30/11/2012 Newswatch

That's the business news. Now, it is time for Newswatch, with

Samira Ahmed. This week, how well- informed are our weather forecasts

keeping us? Welcome to the programme. Heavy rain and floods

have been hitting Britain, but are we getting enough accurate

information about the weather conditions coming away? A report

about press freedom has been exciting the media, but is the

general public just as interested? I don't think there is any doubt

that there is a... Is this an acceptable quality of picture for

television? First, when extreme weather conditions hit the UK, such

as heavy rain and flooding, which many people have been witnessing,

the BBC has an important role to play in giving out information.

First, a taste of how news journalists covered the floods.

Cars, houses, shops, have all been abandoned, and the fire crews are

trying to do what they can. But this is a tidal river, and you can

see the force of the water. Flood defence systems do stop the

catastrophe, but people are still affected by it. Yes, there are 40

flood warnings in place for the north-east of England, 9 a loan on

the River Ouse, which burst its banks yesterday. -- nine alone. In

the opinion of Neal Evans, that last piece perpetuates the danger

of people walking in flood water, But how effective are both news

reports and forecasts at alerting us to severe weather conditions?

Some viewers feel there is a Forecasters are also get complaints

about the style of their bulletins, and of course, about getting their

And we had this e-mail from Linda We do love a good chat about the

weather, so I am delighted that the head of BBC weather news has joined

me. When the weather is in headlines, it has a special

importance for people, and I wonder how the floods affect how you do

your job. Enormously. We work very closely with the Met Office and the

flood forecasting Centre, and when we get the sort of warnings that we

got during that awful weather last week, then that really dictates how

we try to get the story of a to the audience. In situations like that,

you're talking life and limb, and very dangerous conditions. We have

heard people saying that complete areas did not get any proper

coverage, even in the local section, and there is perceived to be a

southern bias - how do you answer that? We look at the forecast every

day in terms of where we should start and finish. There is no bias

coming intentionally out of that. Clearly, that story last weekend

started in the south-west of England and moved over to Wales,

but then moved over to the north- east, and I think we covered it

very well. What we cannot do on a network forecast is to give the

kind of very specific detail which some people in the audience require.

I suppose the question would be how far you are, or should be directing

the news teams, as to where they should be focusing their attention?

We give our news colleagues any information we have, as soon as we

realised that something is potentially going to happen, which

is very serious. We let them know, we give them a factual briefing.

Beyond that, it is up to news- gathering to decide where they

deploy their reporters to get the best story for the audience. And of

course, you're not getting the forecast weight, which does bother

people. I am happy and confident -- right right that we get the best

data available. The Met Office is a worldly the organisation, and it

supplies us with our data. What we cannot do is a very specific

forecast. That's why for network, during those big weather moments,

we will tell people, go and listen to your local radio station, look

at the website, where all the detailed information will be.

of people do not because the Internet, they do not have the time

to use it, especially when they're getting ready for the work, so what

is the answer? We had a complaint about the rolling map, and people

get nothing out of it - what can you say about that? Part of going

around on the mat is that we cover more places, so that more people

get information. -- on the map. I would say, during those big moments,

listen to BBC local radio. They have county level forecasts, they

are in touch with the emergency responders, they can guide you

through very difficult moments. other issue is the banter. One

aspect of being integrated more into programmes like Breakfast is

the chat. As one viewer said, by the time they have got to the

weather, I have lost attention. Is there an issue there? Well, we try

to give the information, that is the most important thing, that is

the big objective for everybody in the Weather Centre. People must

walk away from it knowing what their weather forecast will be.

However, we also want to engage with people and with the audience

and we want to bring some personality, the personality of the

presenter, which will shine through. That applies to any broadcast.

it takes away from the time left for the weather. Well, you still

get the time to do the weather. The time allocated for any handovers is

also factored in. Sometimes it does not happen. On live programmes, we

all have to be flexible, we all know that. But the programmes are

generally very good at sticking to Well, if it was the weather that

dominated the news in the first part of the week, the end of it

focused largely on Lord Justice Leveson's report into the culture

and practices of the past. The night before its publication, Nick

Robinson already seemed aware that certain items might have been at

the heart of the inquiry. The truth is that this issue of press

regulation has not been a big topic down the Dog and Duck tonight, I

suspect, but it is one of the most difficult decisions this Prime

Minister will ever face, and one of the most difficult issues that will

go through the House of Commons in the months to come. This is

certainly a story which will run and run, but there is evidence that

the appetite of viewers for it may be more limited than that of

But not everyone was talking about We have also been receiving

complaints about this... Struck with a pitchfork again and again,

sometimes kicked and hit... This report went out last Friday, about

the circus owner found guilty of mistreating an elephant. It upset

Finally, technological advances have allowed the screening of

material from a variety of sources, such as webcams and Skype. Last

Sunday, the new channel interviewed a journalists about the regional

elections in Catalonia. There is no doubt that there was a fairly

comfortable majority within Catalonia for independence.

Feelings are running very high. It depends on which san that you take,

but somewhere between 60% and 70% of the population say that they

would like independence from Spain. The response of Neil Penfold from