:00:03. > :00:06.A That's the news, now on BBC News it's time for Newswatch with Samira
:00:06. > :00:08.Ahmed. This week some viewers complain that too many BBC
:00:08. > :00:17.journalists were sent to Rome for the Pope's resignation, with others
:00:17. > :00:24.saying the horsemeat scandal has Welcome to the programme. On this
:00:24. > :00:27.week's programme: tonight at 10pm, we are in Rome where Pope Benedict
:00:27. > :00:31.has unexpectedly announced his resignation.
:00:32. > :00:37.What were we doing in Rome. What is she doing on a Welsh
:00:37. > :00:44.country lane in the dark? One viewer begs BBC News to drop
:00:44. > :00:49.the dead horse. Is it scaremongering over horsemeat?
:00:49. > :00:53.When word came through on Monday morning, that Pope Benedict XVI
:00:53. > :00:59.became the first pope in 600 years to resign, the BBC News operation
:00:59. > :01:05.leapt into action. The story dominated the day and much of the
:01:05. > :01:10.week on the BBC News Channel. Lots of reporters were all reporting
:01:10. > :01:14.from the Vatican, supplementing the corporation's Rome-based
:01:15. > :01:21.journalists. By Monday night, Huw Edwards had a right to present the
:01:21. > :01:25.news at Ten, during which he talked to Europe Editor, Gavin Ewart. But
:01:26. > :01:32.a viewers wondered what his presence added to the coverage. To
:01:32. > :01:37.discuss these reactions I'm joined by the editor of the news at six
:01:37. > :01:43.and the News at Ten and his deputy head of the BBC News room. And then
:01:43. > :01:49.joined by our Blackburn studio by a viewer. John, what was your
:01:49. > :01:53.reaction about the Pope's resignation? Very quickly the
:01:53. > :01:59.reporting moved away from the statement the Pope had given, too
:01:59. > :02:03.much more speculation and conjecture about the future. It did
:02:03. > :02:09.not call for comments from other guests in the studio on the Pope's
:02:09. > :02:14.legacy. But mainly -- what he would be caught in the future after he
:02:14. > :02:18.steps down, and what relationship he might have with his successor.
:02:18. > :02:26.You had a real concern about how many people were flying in to cover
:02:26. > :02:32.the story? There was Huw Edwards on Monday. Jon Sopel was reporting
:02:32. > :02:37.live from St Peter's Square on Tuesday. Handing over to Matthew
:02:37. > :02:41.Price with a background piece on the Vatican issues. Followed by a
:02:41. > :02:46.piece with Gavin Hewitt interviewing one of the African
:02:46. > :02:53.cardinals, partly in the frame as a possible successor. It just seemed
:02:53. > :02:58.to assume a sensational, dramatic dynamic story, which it really
:02:58. > :03:03.wasn't. It was historic, but many questions remain to be answered.
:03:03. > :03:07.Let me put some of back to James Stevens and. These issues come up
:03:07. > :03:12.again and again, they feel they do not need someone standing outside a
:03:12. > :03:16.building when there's nothing developing on a story? There are
:03:16. > :03:21.viewers who don't like to see that and we like to recognise that and
:03:21. > :03:25.we build that into the thinking on whether or not to deploy. The scale
:03:25. > :03:30.of this story, I don't think anyone is in any real doubt about the
:03:30. > :03:35.magnitude of the story. It is not often you can say something is
:03:35. > :03:39.happening of major significance in 600 years. One of the tests we
:03:39. > :03:45.applied on whether or not we will present from a location is the
:03:45. > :03:48.magnitude of the story. In this case, it was clear cut. You have
:03:48. > :03:52.two specialist correspondents who are based there full-time. The
:03:52. > :03:59.Vatican is the one place away you'll not find out anything,
:03:59. > :04:03.standing outside that building? do have very good correspondence in
:04:03. > :04:10.Rome, Alan Johnston, and David Wyllie, who is a long-time watcher
:04:10. > :04:15.of these events. When a huge story of this kind happens, the quantity
:04:15. > :04:21.and demands of output wraps up beyond O-level a local bureau, even
:04:21. > :04:25.a well-staffed one, can support. How much does it cost to send Huw
:04:25. > :04:30.Edwards for couple of days? Not a great deal. He went on easyJet from
:04:30. > :04:33.Gatwick. It is not a hugely expensive things. The challenges of
:04:34. > :04:38.reporting a big and breaking story were illustrated on Thursday
:04:38. > :04:43.morning, when the South African Paralympic athlete, Oscar Pistorius,
:04:43. > :04:53.was arrested at his home in Pretoria on suspicion of murder.
