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News and finance · bbc.com

How to scrape BBC News

BBC News is a news and finance site offering public news articles and sports coverage. Developers typically collect article metadata, publication details, and publisher information from its pages.

Working

65 of 65 of our checks passed in the last 7 days (100%).

Last check 2026-11-02 20:33 UTC · last pass 2026-11-02 20:33 UTC · checked with our own requests, never customer data.

Try it in the Playground

Run the code on this page with your own key: 5,000 free credits for 7 days, no card. Get a free API key →

Extraction recipe

Detail pages contain ReportageNewsArticle structured data with url, publisher name and logo, publishing principles, publication and modification dates, description, headline, and images. Public pages include WebPage data with page description, url, publisher details, and page name. The recipe below is a set of Scrape API extract rules: we ran it through our API on two real BBC News pages with the settings on this page and kept only the fields that came back on both. It is checked again every week, and hidden if it stops working.

bbc.com news and articles: Search and listing pages

Validated 2026-10-28
FieldTypeExample
articleslist of 3+ items
articles[].urlURLhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckreyqvqe3gyo
articles[].titletextCouncillor sanctioned over offensive Facebook posts
articles[].imageimage URLhttps://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/749e/live/4b2e5830-c6fd...
articles[].summarytextSub-committee members recommend that Carl Miller be removed from al...
articles[].publishedtext36 mins ago

Examples from www.bbc.com/news/technology on 2026-10-28, shortened.

Sample output (real, trimmed)

{
    "articles": [
        {
            "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6x2qggrdxqeo",
            "title": "Celebrity Traitors' Joe Lycett's tribute to viral TikTok nan",
            "image": "https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ff04/live/cfcbb040-d208-11f1-b3b6-c1e79e957e40.png.webp",
            "summary": "Anne Hughes found fame after being hoisted into the air after getting caught in shop shutters.",
            "published": "3 hrs ago"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmy56qy0ddexo",
            "title": "Jo Malone donates £100k for cancer-detecting 'nose'",
            "image": "https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ad75/live/3c5e1260-d20a-11f1-b441-2b33b063138f.jpg.webp",
            "summary": "Scientists say the device could help the NHS identify cancer in patients earlier.",
            "published": "3 hrs ago"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cknv06prz91mo",
            "title": "Study to investigate harmful adult-child messaging",
            "image": "https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/20d0/live/38aebfd0-d227-11f1-b441-2b33b063138f.jpg.webp",
            "summary": "About 1,500 youngsters aged 12-18 years old will take part in the university-led survey.",
            "published": "7 hrs ago"
        }
    ]
}
extract_rules (1 rule)
{
    "articles": {
        "selector": "div[data-testid=\"alaska\"] > div",
        "type": "obj",
        "multiple": true,
        "children": {
            "url": {
                "selector": "a[data-testid=\"internal-link\"]",
                "type": "link"
            },
            "title": {
                "selector": "h2",
                "type": "text"
            },
            "image": {
                "selector": "img.Image-styles__ImageStyled-sc-8c99a12b-0:not(.hide-when-no-script)",
                "type": "image"
            },
            "summary": {
                "selector": "p[data-testid='card-description']",
                "type": "text"
            },
            "published": {
                "selector": "span[data-testid='card-metadata-lastupdated']",
                "type": "text"
            }
        }
    }
}

bbc.com news and articles: Articles

Validated 2026-10-28
FieldTypeExample
titletextBlue plaque honour for poet's childhood home
descriptiontextTony Harrison, who died last year aged 88, grew up in Leeds and is...
imageimage URLhttps://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/ac34/live/226f37f0-...
urlURLhttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmr4y2yl17x7o
publisheddate2026-10-12T19:06:02.949Z
summarytextThe man who wrote Prime Minister Andy Burnham's favourite poem has...
sectiontextLeeds

Examples from www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmr4y2yl17x7o on 2026-10-28, shortened.

