Is the BBC meeting its international news remit – and why should we care?

IBT’s latest research, looking in detail at the content of TV’s flagship news bulletins, has revealed an alarming decline in the quantity and range of international stories, with serious implications for international NGOs wishing to use television to reach mainstream audiences. Professor Martin Scott, one of the report authors, explains.

Providing high-quality, impartial international news coverage has always been a fundamental purpose of public service media. It ensures universal access to reliable information about the world, regardless of market-driven incentives. At a time of rapid and intense geopolitical change – with shifting power dynamics having profound consequences for communities in the UK and around the world – international journalism has never been more important.

The BBC’s current Public Purposes, which were set in the 2016 Royal Charter, incorporate this objective via an obligation to ‘provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them’. Before that, the 2006 Royal Charter required the BBC to ‘bring the world to the UK’. As the UK government undertakes a new BBC Charter Review, it is vital that an obligation to provide comprehensive, distinctive and globally diverse international news coverage is retained, if not strengthened. 

To investigate how well the BBC – and other broadcasters in the UK – are helping audiences understand and engage with the world, we analysed the international news coverage on their flagship television news programmes, social media feeds, news apps, and bulletins. Data collection took place across two non-consecutive weeks in January and February 2026 and also involved interviews with leading international news editors, correspondents, academics, and NGO representatives. 

Three key findings about the BBC stand out. 

1. Declining international news on BBC News at Ten

Just 38% of news items on the BBC’s flagship BBC News at Ten programme focused on international events, during the sample period. By contrast, in 2016, when comparable research was last carried out, 50% of news items on this programme were international. 

This is a significant decline given the extraordinary geopolitical upheaval taking place in early 2026 and when compared to other UK television news programmes. For example, Channel 4 News increased its proportion of international news coverage significantly over the same period, rising from 38% in 2016 to 54% in 2026 – the highest level ever recorded by these studies – whilst Sky News maintained roughly the same level of coverage of around 50%. 

In response to these findings, Sam Taylor, Chief Operating Officer of BBC News pointed out that, whilst the proportion of international news may be lower during the sample period, BBC News at Ten was broadcasting ten minute-long, lead story reports about Iran on three days in one of the two sample weeks. He also explained that the BBC is prioritising online platforms to fulfil its obligations for in-depth international news coverage, saying “the primary objective is to grow digital and social audience engagement.” 

2. Limited international distinctiveness on BBC News at Ten

The BBC is also obliged to provide news that is ‘impartial, high-quality and distinctive’. Specifically, its first public purpose mandates that, ‘it should offer a range and depth of analysis and content not widely available from other UK news providers’. However, this study found limited evidence of such distinctiveness in the international coverage on BBC News at Ten. Across 54 international news items, it reported on just three countries not covered by its competitors and had an overall news agenda that was very similar to ITV News at Ten and others.

Recently published research from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) shows growing audience frustration at the narrow worldview provided by BBC News. Research participants described BBC News as ‘provid[ing] good coverage of important global topics but sometimes focused too heavily on a handful of major stories while underreporting others.’  

Indeed, Newshour from Al Jazeera English was the only television news programme in our sample to report on the ongoing civil war in Sudan, which has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and events in Yemen that included the resignation of the Prime Minister. There were also no reports about Haiti on any of the television news programmes studied, even though NGOs were warning of rapidly escalating violence and displacement. Channel 4 News was the only television news programme reporting on Myanmar during this period, including a case in the International Court of Justice alleging the treatment of its Rohingya population amounts to genocide. 

When challenged to describe what makes BBC News’ international television coverage distinctive, Sam Taylor pointed to the nurturing of senior foreign correspondents. “We have the career-long experience of people like Lyse Doucet and Jeremy Bowen, and continued investment in having people based in-country. We are investing in brainpower, long-term knowledge and experience.”

3. A shift towards social media in the BBC’s international news output 

A final key finding is that the BBC had the highest proportion of international news on its YouTube channel (81%) and a significant volume of international news (56%) on its Facebook channel. This is a far higher proportion than was recorded on either the BBC News at Ten (38%), the Today programme’s 8am news bulletin (41%), or was featured on the BBC News app (50%). 

This is less surprising than it might at first appear since the BBC is actively developing its presence on YouTube, with a deal to make bespoke content for the platform’s global audience announced in January 2026. Sam Taylor also told us that, “overall, we are running a multimedia story first approach, so when we’re launching a new report from Steve Rosenberg or Jeremy Bowen, digital and social media is as important as the Today programme.”

The BBC is also using social media platforms to cover more international news stories than is possible through television programmes or bulletins alone. For example, the BBC News feed on Facebook covered 39 different countries compared to just 18 on BBC News at Ten. As Sam Taylor explained, “if stories don’t cut through in the daily news bulletins, we’ve got other ways of doing them… Our Syria coverage within your sample period. No one else did that. That’s a long running story that, for many, had dropped off the agenda.”

Interestingly, the BBC tended to prioritise ‘hard’ news topics on YouTube including ‘conflict and violence’ (42%) and ‘international relations’ (18%), whereas its Facebook feed addressed a much wider range of often lighter or off-agenda subjects, including light human interest (14%), science (8%) and health (5%). Of concern, however, was the distinct lack of environmental international news on social media, with five out of the eight social media feeds studied carrying no stories about the environment – including the climate emergency – during the two-week sample period.

Strengthening the BBC’s remit for international news

Is the BBC meeting its international news remit? On the evidence of this study, the BBC’s social media channels appear to be far more effective than BBC News at Ten at ‘help[ing] people understand and engage with the world around them’ in all its complexity and diversity. Given this, it is vital that the BBC’s new charter places firmer, measurable obligations on the BBC to sustain prominent, distinctive, and globally diverse international news coverage across both broadcast and digital platforms. 

For international NGOs seeking to secure visibility for themselves and underreported crises, these findings indicate that they should consider proactively engaging with the BBC’s digital and social news platforms, rather than its flagship broadcast bulletins. It also suggests that they might prioritise programmes and channels that are still dedicating significant news time to international issues – including Channel 4 News, Sky News and Al Jazeera English.

Martin Scott is a Professor of Media and Development at the University of East Anglia