Channels
The Broadcasters
What each UK TV news channel focused on, what they left out, and how their agendas compare across the full archive.
Channel 5 Leans health
“Well, next tonight MPs are concerned that a two-tier system is emerging for the weight loss drug Mounjaro.”
5 News warns that a two-tier system is emerging in access to Mounjaro, while BBC ONE West presents the restricted rollout as clinical prioritisation of severe cases that will expand with capacity and funding.
BBC News Leans international
“It is simply not enough.”
BBC NEWS airs Kemi Badenoch dismissing the budget as simply not enough, while BBC ONE West airs John Healey presenting it as a budget for working people and British businesses.
BBC One Leans sport
“This is a budget for the working people of Britain for British businesses big and small”
BBC NEWS airs Kemi Badenoch dismissing the budget as simply not enough, while BBC ONE West airs John Healey presenting it as a budget for working people and British businesses.
BBC Two Leans politics
“but it's quite clear that the people of Scotland should be in charge of our destiny, not politicians at Westminster.”
BBC NEWS characterises the SNP's democratic mandate for a referendum as an invented notion that would trump the law, whereas BBC TWO presents the people of Scotland, not Westminster, as having the right to decide.
Channel 4 Leans war
“It still remains if those two things are related or not.”
ITV1 presents the US withdrawal of bombers as making the situation worse, while Channel 4 says it remains unclear whether the withdrawal was related to the RAF Fairford incident.
GB News Leans immigration
“So are we to assume that everything he said previously was dishonest?”
GB News questions whether Burnham's earlier statements were dishonest, while Sky News Mornings presents him as consistently standing by his previous position.
ITV Leans environment
“And then things were made worse when the US withdrew its B1 bombers from RAF Fairford, from where it operates.”
ITV1 presents the US withdrawal of bombers as making the situation worse, while Channel 4 says it remains unclear whether the withdrawal was related to the RAF Fairford incident.
Sky News Leans international
“But it is Andy Burnham reiterating the fact that he still stands by what he said”
GB News questions whether Burnham's earlier statements were dishonest, while Sky News Mornings presents him as consistently standing by his previous position.
⚑ Flagged quotes reflect the language a broadcaster used, not a judgement of its accuracy.
All-Time Comparison
Coverage, news density, flagged omissions, disputed language, and how each channel's mix of stories changed over time. Flagged omissions is a count, not a rate: channels running shorter bulletins are already excused, so read it against the days on air beside it. Click a column to sort.
| Channel | Coverage | News density | Flagged omissions | Days on air | Flagged quotes / hr | Agenda change | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBC News | 178h 39m | 79% | 55 | 117 | 1.9/hr | Highly distinct | |
| BBC One | 166h 35m | 83% | 18 | 119 | 3.1/hr | Distinct | |
| Sky News | 156h 55m | 82% | 50 | 119 | 3.1/hr | Typical | |
| ITV | 118h 59m | 74% | 34 | 119 | 3.0/hr | Distinct | |
| GB News | 114h 52m | 65% | 185 | 115 | 2.0/hr | Highly distinct | |
| Channel 4 | 79h 7m | 78% | 67 | 117 | 3.3/hr | Typical | |
| BBC Two | 58h 12m | 86% | 41 | 81 | 0.9/hr | Highly distinct | |
| Channel 5 | 50h 13m | 62% | 40 | 117 | 2.4/hr | Highly distinct |
Difference measures how far a channel's topic mix sits from the cross-channel average, adjusted for how many topics we observed the channel covering — a narrow programme would otherwise look distinctive purely for having no room to cover much. It is a description of emphasis, not a judgement.
News density is the share of each analysed slot spent on identified news stories — ad breaks, weather, sport and trails count as “not news”.
How bleak, how hard
The share of each channel's airtime given to bad-news stories and to light ones. This is about which stories a channel chose to run, and for how long, not about how it covered them. Hidden until enough of the window has been scored.
Each channel's position is the share of its airtime given to bad-news stories and to light ones: what it chose to run, and for how long. It is not a measure of how any channel covered anything.
- Bad news, good news
- Whether things got worse or better for the people in the story. Most stories are neither, which is why the two never add up to a whole bulletin.
- Light
- Human interest, sport, curiosity: a story with no consequence beyond the people in it. A record-breaking water lily is light; a defence spending shortfall is not. This is a separate question from good and bad, so a light story can still be sad.
- ITV
- BBC News
- Sky News
- Channel 4
- BBC One
- Channel 5
- GB News
- BBC Two
| Channel | Bad news | Good news | Light | Stories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITV | 50% | 16% | 23% | 317 |
| BBC News | 43% | 14% | 11% | 291 |
| Sky News | 45% | 13% | 8% | 289 |
| Channel 4 | 38% | 15% | 8% | 198 |
| BBC One | 42% | 17% | 18% | 441 |
| Channel 5 | 35% | 21% | 37% | 237 |
| GB News | 29% | 6% | 12% | 184 |
| BBC Two | 15% | 6% | 5% | 72 |
Dashed lines mark the average across all channels, weighted by airtime. Based on 30 of the last 30 days, counting only days where at least 90% of story airtime has been scored.
Disputed language over time
Contested and charged quotes per hour of analysed airtime, by day. Flagged quotes reflect the language a broadcaster aired, not a judgement of its accuracy.
Distinctive vocabulary
Words and phrases that set a channel apart from the rest over the last 30 days — word choice, not a judgement of accuracy or bias. Only channels whose vocabulary differs measurably from the rest appear — 4 of 8 here; the others sit too close to the average to have distinctive terms.
Agenda Alignment
How similar each pair of channels was in the topics they covered. Darker means more alike.
Channel Differences
Where each channel covered more or less of a category than the average channel.
Broadcaster Agenda Comparison
How each channel divided its coverage between topic categories across the full archive.
Topics That Travel Together
For each channel, the two topics it most often runs on the same day — set against how often the rest of the roster pairs those same two. Same-day co-occurrence describes what shared a bulletin day, not why.
- GB News Immigration + Energy 70% vs 0% 7/10 days
- BBC News US-Iran + West Bank 67% vs 0% 6/9 days
- Sky News Ukraine + UK Budget 38% vs 5% 5/13 days
- Channel 4 US-Iran + Climate Change 45% vs 18% 5/11 days
- BBC One Ukraine + Formula One 70% vs 6% 7/10 days
- Channel 5 Wimbledon + Heatwave 63% vs 21% 5/8 days
- ITV Wildfires + Drowning 50% vs 9% 4/8 days
No pairing clears the evidence floor yet for BBC Two — a channel needs 4 days running both topics, out of at least 8 days covering either.