:04:53. > :05:02.
:05:02. > :05:09.One of our viewers e-mailed us and I think this does connect with what
:05:09. > :05:15.we were talking about the Vatican. Nothing was happened fouls, and
:05:15. > :05:20.there was a crime story in South Africa. It is not true to say
:05:20. > :05:27.nothing was happening. We have the dramatic news a shooting had
:05:27. > :05:30.occurred at Oscar Pistorius Kostelic house. And we have the
:05:30. > :05:37.bare bones what the police were confirming about that, an incident
:05:37. > :05:41.had taken place. Quickly, we had the South African police giving a
:05:41. > :05:45.press conference, which we carried live on the news channel. That gave
:05:45. > :05:50.a substantial amount of information about what seemed to have taken
:05:50. > :05:54.place. It is not really the case there wasn't a lot of hard fact,
:05:54. > :06:00.but quite rapidly if there was quite a lot of hard facts. John
:06:00. > :06:04.Mitchell, we were talking about this idea over speculation been
:06:04. > :06:09.part of the news channel's coverage, and also the magnitude of stories
:06:09. > :06:14.like the Pope's resignations. Do you understand just a vocation for
:06:14. > :06:20.sending and the length of coverage? I don't quite accept that there was
:06:20. > :06:23.a need for Huw Edwards to be in Rome, with the other European
:06:23. > :06:28.correspondents and locally-based people, to add to the story. He
:06:28. > :06:33.could not add to a story which had basically petered out. We knew
:06:34. > :06:38.everything by about 2pm. John Mitchell, and Jayne Stevenson.
:06:38. > :06:44.Thanks very much. -- James Stevenson.
:06:44. > :06:48.Let us know your thoughts on that by any aspects on BBC News.
:06:48. > :06:53.Now for some of your other concerns. The row over horsemeat found in
:06:53. > :06:57.beef products continues to get plenty of air time. Experts agree
:06:57. > :07:02.there is a serious issue of Ms labelling, contamination and a
:07:02. > :07:06.criminal investigation is under way. Even though it has been revealed
:07:06. > :07:09.the animal painkiller, bute may have entered the food chain, it
:07:09. > :07:13.constitutes a low risk to humans and some viewers felt there has
:07:13. > :07:23.been an element of hype in the coverage. One viewer was one of
:07:23. > :07:29.
:07:29. > :07:35.In that context, there has been much mention of the food standards
:07:35. > :07:45.agency. At the start of the news channel bulletin on Sunday morning.
:07:45. > :08:05.
:08:05. > :08:08.But this view has spotted something Sunday night saw the annual big
:08:08. > :08:12.night out for the British film industry. As the stars arrived in
:08:12. > :08:19.the rain, a film critic joined Jayne Hill on the red carpet
:08:19. > :08:24.discussing Sky for and the other contenders for all wards. It is
:08:24. > :08:28.essentially a straw dogs in a Scottish house. I think they did a
:08:28. > :08:33.brilliant job, and in that category it is hard to court. My vote would
:08:33. > :08:38.be Sky fall, because it did something nobody expected to do
:08:38. > :08:43.with James Bond, except reinvent it. About an hour-and-a-half of red
:08:43. > :08:48.carpet coverage, and later the ceremony was shown on BBC One just
:08:48. > :08:58.after the ceremony had taken place. So it you check the BBC website,
:08:58. > :09:00.
:09:00. > :09:05.Jayne Hill had spoiled another surprise for those who had not seen
:09:05. > :09:09.Sky fall, by revealing a major plot twist. And that came up in an
:09:09. > :09:19.interview conducted on the Andrew Marr Show last weekend by Sophie
:09:19. > :09:22.
:09:22. > :09:32.Raworth with the actress Judi Dench. We put that point to the Andrew
:09:32. > :09:52.
:09:52. > :09:58.Finally, Huw Edwards may have been sent to Rome, but Sian Lloyd had a
:09:58. > :10:02.cold or assignment, appearing just after 6am at side of food
:10:02. > :10:07.processing plants in Wales. I am in the middle of a countryside near
:10:07. > :10:17.Aberystwyth. This country lane leads to the meat processing plant.
:10:17. > :10:41.
:10:41. > :10:45.Thanks for the suggestion. A weekly award it might be boring, but when
:10:45. > :10:50.a viewer's thing such a prize should be awarded, we would try to