:00:04. > :00:14.BBC's economic reporting is under attack, and just how difficult is
:00:14. > :00:24.
:00:24. > :00:28.Welcome to NewsWatch. Later in the programme, many of you are critical
:00:28. > :00:32.of the performance of BBC newsreaders. Could you do any
:00:32. > :00:37.better? We set one viewer that challenge.
:00:37. > :00:41.Before that, complaints about BBC News come from all quarters,
:00:41. > :00:44.including Number 11 Downing Street this week. Here is George Osborne
:00:44. > :00:49.speaking to Sarah Montague on the Today programme on Radio 4 on
:00:49. > :00:53.Monday. I have not yet heard a single news bulletin that says
:00:53. > :00:56.400,000 new jobs have been created over the last year. Last week there
:00:56. > :01:01.was a disappointing manufacturing survey, it was on the news. There
:01:01. > :01:04.is a more encouraging one today, not on the news. What I am asking
:01:04. > :01:09.for is a bit of balance. It is certainly true there has been
:01:09. > :01:15.plenty of bad economic news reported lately, so should the BBC
:01:15. > :01:20.just, well, cheer up? # Something as in life are bad.
:01:20. > :01:25.# They can always make you mad. The inflation rate has jumped to
:01:25. > :01:32.4.4%, well ahead of average pay rises.
:01:32. > :01:37.# Don't grumble, give a whistle! Today's figures show that total UK
:01:37. > :01:42.unemployment is at its highest since 1994.
:01:42. > :01:46.# Always Look On the Bright Side of Life.
:01:46. > :01:54.Rising energy prices, higher VAT and a major cut in government
:01:54. > :01:58.spending will all contribute to a very weak UK economy this year.
:01:58. > :02:02.But are those stories a fair reflection of BBC output or a fair
:02:02. > :02:05.reflection of the state of the economy? Many NewsWatch
:02:05. > :02:11.correspondents seem to agree with the Chancellor that the
:02:11. > :02:21.corporation's economics coverage concentrates too much on bad news
:02:21. > :02:29.
:02:29. > :02:39.and negative statistics. A And Peter Ditchfield from nearby
:02:39. > :02:48.
:02:48. > :02:58.The editor of BBC News' Business and economic unity Jeremy Hillman
:02:58. > :03:22.
:03:22. > :03:25.wrote in response to the Now, it may not surprise you to
:03:25. > :03:30.hear that we receive numerous comments about newsreaders and
:03:30. > :03:40.presenters. How they speak, what they wear, whether they stand up or
:03:40. > :03:56.
:03:56. > :04:00.sit down. Matthew Webb from Point taken. But on Monday's news
:04:00. > :04:04.that six, Sophie Raworth took to her feet not just at the top of the
:04:04. > :04:08.bulletin but in the middle. Scientists may be a step closer to
:04:08. > :04:11.answering some of the big questions about the origins of the universe.
:04:11. > :04:17.Steams you debt-equity misusing the giant CERN particle accelerators
:04:17. > :04:27.say they have made a breakthrough in their study of antimatter.
:04:27. > :04:39.
:04:39. > :04:49.Tricky and controversial business, clearly, and when you get onto news
:04:49. > :04:49.
:04:49. > :06:07.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 77 seconds
:06:07. > :06:11.presenters' delivery, the critics You may or may not be able to guess
:06:11. > :06:15.which specific presenters were being referred to. Another viewer
:06:15. > :06:25.who wrote to us with criticism was Anne Chadwick from Stoke-on-Trent.
:06:25. > :06:26.
:06:26. > :06:31.So we asked her if she could do any better.
