Steps

Well meant, but a little too pleased with themselves. That's my take on Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot and their review of the BBC's reporting (and drama mentions) of matters economic. They like raising questions, but are light on actionable improvements. 

Here's a couple. Do work on core, legible graphs that come round again and again - inflation, GDP, borrowing, public spending - and stick to that style for at least five years.  Chose a short, medium and long term baseline, and occasionally use three graphs shining a different light on the same topic. Refine the design with focus groups. Stop being visually clever, with figures overlaid on the outside of Broadcasting House, or shipping containers, or tower blocks  - it's distracting and a waste of time. Re-hire Blastland or someone similar to sit in the corner of the Business and Economics Unit for a year, challenging standard responses to stories.  Make the economics team and the politics team sit together for core Budget coverage. 

And for gawd's sake, get a strong 'State of the Economy' feature out there on a regular basis before the next election, rather than the regular rush jobs, such as we had when we lost the car battery factory.