The BBC’s coverage of Wimbledon "is set to come under close scrutiny" after its governing body found a “startling disparity” in the number of men’s and women’s games it featured last year, on one day devoting 93% of its airtime to the men’s tournament, according to John Plunkett of the London GUARDIAN. Fronted by Sue Barker and Clare Balding, its coverage of the first week of the All England Lawn Tennis championship across its three main TV channels last year "was about three times more likely to feature men than women." The trust rejected a viewer’s complaint that it showed “unacceptable levels of gender bias against the women’s game” but called on the BBC to “give a higher profile to women’s matches.” The complainant’s data suggested that 76% of the broadcaster’s TV coverage in the first week of last year’s Wimbledon "focused on men’s matches, with the figure rising to 93% on the middle Saturday of the tournament." The trust said that “viewers had every right to expect the BBC would start from the basis of equality between male and female players” (GUARDIAN, 6/16).
