BBC News RSS Scraper: World and Technology Headlines

Overview

BBC News RSS Scraper collects the latest headlines from the BBC News World and Technology feeds and saves one dataset row per headline. The output includes the headline, short summary, article link, publication date, and thumbnail when available.

The extracted data is suitable for JSON, CSV, and Excel exports. Since the feeds contain only recent items, schedule recurring runs if you need an ongoing collection. Use the guid field to identify stories already stored.

Features

• Collect headlines from the World and Technology sections.
• Filter results by a keyword in the headline or short summary.
• Extract publication dates, article links, summaries, and thumbnail URLs.
• Convert HTML in headlines and summaries to plain text.
• Remove duplicate entries using the guid field.
• Continue processing remaining feeds when one feed fails.
• Export structured data for news monitoring and research.

Use Cases

• News monitoring: Track recent World and Technology headlines.
• Keyword monitoring: Find headlines and summaries containing specific terms.
• Research exports: Save headline metadata as CSV or JSON.
• Briefing preparation: Organize short summaries and article links for news digests.
• Archive comparison: Compare guid values between runs to avoid storing the same story twice.

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
feedUrls	Array	World and Technology feeds	List of feed addresses. Only the two verified BBC News feeds are accepted.
keyword	String	Empty	Optional case-insensitive match against the headline and short summary.
maxItems	Integer	100	Maximum headline rows to save per run. Clamped between 1 and 1,000.
timeoutSecs	Integer	300	Overall run time limit in seconds.
requestTimeoutSecs	Integer	30	Timeout for an individual request, in seconds.

Example Input

{
  "feedUrls": [
    "WORLD_RSS_FEED",
    "TECHNOLOGY_RSS_FEED"
  ],
  "keyword": "",
  "maxItems": 100,
  "timeoutSecs": 300,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
}

WORLD_RSS_FEED and TECHNOLOGY_RSS_FEED represent the two verified BBC News feed addresses configured for this actor.

What Data Does This Actor Extract?

Each headline becomes one dataset row. Headlines and summaries are converted to plain text, and full article bodies are not collected.

Example Output

{
  "itemTitle": "Example BBC News headline",
  "itemDescription": "A short summary of the news story.",
  "link": "ARTICLE_URL",
  "guid": "STORY_IDENTIFIER",
  "pubDate": "Sun, 11 Oct 2026 21:36:40 GMT",
  "image": "THUMBNAIL_URL",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-10-12T00:00:00+00:00"
}

The example values are illustrative and do not represent a verified current headline.

Output Field Reference

Field	Type	Description
itemTitle	String	Headline in plain text.
itemDescription	String or null	Short summary in plain text, or null if unavailable.
link	String	Article address provided by the feed.
guid	String	Story identifier used for duplicate detection.
pubDate	String or null	Publication date from the feed, or null if missing.
image	String or null	Thumbnail address, or null if unavailable.
scrapedAt	String	Collection timestamp in UTC.
error	String	Included for a failed feed or invalid input.
input	String	Input value associated with the error.

Collection Behavior and Limits

• Only the verified World and Technology feeds are requested.
• Each feed contains recent items rather than a complete historical archive.
• The actor does not paginate through older stories.
• Results are limited by maxItems.
• Duplicate story identifiers are removed, and the optional keyword filter is applied.
• A one-second pause is used between feeds during the same run.
• HTTP 429 errors, server errors (5xx), and timeouts are retried up to three additional times, with waits of 2, 4, and 8 seconds. A Retry-After header is respected when present.
• Invalid feed addresses, HTTP failures, and non-XML responses produce error rows. The actor continues with remaining feeds when possible.
• Schedule runs at least 5–15 minutes apart for a given feed.

Attribution and Source Restrictions

BBC News requests attribution using the text BBC News and restricts how its feed content may be reused. Personal and non-commercial conditions may apply. Review the source's current terms before using collected data, especially for commercial purposes or republication.

This actor focuses on headline metadata and short summaries. Article text and images may be protected by copyright; collecting a thumbnail address does not grant permission to republish the image. Do not use BBC logos without permission.

FAQ

Can I provide any BBC section feed?

No. Only the verified World and Technology feeds are accepted. Other addresses produce error rows so the run can continue.

How many headlines can one run save?

The default is 100 rows, with a maximum of 1,000. The feeds contain recent stories only, so a single run cannot retrieve a full archive of older news.

What happens if a feed fails?

The actor records an error row for the failed feed and continues with the remaining feed when possible.

Why are the headline and summary named itemTitle and itemDescription?

These are the dataset field names used by the actor. They contain the headline and short summary supplied by the feed.

Does the actor collect full articles?

No. It collects feed metadata, including headlines and short summaries, rather than full article bodies.

Trademark Notice

BBC and related names, logos, and trademarks belong to their respective owners. Their use in this documentation is solely to identify the source of the data and does not imply affiliation, sponsorship, endorsement, or partnership.

Disclaimer

This actor is an independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or officially associated with BBC or its owners. It collects information from publicly available sources. Users are responsible for complying with the source's terms of use, applicable restrictions, and attribution or licensing requirements.

Is Web Scraping Legal?

Collecting information that is already public is generally legal. Scraping is not the same thing as hacking, and there is no single law that bans it. The limits are the usual ones: do not break into accounts, do not take private or confidential data, and be careful with personal data and copyrighted works. A site's terms can also restrict how you access it. Facts such as a public name, price, or rating are not the same thing as republishing someone's article or photo.

This actor collects information from public pages. It does not log in and it does not bypass access controls.

For a longer explanation, see Apify's article Is web scraping legal?.