As the COVID-19 pandemic develops, it has become clear that in addition to presenting the most challenging global public health emergency in the post-war period, the political, social and economic repercussions of essential quarantine procedures will likely be felt decades from now. For researchers engaging with the meaning of these events, understanding the unfolding media narrative is central to investigating how the crisis has been publicly constructed and perceived. As such, Learning on Screen has expanded its broadcast media recording service (BoB) to document the coverage. In addition to our 24/7 automatic recording of BBC1, BBC2, BBC4, ITV1, Channel 4, Channel 5 and BBC Radio 4, we are now recording the entirety of the BBC News 24 and Sky News output. We are also undertaking a close monitoring of a further twenty free-to-air channels across UK regions, and eight key international broadcasters, to ensure a broad array of news and current affairs programming is recorded.

Example of COVID-19 news coverage in BoB

With broadcasts from the first reported outbreaks of a new coronavirus to the present, the Learning on Screen COVID-19 Broadcast Media Recording Project forms an unparalleled permanent digital archive of public service and commercial television and radio. As a new research landscape comes into view, we are actively seeking to engage with academics across disciplines as a formal industry partner in research projects. Experienced in working with higher education institutions throughout the research lifecycle, we are equipped to assist with devising research questions, curate and supply bespoke selections of broadcasts, and make research outputs accessible publicly as online resources. Through the BoB extensive digital archive, we can also offer our recordings for Artificial Intelligence analysis, more details can be found here.

News Special dealing with COVID-19 on BoB