Morgan Poll on media bias in Australia

As part of my doctorate, I'm researching the political independence of public service broadcasters. This is a difficult concept to define, much less measure. One approach is to ask people whether they perceive the broadcaster to be independent - or impartial, or biased. (The latter two are very different to the former, but may be an acceptable proxy, since polls show that media attitudes are largely covarying). This Roy Morgan Research Poll looks at perceived bias in Australia.

The poll is an example of how to approach this problem badly.
First, the relatively small sample size of 700 pushes the margin of error up to 4%.

Second, some of the questions can't be interpreted without controls. For example: how are we supposed to interpret the fact that relatively few people think internet news biased - when we don't know how many of the sample regularly use the internet or have any familiarity with it?

Third, the poll uses broad categories: newspaper journalism, television journalism, and 'talkback radio'. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with this; but it doesn't help with answering the important question of whether ABC is biased, or whether some newspapers are biased - for example, those owned by Murdoch, or by Packer.

Fourth, the poll makes extensive use of open response questions, such as inviting individuals to name reporters they think biased. This prevents comparability over time and space, and may deliver misleading results if respondents name merely those respondents they are most familiar with.

Fifth - and evidence that the poll is, at best, pitched to increase interest in its findings, or, at worst, a push poll funded by interested parties (there's no info on the commissioning party) - the poll asks about left-wing bias, but doesn't ask about right-wing bias. Some might say that it is self-evident that there is more danger of left-wing bias than right-wing bias. But this is not at all self-evident, and asking questions about both types of bias would in fact help to confirm or disconfirm this presumption. Certainly, BBC polling in the early nineties found that more respondents thought the BBC was biased towards the (right-wing) government than the reverse.

We can say, however, that television tends to come off better than the printed word. This is unsurprising: regulation of poltiical content on television tends to be stricter than that applied to the press; the printed word has more regulatory room to be biased.

There isn't much that is specific to ABC: one reporter identified as biased comes from ABC (compared to three from Nine); and 0.5% of the sample believe ABC News as a whole to be left-leaning. But, again, without asking separate questions about different news outlets, these results are of little worth.

I understand from this page that ABC commissions polls on this - but it makes the same mistakes - on the crucial issue of 'being balanced' it has no comparison with other broadcasters, merely comparisons over time.

A single party of the (centre-)left?

According to SWG more than two-thirds of left-wing voters would look favourably upon the creation of a single left-wing party; the resulting party could reliably count on 31.5% of the electorate, roughly the same as the DS and Margherita polled in April. However, the result polled by the DS and Margherita represented a peak for those two parties; the Partito Democratico's total electoral market could be as large as 45.5%.

Technorati Tags: leftwing, margherita, democraticidisinistra, left, italy, partysystems, partyformation, swg

RAI DG Cappon assembles team

Rai's Administrative Council yesterday made three key appointments: Giancarlo Leone was made vice-director general, Lorenza Lei, head of TV Resources; and Nicola Claudio, chief of staff to the Director-General. Leone was formerly head of RaiCinema, and had been considered for the job of director-general before in 2002 (source: Bruno Vespa, Rai: la Grande Guerra).

Leone is an excellent choice. First, he and Cappon enjoy working with each other; Cappon appointed Leone head of Rai's old Division One (RaiUno, television resources) when he was director-general in 2001, and told me that he thought Leone "intelligent, competent", and a "good political one":

"he has the skills that are needed there. He doesn't breathe oxygen - he has adaptive lungs!"

Leone was also rated highly by that other 'technocratic' Rai DG, Pierluigi Celli, who had hoped to appoint Leone as director of RaiUno in 2000 (source: Vespa, ch. 12).

Leone is also an excellent choice because he has bipartisan support. As a son of a Christian Democrat President of the Republic, Leone has good contacts amongst democristiani: Vespa described him as close to "Letta, Casini and Follini" amongst the current UDC leaders. Yet Leone also has contacts on the left, and, perhaps crucially, was not in a highly visible post during the period of the Berlusconi government. He was not, therefore, known as 'gradito alla destra', and so is not 'burnt' in the eyes of the left.

Here, though, is a danger for Leone. Whilst government pressure is rarer under centre-left governments, Rai is subject to different political pressures during such periods. That is, Rai occasionally has problems dealing with its internal left-wingers at RaiTre, who, when 'bipartisan' appointments are made, claim that Rai is witnessing a 'return of the democristiani', who - one presumes - will impose a traditional Christian Democrat morality on television output. (Company union Usigrai has sometimes made this complaint, though I can't find any examples at present).

Thus, Leone must show himself not just centrist - as are many democristiani - but also bipartisan, and, to the extent possible, also apartisan. BBC executives are bipartisan in the sense that they enjoy broad political contacts across the left-right spectrum; but they are apartisan in that these political contacts in no way structure their choices over television or radio output.

