20/07/2012 Newswatch

You are watching BBC News. Time for news watch. This week, is BBC News

being too negative about the Welcome to the last Newswatch of

the series, and the last before you knew what. We are already Sea Inc

ticketing chaos, traffic gridlock, a security nightmare and it is

still raining. Since the start of last week, the revelation that G4S

was unable to recruit enough guards for the venues has been widely

aired. Too widely for Trevor On Monday, competitors starting

arriving from all over the world but was there too much focus on the

difficulties so experienced by an More bad news the next day, or with

the announcement that half-a- million football tickets had been

withdrawn because of poor sales. It Mark Butler summed up the mood of

To respond to those used, I am joined by senior editor on the BBC

News Channel. Simon, a mind- boggling negativity? No. It is not

our job to rubbish the Olympic Games, it is not our job to be a

cheerleader for the Games, and we don't sit around and say to one

another, let's really dig deep in the undergrowth and find something

bad to say about the Games. These are actual events. They happened.

It is arguably news. But have you got the tone and proportion wrong?

Too much attention to the exclusion of things that are working well?

is what you take away from the coverage. We have been covering the

positive side. We have been talking about the preparations, the stadia

and venues that are ready and on time and fabulous, the number of

volunteers, we had been looking ahead to the British medal hopefuls,

we have been examining why we are so good at sitting down sports,

like sailing and cycling, and the torch relay has been something that

I really think has captured the mood. But isn't there a sense that

before events happen, you are looking for stories? In June we had

a couple of fine Polish ladies complaining about exaggerated

coverage of racism at in Poland and said there would not be any trouble

in Euro 2012 and to a great extent there wasn't. In retrospect, the

coverage looked exaggerated. Is there this danger? Before the event,

or you will talk about the build up, or what goes well and what has not

gone so well. If you have a multi- million pound contract to sort

security for the Games and two weeks before, you cannot provide

the staff that is promised, and that is big news. Isn't there

inevitably going to be tension between you and your colleagues,

who want to continue showing the Olympics in future? We are one of

the major rights holders. We are the Olympic broadcaster. We have

got a fantastic amount of coverage. We have invested a lot of kit, time,

effort and people into this. The sport will be just fantastic, I am

sure. The news will cover the sport and the issues and if there are no

problems with security on day one, boy, we will report that. When all

the athletes arrived earlier in the week, yes one of your viewers

complained there was a bit about one of the coaches been lost, but

we interviewed people who said it was smooth sailing, it was easy, it

was a piece of cake. Our reporter used the phrase "security with a

smile", and as a news editor I felt that was a balanced piece of

journalism, and as a human being I thought, it is coming. I am quite

excited. After a summer break, we will be

back in September with a new look and from a new studio. We have been

broadcasting from Television Centre for eight years, during which

numerous US have had their say about BBC News in no uncertain

terms -- and numerous of viewers. A good point to have a look back.

am annoyed that many correspondents brim reports from locations that

have no relevance to the stories. What is the point of our

correspondent standing in front of a lifeless building in the middle

of the night? Another issue for me is the weather effects of reports,

especially if it is windy and draining. I recently saw a reporter

standing outside New Scotland Yard. I don't remember what she was

talking about because I was too interested in her umbrella. Whether

it would carry her off altogether. In at 2004, a few objected strongly

to the terminology used in reporting the fighting in post-war

Iraq. The only person you refer to as armed forces are allies and the

only people who are tourists are people who we are fighting against.

-- terrorists. Once you hit 50, women are invisible, nobody sees

you any more. That is something that has got to change. That really

much of the business programme of working lunch prompted this

exchange. I don't understand why the format was so changed. To see

someone making a dress and as set of wings like Blue Peter was

absolutely extraordinary and I thought it was awful. I will do

everything and admit that for the first programme, the making of the

close thing was an item that went wrong... This is revolutionary

stuff. A senior executive admitting it was not perfect. This panel has

been the subject... There was a storm over the appearance of Mick

Griffin on the British National Party on Question Time. I am not

opposed to any other party, the main parties, any of the fringe

parties. Been on Question Time. But the BNP is fundamentally difference.

His racism are acceptable if it has enough votes? -- is racism

acceptable? And that viewers had a field day in the build-up to the

royal wedding. He seems relaxed. Watch the body language and the

Kate Middleton it will need to tread softly when making her

designer choices. The British fashion industry have spread their

dreams under her feet. Last year, the BBC News website picked up a

story from the Israeli press that a stray dog had been condemned to

death by a Jewish rabbinical court, a story that turned out to be

inaccurate. It is very disappointed to think that the BBC has herd

mentality where if they know somebody else has published

something, they will publish it, and it is disappointing that when

it is such an unusual story, you would not spend five minutes of

fact-checking it because within five minutes, you would quickly

find up this story was fabricated and unsubstantiated. It is an

American pop star, not a latter-day Messiah. I thought we were going to

have a Diana moment. You were making him out to be somebody

absolutely and totally remarkable, as if it was a national event. It

was not a national event. How will you cover a national event?

moves of Breakfast is Salford came under attack. I think it was a bad

mistake. London is a world centre, not just an English and UK Centre,

and a programme like Breakfast should be located in London. Long

term I think it will affect the quality of the programme.

accusation that there is too much sport and especially football on

the news has been poured over over the years. It is inescapable. It is

on radio, television, everywhere you look. Do we have to have

pundits discussing the flexibility and temperament of the ball?

gather the England goalkeeper made a pig's ear of a Save earlier in

the week and I am sure he doesn't want to be reminded of it any more

Thanks to all of those who have contributed to the programme and we

hope you will continue to do so, but after eight years, this is my

last show. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to hear your views