Report asks whether broadcast time for politicians is allocated fairly

Martin Shipton

An increasing move away from the two-party system suggests that broadcasters may need to revise their view of impartiality when deciding which politicians should be invited to appear on political discussion programmes, according to a new report.

Researchers at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture have analysed the proportion of appearances by party affiliation on five of the UK’s most prominent such programmes between 2024 and 2025: Any Questions (BBC Radio 4), Peston (ITV), Question Time (BBC), Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg (BBC) and Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips (Sky News).

Challenging

The report states: “The sharp rise in support for political parties beyond the traditional dominance of the Conservatives and Labour in the 2024 UK General Election has made it increasingly challenging for broadcasters to make impartial judgements about the selection of politicians in broadcast media. Voting for parties and independent candidates outside of Labour and the Conservatives reached a historical high of 42.6%. This saw the return of 117 third-party MPs (MPs who don’t represent Labour or the Conservatives), accounting for 18% of all MPs (excluding the Speaker). Aggregate opinion poll data from June 2025 suggests this trend is increasing, placing third-party support at 58.2%.

“This raises questions about how broadcasters apply impartiality when selecting representatives from different political parties. Past research has shown they have tended to balance the perspectives of the two major parties, while rotating the representation of politicians from third parties.”

The researchers analysed every politician that appeared in these programmes in the 24/25 Parliamentary season (2nd September 2024 – 22nd July 2025) and examined the proportion of coverage granted to each political party.

Airtime

The report states: “Our analysis revealed that broadcasters allocated the most airtime to Labour and Conservative politicians in panel and debate programming, making up 77.1% of appearances by politicians. Labour accounted for 39% (222) of all parties, which was considerably lower than the proportion of MPs elected in the 2024 election (63.2%), but slightly higher than its total vote share (33.7%).

“By comparison, Conservatives made up 38.1% (217) of politicians appearing on panel and debate programming, which was almost double the proportion of MPs they had elected in 2025 (18.6%) and more than their total vote share (23.7%).

“In contrast, the third parties were underrepresented compared to their vote share. Reform UK was the most significantly underrepresented, making up only 4.7% (27) of politicians, despite gaining a total vote share of 14.3%. The Liberal Democrats and Greens were also underrepresented, making up 8.6% (49) and 3.7% (21) of guests, respectively, against a 12.2% and 6.7% vote share.”

Question Time

Considering guest selection by programme, the report states: “Question Time most closely reflects the popular vote but is still some distance from accurately reflecting the total share of votes across parties. By contrast, Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips is most focused on balancing the two major parties – Labour and the Conservatives – offering limited appearances from politicians from the so-called minor parties despite their large collective vote share at the last election.”

The report reveals that the Liberal Democrats received minimal coverage on non-BBC programmes. On Peston, for example, they made up 5.1% (5) of political guests. On Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, the Liberal Democrats accounted for 4.1% (5) of politicians appearing. Other parties also received limited coverage. Plaid Cymru received no representation on either Peston or Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips. The Scottish National Party made up just 2% (2) of political guests on Peston and 1.6% (2) on Sunday with Trevor Phillips.

Despite being flagship UK political programmes, these shows primarily focused on Westminster politics, limiting the perspectives of parties from the devolved nations.

Considering how the research outcomes can be interpreted, the report states: “[It] should be acknowledged that debate and panel programmes do not represent all broadcasters’ political output. Each broadcaster – the BBC, ITV, and Sky News – features a wide range of high-quality political news and current affairs coverage across its TV, radio, online, and social media channels. Unfortunately, it is well beyond the scope of our resources to examine all of this output. Nonetheless, we believe analysing debate and panel programmes alone is a worthy study in its own right, given their agenda-setting power.

“Secondly, we do not believe our findings constitute a breach of due impartiality from any of the broadcasters. Ofcom makes it clear that broadcasters have the editorial freedom to make impartial judgments about selecting party political representatives in news and current affairs programming based on a range of criteria. As we have outlined, this can range from representing party political views based on vote share and seats won at the last general election, to the performance of recent local and regional electoral contests, and the latest trends in opinion polls. Since broadcasters have the autonomy to interpret due impartiality based on these factors, there will inevitably be differences in the selection of parties and politicians across different programmes.

“We believe our analysis over the course of the 2024/25 Parliamentary season offers one way of understanding how broadcasters interpreted the broad criteria of due impartiality when selecting political guests to appear in panel and debate programming. Taken together, our study suggests that broadcasters gave more weight to selecting politicians from parties based on the number of seats won at the last general election than to other factors, such as vote share, the latest electoral performance at a local and regional level, or recent trends in public opinion data. In doing so, it could be argued that this favours the two historically large parties, Labour and the Conservatives, and limits opportunities for third parties such as Reform UK, the Liberal Democrats, and Greens.

“At the same time, giving greater weight to Labour and Conservative politicians in panel and debate programming above other parties could be viewed as the most accurate reflection of the UK’s first past the post electoral system. After all, the public votes for constituency politicians, and the party with the largest number of MPs forms a government, while the second-largest party becomes the official opposition.

“If broadcasters applied more weight to vote share when selecting politicians, it would arguably better reflect proportional political systems where the overall amount of votes helps determine the electoral outcome. This is the case in the devolved elections in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which may require broadcasters across the nations to interpret due impartiality differently from the UK’s first past the post electoral system.

“Of course, in the years ahead, opinion polls may change in line with the electoral performance of parties. For example, the devolved elections scheduled for May 2026 may result in a wide range of political parties gaining seats in Scotland and Wales. Responding to new electoral outcomes and shifts in public opinion, broadcasters could reconsider their approach to impartially selecting party political representatives in debate and panel programming. We also found little evidence to support claims that Farage was one of the most regularly featured guests on debate and panel programming throughout 2024 and 2025. The top 10 politicians that appeared in coverage were actually made up of senior Labour and Conservative Cabinet Ministers, as well as the new Tory Leader, Reform UK’s Deputy Leader and The Liberal Democrats Leader and Deputy Leader.”

Impartiality

Professor Stephen Cushion, who led the research, said: “Our aim was to offer an evidence-based study about how broadcasters are currently interpreting due impartiality when they allocate time for politicians to appear in their programmes. Take Reform UK, for example: some critics may argue the party receives too much coverage from broadcasters. After all, the party only had a handful of MPs elected in the last general election.

“But given Reform UK is currently riding high in the opinion polls there is an argument to say the party should appear more in debate and panel programming. This then allows our leading broadcast journalists to more rigorously scrutinise the party’s policies and claims. Reform UK may well appear more in the run up to the next Senedd election so they will need to be scrutinised and parties across Wales, including Plaid Cymru, will need to have a greater voice in the debate.”

Top 10 politician guests on UK panel and debate programmes in the 2024/25 Parliamentary season

Chris Philp

Conservative (Shadow Home Secretary)

15

Kemi Badenoch

Conservative (Leader of the Opposition)

12

Wes Streeting

Labour (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care)

12

Ed Davey

Liberal Democrat (Party Leader)

11

Darren Jones

Labour (Chief Secretary to the Treasury)

10

Richard Tice

Reform UK (Deputy Leader)

10

Daisy Cooper

Liberal Democrat (Deputy Leader and Treasury Spokesperson)

9

Rachel Reeves

Labour (Chancellor of the Exchequer)

9

Jonathan Reynolds

Labour (Secretary of State for Business and Trade)

9

Emily Thornberry

Labour (Backbench MP)

9