:00:04. > :00:11.That's the business news. Now, it is time for Newswatch, with
:00:11. > :00:16.Samira Ahmed. This week, how well- informed are our weather forecasts
:00:16. > :00:19.keeping us? Welcome to the programme. Heavy rain and floods
:00:19. > :00:25.have been hitting Britain, but are we getting enough accurate
:00:25. > :00:29.information about the weather conditions coming away? A report
:00:29. > :00:35.about press freedom has been exciting the media, but is the
:00:35. > :00:40.general public just as interested? I don't think there is any doubt
:00:40. > :00:48.that there is a... Is this an acceptable quality of picture for
:00:48. > :00:53.television? First, when extreme weather conditions hit the UK, such
:00:54. > :00:57.as heavy rain and flooding, which many people have been witnessing,
:00:57. > :01:05.the BBC has an important role to play in giving out information.
:01:05. > :01:12.First, a taste of how news journalists covered the floods.
:01:12. > :01:15.Cars, houses, shops, have all been abandoned, and the fire crews are
:01:15. > :01:24.trying to do what they can. But this is a tidal river, and you can
:01:24. > :01:32.see the force of the water. Flood defence systems do stop the
:01:32. > :01:37.catastrophe, but people are still affected by it. Yes, there are 40
:01:37. > :01:46.flood warnings in place for the north-east of England, 9 a loan on
:01:46. > :01:50.the River Ouse, which burst its banks yesterday. -- nine alone. In
:01:50. > :02:00.the opinion of Neal Evans, that last piece perpetuates the danger
:02:00. > :02:15.
:02:15. > :02:20.of people walking in flood water, But how effective are both news
:02:20. > :02:30.reports and forecasts at alerting us to severe weather conditions?
:02:30. > :03:00.
:03:00. > :03:04.Some viewers feel there is a Forecasters are also get complaints
:03:04. > :03:14.about the style of their bulletins, and of course, about getting their
:03:14. > :03:39.
:03:39. > :03:43.And we had this e-mail from Linda We do love a good chat about the
:03:43. > :03:48.weather, so I am delighted that the head of BBC weather news has joined
:03:48. > :03:52.me. When the weather is in headlines, it has a special
:03:52. > :03:59.importance for people, and I wonder how the floods affect how you do
:03:59. > :04:04.your job. Enormously. We work very closely with the Met Office and the
:04:04. > :04:09.flood forecasting Centre, and when we get the sort of warnings that we
:04:09. > :04:14.got during that awful weather last week, then that really dictates how
:04:14. > :04:21.we try to get the story of a to the audience. In situations like that,
:04:21. > :04:24.you're talking life and limb, and very dangerous conditions. We have
:04:24. > :04:29.heard people saying that complete areas did not get any proper
:04:29. > :04:35.coverage, even in the local section, and there is perceived to be a
:04:35. > :04:40.southern bias - how do you answer that? We look at the forecast every
:04:40. > :04:44.day in terms of where we should start and finish. There is no bias
:04:44. > :04:46.coming intentionally out of that. Clearly, that story last weekend
:04:46. > :04:50.started in the south-west of England and moved over to Wales,
:04:50. > :04:55.but then moved over to the north- east, and I think we covered it
:04:55. > :05:01.very well. What we cannot do on a network forecast is to give the
:05:01. > :05:05.kind of very specific detail which some people in the audience require.
:05:05. > :05:15.I suppose the question would be how far you are, or should be directing
:05:15. > :05:16.
:05:16. > :05:24.the news teams, as to where they should be focusing their attention?
:05:24. > :05:26.We give our news colleagues any information we have, as soon as we
:05:26. > :05:34.realised that something is potentially going to happen, which
:05:34. > :05:38.is very serious. We let them know, we give them a factual briefing.
