:00:04. > :00:14.young people and older women feel about the way they're represented
:00:14. > :00:23.
:00:23. > :00:28.Welcome to Newswatch. Later in the programme, why are young people in
:00:28. > :00:33.television so often portrayed like this? Older people like this? First,
:00:33. > :00:38.it's been the week when two British bank verse been given a kicking. It
:00:38. > :00:43.started on Sunday night. Good evening. Within the last few
:00:43. > :00:48.minutes the BBC has learnt that the Chief Executive of the Royal Bank
:00:48. > :00:58.of Scotland Stephen Hester has decided not to take his bonus.
:00:58. > :00:58.
:00:58. > :01:03.Michael Brooks took exception to I wish to express my alarm in the
:01:04. > :01:09.way the BBC has handled Stephen Hester and his bonus for Royal Bank
:01:09. > :01:13.of Scotland. Almost all bonuss are performance related. Know the
:01:13. > :01:18.bonuses were set up and established under a contract drawn up by Labour.
:01:18. > :01:21.It's high time the BBC gave a balanced view and pulled in
:01:21. > :01:26.powerful well-known business men to make their observe certificate
:01:26. > :01:32.vaitions on the true value of bonuses for bankers. By Tuesday the
:01:32. > :01:37.news had moved on to another hate figure. Arise plain old Fred
:01:37. > :01:43.Goodwin. Sir Fred Goodwin no longer. The man who sank a bank, the former
:01:43. > :01:53.Chief Executive of RBS, the Royal Bank of Scotland has been stripped
:01:53. > :02:03.
:02:03. > :02:07.of his knighthood. MF woods sent us Also making the news this week was
:02:08. > :02:14.the drop in applications for university, reported on Monday.
:02:14. > :02:19.Today at 5.00pm a steep fall in the number of students applying for
:02:19. > :02:22.university places. Applications have fallen by 10% in England where
:02:22. > :02:27.higher tuition fees are being introduced this year. Did that
:02:27. > :02:33.steep fall of 10% in England tell the whole story? No, as became
:02:33. > :02:38.apparent a few minutes later when Reeta Chakrabarti explained to Huw
:02:38. > :02:44.Edwards that much of the drop related to mature students. School
:02:45. > :02:49.levers, that figure hasz held up relatively well. It's a drop of
:02:49. > :02:53.about 3.6%, Ministers say this year, last year and this year, we are in
:02:53. > :02:58.a demographic dip for 18-year-olds. There are fewer of them. If you
:02:58. > :03:01.take that into account, the dip in England is more like 1%. A stark
:03:01. > :03:05.contrast to the overall figure we were reporting at the start. It is
:03:06. > :03:15.indeed. There was another factor not mepbgts mentioned in headlines
:03:16. > :03:27.
:03:27. > :03:29.that day -- mentioned in headlines Now, are you happy with the
:03:29. > :03:38.representation of your particular age group on television? If you are
:03:38. > :03:48.a young person or an older woman the chances are that you are not.
:03:48. > :03:50.
:03:50. > :03:59.Many feel TV negatively stereotypes the former and under represents the
:03:59. > :04:04.former. Mitt 40% of younger people said they were dissatisfied with
:04:04. > :04:10.how they were portrayed with most of the courage seen as unduly
:04:10. > :04:20.representative. That was the objection made by Jonny Masters. He
:04:20. > :04:31.
:04:31. > :04:41.Stereo typing is the complaint highlighted from older people in
:04:41. > :04:57.
:04:57. > :05:03.the report which echoes the views A similar point was made by John
:05:03. > :05:07.Batten about this piece broadcast on the news at 1.00pm. Many baby
:05:07. > :05:12.boomers also enjoy a drink. Now doctors say they need to cut back.
:05:12. > :05:22.You supported the report on alcohol for the over 65's by footage of a
:05:22. > :05:33.
:05:33. > :05:38.row of while haired dodders swaying Hanging over this week's survey is
:05:38. > :05:41.the name of Miriam O'Reilly who a year ago won an age discrimination
:05:41. > :05:48.case against the BBC. Was this a symbol of a wider under
:05:48. > :05:58.representation of older women on television? Yes, according to Sally
:05:58. > :05:59.
:05:59. > :06:03.We asked the BBC for someone to discuss these issues this week.
:06:03. > :06:13.They refused. Pointing us towards a statement about this week's report
:06:13. > :06:32.
