No, Farage is not given more airtime than other politicians, new research finds ...Middle East

Nigel Farage is not given more airtime on TV than other politicians, an academic study has found.

Critics such as former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell accuse the BBC of granting the Reform UK leader a disproportionate amount of appearances whilst failing to give Reform’s policies the same scrutiny as other parties.

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey has accused the BBC of breaching its rules on due impartiality because of the prominent airtime allocated to Reform UK.

However analysis of party representation across flagship TV political programmes by Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture, found Farage appeared less frequently on flagship political shows last year, “contrary to long-standing claims that Nigel Farage is allocated more frequent appearances than other politicians on programmes such as Question Time”.

Analysing shows including the Sunday politics programmes presented by Laura Kuenssberg (BBC) and Trevor Phillips (Sky News), and Robert Peston’s midweek ITV series, researchers found that Reform Deputy Leader Richard Tice clocked up twice as many appearances (10) as Farage (five) over the past year.

Reform’s head of policy Zia Yusuf was a more regular guest than Farage with six appearances, the data showed.

Reform was “distancing itself from the popular perception of being a single-personality party by increasing the visibility of senior party figures other than Farage”, the Enhancing Impartiality report suggested.

Farage did not even make the “Top ten most prominent politicians on TV” list. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp was the most regular guest with 15 appearances, followed by Kemi Badenoch and Health Secretary Wes Streeting, with 12 each.

“Third parties” beyond Labour and the Conservatives were underrepresented compared to their 2024 election vote share, the study found. Reform UK was “the most significantly underrepresented, making up only 4.7 per cent (27) of politicians on the programmes, despite gaining a total vote share of 14.3 per cent. The Liberal Democrats and Greens were also underrepresented”, the study found.

Other observations from the Cardiff analysis of third parties representation on BBC and ITV national News at Ten bulletins found “over two-thirds of references to Reform featured some footage of its politicians – notably Farage pictured at the pub with a pint of beer”.

In comparisons “the Liberal Democrats appeared in just over half of references and in more conventional backdrops”.

The data found that just over a quarter of claims by Reform received “a lot of scrutiny by broadcasters, a third received some questioning leaving four in 10 claims unchecked”.

The Liberal Democrats made far fewer claims than Reform, with 5 per cent heavily scrutinised, a quarter subject to some questioning, while seven in 10 went unchallenged, the report found.

Although Reform politicians are currently under-represented on panel and TV debate programmes, Farage gets proportionately more coverage than other ‘third party’ leaders on national news bulletins, according to the Cardiff data.

Professor Stephen Cushion, director of research development at Cardiff School of Journalism, said the exposure is “helping Reform UK build a brand that is connecting with large swathes of the public. Broadcasters might want to consider how they equalise coverage of party leaders and the nature of coverage”.

Meanwhile, some “one in four BBC bulletins referenced Reform UK whereas fewer than one in five bulletins referenced the Liberal Democrats”.

Reform UK was the protagonist in almost four in 10 stories they featured in – mostly in stories about immigration, asylum seekers and grooming gangs – whereas fewer than one in 10 were led by the Liberal Democrats, who were treated as “passive” responders to stories.

Prof Cushion added: “We are living in somewhat unprecedented times when a party with just four MPs is enjoyed a sustained lead in the polls. This is perhaps new territory for rules on impartiality so broadcasters may be putting more weight on opinion polls when allocating time to parties.”

Meanwhile, the BBC has rejected complaints that Farage gets too much airtime, arguing that Reform UK is “making the weather” on issues that matter to viewers such as immigration.

In a detailed response to complaints about its Reform coverage, the BBC said that “traditional voting patterns across Britain have been shifting, providing a challenge to established political parties” and that Reform had won four million votes at the 2024 general election, more than the Lib Dems.

Assessing “current electoral support”, including Reform’s success at this year’s English local elections, where the party won ten councils and its lead in recent opinion polls, justified Reform’s current prominence.

The BBC added: “Many political analysts across the media, with different political perspectives, report that Reform UK are ‘making the political weather’ – in other words, the reactions and policies of the other political parties can only be properly understood in the context of knowing what is happening with Reform UK and its increased level of support.”

This weekend, Campbell called the BBC the “Reform media machine” and asked why broadcasters were not giving a report that Farage was using a private company to pay less tax on his GB News TV earnings the same prominence as the Rayner stamp duty story.

The BBC denied giving Farage an easy ride. “BBC News hasn’t simply reported on the strategy, we have also provided political analysis, scrutinised its spokespeople and heard from many individuals and parties across the political spectrum, including the government, providing a wide range of views on the issue.”

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