Weekly ‘news chart’ to begin on BBC Radio 5 live

From next month a new programme on BBC Radio 5 Live will reveal “the UK’s first comprehensive weekly news chart”.

The 5 live Hit List will be presented by Emma Barnett of the Daily Telegraph and Radio 4’s Women’s Hour. The programme will count down the top 40 stories online and on social media, covering news, sport, politics, showbiz and more with guests and listener reactions.

The chart will be compiled by the Collaborative Online Social Media Observatory. The experts from several UK universities will analyse the use of keywords and hashtags to evaluate each news story.

“I love the idea of listeners deciding the news agenda and this show reflecting the stories people are really talking about,” explains Emma Barnett.

“The stories we should be interested in, versus the ones we actually are, can be surprisingly and amusingly different. Presenting The 5 live Hit List is going to be very revealing indeed. It combines three of my biggest interests: the fast paced world of social media, brilliant stories going crazy and of course, radio. Let the chart commence.”

The 5 live Hit List starts on Sunday, 9th November at 7.30pm.

Until leaving the station last month Richard Bacon hosted ‘Chart the Week’ as part of his Thursday afternoon show which counted down the top five news stories of the week.