BBC News NI announces coverage for Elections 2016
BBC News NI today announces its plans for its multi-platform coverage of the 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly Elections.
Published: 7 April 2016
Throughout this election campaign, we will bring the passion, the drama and the debate to our audiences, on radio, television and News Online.
The View: Mark Carruthers will present four special editions of The View each Thursday at 10.45pm on BBC One NI in the lead up to - and including - Election Day. On Thursday, 14 April, the programme will host a debate special from Loughry College, Cookstown as students and members of the public put questions to politicians. On Thursday 21 April, Mark will interview deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin, and, on Thursday 28 April, he will interview First Minister Arlene Foster, DUP. The programme will also be broadcast live on Election Night to offer analysis and opinion on the day’s activities.
Election 2016 – The Good Friday Agreement Generation: Eighteen years after the Good Friday Agreement, Stephen Nolan and Tara Mills will give first time voters from across Northern Ireland the chance to put politicians on the spot about the issues which matter to them, in a live Election 2016 debate on BBC One NI on Wednesday, 20 April at 9pm. Among those in the audience will be members of the BBC Generation 2016 initiative.
Election 2016 - The Leaders' Debate: In the run-up to polling day, Noel Thompson hosts a leaders' debate - in front of a studio audience - with representatives from the DUP, Sinn Féin, SDLP, UUP and the Alliance Party. This will be broadcast on Tuesday 3 May.
Election 2016 – The Spin Room:Election 2016 - The Leaders’ Debate will be immediately followed by Election 2016 – The Spin Room with Tara Mills. Here Tara will be reflecting on and analysing the comments made in the Leaders’ Debate with leading political journalists and commentators, politicians from the Green Party, TUV and UKIP and a range representatives from the public and private sector.
BBC Newsline: In the run up to Election Day, BBC Newsline will be offering viewers in-depth coverage of the Assembly Elections, including constituency profiles and providing regular election round-ups and profiles on party leaders.
Election 2016: Mark Carruthers and Tara Mills will be on hand as the election counts come through, with special live programming starting on BBC One NI at 4pm on Friday 6 May and continuing throughout the day. Mark will be in BBC Broadcasting House while Tara comes live from the election count at Titanic Exhibition Centre. The programme will bring viewers interviews with successful and unsuccessful candidates, and expert analysis from BBC Political Correspondents and other commentators. Coverage will move to BBC Two NI from 7pm to 10pm before returning to BBC One NI from 10.35pm. The election results breakdown coverage will continue on Saturday 7 May from 11am.
Sunday Politics: Mark Carruthers will be taking an in-depth look at the elections on BBC One NI at 11am every Sunday in Sunday Politics from 10 April through to 8 May, when he will be joined by guests to analyse the outcome of the Election results.
BBC Radio Ulster
Good Morning Ulster and Evening Extra: As Election Day approaches, Good Morning Ulster, every Monday-Friday from 6.30am, will cover all the latest election news, while Evening Extra, Monday-Friday at 6pm, will be looking into each party’s manifesto launches.
The Nolan Show: Stephen Nolan (Mondays-Fridays at 9am) will be doing his traditional manifesto crunching – questioning the parties on their election manifesto promises and policy pledges and asking the vital questions that listeners want answers to.
Talkback: From Thursday 7 April, Talkback (Mondays-Fridays at 12pm) will see William Crawley interview representatives from the DUP, Sinn Fein, Alliance, UUP, SDLP, TUV, Green Party and UKIP, and give listeners the chance to put questions directly to the politicians. The programme will also get out into local constituencies with three special election outside broadcasts. These will take place in the Millennium Forum, Londonderry, on Wednesday 13 April, the Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, on Wednesday, 20 April, and the Millennium Court Arts Centre, Portadown, on Wednesday 27 April.
Inside Politics: From Friday 8 April until Friday 29 April, at 6pm, Inside Politics will feature interviews with party leaders as Mark Devenport asks them about their policies and future plans, and offers expert opinion and analysis from political commentators.
Election 2016: From 5pm to 10pm on Friday 6 May and 10am-1pm on Saturday 7 May, Seamus McKee and Karen Patterson will bring BBC Radio Ulster listeners news and analysis on all the latest election results, and hear the action from the constituency count centres.
Sunday News: In an hour-long special, Sunday News on 7 May at 1pm, Jayne McCormack will be bringing listeners all the latest election news, and providing updates on the stories hitting the headlines since Election Day on 5 May.
BBC Radio Foyle
In the run-up to the election on Mondays-Fridays, BBC Radio Foyle’s Breakfast programme (7am) and Lunchtime With Mark Patterson programme (1pm) will have special debates on each of the north west’s three constituencies, with in-depth questioning of the candidates and their positions. Breakfast will also profile each local constituency, taking a detailed look at the issues on the ground in all three.
On Friday 6 May, BBC Radio Foyle will also broadcast an Election 2016 special from 5pm to 10pm, co-presented by Enda McClafferty at the count centre in Londonderry and Elaine McGee in the BBC Radio Foyle studio.
BBC News NI Online
BBC News NI Online will provide audiences with its most extensive election coverage to date.
Users will be able to follow live feeds of what is happening in their own constituencies, with stage-by-stage results for every seat. Live blogs across all 18 battlegrounds will deliver the latest audio, video and news updates from the count centres.
Also online will be Northern Ireland-wide results, infographics and analysis from BBC News NI’s team of political correspondents; social media updates from every count; and BBC News NI Online will stream audio and video feeds of BBC NI television and radio output to ensure no election action is missed.
Kathleen Carragher, Head of BBC News NI, says: “Throughout this election campaign, we will bring the passion, the drama and the debate to our audiences, on radio, television and News Online. BBC News NI reporters will be at every count to bring you the results as they come in and, for the first time, you will be able to follow the stages of every count on BBC News NI Online. We’ll also have political reaction and analysis from the politicians themselves and from commentators. And the audience can, of course, join the debate through texting and social media.”
All details correct at time of publication.
MD