:06:31. > :06:35.Thank you very much. I first contacted NewsWatch because
:06:35. > :06:39.I watch a lot of news and I thought the presenters could probably talk
:06:39. > :06:42.a bit more fluently than they do. They make it look so easy most of
:06:42. > :06:46.the time, especially the really famous ones that everybody knows
:06:46. > :06:50.who do the big bulletins. When things don't go as well as they
:06:50. > :06:57.would like it shows up more. I think I would like to know exactly
:06:57. > :07:01.how difficult it is. Lovely to meet you. She is joined by Ian Blandford,
:07:01. > :07:06.who is that -- has coach knew was presenters on BBC News and
:07:06. > :07:10.elsewhere and will give our novice some tips. -- who has coached in
:07:10. > :07:14.news presenters. I make a living from helping presenters look as
:07:14. > :07:17.natural as they do. We say and be yourself, but read the autocue,
:07:17. > :07:22.sometimes they will get a glimpse and sometimes they will never have
:07:22. > :07:26.seen it, but it needs to come -- sound like it is coming from their
:07:26. > :07:30.heads and is their story. And they have all sorts of noise going on in
:07:30. > :07:34.their ears. How do you cope having someone's voice in your ear when
:07:34. > :07:40.you are trying to read of a screen and somebody is saying something
:07:40. > :07:45.completely different? Can you do this? It is a bit like that. We set
:07:45. > :07:48.her three tasks of the sort news presenters perform every bulletin.
:07:48. > :07:57.Your first challenge is to take this script, read it yourself and
:07:57. > :08:03.then read it took the audience. Hello, and welcome to this special
:08:03. > :08:05.edition of the news with me, Anne Chadwick. It has been revealed that
:08:06. > :08:10.prayers at -- presenting television news programmes is not as hard as
:08:10. > :08:16.it looks. One anonymous presenter said, it is a doddle, anyone can do
:08:16. > :08:18.it. The next thing we will do is I will go and be a foreign
:08:18. > :08:23.correspondent somewhere in the Middle East, it is the kind of
:08:24. > :08:29.story that happens a lot. I pop up, you will not know too much about
:08:29. > :08:32.the story, you can find out what is going on. Now we will go to our
:08:32. > :08:38.Middle East correspondent, Ian Blandford, in Syria. Can you hear
:08:38. > :08:42.me? Good afternoon. What is going on where you are? The Middle East
:08:42. > :08:46.seems to be like a set of toppling dominoes at the moment... Rather
:08:46. > :08:51.cruelly, we are about to pretend a live link has gone down, which
:08:51. > :09:01.always provides a challenge to a presenter. With the local people is
:09:01. > :09:05.so strong... HIGH PITCHED NOISE. am sorry, we appear to have lost
:09:05. > :09:10.Ian, but in the next lot of news, Ian -- Nick Clegg has said the Lib
:09:10. > :09:14.Dems will be more muscular. Well done. Now I will play someone else,
:09:14. > :09:21.we want you to read the script from the altar crew -- autocue and then
:09:21. > :09:27.into the me. I am joined by the Liberal Democrat MP Ian Blandford.
:09:27. > :09:32.Ask me a question. So how long have you been an MP, Ian? For the last
:09:32. > :09:37.15 years. Really? What has your record in government been? Up to
:09:37. > :09:41.now, as you know, not that successful. It is going rather too
:09:41. > :09:46.well, so now we will test her skills further by giving her some
:09:46. > :09:53.rather important breaking news by Our earpiece. I am afraid I have to
:09:53. > :09:57.cut you off, apparently an election has been announced. Presenters
:09:57. > :10:02.handling breaking news often have little to go on. In this case, we
:10:02. > :10:08.have had the floor manager hand her some news agency copy to read, but
:10:08. > :10:18.apart from that she has to a basket. 326 seats are needed for an overall
:10:18. > :10:19.
:10:19. > :10:23.majority. -- she just has to busk it. Oh, so, this is the news that
:10:23. > :10:29.the coalition has fallen, Nick Clegg and David Cameron are no
:10:29. > :10:32.longer the best of friends. What did our expert think? I thought the
:10:32. > :10:38.autumn cubit that you did was great, you had a lot of warmth and were
:10:38. > :10:41.quite relaxed -- I thought the autocue bit. You did a good bit
:10:41. > :10:46.interview me, a bit with the breaking news was probably
:10:46. > :10:50.toughest? Yes, I had a script but I had to improvise to camera, which
:10:50. > :10:57.is where the big pause came from. How has it made you think about the
:10:57. > :10:59.job these guys do? It has made me think it is a lot more difficult
:10:59. > :11:03.than I thought. It was not the most scientific
:11:03. > :11:07.exercise, but Anne Chadwick has learned something from the
:11:07. > :11:11.experience and maybe, despite her modesty, showing the professionals
:11:11. > :11:15.a thing or two. Thanks to our guinea-pig Anne
:11:15. > :11:20.Chadwick and her coach and guide Ian Blandford. Thanks for your