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´óÏó´«Ã½ Northern Ireland has had a strong year with special events coverage and drama programmes proving particular highlights for audiences, according to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Annual Report and Audience Council Northern Ireland Annual Review published today.Ìý

Over 50 projects on TV, radio and online marked Derry-Londonderry UK City of Culture 2013, which helped Radio Foyle to reach more people on average in a week than ever before.Ìý

This year the flagship investigative journalism series Spotlight celebrated its 40^th anniversary.Ìý Daily news bulletins from ´óÏó´«Ã½ Newsline reached on average 55 per cent of the Northern Ireland population.Ìý The biographical series Paisley: Genesis to Revelation, examining Ian Paisley's career, reached almost a quarter of adults in Northern Ireland, with the second episode reaching 51 per cent.Ìý

There was a boost for the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s online services for Northern Ireland, with a 25 per cent increase in the number of visitors to the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Northern Ireland news website in one year, and 2 million downloads of ´óÏó´«Ã½ Northern Ireland programmes from iPlayer – up from 1 million in only three years.ÌýÌýÌý On radio, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster/Foyle reached over a third of the NI population, up on last year.Ìý

´óÏó´«Ã½ Northern Ireland also made an important contribution to programmes made for the whole UK, with the Belfast-set drama The Fall being watched by an average of 4.3 million people each week - the largest audience for a ´óÏó´«Ã½ Two drama for a decade. Line of Duty had a weekly UK-wide audience of over 3 million.Ìý

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The Audience Council Northern Ireland, the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Trust's advisory body, has welcomed the strong performance for ´óÏó´«Ã½ NI this year.Ìý In particular the Council found that the special coverage for events including Derry-Londonderry City of Culture, the G8 summit, and World Police and Fire Games Ìýbrought a different and more positive portrayal of Northern Ireland to audiences, and has called on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ to build on this success.Ìý

However, the Audience Council has called for more programmes, particularly on UK-wide ´óÏó´«Ã½ One, that would appeal to Northern Ireland audiences.Ìý Audiences have told the Council that they want to see a fuller and more authentic representation of life in NI on the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s UK-wide programmes, although there have been some improvements this year.Ìý The Council has asked for more programmes made in Northern Ireland to be broadcast to UK audiences.Ìý In addition, audiences want to see more comparisons on ´óÏó´«Ã½ network news of policy differences between Westminster and the devolved nations.Ìý

At a local level, the Audience Council has highlighted the audience appetite for news and factual programmes to continue to evolve to reflect the changes in society in Northern Ireland and provide more breadth and depth across the range of public policy areas.Ìý On radio, there remain concerns about the level of DAB coverage in Northern Ireland.Ìý

´óÏó´«Ã½ Trustee for Northern Ireland Aideen McGinley said:

"The eyes of the world were on Northern Ireland during 2013 for major events like the UK City of Culture, G8 summit, and World Police and Fire Games, and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Northern Ireland's outstanding coverage across TV, radio and online was highly appreciated by audiences.Ìý With gripping drama like The Fall being made in Northern Ireland and some great examples of strong journalism and documentaries across the year, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Northern Ireland has continued to play an important role in delivering for audiences.

"Looking to the future, our Audience Council has highlighted concerns about portrayal of Northern Ireland on ´óÏó´«Ã½ network programmes and a need to better explain policy differences from Westminster on network news.Ìý While there has been some good progress in recent years we will continue to press the ´óÏó´«Ã½ for improvements."

Notes to Editors

1. The Audience Council Northern Ireland's Annual Review for 2013/14 can be found here.
2. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ Annual Report and Accounts for 2013/14 can be found here.
3. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ management annual review for Northern Ireland can be found here.