13/12/2013 Newswatch

come on that but now it is time for our Newswatch and reaction to the

BBC's Mandela coverage. Welcome to Newswatch. It has been

described as a momentous week but the commemorations following Nelson

Mandela's death warrant so much coverage? Does BBC News coverage

given an unfair advantage to its presenters taken part in Strictly

Come Dancing? And look at the BBC's new online platform documenting

stories trending on social media worldwide but just because we are

talking about it, does that make news? Since the death of Nelson

Mandela last Thursday, South Africa has been commemorating its former

president with a memorial service on Tuesday in Soweto attended by

dignitaries and heads of state and Jews of thousands to see lying in

state. The BBC has broadcast all of these and also Question Time

appeared from South Africa. The BBC will have coverage of his funeral on

Sunday. Well over 2000 viewers have been in contact with various

complaints about the nature and length of the coverage. David

Lavelle had comments typical of many. I thought the coverage was

long and unnecessary. I think the expense must have been enormous and,

having switched the programme of and come back after two or three hours,

it was still on. Eventually, I switched to another channel and

watched the news on that side. It presumes that there was not any

other news going on in the world, just Mandela and South Africa.

Christine Szymanski also add the following concerns.

Mary Hockaday, head of the BBC newsroom joins me now to respond to

those points. The director of news last week said that Mandela was the

most significant statesman of the last century. I want to ask if you

have misjudged the significance of Mandela's death to viewers in the

UK. There are many viewers were different opinions. It is true, we

have had a lot of people getting in touch questioning the coverage we

have done of Nelson Mandela's death and subsequent events. We take these

contacts from audiences and comments into account. We are also evaluating

the news and events in terms of our professional judgement. You are not

listening to what they're saying. They did not want hours and hours of

stadium events were actually there was not anything happen. Why didn't

you just cut back the amount of rolling news and make, say, a

half-hour special of the highlights? There are people who felt it was too

much but at the same time, across the week on our television and radio

coverage, we have had good audiences. We have taken that into

account as well. The stadium event was unusual but there is no doubt

that it was significant as a music event. It is unprecedented still

have. But four hours of an event like that is too much. You could

have recorded it and made a condensed special. Some of our

output is live coverage of live events. Then are other output is

bulletins, where we are making selections. Yes, we reported on that

event but we had room for other news as well. What is the funeral

coverage to be like on Sunday? We will broadcast its life as a live

event. On BBC One and on the news channel. At the same time? That will

depend mix at the time. BBC One is taking it as a scheduled event and

BBC Breakfast will be on BBC Two. The news channel will make its

judgement if it is the most significant event happening at the

time then a good part will be taken. Officer, we will make judgements

with the funeral and other events of the day.

Now, users of the BBC News website may have noticed the recent

appearance of a new platform called BBC Trending which investigates

social media trends around the world. With agreements to explore

what is popular and why, the series has covered stories in text, and

video in a range of serious and not so serious subjects. Such as the

mass hysteria caused by Black Friday and why a racy polish the deal has

had so many views on YouTube? And the Ukrainian protests and a

Croatian same-sex marriage ban. So, where does this leave the BBC's own

editorial responsibility? Richard Pattinson is a commissioning editor

at BBC global news where this was developed. Did you tell us what

exactly this is and what it is for? It is about what is trending on

social media and why. Social media is important as a tool for

journalists in terms of getting information and finding out what

people are talking about and also getting our content out to

audiences. It is also increasingly where audiences are finding our

content. It is about looking at what people are talking about around the

world and applying BBC journalism to decide what an interesting subject

trending and why. We call on our generalists to have like at what

people are talking about and investigated from a journalistic

point of view and report on why it is trending. I have had people

criticising this saying that the BBC is not in the business of just

jumping on whatever is trending. Yes, if we were just running a story

because it was popular. But we have had stories from all over the world,

and the point is bringing stories about what people are talking about

in other countries to our audience globally and here in the UK. There

is a question about BBC editorial responsibility. If you're going for

stories that are trending already because they are interesting but

should you be looking for stories which should be reported just

because they are important? Yes, but it is not just about stories which

are already trending, it is also may about stories that haven't become

news stories yet. But is that really news? I think things that can reveal

the conversations which are going on in the world are absolutely relevant

journalistically and can absolutely be news. We did a story recently

looking at a conversation around mixed sex accommodation around

students in Turkey. It represented the conflict between more liberal

and conservative aspects of Turkish society. That is important. There

was rioting over that recently. Picking up on these trends and

adding journalistic insight is absolutely what we should be doing.

Just time for some of your other comments. One of the week's most

contentious stories has been the decision of IPSA to raise MPs'

salaries. One comment was... There were more complaints of bias

from viewers with regards to BBC Breakfast coverage of its presenter

Susanna Reid who is appearing in stripper come dancing. Many thought

that coverage of her partner Kevin was a step too far.

We asked for a response from BBC Breakfast and they said...

Finally, viewers who tuned into the news channel just before 6pm on

Thursday were treated to this oddity.

# ground control to Major Tom. # not everyone enjoyed this.

Joe Hubbard e-mail... Thank you for all your comments this

week. Do share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs by calling

us or e-mailing us. Or you can tweet and look at our website. That's all

from us, we'll be back next week. A much more chilly and clearer night

across the British Isles. Tomorrow, the story will change quite rapidly

so it is worth keeping up with the forecast if you have plans to get

ahead on your Christmas preparations. A