BBC News

Overall Score Corrections Ownership Staff Policies Reporting Policies Interactivity 3.2

Ranking: Excellent (tied with CBS, Christian Science Monitor and NPR). Details of Findings: There is no single corrections page for the global news website of BBC News (although, interestingly, BBC 2 Newsnight does have a corrections page. The “About the BBC” page linked to at the bottom of the homepage does lead to a dedicated page for “Complaints,”and there are two pages where the BBC responds to complaints: “Read our responses” and the “Editors’ blog.” However, for online news sites, where navigation and useability are paramount, the lack of a single corrections page or link makes it hard for visitors to get an overview of how many corrections the BBC news has made. Extensive owner information can be found on the “About Us” page, especially under the two categories: “Inside the BBC” and “Running the BBC.” There is a dedicated page on the website linked off the “About Us” page for BBC’s Editorial Guidelines. The Editorial Guidelines exhaustively detail both staff and reporting policies, standards and guidelines. There is no ombudsman or reader’s representative per se, nor a dedicated link for a formal, open “letters to the editor” section. There is also no accommodation for visitors to leave comments at the end of individual stories, nor does the outlet list specific e-mail addresses for reporters. There are, however, multiple ways for visitors to contact the BBC and multiple sections of the site—such as the blogs—where visitors can leave general comments.

About the BBC News

Circulation/Audience • 163 million (2006)
Online Access • No log-in needed.
Parent Company • The British Broadcasting Company http://www.bbc.co.uk/