02/11/2012 Newswatch

Newswatch, with Samira Ahmed hearing views on the coverage of

Welcome to Newswatch with me, Samira Ahmed. This week, did the US

victims of Superstorm Sandy get more attention than those from the

Caribbean? It is as though 70 people have died in the Caribbean

and their deaths mean nothing, they are not newsworthy. I find that

unforgivable. And he's back, in the cinema, and

on TV. But has BBC News allowed itself to be part of the 007

promotional campaign? First, the week's news viewing has

been dominated by the storm that has wreaked havoc in the Caribbean

and the east coast of the United States. But for some Newswatch

viewers there was a serious imbalance in the coverage, summed

up here by an email from Jane Lewis Other viewers got the same

impression and three of them recorded their thoughts for us.

The destructive power of the super- storm... I felt the coverage was

largely disproportionate. It focused almost entirely on the east

coast of America, specifically New York and more recently New Jersey.

And, you know, sort of when the hurricane hit Cuba, it was barely

mentioned at all. Before Sandy hit the east coast of the USA, it

actually hit the Bahamas, 80, Cuba, Dominican Republic -- Hague teeth.

They were all affected but there was no coverage in the mainstream

media about it. On Thursday morning, the voice-over said "the death toll

is more than 70". Actually it is more than 140. You know, this

sounds harsh, but it is as the 70 people have died in the Caribbean

and their deaths mean nothing. think it is worrying because it

shows that the media only panders to public taste, it has moved away

from the educational element, where it lets people know what is

happening in parts of the world where perhaps the ordinarily would

not think about. Because of the lack of exposure and lack of

coverage about the countries in the Caribbean, they will not get the

aid needed when in actual fact, they are the actual countries that

need it, because to start with they don't have the infrastructure

compared to New York. New Jersey... I get the impression quite strongly,

particularly now it is later in the week when the chance has been there

to cover in some depth what has been happening in the Caribbean,

that only First World news accounts. -- counts.

Thanks to those who put their views on camera there, and to all of you

who contacted us on this issue. It is a safe bet that we will be

hearing a lot more from the United States in the next week, with

Tuesday's presidential election. Please let us know your thoughts on

how BBC News covers that story. Details of how to contact us at the

end of the programme. Have you seen the new James Bond film, or do you

just feel as if you have? You will certainly have heard about it, what

with 007 themed Top Gear, Culture Show and Graham Norton Show

specials on BBC television over the past week, along with plentiful

coverage on BBC News in the lead-up to last Friday's cinema release.

But some feel the reporting has crossed the boundary into puffs,

plugs and publicity. He has been hard to miss over the

past few weeks, and not just on advertising hoardings. Who doesn't

appreciate the occasional twist, Mr...? Bond. James Bond. Last

week's star-studded premiere of Skyfall was shown extensively on

the News Channel but it was by no means the first time BBC viewers

had been told about the new film. A month ago, the producers of the

franchise went into publicity overdrive with the self-proclaimed

World Bond Day, eagerly latched onto by reporters. The cars. Just a

few of the things that have made the James Bond series recognise the

world over and has helped it maintain its phenomenal popularity

for half a century. Some Newswatch viewers were both shaken by this,

and stirred into contacting us. How much exposure on the BBC

contributes to the box office receipts of the Bond franchise is

impossible to determine. But features on the national news can

only help give a push to new films, CDs or books, as in the case of JK

Rowling's new novel in September. Some thought there was overkill

there too, with Anne Hodges What an honour to be honest

balcony! Back in 2009, the BBC featured U2 prominently on its

airwaves, including this concert on top of the Beeb's own building.

There was a reason, a new album. Last night the first live outing

for some of the new tracks. There has been some criticism from the

BBC for the amount of airtime given to the band but this is one of the

world's most popular bands. Later though, the Corporation admitted

that the coverage had breached its guidelines, tipping over into

promotion. But is this a lesson that has been learnt? With me now

is the entertainment correspondent for BBC News, Lizo Mzimba, who

shared the red carpet with Daniel Craig and others at Skyfall's

premiere last week. Thank you for coming in. The fact is, it is great

fun doing that kind of story, but it is not news. It is, people are

interested in James Bond, it is the longest running cinema franchise of

its kind in the world. It has been going for almost half the age of

cinema itself. People are interested in that kind of thing. I

did a live interview with Daniel Craig on the red carpet. People

wanted to hear what he had to say about the movie and that was

repeated throughout the night, but we did not do any pieces on the

national news bulletins because we decided it did not merit that kind

of coverage. But we put it in context of where it is important

and why people do want to hear about it, but I don't think it was

overkill. There is always an anniversary, another James Bond

film. Did you not feel it was getting a bit excessive? World bond

date was not something we came up with. Sony came up with it. We

decided weeks before that it was that the deeper anniversary and

something as important and interesting as James Bond, we would

do something on it -- it was the 50th anniversary. It was only later

that Sony... And the BBC went along with it? You could not watch

anything without there been a spurious link to 50 years of James

Bond, and that is not news. It is an excuse for indulgence. It is

something we did because we will Mark King within BBC News as cinema

franchise that has been going for 50 years -- we were marking. There

are many... Not for 50 years. James Bond is important. Look at what

happened in July. The person that turned around to greet him is her

Majesty the Queen. James Bond in the 60s and 70s changed the British

film industry. Your breakfast piece was three and a half minutes and I

recognised every clip and there was a Bond girl saying something

vaguely fun... It could have been made at any time in the last ten

years. What you have heard from viewers is the concern that this is

easy and it has been used to promote a very large multi-million-

pound industry, which does not need it, and the same with the JK

rolling book. It doesn't mean that reporters should automatically

devote airtime -- JK Rowling. think carefully about putting

things in the correct context. We do not say, go and see this new

film. We say, this is happening. I did not hear any criticism about

the James Bond film and I cannot imagine it would have been easy to

have done so. The fisted anniversary was not related to

Skyfall -- the 50th anniversary. We spoke about James Bond and how it

had influenced people around the world. Where is the difference

between a genuine news story and a puff. People remember, there is

another Bond film out and it is called Skyfall. On the movie

release, we did not do any pieces on the national news bulletins, I

did one... We had a discussion in the office and decided we did not

want to put it to the national bulletins. Do you have no regrets

at all about the decisions on some of these, which sound like they

should have run on any commercial channel? I think people are

interested and I think they were put in the proper context of way

James Bond is something special and I think most viewers appreciate

that. And that's all from us. Thanks for