:00:31. > :00:37.Happy New Year and welcome to the first Newswatch of 2012. First,
:00:37. > :00:41.it's hard to predict what you'll be watching and commenting on in the
:00:41. > :00:45.news this year but one said we'll be hear aglot about the
:00:45. > :00:49.presidential e-- hearing a lot about the presidential election in
:00:49. > :00:55.the US. There's a series of contests before November to decide
:00:55. > :01:05.who the Republican Party will be putting up against President Obama.
:01:05. > :01:05.
:01:05. > :01:47.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 42 seconds
:01:47. > :01:51.The BBC's north American editor is leading its coverage of the US
:01:51. > :01:56.elections this year. We asked him to take a break from the campaign
:01:56. > :02:00.trail to respond to those points. was very interested in the e-mails
:02:00. > :02:04.and you might be surprised I sympathise quite a lot. I used to
:02:04. > :02:09.be Europe editor. Whenitor. Whenre, I remember saying to somebody, "It
:02:09. > :02:16.seems to be easier to get a profile on the television of somebody who
:02:16. > :02:23.is not going to be President of the US." and now I would agree it's
:02:23. > :02:27.more important to look at others who will probably be the next
:02:27. > :02:33.President of France, rather than Ron Paul who will probably not be
:02:33. > :02:37.the President of the USA if we believe the opinion polls. There
:02:37. > :02:44.are not quite so good reasons why we focus a lot on American politics,
:02:44. > :02:52.not just the BBC, but the whole of the media. It's relatively easy.
:02:52. > :02:57.People speak English and speak in sound bytes and say lots of
:02:57. > :03:03.colourful things. And although I don't think this is actually true
:03:03. > :03:07.American politics is simple, it has a certain clarity that appeals to
:03:07. > :03:13.people. Game on! There were some very good reasons for the way we
:03:13. > :03:20.cover American politics. It is still the most powerful, arguably
:03:20. > :03:30.the most important country in the world, economically, militarily, in
:03:30. > :03:30.
:03:30. > :03:35.some ways culturally. So it does matter. It matters who is president
:03:35. > :03:38.and it matters the clash of ideas here in this great democracy, this
:03:38. > :03:42.very open democracy where people have very strong views and they're
:03:42. > :03:47.expressing them the whole time. It's important to look at what
:03:47. > :03:53.people are saying. We're going to change the kwhous and get America
:03:53. > :03:58.back on track -- White House and get America back on track. It has a
:03:58. > :04:04.big resonance on the rest of the world. In Britain, we want to see
:04:04. > :04:12.one vision of America which depends on cutting back the state, cutting
:04:12. > :04:16.taxes, getting rid of red tape, allowing capitalism and a lot more
:04:16. > :04:22.like social democracy from Obama's side. Those are very important
:04:22. > :04:26.visions. It's important we look at that. I'm determined we try and use
:04:26. > :04:29.not only the Republican race, but the whole of the election cycle to
:04:30. > :04:33.look at some very big questions about America and its direction.
:04:33. > :04:39.I've been determined to do that for a while and it probably doesn't
:04:39. > :04:43.always come off. I've come back from Iowa and about to go off to
:04:43. > :04:46.New Hampshire. People think the Iowa coverage was too detailed.
:04:47. > :04:50.That presents a real problem. If you're going to cover a news events,
:04:50. > :04:54.you have to tell people what happened. So you have to explain a
:04:54. > :05:00.little bit about what that means and why those things have happened.
:05:00. > :05:05.And maybe that's too much detail for some people. I know others will
:05:05. > :05:09.be lapping it up. One thing we have at the BBC which is useful, we
:05:09. > :05:15.don't have to say everything that's the same on television and on radio.
:05:15. > :05:22.And very much in the social media now. My blog, I can go in to the
:05:22. > :05:25.detail that I wouldn't want to and wouldn't on the 10 o'clock news. So
:05:25. > :05:30.that's one advantage. Now for some of the other points you've been
:05:30. > :05:35.making to us, starting with the big news on Tuesday. Good evening, it's
:05:35. > :05:41.taken 18 years but today two men have been found guilty of the
:05:41. > :05:46.murder of the black teenager, Stephen Lawrence. The sentencing of
:05:46. > :05:56.Dobson and Norris continued throughout the week and there were
:05:56. > :05:57.
:05:58. > :06:01.several background pieces of racial tensions. Waves of immigration have
:06:01. > :06:04.shaped highly diverse neighbourhoods in some of Britain's
:06:04. > :06:09.inner cities, communities which have become used to racial
:06:09. > :06:14.difference. I still found tension, even prejudice, just below the
:06:14. > :06:24.surface. Do you think there was a stitch-up then or what? I think
:06:24. > :06:24.
:06:24. > :06:34.there was a stitch-up. One little spec. That interview went on to
:06:34. > :06:42.
:06:42. > :06:47.An on the street reporter trying to prove his point by making the major
:06:47. > :06:57.interview with the most racist person he could find. And this
:06:57. > :07:32.
:07:32. > :07:37.Over the Christmas holiday, there was widespread coverage of Prince
:07:37. > :07:40.Philip's treatment for blocked coronary artery. There was a moment
:07:40. > :07:46.of real anxiety when he was admitted to hospital with chest
:07:46. > :07:54.pains. The Duke left hospital with a wave and feeling very cheerful,
:07:54. > :08:04.according to palace officials who were with him. This story featured
:08:04. > :08:15.
:08:15. > :08:21.far too prom minutely for people. - Some complaints related not to the
:08:21. > :08:31.content of news broadcasts over the holiday period, but to their
:08:31. > :09:01.
:09:01. > :09:11.And David Quarterman made a point John Smith spotted a certain lack
:09:11. > :09:16.
:09:17. > :09:22.Now, remember the all-male shortlist for the BBC's Sports
:09:22. > :09:28.Personality of the Year? The BBC News website produced another list
:09:28. > :09:33.which led to cries of sexism. The website ran two selections of faces
:09:33. > :09:41.which had been in the news last year, one for men, one for women.
:09:41. > :09:51.It showed photographs of each category of one face per month.
:09:51. > :10:24.
:10:24. > :10:34.Step forward Tian Tian. Karen Jones In a blog responding to what he
:10:34. > :11:14.
:11:14. > :11:22.described as pandagate, the editor Please tell us your highs and lows