25/10/2013 Newswatch

Perhaps don't park your car underneath the tree if you can help

it. Did the christening of this little

chap distracts from coverage of a crucial Select Committee enquiry? I

have had a great, great career at United. Sir Alex Ferguson releases

his autobiography. Is it a news event?

Does the use of graphics in news reports help or hinder our

understanding of the story? Two prominent events took place on

Wednesday afternoon: Prince George's christening and a Select

Committee enquiry. I don't think we can give an apology at the moment. I

suggest you can. But as MPs grilled offices, the infant prince of the

Royal family were arriving at Saint James 's Palace.

We asked the controller of the BBC News channel for a response to these

complaints. Anti`football `` onto football

royalty and a complaint, that the sport gets excessive NPR coverage.

Sir Alex Ferguson released his autobiography this week.

He's the most successful and feared manager in British football history,

but now, Sir Alex Ferguson is having to adjust to life without the

trophies and acclaim. After 27 years at the top of the game, I asked him

if he got out of the right time. I am relieved we won the league as my

last act. That was important. To be honest with you, our time had come.

Many viewers felt it was not appropriate for the release of his

book to be given such extensive airtime.

The head of the BBC newsroom responded to that issue.

Someone who divides opinion every time is the comedian Russell Brand.

How come I feel so cross with you? It can't be because of that beard.

It's gorgeous! You are a very trivial man. An interview with him

on Newsnight prompted this response from Robert.

Many TV news reports use graphics to help illustrate a story. Television

graphics have come a long way since a camera was pointed at a map on a

wall with place names stuck on with pins. Now whole new worlds can be

conjured up in a studio. But they don't always go down well with

viewers. What can be done is undoubtedly

impressive, and in recent months, Virtual reality has conjured up what

can be found on the sea bed and what might have happened in Oscar

Pistorius's house the night his girlfriend died. Reporters have

shown us were spending cuts could be made from a virtual treasury, and

last week, what vaccines children can be given. Another viewer who

remained unimpressed e`mailed: There are also concerns about less

elaborate visions such as the treatment of this four`year`old

killed by his mother and her partner.

Another development on the website and television has been the use of

calculators to help you work out, for instance, what class you belong

to as well as the impact on us of fuel pack `` fuel price rises and

inflation. So there is BBC News guilty of

self`indulgence using various visual toys at its disposal or do they add

significantly to viewers's understanding and enjoyment? Joining

me to discuss this is the BBC's editor of visual journalism. The

main complaints we have been getting have been about gratuitous desire to

impress. That's not actually illuminating the news. No one sets

out to do frivolous production techniques, no one sets out to

design a graphic that is seen as a gimmick. But there is a fine line

between that and something that grabs the viewer's attention, or

something that conveys information in such a way that someone will

watch and take notice. If we look at the gimmicky aspect, one of them is

the smoke coming up from the Kenyan maul and whether that really added

anything. Also things like the images of Daniel. People felt

distracted by it. If I take the Newsnight won first, that is using a

new piece of kit which allows the corresponding to control what is

coming on graphically onto the screen. I thought, actually, as a

storytelling technique where it showed where the attackers were

coming into the maul, I thought it was really quite effective and

useful. On Daniel, that is the first time I have seen that. I don't find

it really very gratuitous, I must say. I was expecting something that

was rotating faster and looking, in some way, disrespectful. I don't

think it was. Does it suggest that viewers are as impressed as

programme makers, perhaps? That's a real danger. That's why I am pleased

to come on and be informed about what viewers are saying as well.

Sometimes, we failed to get the balance right. But I want the view

was to know that we are always striving to do it right. The other

big issue is the idea of where stuff appears, for example on the website,

and people have complained about that. The data was not properly

scrutinised all looked properly done and is masquerading as strong

factual sourced information. One thing I absolutely stand`by is art

editorial values here and the fact that everything in, for example, the

class calculator was absolutely scrutinised. So although the result

might have been the tone was a little bit of fun, the academic

underpinning of it was very sure`footed. The thing about

calculators is they are one of the most popular things we do. The class

calculator, 7 million page views for that. In 7 million people, you will

get a fair amount of people who may have looked at it in full, I don't

like that. But a huge number of people looked at it and really liked

it and find these calculators put them at the heart of the story and

make it relevant to them personally. That's all from us this week. If you

want to share your opinions or even appear on the programme, you can

call us or e`mail us. You can find us on twitter and do have a look at

our website. We will be back