:05:38. > :05:42.Beyond that, it is up to news- gathering to decide where they
:05:42. > :05:45.deploy their reporters to get the best story for the audience. And of
:05:45. > :05:51.course, you're not getting the forecast weight, which does bother
:05:51. > :05:56.people. I am happy and confident -- right right that we get the best
:05:56. > :06:01.data available. The Met Office is a worldly the organisation, and it
:06:01. > :06:07.supplies us with our data. What we cannot do is a very specific
:06:07. > :06:10.forecast. That's why for network, during those big weather moments,
:06:10. > :06:16.we will tell people, go and listen to your local radio station, look
:06:16. > :06:19.at the website, where all the detailed information will be.
:06:20. > :06:23.of people do not because the Internet, they do not have the time
:06:23. > :06:27.to use it, especially when they're getting ready for the work, so what
:06:27. > :06:33.is the answer? We had a complaint about the rolling map, and people
:06:33. > :06:38.get nothing out of it - what can you say about that? Part of going
:06:38. > :06:43.around on the mat is that we cover more places, so that more people
:06:43. > :06:47.get information. -- on the map. I would say, during those big moments,
:06:47. > :06:51.listen to BBC local radio. They have county level forecasts, they
:06:51. > :06:58.are in touch with the emergency responders, they can guide you
:06:58. > :07:02.through very difficult moments. other issue is the banter. One
:07:02. > :07:06.aspect of being integrated more into programmes like Breakfast is
:07:06. > :07:16.the chat. As one viewer said, by the time they have got to the
:07:16. > :07:18.
:07:18. > :07:21.weather, I have lost attention. Is there an issue there? Well, we try
:07:21. > :07:26.to give the information, that is the most important thing, that is
:07:27. > :07:30.the big objective for everybody in the Weather Centre. People must
:07:30. > :07:34.walk away from it knowing what their weather forecast will be.
:07:34. > :07:38.However, we also want to engage with people and with the audience
:07:38. > :07:43.and we want to bring some personality, the personality of the
:07:43. > :07:48.presenter, which will shine through. That applies to any broadcast.
:07:48. > :07:56.it takes away from the time left for the weather. Well, you still
:07:56. > :08:00.get the time to do the weather. The time allocated for any handovers is
:08:00. > :08:06.also factored in. Sometimes it does not happen. On live programmes, we
:08:06. > :08:16.all have to be flexible, we all know that. But the programmes are
:08:16. > :08:16.
:08:16. > :08:19.generally very good at sticking to Well, if it was the weather that
:08:19. > :08:23.dominated the news in the first part of the week, the end of it
:08:23. > :08:28.focused largely on Lord Justice Leveson's report into the culture
:08:28. > :08:33.and practices of the past. The night before its publication, Nick
:08:33. > :08:38.Robinson already seemed aware that certain items might have been at
:08:38. > :08:44.the heart of the inquiry. The truth is that this issue of press
:08:44. > :08:47.regulation has not been a big topic down the Dog and Duck tonight, I
:08:47. > :08:51.suspect, but it is one of the most difficult decisions this Prime
:08:51. > :08:54.Minister will ever face, and one of the most difficult issues that will
:08:54. > :08:58.go through the House of Commons in the months to come. This is
:08:58. > :09:02.certainly a story which will run and run, but there is evidence that
:09:02. > :09:12.the appetite of viewers for it may be more limited than that of
:09:12. > :09:41.
:09:41. > :09:49.But not everyone was talking about We have also been receiving
:09:49. > :09:54.complaints about this... Struck with a pitchfork again and again,
:09:54. > :09:58.sometimes kicked and hit... This report went out last Friday, about
:09:58. > :10:08.the circus owner found guilty of mistreating an elephant. It upset
:10:08. > :10:11.
:10:11. > :10:16.Finally, technological advances have allowed the screening of
:10:16. > :10:21.material from a variety of sources, such as webcams and Skype. Last
:10:21. > :10:25.Sunday, the new channel interviewed a journalists about the regional
:10:25. > :10:27.elections in Catalonia. There is no doubt that there was a fairly
:10:27. > :10:32.comfortable majority within Catalonia for independence.
:10:32. > :10:37.Feelings are running very high. It depends on which san that you take,
:10:37. > :10:44.but somewhere between 60% and 70% of the population say that they
:10:44. > :10:54.would like independence from Spain. The response of Neil Penfold from
:10:54. > :11:13.