Addressed to: BBC Northern Ireland Director, the BBC Board, and Ofcom

The Nolan Show is BBC Radio Ulster's flagship current affairs programme. It is funded by every licence-fee payer in Northern Ireland, and it has a duty under the BBC Charter and Ofcom's Broadcasting Code to be duly impartial.

Many listeners believe it is failing that duty. Week after week, the programme hands a disproportionate share of airtime to a narrow band of right-wing unionist and loyalist voices, in particular Jim Allister, Tim Gaston and Jamie Bryson. Their prominence on the show bears no relation to their electoral support or to the range of opinion in Northern Ireland.

This is not about silencing anyone. It is about balance. A public broadcaster in a divided society has a special responsibility not to amplify one fringe of opinion at the expense of the wider community.

The BBC often points to the show's large audience as proof of its success. But no research shows who that audience is. Popularity with one section of the community is not the same as serving all of it.

The BBC has previously refused to disclose how often these contributors appear. That lack of transparency is unacceptable for a publicly funded service.

We call on the BBC to:

1. Publish the number of appearances by each political contributor on The Nolan Show over the past two years.
2. Commission an independent review of the programme's impartiality.
3. Ensure the show's guest list reflects the full breadth of political opinion in Northern Ireland.
4. Publish or commission research into the community make-up of the programme's audience, so the BBC can show it serves all of Northern Ireland and not one section of it.

We call on Ofcom to take note of the scale of public concern and examine whether the programme meets its impartiality obligations.