It is a commonly held belief that television news in Britain, on whatever channel, is more objective, more trustworthy, more neutral than press reporting. The illusion is exploded in this controversial study by the Glasgow University Media Group, originally published in 1976.

The authors undertook an exhaustive monitoring of all television broadcasts over 6 months, from January to June 1975, with particular focus upon industrial news broadcasts, the TUC, strikes and industrial action, business and economic affairs.

Their analysis showed how television news favours certain individuals by giving them more time and status. But their findings did not merely deny the neutrality of the news, they gave a new insight into the picture of industrial society that TV news constructs.


First published in 1980, More Bad News is the Second Volume in the research findings of the Glasgow University Media Group. It develops the analytic findings and methods of the first volume Bad News through a series of Case Studies of Television News Coverage, and argues that much of what passes as balanced and factual news reporting is produced from a highly partial viewpoint.

Focusing on the British economy in crisis, and its thematic linkage with the Social Contract during the first four months of 1975, the book deals with three main levels of activity: the story, the language and the visuals. As the book unpacks each level of routine news coverage a picture emerges which has the surface appearance of neutrality and balance but is in fact highly partial and restricted