Sample output (real, trimmed)

{
    "title": "Blue plaque honour for poet's childhood home",
    "description": "Tony Harrison, who died last year aged 88, grew up in Leeds and is best known for his poem V.",
    "image": "https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/ac34/live/226f37f0-c655-11f1-8600-efb62b613ab5.jpg",
    "url": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmr4y2yl17x7o",
    "published": "2026-10-12T19:06:02.949Z",
    "summary": "The man who wrote Prime Minister Andy Burnham's favourite poem has been honoured with a blue plaque in his home city.",
    "section": "Leeds"
}
extract_rules (7 rules)
{
    "title": {
        "selector": "h1",
        "type": "text"
    },
    "description": {
        "selector": "meta[property=\"og:description\"]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "content"
    },
    "image": {
        "selector": "meta[property=\"og:image\"]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "content"
    },
    "url": {
        "selector": "link[rel=\"canonical\"]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "href"
    },
    "published": {
        "selector": "time[datetime]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "datetime"
    },
    "summary": {
        "selector": "article p:first-of-type",
        "type": "text"
    },
    "section": {
        "selector": "a[data-testid='internal-link'][href*='/news/topics/']",
        "type": "text"
    }
}

Code

Complete scripts: set the UJEEBU_API_KEY environment variable and run them as they are. Each one sends the settings on this page and the extraction recipe, prints the extracted JSON, and prints the credits the request cost (the Ujb-Credits response header) on stderr. A non-200 answer stops the script with the API's error message.

bbc.com news and articles: Search and listing pages

Runs the recipe on the two pages it was validated on, one after the other.

bbc_listing_sdk.py pip install ujeebu-python==0.1.5
# Scrape BBC News bbc.com news and articles: search and listing pages with the Ujeebu Scrape API.
# Settings and extract rules validated on real pages on 2026-10-28 (Ujeebu site guide).
# Uses the official SDK ujeebu-python 0.1.5: pip install ujeebu-python==0.1.5
# Run: UJEEBU_API_KEY=your_key python3 bbc_listing_sdk.py

import json
import os
import sys
import time

import requests
from ujeebu_python import UjeebuClient

API_KEY = os.environ.get("UJEEBU_API_KEY")
URLS = [
    "https://www.bbc.com/news/technology",
    "https://www.bbc.com/business",
]
SETTINGS = {
    "js": True,
}
EXTRACT_RULES = {
    "articles": {
        "selector": "div[data-testid=\"alaska\"] > div",
        "type": "obj",
        "multiple": True,
        "children": {
            "url": {
                "selector": "a[data-testid=\"internal-link\"]",
                "type": "link",
            },
            "title": {
                "selector": "h2",
                "type": "text",
            },
            "image": {
                "selector": "img.Image-styles__ImageStyled-sc-8c99a12b-0:not(.hide-when-no-script)",
                "type": "image",
            },
            "summary": {
                "selector": "p[data-testid='card-description']",
                "type": "text",
            },
            "published": {
                "selector": "span[data-testid='card-metadata-lastupdated']",
                "type": "text",
            },
        },
    },
}


def scrape(client, url):
    # with extract_rules, client.scrape sends a JSON POST and the API answers {"result": {...}}
    try:
        response = client.scrape(url, params={**SETTINGS, "extract_rules": EXTRACT_RULES})
    except requests.RequestException as error:
        sys.exit(f"Request failed for {url}: {error}")
    if response.status_code != 200:
        try:
            message = response.json().get("message", response.text)
        except ValueError:
            message = response.text
        sys.exit(f"HTTP {response.status_code} for {url}: {str(message)[:300]}")
    print(f"Ujb-Credits: {response.headers.get('Ujb-Credits')}", file=sys.stderr)
    return response.json()["result"]


if not API_KEY:
    sys.exit("Set the UJEEBU_API_KEY environment variable.")

client = UjeebuClient(api_key=API_KEY)

for i, url in enumerate(URLS):
    if i:
        time.sleep(2)  # be polite: one page at a time
    print(json.dumps(scrape(client, url), indent=2, ensure_ascii=False))

bbc.com news and articles: Articles

Runs the recipe on the two pages it was validated on, one after the other.

