prince Philip funeral front page Sunday Times editor apologises for report saying 'secretly we rather enjoyed' Prince Philip 'slitty eyes' gaffes
  2. GB News latest signings, schedule and where to watch: In-depth briefing
  3. World Press Freedom Index 2021 World Press Freedom Index 2021: 'Dramatic deterioration' in access to information during Covid-19 pandemic
  4. Facebook Google congress lobbying Daily Mail sues Google over 'rigged' advertising system which 'punishes publishers'
  5. Instagram audience growth - Manchester Evening News Instagram audience growth: Reach drives regional reader referrals up 500% in one year

Latest Jobs

  • Media Officer, Deliberate PR
  • CROPPED New Statesman Media Group logo New Statesman podcast producer
  • Senior Data Journalist/Data Journalist, Capital.com
Sun's Jeremy Corbyn 'Blood on his Hands' splash and Daily Mail's 'Legs-it' front among most complained about stories in 2017, IPSO reveals

© copyright 2021 Press Gazette Ltd. Made in Taiwan.