The BBC's board of governors launched independent reviews of the corporation's coverage of religion, the European Union and current affairs yesterday.
The governors said they wanted to know whether concerns about the marginalisation of current affairs and religion and claims of bias in the coverage of the EU were justified.
In a marked change to previous practice, the reviews will be managed exclusively by the board of governors, employing independent consultants where necessary. Previous inquiries have been carried out for the governors by BBC management.
Publishing the terms of reference for the reviews yesterday, the governors said the Central Religious Advisory Committee, which advises British broadcasters on coverage of religious issues, had "highlighted concern about the marginalised scheduling of much religious output, including the absence of a regular slot, and the lack of understanding of religious faiths on the part of some programme-makers".
Jana Bennett, the director of television, has agreed to develop a new religion strategy. The last one, approved two years ago, is not believed to have been a success.
The governors said in the 2003-4 annual report: "We are concerned there may not be enough landmark [religious] output in peak time to make a regular impact with viewers."
The Europe review will con sider four specific criticisms: that the BBC is "systematically Europhile"; that anti-EU, pro-withdrawal voices have been "excluded from BBC coverage"; that coverage of the EU is "seen too much through a Westminster prism with the result that significant EU developments go unreported"; and that the BBC has "contributed to public apathy" on the EU by failing to increase understanding of the issues.
It is the first time that the governors have conducted a review of EU coverage on such a scale, and it comes after intense criticism from anti-EU groups and individuals that the corporation is biased in favour of the institution.
Previously, the broadcaster has tended to brush off these complaints, particularly from persistent critics such as Lord Pearson of Rannoch, as irre-levant.
On current affairs, the governors will ask whether their present objective for "more high-impact, memorable" programmes, set out in the last two annual reports, has been met.
The review comes as BBC managers are considering whether to move Panorama, the flagship current affairs series, back into prime time from its present slot at 10.15pm on Sundays.
A spokeswoman for the BBC governors said yesterday the decision to publish terms of reference for the reviews, which would be completed within a few months, was part of a strategy of the chairman, Michael Grade, to make the board's work more transparent.