bbc_detail_sdk.py pip install ujeebu-python==0.1.5
# Scrape BBC News bbc.com news and articles: articles with the Ujeebu Scrape API.
# Settings and extract rules validated on real pages on 2026-10-28 (Ujeebu site guide).
# Uses the official SDK ujeebu-python 0.1.5: pip install ujeebu-python==0.1.5
# Run: UJEEBU_API_KEY=your_key python3 bbc_detail_sdk.py

import json
import os
import sys
import time

import requests
from ujeebu_python import UjeebuClient

API_KEY = os.environ.get("UJEEBU_API_KEY")
URLS = [
    "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmr4y2yl17x7o",
    "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq74pkelv9rxo",
]
SETTINGS = {
    "js": True,
}
EXTRACT_RULES = {
    "title": {
        "selector": "h1",
        "type": "text",
    },
    "description": {
        "selector": "meta[property=\"og:description\"]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "content",
    },
    "image": {
        "selector": "meta[property=\"og:image\"]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "content",
    },
    "url": {
        "selector": "link[rel=\"canonical\"]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "href",
    },
    "published": {
        "selector": "time[datetime]",
        "type": "attr",
        "attribute": "datetime",
    },
    "summary": {
        "selector": "article p:first-of-type",
        "type": "text",
    },
    "section": {
        "selector": "a[data-testid='internal-link'][href*='/news/topics/']",
        "type": "text",
    },
}


def scrape(client, url):
    # with extract_rules, client.scrape sends a JSON POST and the API answers {"result": {...}}
    try:
        response = client.scrape(url, params={**SETTINGS, "extract_rules": EXTRACT_RULES})
    except requests.RequestException as error:
        sys.exit(f"Request failed for {url}: {error}")
    if response.status_code != 200:
        try:
            message = response.json().get("message", response.text)
        except ValueError:
            message = response.text
        sys.exit(f"HTTP {response.status_code} for {url}: {str(message)[:300]}")
    print(f"Ujb-Credits: {response.headers.get('Ujb-Credits')}", file=sys.stderr)
    return response.json()["result"]


if not API_KEY:
    sys.exit("Set the UJEEBU_API_KEY environment variable.")

client = UjeebuClient(api_key=API_KEY)

for i, url in enumerate(URLS):
    if i:
        time.sleep(2)  # be polite: one page at a time
    print(json.dumps(scrape(client, url), indent=2, ensure_ascii=False))

bbc.co.uk news and sport

No extraction recipe for these pages yet: the script fetches the page with the working settings. Add extract rules to get JSON.

bbc_page_sdk.py pip install ujeebu-python==0.1.5
# Fetch a BBC News page with the Ujeebu Scrape API.
# Settings from our health checks (Ujeebu site guide). Prints the start of the page HTML.
# Uses the official SDK ujeebu-python 0.1.5: pip install ujeebu-python==0.1.5
# Run: UJEEBU_API_KEY=your_key python3 bbc_page_sdk.py

import json
import os
import sys
import time

import requests
from ujeebu_python import UjeebuClient

API_KEY = os.environ.get("UJEEBU_API_KEY")
URLS = [
    "https://www.bbc.co.uk/news",
]
SETTINGS = {
    "js": True,
}


def scrape(client, url):
    try:
        response = client.scrape(url, params=SETTINGS)
    except requests.RequestException as error:
        sys.exit(f"Request failed for {url}: {error}")
    if response.status_code != 200:
        try:
            message = response.json().get("message", response.text)
        except ValueError:
            message = response.text
        sys.exit(f"HTTP {response.status_code} for {url}: {str(message)[:300]}")
    print(f"Ujb-Credits: {response.headers.get('Ujb-Credits')}", file=sys.stderr)
    return response.text


if not API_KEY:
    sys.exit("Set the UJEEBU_API_KEY environment variable.")

client = UjeebuClient(api_key=API_KEY)

for i, url in enumerate(URLS):
    if i:
        time.sleep(2)  # be polite: one page at a time
    html = scrape(client, url)
    print(len(html), "bytes")
    print(html[:500])

SDK tabs use the official Ujeebu SDKs (ujeebu-python 0.1.5, @ujeebu-org/ujeebu-sdk 0.1.2, github.com/ujeebu/ujeebu-go v0.1.8); there is no PHP SDK, so the PHP tab calls the API with curl. For agents and scripts, the same status and settings are at /scrape/bbc.json.