Update: Tvpolitik also judges Leone's appointment 'una bella mossa'

Technorati Tags: Rai, appointments, Leone, Cappon, Lei

Rai's alleged 'black list'

According to weekly Gente - and repeated at Dagospia [not work safe], Alexis [not work safe], and now the Corriere della Sera - the Administrative Council of Rai has voted unanimously on a list of 28 names who are not to appear on Rai in future. Most of the twenty-eight are involved in the Savoia prostitution scandal. Rai has denied that any list has been agreed. The fullest list comes from Alexis, and features:

1. Elisabetta Gregoraci, hostess on Il Malloppo, who allegedly slept with Gianfranco Fini spokesperson Salvatore Sottile in exchange for help with her career in Rai
   
2. Corrado Tedeschi, presenter, Cominciamo bene l'estate, on RaiTre
   
3. Cristiano Malgioglio, C-list celeb on L'isola dei famosi
   
4. Maria Monse, writer
   
5. Paoletta Saluzzi
6. Gigi Marzullo, sports journalist, Quello che e il calcio
   
7. Maria Mazza, ex-wife of footballer Francesco Totti
   
8. Caterina Balivo, daughter in law of former Communications minister Antonio Maccanico
   
9. Angelica Russo
10. Stefania Orlando
11. Cannelle
12. Antonio Zequila
13. Adriano Pappalardo, singer
    
14. Carmen di Pietro, from l'Isola dei famosi
    
15. Antonella Elia
16. Sonia Grey, host, Sabato, domenica e...

Some of these individuals - Mazzo, Balivo, Russo, Orlando, Cannelle - had talked to the prest about l'affaire Savoyard; others - Gregoraci, for example - were directly involved. Insofar as any clear picture can be drawn, it is this:

• certain female presenters believe it to be the case that they must sleep with politically well-connected men to advance their career in Rai; this may or may not in fact be the case;
• damage to Rai's image is taken seriously by the current board and dealt with in a formal fashion;
  
• such board decisions are not declared openly
  
• perhaps because of this lack of openness and suspicion of behind-the-scenes manouevring, decisions about which minor celebrities are to appear on television become items of news for national newspapers.
• The perception that Rai does not hire and fire based on evaluative grounds, but instead 'purges' its staff of undesirables, is bolstered
  

Technorati Tags: rai, epurazioni, gregoraci, savoia

Gentiloni on Rai privatization

Paolo Gentiloni outlines his plan for the Communications sector before today's hearing in front the Culture Commission. He discusses the currently stalled privatisation of Rai, indirectly quoted as follows:

Gentiloni punta alla riorganizzazione dell'assetto societario che contempli una divisione tra l'attività di servizio pubblico, l'attività commerciale e le reti [Gentiloni hints at the reorganisation of the corporation, considering a division between public service activities, commercial activities, and the network].

This division of labour may, perhaps, be appropriate. However, it is equally appropriate to remember that there are significant transaction costs in organisational restructuring, and Rai has already paid such transaction costs during two previous episodes of restructuring which were 'inspired' by political developments. Under Pierluigi Celli, Rai was 'divisionalized' in order to allow a split between the commercial channels RaiUno and RaiDue, and the public service RaiTre. That split - envisioned by the legislative proposal 1138 - never took place. Then, under Flavio Cattaneo, Rai was centralized again, as key functions - scheduling and publicity - were pulled from the individual channels.

Both these moves cost money and time. They also upset people, and led to numerous polemics about purges in Rai. Rai should ensure that any reorganisation fits Rai on its own terms; or that, if Gentiloni insists on legislating a new design, that the legislative process is carried out with due haste.

Technorati Tags: Gentiloni, Celli, Cattaneo, Rai, organisation, privatisation

world cup celebrations

Congratulations to the Italian team for having won last night - and congratulations to Rai for having won an incredible 84% audience share for its broadcast of the final. Seems like Rai retains the PSB prerogative of being the 'go-to' channel for major national events...

Technorati Tags: RAI, audience_share, world_cup

Public broadcasting news from UK, France, Spain

News from public service broadcasting-land. In the UK, the BBC has just released its annual report, publication of which led to a round of stories about excessive executive pay at the publicly funded broadcaster. The key trope of the report is the use of key performance indicators - part of a "performance management framework". Alongside "Service Licences" for each channel, KPIs will include:

• audience reach, share
• quality (audience reports programme to be of of high quality; or, programme is original programming and originates in UK)
• impact (audience perception)
• value for money (cost per listener/viewer hour)

This framework "was assessed by the National Audit Office in 2004" and "continues to be developed".

These kinds of things are enormously useful for the BBC - it helps, for example, to have a record of how many 'commercial' songs are played on Radio 1 when for-profit competitors complain about the station's overly mainstream orientation.

The BBC also promises, every three to five years, a poll of 10,000 respondents to provide "valuable indicators of important trends and needs". That's a very large poll - enough to give significant results in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and several English regions - and represents an enormous commission for whichever polling group is chosen (probably Ipsos-Mori).

The most important feature which is not mentioned in the report is how the Governance Unit - which aids the Governors - will be able to brief an almost entirely new set of BBC Trustees. Michael Grade is probably right when he writes that "the fact that the independence of the BBC endures is due in no small part to their robust stewardship" - but this stewardship depends on strong esprit de corps. Will that remain in the trust?

In France, Patrick de Carolis is ending his first year in charge of France Télévisions. Chosen, according to Le Figaro (reported here), because he was a programme-maker, not a "manager" like his predecessor Marc Tessier, de Carolis nevertheless seems to be a strong, centralising manager.

« Ça a marché plutôt bien, commente un membre du CSA, Carolis a un peu mis fin aux baronnies des chaînes.»

In my work on Rai, I've argued that baronies were crucial in undermining the political independence of the organisation. I don't know whether France Télévisions is similarly torn apart by centripetal forces, but de Carolis seems to have at least shown that he can move the network where he wants it to go.

Finally, in Spain, RTVE has increased its ad take by thirteen percent - necessary given its parlous financial state - and parent company SEPI has reached agreement with trades unions over employee numbers in the 'new, all-improved' RTVE that will, one hopes, be the result of the Zapatero government's forthcoming law. (.zip file containing details of the agreement here).


Technorati Tags: RAI, BBC, RTVE, audience_share, Governors, PatrickdeCarolis, Zapatero, MichaelGrade