Rugby fans hit out at BBC coverage

Feb 26 2008 by Tomos Livingstone, Western Mail

THEY may be the only unbeaten side in the Six Nations and have racked up more points than England and Scotland put together, but there are plenty of Wales fans wondering if some media commentators are watching a different tournament.

Now a Welsh MP has made a formal complaint to the BBC over what he sees as pro-England bias in its coverage of the matches so far.

The corporation carried all three rugby clashes live on television on Saturday, but Chris Bryant said the coverage and the evening news bulletin was too focused on England’s win over France – rather than the fact that Wales are unbeaten and top of the table.

And on the radio, Wales’ clash with Italy, along with Ireland’s match against Scotland, were relegated to Radio 5 Live’s digital station, while the England v France match was broadcast on the main station.

The Rhondda MP said, “The whole day was about England. The evening news ran with ‘England are now in contention for the championship’ rather than ‘Wales have won all three of their games’.

“It is the British Broadcasting Corporation, not the English Broadcasting Corporation.”

The BBC is reviewing its coverage of the nations and regions of the UK, and should have been more sensitive, Mr Bryant said.

“They should be able to present without bias towards England, Wales, Ireland or whoever. I know this sounds like a joke, but they probably should have a Scotsman, an Englishman, a Welshman and an Irishman presenting. They shouldn’t just be focusing on the England match, and in particular on the news they should be telling the real story.”

Each point scored by England in their win over France was covered by the news bulletin, he said, compared to a brief clip of Wales’ 47-8 victory over Italy.

Mr Bryant – who was head of European Affairs at the BBC in the late 1990s – said he had written to Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, to explain his objections.

His complaint is the latest in a series of objections from Welsh politicians to the way the BBC covers news and sport.

In 2004 then-Sports Minister in the Assembly Alun Pugh wrote to the Corporation complaining that its coverage of the Wales-England World Cup qualifier was biased towards England.

And last summer Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price suggested people should stop paying their licence fee in protest at the lack of a Welsh focus in BBC news broadcasts.

After Wales’ win over Italy in Cardiff, BBC coverage on Saturday shifted to Dublin, where Ireland beat Scotland 34-13.

It then moved to Paris for the evening match, which saw England pull off a surprise 24-13 win over France.

The England- France game drew a UK-wide audience of 6.8 million, with 4.4m watching Ireland against Scotland and 2.8m watching Wales play Italy.

A BBC Wales spokesman said audience share within Wales for the Millennium Stadium match was 68%, compared to 24% around the UK.

The televised coverage has been the subject of debate on MediaWales’ RugbyNation online forum. BBC presenter John Inverdale’s reference to the Wales and Ireland matches as “warm-up” fixtures before the England’s France clash has also attracted considerable comment.

One fan, Pontyexile, wrote, “Appreciated switching the telly on at 2pm to be treated to a 30-minute build-up by the ‘EBC’ about a game kicking off six hours later.

“Liked the comment also during the second build-up to the France v England game that ‘THIS is a game between two big sides’ as opposed to all the games between the little sides, i.e. countries earlier on that day presumably.”

But another, saladthedragon, said, “All that concerns me is how Wales play and no amount of bias off the pitch will make us any better or any worse than what happens on the pitch.”

A spokesman for the BBC said, “The England win in Paris was newsworthy, just as Wales’ win in Twickenham was earlier in the competition.

“Wales’ victory at home against Italy was expected, but on reflection we could have shown more action from that game.

“However, we will continue to give full coverage of Wales’ bid for the Grand Slam.”

The BBC also said there had been “a handful” of complaints that too much airtime had been devoted to the Six Nations tournament on Saturday.

A BBC spokeswoman said, “Around 6.8 million people watched the France-England game and there were around 15m viewers in total on Saturday, so obviously a lot of people wanted to watch it.”