Try it yourself

Run this on BBC News with your own key

Get a free API key, set UJEEBU_API_KEY and run any script above as it is. 5,000 free credits for 7 days, no card.

URL patterns and pagination

What the URLs look like, read from the pages our checks fetched.

bbc.com news and articles: Search and listing pages

Next pages
We did not see a next-page link on the pages we fetched. Results may load as you scroll: try scroll_down.
Validated on
https://www.bbc.com/news/technologyhttps://www.bbc.com/business

bbc.com news and articles: Articles

Pattern
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/{id}
Validated on
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmr4y2yl17x7ohttps://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq74pkelv9rxo

Settings that work today

From our health checks over the last 7 days: the cheapest settings that return the real page most of the time.

bbc.com news and articles

Endpoint/scrape
jstrue
Costup to 5 credits a request (only HTTP 200 and 404 are billed)

Collect detail page URLs from listing pages first, then fetch each detail page. Our checks run with JavaScript rendering on (js=true): keep it on. Start with the default (rotating) proxy, the cheapest one that passed most of its attempts in our checks.

Try it in the Playground
ProxyAttemptsPassed
Default (rotating)3333

The cheapest proxy that passes most of our checks of this site.

bbc.co.uk news and sport

Endpoint/scrape
jstrue
Costup to 5 credits a request (only HTTP 200 and 404 are billed)

Collect detail page URLs from listing pages first, then fetch each detail page. Our checks run with JavaScript rendering on (js=true): keep it on. Start with the default (rotating) proxy, the cheapest one that passed most of its attempts in our checks.

Try it in the Playground
ProxyAttemptsPassed
Default (rotating)3232

The cheapest proxy that passes most of our checks of this site.

What people build with BBC News data

  • Media monitoringTrack the articles published on the topics and companies you follow.More on this use case
  • Content for AI and RAGCollect headlines, dates and summaries as structured input for search and LLM pipelines.More on this use case
  • Publishing timelineMeasure when and how often a site publishes, by section.

Limits and etiquette

  • Public pages only. Pages behind a login, and data shown only to signed-in users, are out of scope.
  • Keep the rate modest: fetch pages one after another or with low concurrency, and cache what you already have.
  • robots.txt of www.bbc.com (read 2026-10-27): bbc.com news and articles allowed for generic crawlers; no crawl delay set.
  • Read BBC News's terms of service before you collect data at scale, and do not collect personal data you have no basis to process. This guide is not legal advice.

Questions

Can you scrape BBC News with Ujeebu?

Yes. 65 of 65 checks of public BBC News pages passed in the last 7 days with the settings on this page.

Which settings work for BBC News?

Call /scrape with js=true. On the default (rotating) proxy, 33 of 33 attempts passed in the last 7 days.

How many credits does a BBC News request cost?

With these settings a request costs up to 5 credits. Only responses with HTTP 200 or 404 are billed: a blocked or timed-out request is free.

Which fields can I extract from BBC News?

With the extraction recipes on this page, validated on real BBC News pages through our API: bbc.com news and articles: search and listing pages: url, title, image, summary, published; bbc.com news and articles: articles: title, description, image, url, published, summary, section. Pass the recipe as extract_rules in a POST to /scrape and the API returns those fields as JSON.

Is it allowed to scrape BBC News?

Its robots.txt allows generic crawlers on the page types in this guide. Collect public pages only, read BBC News's terms of service, keep your request rate modest and do not collect personal data you have no basis to process. This is not legal advice.

How fresh is this page?

The status and settings come from our own health checks of bbc.com, which run around the clock. Last check: 2026-11-02 20:33:06 UTC; last pass: 2026-11-02 20:33:06 UTC.