The BBC has published research revealing that the British public is switching off television news coverage of politics.

The public service broadcaster had commissioned research into people's attitudes as part of an examination of its political coverage.

As part of its "New Politics Initiative", the BBC review, published on Thursday, found that many people, particularly those aged under 45, are disillusioned with conventional politics and political coverage and feel disconnected from the political process.

The research found that coverage is seen as white, middle-class, middle-aged men arguing with other white, middle-class, middle-aged men in a secret shared language.

"Politicians and the media have known for some time that there's a lack of involvement and engagement in politics. The research we publish today illustrates just how serious that problem is," said Richard Sambrook, director of BBC News.

Lack of interest

Figures show that viewer interest in news coverage has been declining since 1993, with those under the age of 44 watching 25 per cent less than previously, and many young people not following any political coverage at all.

"It's no longer a question of waiting for audiences to 'grow into' news," Sambrook said.

"The research shows that people are not beginning to get interested when they reach their 30s and 40s. This demographic wave of disengagement could soon mean political coverage is largely watched by those in their 50s and older."

When asked what politics meant to them none of the respondents had a positive association. Nearly 40 per cent of respondents replied with negative associations - that politicians were "crooks", "out for themselves", "liars", "didn't care about ordinary people", and "a waste of time."

The solution, suggests the BBC, is to develop new ways of complimenting existing political coverage, with more attempt to relate politics coverage to the everyday lives of voters.

Many of those asked felt reporting focused too much on the "Westminster village" and was too elitist.

In a review of politics coverage, being led by Sian Kevill, the BBC promised to "come up with new ideas - not just from 'traditional' news and current affairs but from drama, new media and regional and national programming."

"We want to refresh political coverage with innovative and creative new thinking," Ms Kevill said.

"It's about taking risks and we do not expect everything to work. But where there are successes, they should become part of our regular output."

Are politicians to blame?

Earlier in February, representatives of the BBC, ITV and Sky News told ePolitix they feared soundbite culture was helping to turn the public away from television coverage of political news.

Both the BBC's Andrew Marr and Sky News political editor Adam Boulton agreed that part of the problem was the current state of the parties. Marr highlighted the "relative ideological convergence" and a more general feeling of contentment.

Boulton said: "We've gone through a period when we've had intensive coverage of politics but interest has not been great because things have pretty much all gone in one direction - continued dominance by Tony Blair's Labour Party."Asked about the public's view of soundbites, Steve Anderson, the controller of news, current affairs, art and religion at ITV, said: "I think there's a lot of cynicism about it because it's become notorious in its own way - the very phrase 'sound bite' is now used to dismiss a lot of cynical political posturing."

Boulton agreed, saying: "I think that the public is like everyone else - if people say something interesting or striking then they are interested. If people say something hollow or evasive, they notice it and they are turned off."

Marr also agreed, noting that sound bites were used "to stop, or to keep a hold on, the kind of gaffe stories and split stories that journalists did far too much of."

And when asked if attempts to popularise politics coverage meant "Pop Idol meets politics", Anderson replied: "Why not? Pop Idol is a success because it's a simple idea that exploits the television age. And political coverage on mass channels like ITV 1 and BBC 1 will have to learn to compete with all these different forms of entertainment."