Barrel Strength

The review, expected to launch this spring, will assess any science-related news and factual output on the BBC, with a particular focus on public policy and politically controversial subjects such as climate change.

It will be published in 2011 to aide the BBC Executive’s plans to boost the profile of science output from the corporation, with an increased emphasis on the genre across television, radio and online.

Richard Tait, chair of the Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee, said: “Science is an area of great importance to licence fee payers, which provokes strong reaction and covers some of the most sensitive editorial issues the BBC faces.

“Heated debate in recent years around topics like climate change, GM crops and the MMR vaccine reflects this, and BBC reporting has to steer a course through these controversial issues while remaining impartial.”

As well as natural sciences, the Trust’s evaluation will look at areas of technology, medicine and the environment that involve scientific statements, study findings or other assertions made by scientists.

This is the only the third review of this kind in the history of the BBC Trust, with previous impartiality assessments of business and devolved nations reporting.