News Coverage Local elections coverage May 2022

[Radio_man]

BBC Northern Ireland have announced details of their coverage of the NI Assembly election in May.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/n...s-coverage

I can't find any announcement about the BBC network coverage of the local elections yet, but I'm assuming it'll be anchored by Huw Edwards like last year.

Are BBC Wales and BBC Scotland likely to have their own coverage when the bulk of the results are due in, or will they just take the network coverage from London?

[UTVLifer]

Sounds like business as usual for BBC Northern Ireland, with Mark Carruthers in the studio and Tara Mills at one of the count centres - she'll probably be at the Titanic Exhibition Centre like she is every election.

Also, in this quote from the press release it sounds like the virtual side to BBC NI's studio might be getting an update

Enda McClafferty and Sara Girvan will be in the studio with Mark, while Mark Simpson will have the latest graphics in the brand new elections set. There will also be expert analysis of the results from the count centres provided by presenters Tara Mills, Richard Morgan and Stephen Walker

[Radio_man]

The areas holding elections are detailed in this article, which includes a map:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60695244

So it's not such a big deal as last year but still a good test of public opinion at a crucial time in UK politics.

All 90 seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly are up for grabs with five Members of the Legislative Assembly being elected in each of the 18 constituencies.

All the councils in Scotland and Wales are being contested and some councils in England.

In Scotland 1,200 seats are up in 32 council areas and in Wales there are 1,200 across 22 councils.

In England more than 4,000 council seats are being contested across 146 councils.

There are four new councils - unitary authorities in North Yorkshire and Somerset and two in Cumbria.

The Mayor of South Yorkshire is also being elected as are six other local authority mayors.

[Newsroom]

Didn’t Laura Kuenssberg say the local elections will be her last on screen appearance as outgoing Pol Ed? You can take from that, that there’ll be an overnight programme with Huw Edwards.

[onetrickypony]

Don't councils usually count the next day, especially in Scotland?

[FrancisC]

I know Scotland isn't counting overnight, I don't think Northern Ireland is either - does anyone know about the situation in Wales/England?

[Brekkie]

Are there any rules on what can be in the Local Election Broadcasts? Labour's the other night was very much focused on the cost of living crisis, but surely that's a national issue and not really on the ballot paper at the local elections other than I guess as a protest vote against the government.

I guess that's the issue when these local election PPBs are on a national level. Has that always been the case - obviously the variants for Wales, Scotland and NI continue but in the regional past were PPBs ever more targeted on a region by region basis?

This is where a local network of PSB channels should come to the forefront but not sure they even have to show them.

[Andrew]

Are there any rules on what can be in the Local Election Broadcasts? Labour's the other night was very much focused on the cost of living crisis, but surely that's a national issue and not really on the ballot paper at the local elections other than I guess as a protest vote against the government.

You’ve just described entirely how local elections are covered on the national media and indeed across social media.

[neonemesis]

Are there any rules on what can be in the Local Election Broadcasts? Labour's the other night was very much focused on the cost of living crisis, but surely that's a national issue and not really on the ballot paper at the local elections other than I guess as a protest vote against the government.

You’ve just described entirely how local elections are covered on the national media and indeed across social media.

They are covered in the national media that way because that is precisely how they are fought by the national party figures. The Labour election broadcast is a great demonstration of that. Most people who turn out in local elections still make their decisions based mostly on national issues.

There is an A-level politics debate to be had about whether it is healthy for it to be that way, but it is.

[UTVLifer]

BBC One Overnight Coverage for England will run from 23:40 on Thursday 5th until 06:00 on Friday morning

'Huw Edwards is your guide as the votes are counted in this year’s bumper set of elections. Reeta Chakrabarti analyses the figures at her giant touchscreen, and Professor Sir John Curtice assesses the underlying electoral trends. BBC correspondents report from all the key counts, and Laura Kuenssberg analyses what the results mean for each political party.'

Part 2 will run from 13:40 to 17:15 on the afternoon of Friday 6th May

https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl6p/2022/05/06

[lepeterrr]

Anyone know if the BBC are going back to the 'Election Centre' at Elstree or are they at NBH? If they are at NBH then they most likely won't be using B as that is in the 'new' set design.

[UTVLifer]

Anyone know if the BBC are going back to the 'Election Centre' at Elstree or are they at NBH? If they are at NBH then they most likely won't be using B as that is in the 'new' set design.

Although it's not been confirmed, I think that they'll almost certainly be at NBH. Elstree is now effectively out of the picture for elections I suspect now that the 2019 GE has shown them that they can do elections from NBH - which is presumably cheaper than using Studio D at BBC Elstree

If Studio B is unavailable I wonder if they might go back to Millbank, however iirc it hasn't been used for Local Elections coverage since the current set was installed in summer 2018 (with the last LE done at MB being 2018)

[sjhoward]

There has certainly been a fair amount of speculation that Sinn Féin could become Northern Ireland’s largest party, which would make the NI results possibly the biggest story of the election - would be rather different to the usual approach of the national coverage not devoting much time to NI results. I wonder if the beefing up of NI programme is with the possibility of lots of national inserts in mind.

[Moz]

I think this answers everyone’s question. It’s in E…

[DTV]

Although it's not been confirmed, I think that they'll almost certainly be at NBH. Elstree is now effectively out of the picture for elections I suspect now that the 2019 GE has shown them that they can do elections from NBH - which is presumably cheaper than using Studio D at BBC Elstree


If Studio B is unavailable I wonder if they might go back to Millbank, however iirc it hasn't been used for Local Elections coverage since the current set was installed in summer 2018 (with the last LE done at MB being 2018)

I shan't imagine we'll be returning to Elstree, though that, of course, depends on whether the new B set has been designed with election coverage in mind. Millbank is probably quite likely, but I can also imagine it coming from E (I imagine it is being simulcast on the BBC News channel so it will be free).

EDIT - Looks like E has been confirmed!

There has certainly been a fair amount of speculation that Sinn Féin could become Northern Ireland’s largest party, which would make the NI results possibly the biggest story of the election - would be rather different to the usual approach of the national coverage not devoting much time to NI results. I wonder if the beefing up of NI programme is with the possibility of lots of national inserts in mind.

It will certainly be a big story of the election, though I imagine whether it takes the top spot will be determined by how badly the Conservatives do. Also there is the fact of Northern Ireland's full count taking a while due it being an STV election counted by hand, which might mean that the final result isn't in by Friday evening (though they will probably know which way it will go by then).