:00:03. > :00:13.Newswatch with Raymond snody. This week, is BBC News already getting
:00:13. > :00:22.
:00:22. > :00:30.overexcited by the US presidential Welcome to the first programme of
:00:30. > :00:34.2012. Later, why did the... First, is is hard to predict what she will
:00:34. > :00:37.be watching and commenting on on the news this year but one safe bet
:00:37. > :00:41.is that we will all be hearing a lot about the presidential election
:00:41. > :00:46.in the United States. Although the final vote doesn't take place until
:00:46. > :00:48.November, here -- there are a series of contests before then to
:00:48. > :00:55.decide who the Republican Party will be putting up against
:00:55. > :01:01.President Obama. This week's caucuses kicked that process off.
:01:01. > :01:04.Martin wrote, oh, no, it has started again. Yes who becomes the
:01:04. > :01:07.crowned leader of the West is important but come on, don't give
:01:07. > :01:17.us a blow-by-blow account for the next few months. But John echoed
:01:17. > :01:43.
:01:43. > :01:46.The BBC's North American editor, Mark Martel, is leading its
:01:46. > :01:52.coverage of US elections this year. We asked him to take a break from
:01:52. > :01:58.the campaign trail to respond to those points macro. -- those points.
:01:58. > :02:04.A high was interested in flows -- I was interested in those e-mails.
:02:04. > :02:06.When I was Europe Editor, I said it was easier to get a profile as a
:02:06. > :02:09.revision of someone who is not going to be president of United
:02:09. > :02:14.States than it is the one who is about to be the most powerful
:02:14. > :02:20.politician in Europe, Angela Merkel. Now, I would agree that it is more
:02:20. > :02:24.important to look at the next President of France rather than Ron
:02:24. > :02:29.Paul, who is probably not going to be the president of the USA, have
:02:29. > :02:33.we have believed opinion polls. But there are both good and, I would
:02:33. > :02:38.say bad, but not quite so good reasons why refocus a lot on
:02:38. > :02:42.American politics, not just the BBC but the whole of the media. It is
:02:42. > :02:46.relatively easy. People speak English and they speak in the sound
:02:46. > :02:50.bites and say colourful things very well. There are loads of other
:02:50. > :02:54.networks so there are lots of pictures. All events are covered in
:02:54. > :02:58.great depth. Although I don't think this is actually true that American
:02:58. > :03:05.politics is simple, it has a certain clarity that appeals to
:03:05. > :03:10.people. Game On! There are some good reasons for the way we cover
:03:10. > :03:14.American politics in depth. It is still the most powerful, arguably
:03:14. > :03:19.the at the most important country in the world. Economic clear,
:03:19. > :03:23.militarily, culturally. -- economic three. What it does matters. You
:03:23. > :03:28.only have to think about Iraq to see how much it matters for the
:03:28. > :03:33.rest of the world. It matters to his President and it matters the
:03:33. > :03:36.clash of ideas in this great democracy, this very open democracy
:03:36. > :03:41.where people have very strong views and are expressing them the whole
:03:41. > :03:45.time. It is important to see what people are saying. This is a
:03:45. > :03:49.campaign night where America wins. We are going to hit America back on
:03:49. > :03:55.track. That has big resonance in the rest of the world and in
:03:55. > :03:58.Britain. If the argument that we will see in this connection between
:03:58. > :04:04.one vision of America, which depends on cutting back the state,
:04:04. > :04:11.cutting taxes, getting rid of red tape, allowing capitalism to boom
:04:11. > :04:18.and zoom. And something that is a lot more like social democracy from
:04:18. > :04:21.Obama's side. I am determined and we try and use not only the
:04:22. > :04:26.Republican race but the whole of this election cycle to look at some
:04:26. > :04:30.very big questions about America and its direction. I've been
:04:30. > :04:36.determined to do that for a while and it probably doesn't always come
:04:36. > :04:40.off. But just come back from I were. About to go to New Hampshire and I
:04:40. > :04:44.thought -- I know there are people within the BBC who thought hour by
:04:44. > :04:47.hour coverage was to detail. If you are going to cover a news event,
:04:47. > :04:51.you have to tell people what happened and so you have to explain
:04:51. > :04:54.a little bit about what that means and why those things have happened.
:04:54. > :05:00.Maybe that is too much detail for some people. Others I know will be
:05:00. > :05:03.lapping it up. One thing we've got at the BBC have that is useful in
:05:03. > :05:13.that we do not have to tell everything the same on television,
:05:13. > :05:14.
:05:14. > :05:19.radio and on a social media. I can go into detail on my blog, the
:05:19. > :05:23.anorak side of friends, that I wouldn't, 10 o'clock News. That is
:05:23. > :05:27.one advantage. Now for some of the other points to have been making to
:05:27. > :05:31.was, starting with the big news on Tuesday. Good evening. It has taken
:05:31. > :05:35.18 years but today, two men have been found guilty of the murder of
:05:35. > :05:39.the black teenager Stephen Lawrence. Coverage of the conviction and
:05:39. > :05:44.sentencing of Gary Dobson and David Norris continued throughout the
:05:44. > :05:48.week and included several background pieces on the extent of
:05:48. > :05:53.racial tensions two decades on from his murder. One was from home
:05:53. > :05:57.affairs editor Mark Easton, recording -- reporting from Peckham.
:05:57. > :06:02.Waves of immigration have shared highly diverse neighbourhoods in
:06:02. > :06:06.some of us -- our inner cities. These are committees where I have
:06:06. > :06:10.found tension, even produces just below this surface. Don't think
:06:10. > :06:16.there was guilty. Really? Do you think there was a stitch-up?
:06:16. > :06:26.think there was a stitch-up. One little speck. That interview we
:06:26. > :06:26.
:06:26. > :07:25.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 59 seconds
:07:25. > :07:29.went on to use what is commonly Over the Christmas holiday, there
:07:29. > :07:33.was widespread coverage of Prince Philip's Cup -- treatment for a
:07:33. > :07:36.blocked coronary artery. It it had been a moment of anxiety on Friday
:07:36. > :07:41.when he had been admitted to hospital with chest pains. After
:07:41. > :07:44.three full days and four nights, the Duke left Papworth with a wave
:07:44. > :07:50.and feeling very cheerful, according to Palace officials with
:07:50. > :08:00.him. For a number of news watch viewers, this story featured too
:08:00. > :08:15.
:08:15. > :08:25.Some complaints related not to the content of the broadcasts over the
:08:25. > :08:25.
:08:25. > :09:14.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 59 seconds
:09:14. > :09:19.Forced remember the row over the all-male sports list for the BBC
:09:19. > :09:24.Sports personality of the year? -- remember. Last week, there were
:09:24. > :09:27.more cries of sexism. As has become traditional, the website ran two
:09:27. > :09:34.selections of faces which had been in the news last year, one for men,
:09:34. > :09:39.one for women. So it -- it showed one a photograph Command. Whose was
:09:39. > :09:49.the woman's face of December? Step forward one of the giant pandas are
:09:49. > :09:49.
:09:49. > :10:48.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 59 seconds