:06:33. > :06:36.from the BBC's director-general Joining me to discuss that is Lis
:06:36. > :06:40.Howell, former television journalist and executive and now
:06:40. > :06:44.director of broadcasting at London's City University. First of
:06:45. > :06:49.all, you teach young people. What do they think about how they are
:06:49. > :06:53.portrayed on television, is this report right? One could argue that
:06:53. > :06:57.television is seen through the prism of the white, older man. The
:06:57. > :07:00.white older man who tends to call the tune. I would stay that that is
:07:00. > :07:04.certainly the way that the students tend to view it. To feel quite
:07:04. > :07:08.angry about it. There are two other factors. The first, is a lot of
:07:08. > :07:12.young people do not watch a great deal of television. They don't
:07:12. > :07:17.participate in it in the same way that older people do. Intelligence
:07:17. > :07:22.trying to attract younger people shouldn't they be careful about how
:07:22. > :07:28.they are portrayed? That is true. They are trying to attract younger
:07:28. > :07:31.people but not news in the news and current affair arena. Writing to
:07:31. > :07:35.picture is something we are teaching them all the time. The
:07:35. > :07:39.sort of images are used of the sort that can be called up from the
:07:39. > :07:43.archive and used again and again. The sloppy use of pictures is
:07:43. > :07:47.definitely contributing to this stereotyping. Zimmer frames were a
:07:47. > :07:52.wonderful invention for those who need them. Is that a stereo typical
:07:52. > :07:55.image that you use for almost everybody over the age of 65?
:07:55. > :08:00.Absolutely. It's easy again. Writing to picture is a complicated
:08:00. > :08:04.skill. It's easy to do with the simple stereotype pictures you can
:08:04. > :08:07.access. It has to be re-thought. It would be better in television if
:08:07. > :08:15.you didn't use a picture every time had you to use words. They don't
:08:15. > :08:19.have to go together. What about onscreen talent? Older women are
:08:19. > :08:22.they still under represented on news and current affairs? Very much
:08:23. > :08:27.so. We did some research that was just to see how many women were
:08:27. > :08:31.used on television or were on television. What we found was that
:08:31. > :08:35.female experts are very much in the minority. Would you argue,
:08:35. > :08:41.therefore, that there should be an effort made almost positive
:08:41. > :08:45.discrimination to get greater balance or not? As soon as you say
:08:45. > :08:49.positive discrimination people get angry and upset. It's not an
:08:49. > :08:52.attractive route. There is a two step programme to improving the
:08:52. > :08:55.situation if people think it needs to be improved. The first, is
:08:55. > :08:59.obviously, broadcasters need to think about who they are bringing
:08:59. > :09:03.in. There is some evidence that broadcasters do try to bring women
:09:03. > :09:09.in. That women themselves don't want to do it, for all sorts of
:09:09. > :09:14.complicated reasons. Firstly, I think women themselves have to take
:09:14. > :09:18.a greater participate ri role in this. Companies that put forward
:09:18. > :09:21.women spokesmen have to think twice and women in companies have to go
:09:21. > :09:26.to their head of press or or whatever and say, hang on a minute,
:09:26. > :09:31.you put up a spokesman, what about me, that is embarrassing and
:09:31. > :09:36.difficult. A year since the Miriam O'Reilly age discrimination case,
:09:36. > :09:40.has anything changed? Absolutely. It's changing. You can feel the
:09:40. > :09:44.ground swell. I'm here talking about this. There is an
:09:44. > :09:48.organisation called Sound Women campaigning for more women on radio.
:09:48. > :09:53.It is changing. Everybody has to be part of this campaign. Women and
:09:53. > :10:00.companies as well as producers and broadcasters. Thank you very much.
:10:00. > :10:04.Finally, it's been cold this week, hasn't it? Viewers of Breakfast on
:10:05. > :10:12.Wednesday morning were made well aware of it. It's chilly weather on
:10:12. > :10:17.the way. Carol is on the Cotswolds for us. It's minus two here. What
:10:17. > :10:24.was Carol Kirkwood doing in the Cotswolds, that is what Richard
:10:24. > :10:30.Howard wanted to know. I'm not a grumpy old man. I paid my licence
:10:30. > :10:33.fee, it staggers me that BBC Breakfast is sending Carol Kirkwood
:10:33. > :10:37.to the Cotswolds to give a weather report. This happens on a weekly
:10:37. > :10:42.basis. When the BBC are claiming they are short of money, I find
:10:42. > :10:52.this such a waste. Well, we asked Breakfast for an explanation. They
:10:52. > :11:14.
:11:14. > :11:23.Whatever the weather, we would like to hear your opinion on BBC News