26/02/2016 Newswatch

the waterfalls and the others went down with them. At 10pm we will have

a full round-up of the day 's news. Before that it is time for News

The Prime Minister emerges from meetings in Brussels

Why didn't BBC viewers get to hear all of what he had to say?

And we have seen and heard a lot about Boris Johnson over

Too much, and is it a sign of things to come

So, the shuttle diplomacy is over and the exhausting negotiations

After all the build-up, the deal was done.

As the BBC political editor spoke from Downing Street during last

Friday's News at Ten, the Prime Minister was eagerly

anticipated by the waiting media in Brussels.

If we think back to the reaction of many people round the European Union

when he embarked on this adventure, what some people would

He faced significant criticism, some of it public, some

Many people believed he was doing it for his own...

I am going to interrupt you because we can go straight

I will fly back to London tonight and update the Cabinet

David Cameron went on to outline the terms of the deal

Just four and a half minutes into his statement and this...

We will leave David Cameron, as he continues to give details

of a deal that has been agreed unanimously in Brussels tonight.

Let's go back to Downing Street and Laura.

From what you have heard, has he got enough?

In the coming months there will be intensely fierce scrutiny

on everything apart what David Cameron has only just

The programme continued with more analysis from Laura,

along with reports from her on the leave campaign.

Are you watching a Prime Minister battling for Britain?

Mark Easton canvassing opinions of voters in a golf club bar,

all of it outdated by the Prime Minister's statement.

The decision not to stick with live coverage of the Prime Minister's

statement, as Sky News did, met with a wedding ring response

from more than 100 viewers who contacted us.

Some strong views there. Let's explore that decision with Hilary

O'Neil from ABC News at ten and our view at Gareth Glover. Talk us

through what you felt as you were watching that bulletin. For the

fortnight before the BBC, like every other news programme, had made such

a huge deal what David Cameron was going through and the negotiations

he was carrying out, that the results were really momentous for

the country. When he started speaking, in fact even my young

adult children in the house actually stopped what they were doing, and

started listening intently, wanting to know what he had actually found

out. To my horror, things suddenly changed. We are suddenly shipped off

to Downing Street to talk to a correspondence who had clearly been

put there. It felt as if the words of the correspondent who had no idea

what was being said in David Cameron's comments at that moment

and what he was going to say yet, then that was more important to the

BBC than actually hearing David Cameron's words. Hillary, it is a

news programme, here was some news, and you cut away from it for

analysis on stuff that we didn't yet know about fully. It was a fantastic

new stay and it's quite unusual for the ten o'clock news to have

breaking news in that way. It's also very important for us to not just

put one-sided of opinion on to a bulletin.

We took David Cameron's statement. He is a professional. If you look

back at what he's said, the first one minute 15 summed up the key

deals he had done. He went into quite a lot of detail about the

first of the many points he was going on to make. If we had stayed

with the whole of the speech, it would have outlasted the Ten O'Clock

News. It was 20 minutes. You could have run a bit more. You could have

dropped some of the EU packages. I would have to disagree with you on

both of those points. What he was setting out to do is go through each

of the points in turn. By the time we got to the relevance to the

energy market, which is very important, it was clear each point

he was going to give was more details. What we needed to do in

terms of balance, was to put another point of view and get some balance

of opinion into the programme. I know that Gareth has said in his

original e-mail that David Cameron was not a political speech but it

was. It was news. What do you make of Hillary's explanation? As far as

I am concerned it was and a political speech, a cross-party

discussion full stop it was for the country to make a decision. David

Cameron is going to make his point. He has to begin on that opportunity

to make his point and for people to come back with analysis of those

points and come up with sensible discussion. Beyond some of the other

pieces, they were out of date by what had been said. Let's talk also

about the fact that people did want to watch they were not told they

could watch it live. It was being streamed elsewhere. It was being

streamed. We should have lacked earlier. They could have watched it

live. You should have said that. I do have to just go back to this

point about whether or not it was a political speech and in what

circumstances you say that the Prime Minister has the right to hold the

floor for an entire bulletin. When he has just announced an EU deal the

whole nation has been voting for, they might say, yes, I would quite

like to hear what he have to say. It is not an apolitical thinkers and he

is putting one side of an argument. The whole of the nation gets to vote

will stop Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary had just indicated that

day he was not going... My point is that you could not let David Cameron

had 20 minutes of the BBC News at ten and not put the counter. We

would have failed. This is a key point. It would have been biased to

have let David Cameron had 20 minutes of the news at ten.

Personally I do not agree with that. At the end of the day I do believe

it was an apolitical speech. At the end of the day he was trying to

establish his point about what went on. It has not been known for the

news to extend in the past. We will have to leave it there. Thank you

both. Before we leave the EU referendum

this week let's mention one other aspect of the coverage that has

caught your attention for the bid is what some feel to be an excessive

focus on the personalities involved in the campaign. One personality in

particular, especially over the course of last weekend. How are you

doing? Could he join Mr Gove? As soon as the Cabinet has met,

ministers are allowed to go public if they want to leave the EU. Will

Boris Johnson become an official out? This time tomorrow night we

will know whether or not Boris Johnson has decided to campaign to

leave the EU. A very good evening to you. After days of speculation, the

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced he will back the campaign

for the UK to leave the European Union. Speculation about what the

decision by Boris Johnson might mean for his relationship with the Prime

Minister, his future, and that of the Conservative Party. It irritated

some viewers. I am totally annoyed about the fact they are reporting

about whether Boris Johnson is going to do this or that. It is the fate

of the country back is at stake, not individual people. Thank you. We

hope to discuss the Boris effect and the balance of personalities and

issues in EU referendum coverage on a future edition of news watch.

Among other subjects, the News the BBC is to start trialling a new

hour-long news programme at six o'clock in Scotland. This could lead

to Scottish viewers have on their own dedicated news at six

permanently. That angered hundreds, including Richard Andrews. He

wrote... This is parochial and panders to the separatists. We

already have Scottish News at 630. I would like to retain the UK News at

six. Thursday's publication into the report about Jimmy Savile and the

BBC raised extensive coverage. This from Patricia Stoner. Some weeks ago

we were treated to images of this evil predator on the news. You ran

an item with thoughtful and pertinent comments. I was foolish

enough to think the BBC had taken our thoughts on board. Today the

story was resurrected with images of Jimmy Savile. One might have been

access to pull in the name of news reporting. Two would have been

stretching it. I watch with mounting disbelief as image after image of

the man was shown. In one he was half naked. I ran the item back and

there were 16 separate images. Yours in utter disbelief. Wednesday

brought news that Aston Martin is to build its new luxury car in south

Wales. The news at 602 its report with pictures of the best-known

Aston Martin driver there is. Still to come: Bond's favourite motoring

brand. The new model is to be built in south Wales. Spotted the problem?

A number of motoring enthusiastic, including Kevin O'Keefe, who

described herself slightly bemused by the trailer for the piece about

Aston Martin. The voice-over described it as being Bond's

favourite motoring brand. Sean Connery was driving a Sunbeam Alpine

in the clip. Thank you for all of your comments this week if you want

to share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs or appear on the

programme, you can call us. Or e-mail. You can find us on Twitter

and do have a look at the website. That is all from us. We will be back

to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next week. Goodbye.