:00:26. > :00:31.Welcome to the programme. Later - showed images showing the full
:00:31. > :00:35.horror of last Friday's massacre in Syria be broadcast? Before that, it
:00:35. > :00:40.has been a week with the BBC's selection of images in several
:00:40. > :00:44.stories has come under scrutiny. Amnesty International has accused
:00:44. > :00:48.the UN of failing to show courage matching that of the protesters in
:00:48. > :00:51.Syria. They say the UN Security Council has been exposed as
:00:51. > :00:56.redundant in the face of crimes against humanity being perpetrated
:00:56. > :01:00.in the country. The problem was that that logo does not actually
:01:00. > :01:07.represent the UN Security Council, but actually a body called the UN
:01:07. > :01:17.Space Command. It is an entirely fictional part of a video game
:01:17. > :01:30.
:01:30. > :01:33.series. One dealer was sympathetic. The BBC apologised for the error
:01:33. > :01:38.and replaced the image in metropolitans. Another case of
:01:38. > :01:42.mistaken identity was to follow. On Sunday, the corporation's website
:01:42. > :01:46.carried a powerful photograph of a row of bodies attributed to an
:01:46. > :01:53.actor best to illustrate a story about the massacre of more than 100
:01:53. > :02:03.people in Houla. The picture was actually taken almost a decade ago
:02:03. > :02:18.
:02:18. > :02:22.in Iraq. One dealer pronounced The BBC's social media editor has
:02:22. > :02:32.published a journal about his writing. The picture was first
:02:32. > :03:00.
:03:00. > :03:04.There were more general concerns about the coverage of the killings
:03:04. > :03:14.in Houla. They centred on the use of pictures and are reticulated
:03:14. > :03:35.
:03:35. > :03:42.We are going to show an example of the coverage from a report last
:03:42. > :03:46.weekend. As you would expect, it contains some distressing images.
:03:46. > :03:53.The people of Houla buried their dead, they quickly dubbed mass
:03:53. > :03:59.grave as the community absorbs the brutality and shock. Distress,
:03:59. > :04:02.disbelief, anger, video too gruesome to show in four. Women,
:04:02. > :04:06.children, everyone in the path of Syrian troops was a target, they
:04:06. > :04:10.say. Although some thought it was judged
:04:10. > :04:20.too gruesome to show, what was broadcast was too much for one
:04:20. > :04:53.
:04:53. > :04:59.With me now is a senior editor in the BBC newsroom. What do you have
:04:59. > :05:06.to say to viewers who say the BBC has abandoned respect and
:05:06. > :05:10.compassion? There is a process around using pictures. It is not a
:05:10. > :05:13.case of just simply putting them out there. What I would say in the
:05:13. > :05:17.context of these particular pictures is that some pictures are
:05:17. > :05:22.exceptional. These pictures conveyed something of the conflict
:05:22. > :05:27.in Syria that was absolutely exceptional, but raise lots of
:05:27. > :05:35.questions, and if you look at the coverage this week, the
:05:35. > :05:43.international condemnation raised after this story shows a very
:05:43. > :05:46.strong editorial justification. what extent can you tell the story
:05:46. > :05:52.without bringing dead bodies into people's living rooms? Television
:05:52. > :05:56.news is about pictures as much as anything else. I understand the
:05:56. > :06:02.sensitivities about dead bodies and we do not gratuitously put them on
:06:02. > :06:08.air. But at the same time, in reporting a conflict, the pictures
:06:08. > :06:11.were exceptional. Are warnings important and if so what is your
:06:11. > :06:15.policy? Sometimes there is a warning on the first time,
:06:15. > :06:25.sometimes not a warning. Dealers do not know what to expect. I would
:06:25. > :06:30.
:06:30. > :06:37.worry about that as well. Warnings are absolutely important. Warnings
:06:37. > :06:43.are integral. We should also not be casual about warnings just because
:06:43. > :06:51.they are used sparingly. We also need to be quite careful about time
:06:51. > :06:55.of day, the audience concerned. There is a responsibility at 6pm
:06:55. > :07:04.and that might change in terms of the treatment at 10pm. The warning
:07:04. > :07:12.is part and parcel with the story itself. People said it decades ago,
:07:12. > :07:17.the BBC would God have shown such images. But would not say the
:07:17. > :07:20.criteria has changed. The process that we have is all the same as it
:07:20. > :07:23.has always been. I think what the viewers are experiencing is the
:07:23. > :07:28.fact that there are a lot more images out there than they used to
:07:28. > :07:36.be. There is a lot more material. Do we look at that material and
:07:36. > :07:41.think, oh it is out there, should we use it? No. The idea that things
:07:41. > :07:45.have changed in that respect, I do not think that is the case.
:07:45. > :07:50.there a problem once the new story is over of using these pictures as
:07:50. > :07:54.casual wallpaper over and over again? Just because it has been
:07:54. > :07:59.sanctioned for use in an immediate news story, it does not mean that
:07:59. > :08:07.it should be used 72 hours later in a way that just becomes
:08:07. > :08:10.desensitised all people are using it as wallpaper or background. We
:08:10. > :08:20.need to have people always looking at that image and thinking if they
:08:20. > :08:24.
:08:24. > :08:29.are able to use it.!. -- thank you. What else has been
:08:29. > :08:35.bothering BBC viewers this week? Ministers backtrack on some of the
:08:35. > :08:41.controversial budget plans. Plans to impose VAT on hot pasties and
:08:41. > :08:46.sausage rolls will be withdrawn. Tory MPs are relieved. It is very
:08:46. > :08:51.good news. It will actually save money at the end of the day. The
:08:51. > :08:54.previous proposal would have cost thousands of jobs. Plans to impose
:08:54. > :08:59.VAT on static caravans have also changed.
:08:59. > :09:09.Clear enough, but crop up again in the report, telling a rather
:09:09. > :09:09.
:09:09. > :09:16.different story. The other U-turn tonight is the VAT
:09:16. > :09:21.on static caravans. It is very good news. It is common sense. It will
:09:21. > :09:31.actually save money at the end of the day. The previous proposal
:09:31. > :10:05.
:10:05. > :10:09.would have cost thousands of jobs. Meanwhile, it is some of those
:10:09. > :10:19.languages six -- loose language usage that bother did this the
:10:19. > :10:33.
:10:33. > :10:37.Finally, there has been more big- name and drama at the Levison
:10:37. > :10:41.inquiry this week, with Jeremy Hunt's appearance taking up many
:10:41. > :10:51.hours of the news channel on Thursday. It has kept many of the
:10:51. > :11:10.
:11:10. > :11:16.Well, Lord Justice Levison is due to report in October, so the answer
:11:16. > :11:21.is not for a while. Thank you for your comments. Next week we plan to
:11:21. > :11:26.look at how BBC News covers the Queen's diamond jubilee. Let us