[octothorpe]

Hearing Bradby in that interview effectively decry the mention of polls on News at Ten, because they "aren't news", is certainly stark given a few nights ago they led News at Ten with the Savanta MRP poll that had the Conservatives on just 53 seats, with Rishi Sunak losing his. I guess maybe he did argue against mentioning the polls prior to broadcast the other night (potentially due to the other two MRPs released that day, which had the Tories performing much better), but was overruled or convinced otherwise because of the significance of the prospect of a sitting Prime Minister - for the first time in history - losing their seat at a general election.

I have noticed that the BBC's news programmes have barely - if at all - mentioned the polls during the election. Looking back at old BBC News coverage from 1997 and 2001, for example, you have regular, almost nightly round-ups of what the polls are saying and the trend lines so far in the campaign. Unless I've missed them, there hasn't been any of that this time - and harking back to other recent elections, I'm not sure the broadcasters have really done that since perhaps 2010?

[Ash101]

I have noticed that the BBC's news programmes have barely - if at all - mentioned the polls during the election. Looking back at old BBC News coverage from 1997 and 2001, for example, you have regular, almost nightly round-ups of what the polls are saying and the trend lines so far in the campaign. Unless I've missed them, there hasn't been any of that this time - and harking back to other recent elections, I'm not sure the broadcasters have really done that since perhaps 2010?

They spoke about the polls on BBC Newscast and it’s basically BBC policy not to lead stories on them…. Victoria Derbyshire said she wasn’t a fan of them at all, and Adam commented about how they’re getting fed up of them leading the news agenda.

Side note, has a show ever broadcast on Radio 4 and 5 Live? Newscast has an hour long “highlights” addition every Sunday morning at 5am, but is also broadcasting on Radio 4 every Saturday at 11am during the election campaign.

[Stooky Bill]

They spoke about the polls on BBC Newscast and it’s basically BBC policy not to lead stories on them…. Victoria Derbyshire said she wasn’t a fan of them at all, and Adam commented about how they’re getting fed up of them leading the news agenda.

The BBCs policy on polls is in section 6 of their election guidelines.

Basically yes they aren't a story in themselves unless something significant arises from one. They report them in the context of trends, i.e. Polling over time. They won't commission an opinion poll.

www.bbc.co.uk 

Side note, has a show ever broadcast on Radio 4 and 5 Live? Newscast has an hour long “highlights” addition every Sunday morning at 5am, but is also broadcasting on Radio 4 every Saturday at 11am during the election campaign.

Apart from elections and big royal/state occasions I don't think there's many. There aren't that many pre recorded programmes on 5 Live for a start.

The occasional Radio 5 programme pops up on 4 Extra, but that's different

[mark]

The approach to reporting on polls during the campaign is something that sets the BBC apart from ITV and Sky. All I've seen from the BBC is the aggregated poll tracker on their website - and even that isn't very prominent. ITV and Sky report on individual polls, though.

Sky used to even keep the latest poll numbers permanently on-screen during the campaign, starting in 2001. Not sure when they stopped doing that.

youtu.be 

[Milkshake]

Going back to the Exit poll, in 1987 someone handed Alastair burnet an envelope with the exit poll.

www.youtube.com 

There was talk of Labour win of Spitting image special, I would love to know what the difference were.

[James2001]

It's like a gameshow where they hand the presenter an envelope with the grand prize or big answer 🤣

[mark]

It feels like they're going for an 'Oscars' vibe in that video - what with the talk of 'nominations'. Hilarious.

That's actually the first time I've seen ITN's 1987 coverage, so thanks for sharing. It looked pretty good.

[James2001]

Sadly footage of ITN's past coverage isn't easy to come by. They should release it!

[DTV]

Sadly footage of ITN's past coverage isn't easy to come by. They should release it!

I believe a lot of it is in the Getty video library, via ITN Source (or whatever it is nowadays), hence why it is probably not uploaded elsewhere.

[James2001]

All I can find looking at that are a handful of brief clips of some years, no way to watch the entire coverage... or even long chunks of it.