:00:27. > :00:33.Welcome to news watch. Should these are three candidates got more of a
:00:33. > :00:39.look-in. During the coverage of the mayor of London, elections had been
:00:39. > :00:45.dominating the news. Last weekend saw Francois Hollande in the run-
:00:45. > :00:53.off to be the President of France. There were local mayoral elections
:00:53. > :00:59.also. The results were brought to worse by David Dimbleby in a
:00:59. > :01:07.marathon overnight programme. are looking at how people voted in
:01:07. > :01:11.the English and Wells council elections. -- Welsh. I could
:01:11. > :01:16.mistakenly think I was watching a general election. Panellists are
:01:16. > :01:23.not talking about local politics, they're talking about MPs. Where
:01:23. > :01:33.are the councillors? They also complained about Jeremy Vine and
:01:33. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :01:46.his graphics. We are looking at key ward change. Does that remind you
:01:46. > :01:54.of anything? Various comparisons were made. I do not understand why
:01:54. > :02:04.Jeremy Vine must be sitting in a strange looking swimming pool.
:02:04. > :02:04.
:02:04. > :02:14.Another wrote that he looks like he is trying out for Strictly Come
:02:14. > :02:21.
:02:21. > :02:27.Dancing. This is the overall figure, I will give it to you. Protests
:02:27. > :02:30.about the coverage of the election started before Thursday night. It
:02:30. > :02:40.started on the sensitive issue of how airtime should be given to
:02:40. > :02:41.
:02:41. > :02:48.various parties and candidates. A debate showing the London mayoral
:02:48. > :02:57.elections. Only for the candidates were invited. One of the missing
:02:57. > :03:07.made her objections clear. -- only a four. There were seven candidates
:03:07. > :03:42.
:03:42. > :03:51.in the selection we should all be given a say. I think what will
:03:51. > :03:56.become part of the Siobhan Benita problem, they were given the same
:03:56. > :04:02.number as the Green candidate. They were not given enough airtime. She
:04:02. > :04:06.has a serious record in the civil service, why should she not have a
:04:06. > :04:15.chance with interviewers and be tested in front of you in the same
:04:15. > :04:22.way as other candidates. Canada Mac was excluded from debates on who
:04:22. > :04:28.should become be London mayor. Why didn't the smaller parties receive
:04:28. > :04:34.equal representation to the larger ones and the same number of party
:04:35. > :04:44.election broadcasts? The answer is that BBC allocates broadcast time
:04:45. > :04:57.
:04:57. > :05:05.in relation to previous election success. The BBC it takes its rules
:05:05. > :05:10.from the cannot the century elections. -- the turn of be. At
:05:10. > :05:15.the last general election, more than one-third of the public voted
:05:15. > :05:23.for parties other than Labour and Conservatives. 10% for small and
:05:23. > :05:30.minor parties. We also found out recently in the by-election at
:05:30. > :05:36.Bradfield, Wade George Galloway 1, he was a situation that was coming
:05:36. > :05:42.increasingly common in Britain. Those dissatisfied with Labour
:05:42. > :05:52.Party do want to vote for the two main parties, wanted to find an
:05:52. > :05:55.
:05:55. > :05:59.outlet for their protest. -- where George Galloway one. You need to
:05:59. > :06:04.look at the broadcasting rules and the nomination rules together.
:06:04. > :06:10.is a trend that has been seen across Europe, smaller parties
:06:10. > :06:14.taking a greater share of the boat from Greece to France. The BBC will
:06:14. > :06:24.revisit its rules regarding election coverage. Rick Bailey
:06:24. > :06:25.
:06:25. > :06:30.joins us now. Are they too rigid the rules? We have one set of rules.
:06:30. > :06:36.Before each said elections, which drafted new guidelines and we let
:06:37. > :06:42.people comment on them. They are specific to each election. For the
:06:42. > :06:50.next set of election tax, we were to that process again. -- next set
:06:50. > :06:56.of elections. The problem of Siobhan Benita, because she was an
:06:56. > :07:01.independent she did not get airtime. They said it is ridiculously skewed
:07:01. > :07:07.towards the status quo and very unfair. It is, isn't it?
:07:07. > :07:13.candidates got a lot of air time. They all got more coverage than
:07:13. > :07:17.they ever have. There were three TV interviews, 3 -- six radio
:07:17. > :07:26.interviews. All the other candidates got a lot of coverage.
:07:26. > :07:32.The idea that they were excluded is not true. Yet, they borrow only for
:07:32. > :07:41.participants in the live TV debates -- there were only a four
:07:41. > :07:49.participants. We must criticise the incumbents and those who want to be
:07:49. > :07:54.mayor for the next four years. There was a debate with too many
:07:54. > :07:58.voices would not be helpful to the electric as a whole. It is a little
:07:58. > :08:02.bit like a chicken and egg situation especially for an
:08:02. > :08:10.independent. Because they do not have a party and they do not stand
:08:10. > :08:17.at the last election, inevitably they are disadvantaged in terms of
:08:17. > :08:24.highly political broadcasts and appearing in formal debates.
:08:24. > :08:27.must judge who gets the coverage. We take our guide from the
:08:27. > :08:32.electorate. Parties that have a track record should get some
:08:32. > :08:36.coverage. That is not the only criteria. If you worry new
:08:36. > :08:42.candidate for party, that does not apply. We look at current electoral
:08:42. > :08:45.support. We look at all things to charge the support. Opinion polls
:08:45. > :08:51.can play a large part in that. We did all that and made that
:08:51. > :08:55.judgement. We got the right level of coverage. Did the BBC adequately
:08:55. > :09:01.reflect what many people think are significant changes to the
:09:01. > :09:07.political landscape, not just in the UK, but across Europe?
:09:07. > :09:12.Fragmentation of the party system and new systems rising. We look at
:09:12. > :09:19.each election separately. In the European elections, they get the
:09:19. > :09:23.same level of coverage as the major parties. In the mayoral elections,
:09:23. > :09:30.85% off the people who voted last week voted either Labour or
:09:30. > :09:33.Conservative, 85%. The third candidate got less than 5%. The
:09:34. > :09:40.idea is that the votes are disappearing, that is not true. You
:09:40. > :09:46.must look at East election separately -- each election.
:09:46. > :09:56.Elsewhere, we watch the news of the nine men who sexually exploited
:09:56. > :10:04.
:10:04. > :10:14.teenagers in crushed -- Rochdale. They wear of Pakistani or Muslim
:10:14. > :10:18.
:10:18. > :10:23.Origin. -- they were of. Thursday saw the latest stage in the build-
:10:23. > :10:33.up to the big summer sporting event. The lighting of the Olympic flame
:10:33. > :10:37.
:10:37. > :10:46.in Greece. These were the author wrote. -- these were the author
:10:46. > :10:50.wrote -- view were. Let's return to the elections. Last Saturday
:10:50. > :10:59.afternoon when Joy Dinsdale e- mailed. We are still being