Why Media Systems Matter: A Fact-Checking Study of UK Television News during the Coronavirus Pandemic

Figures & data

Table 1. The percentage of news items in the sample across different UK news bulletins.

BBC	24.4% (307)
ITV	19.6% (247)
Sky	15.1% (190)
Channel 4	17.6% (222)
Channel 5	23.3% (293)
Total	100% (1259)

Table 2. Proportion of news items with journalistic or source questioning of UK Government decision (N in brackets).

	Yes		No		Total Count (N Covid-focussed stories)
BBC at 10 pm	104	33.88%	203	66.12%	307	100.00%
Sky News at 10 pm	100	34.13%	193	65.87%	293	100.00%
ITV at 10 pm	83	33.60%	164	66.40%	247	100.00%
Channel 5 at 5 pm	43	19.37%	179	80.63%	222	100.00%
Channel 4 at 7 pm	113	59.47%	77	40.53%	190	100.00%
Total	443	35.19%	816	64.81%	1259	100.00%

Table 3. Proportion of news items with explicit or partial/implicit questioning of UK Government decisions by either a journalist or a source (N in brackets).

Programme	Explicit	Partial/Implicit	Grand Total
Channel 4 at 7 pm	56.7% (161)	43.3% (123)	100% (284)
Sky News at 10 pm	52.2% (108)	47.8% (99)	100% (207)
BBC at 10 pm	48.2% (106)	51.8% (114)	100% (220)
ITV at 10 pm	49.7% (77)	50.3% (78)	100% (155)
Channel 5 at 5 pm	42.7% (38)	57.3% (51)	100% (89)
Total	51.3% (490)	48.7% (465)	100% (955)

Table 4. Proportion of news items with direct or indirect journalistic questioning of UK Government decisions (N in brackets).

Programme	Direct	Indirect	Grand Total
Channel 4 at 7 pm	72.5% (95)	27.5% (36)	100% (131)
Sky News at 10 pm	56.6% (60)	43.4% (46)	100% (106)
BBC at 10 pm	53.6% (60)	46.4% (52)	100% (112)
ITV at 10 pm	69.1% (56)	30.9% (25)	100% (81)
Channel 5 at 5 pm	71.8% (28)	28.2% (11)	100% (39)
Total	63.8% (299)	36.2% (170)	100% (469)

Table

Variable No	Variable name	Level of agreement, with Cohen’s Kappa (CK) in brackets
1.	Convention type	99.3% (0.99 CK)
2.	Covid-19 Focus: Yes/No	100%
Criticism towards UK government
3.	Author of Criticism category	95% (0.92 CK)
4.	Journalism Direct/Indirect Criticism	99.2% (0.98 CK)
5.	Object of Criticism	94.1% (0.93 CK)
6.	Extent of Criticism	94.1% (0.88 CK)