Website Launch
In July 2025, the Enhancing the Impartiality of Political News project officially began. Led by Professor Stephen Cushion and Dr Matt Walsh at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture, our aim is simple but important: to understand what impartial journalism should look like in today’s fast-changing media landscape.
And it couldn’t come at a more salient time. Just in the past month, we’ve seen:
📰 The BBC facing scrutiny over impartiality and accuracy in coverage from Glastonbury to Gaza.
Against this backdrop, we’ve been hard at work. Over the last eight weeks, our research team has:
📋 Tracked Ofcom complaints around due impartiality and bias, and the wider conversations about them on social media.
🎤 Analysed political panel shows like Question Time, Peston and Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg to see who gets a platform, how often, and how they’re framed.
📺 Measured TV coverage of Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats on the News at Ten, examining how their claims are reported and challenged.
💬 Monitored debates about impartiality, building a growing repository of academic and media writing on the subject.
🔎 Explored BBC Verify’s role, examining how effectively it fact-checks claims made by public and political figures.
Although the project is still in its early stages, we already have exciting insights to share – which is why we’re delighted to launch our new website!
Here, you can explore:
About: Our research focus and why this project matters.
Team: Meet the people behind the research.
Engagement: Our media appearances and public contributions.
Research: Our research outputs and articles about impartiality.
We’ll be updating the site regularly with findings and resources. You can also sign up to get our updates straight to your inbox.
We’d love to hear from you – whether you’ve got ideas, stories, or just want to collaborate. Drop us a message, we’re always keen to connect!