In June 2008 the BBC's governing body, the BBC Trust, in a direct criticism of BBC News, instructed Byford and his editors to "improve the range, clarity and precision of its network coverage of the different UK nations and regions". The Trust said the BBC was "falling short of its own high standards" and, in part, failing to meet its core purpose of helping inform democracy. Three years later, Professor Anthony King, the author of the original report for the Trust, said there "had been enormous change in how the BBC reported the devolved nations. They make many fewer mistakes than they used to."