Behind the news: a statistician at BBC New Broadcasting House

Stepping into the BBC’s newsroom at New Broadcasting House for the first time was an incredible experience. The vast open-plan space is filled with journalists furiously typing at their desks or on calls. Screens are everywhere, broadcasting BBC live output, and desks are interspersed with studio pods. This is the very newsroom you see behind the news desk on the BBC News channel. 

Thereafter, I spent three months working under Robert Cuffe, Head of Statistics at the BBC. My role as a statistical consultant was to support Robert in advising journalists on the use of data and statistics in news stories. This work spanned multiple formats – online articles, television, radio, and podcasts – each with its own editorial style and constraints.

Diary of a stats enthusiast

My day-to-day responsibilities centred on helping journalists use data and statistics accurately and responsibly to reflect the story they were trying to tell. This can be a tricky art: word count is precious, and you don’t want to lose audience engagement with technical statistical details.

I had three key jobs during these three months:

1. Responding to journalists’ queries. Journalists’ levels of statistical knowledge vary widely, yet often data often sits at the heart of their stories. Acting as a consultant, I would provide advice on caveats, data sources, interpretation, and analysis, helping ensure statistical claims were robust and appropriately communicated.

2. Scanning upcoming statistical publications. The BBC has an internal R pipeline that collates data from government statistical release calendars. We reviewed upcoming publications to identify which might make a strong news story and flagged them to relevant journalists. One key lesson learned: what statisticians find interesting does not always translate into something newsworthy.

3. Supporting Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. FOIs are an essential tool for journalists. Drawing on experience from the “other side” of the system, we were able to advise on best practice and help journalists frame questions in a way that maximised the chance of useful responses.

Statistics in action

A particular highlight was spending time with the More or Less podcast team, who examine and debunk statistics used in the news for their nine-minute programme. During one week, I researched how many fish might be affected by a proposed nuclear reactor site—an exercise that required careful untangling and dissecting of complex and/or limited information.

Another memorable moment was working with business journalists on the Spring Budget. We watched Rachel Reeves deliver her statement in the House of Commons, rapidly scribbling down figures as they were announced. Journalists immediately began drafting stories and producing charts, racing to publish accurate information as quickly as possible. Later, I went to the studio to watch the six o’clock news go live.

Final reflections

I was struck by the speed at which journalists work and their decision-making under pressure. This is supported by an impressive set of tools, including a large repository of reproducible R code for rapidly generating charts and analyses.

Working at the BBC was an incredible experience – not least for the occasional celebrity spotting! I would strongly encourage anyone interested to explore how statistics are used from the perspective of a data user, rather than as a producer of official statistics!

BCC secondment opportunities are advertised on the Analysis Function website from 1 September.