:00:00. > :00:00.the United States. Now it is time for News watch. This
:00:00. > :00:21.week, reporting on the recent floods and storms. Hello and welcome to
:00:22. > :00:25.Newswatch. Storms and flood battered Britain and BBC correspondence also.
:00:26. > :00:30.That weather report provided a public service but puts journalists
:00:31. > :00:36.and others in danger. The verdict Mark Duggan had not been
:00:37. > :00:40.unlawfully killed by police, arouses anger including some of the BBC's
:00:41. > :00:46.reporting of the case. Happy New Year... A freshly shaven
:00:47. > :00:57.Jeremy Paxman returns to our screens.
:00:58. > :01:03.It was a wild, wet and windy Christmas and New Year for many and
:01:04. > :01:06.the floods continue in many parts of the country. Over the past three
:01:07. > :01:09.weeks, BBC correspondence have been out in the worst of the weather. The
:01:10. > :01:13.majority of the houses on this stretch of the Thames are adapted to
:01:14. > :01:18.cope with something like these conditions.
:01:19. > :01:24.For those that are not, there has been a disaster. But the rest of the
:01:25. > :01:29.community, they said it is as bad as anything they can remember since
:01:30. > :01:34.2003 and they are finding improvised ways of getting in and out. The
:01:35. > :01:39.water is coming over again today because the flood defences cannot
:01:40. > :01:46.cope with such ferocious weather. It is quite serious in terms of the
:01:47. > :01:50.storm surge coming ashore. It is hitting any minute now. You can see
:01:51. > :01:57.the force of the water as it is coming over. Breaking against the
:01:58. > :02:02.shore front and it is causing flooding to the roads. Some viewers
:02:03. > :02:09.felt showing reporters in such apparently dangerous locations was
:02:10. > :02:14.irresponsible and one viewer object specifically to the last of those
:02:15. > :02:20.clips we showed. He went into our Falkirk studio to describe his
:02:21. > :02:25.reaction. I was so surprised and appalled by the pictures, that I
:02:26. > :02:31.shouted to my wife, " come and look at this". Because it looked such a
:02:32. > :02:36.stupid thing to do. A reporter was on the seafront in what was clearly
:02:37. > :02:41.a gale and torrential rain with water breaking over a wall very
:02:42. > :02:48.close to him. This seemed to be irresponsible, particularly when the
:02:49. > :02:52.channel had been all day, emphasising the emergency services
:02:53. > :02:55.saying, is your journey really necessary? It has got to be
:02:56. > :03:01.essential if you have got to go out in this water. Keep away from the
:03:02. > :03:07.sea fronts. The advice is to keep away from the coastline. You cannot
:03:08. > :03:11.send out a message one minute and then ignore it the next. That is
:03:12. > :03:15.what it seemed to me. And perhaps that was proved right at Aberystwyth
:03:16. > :03:22.later when students were crowding onto the front. And it is not a good
:03:23. > :03:25.idea to encourage people sending in their pig Jews when they may go to
:03:26. > :03:30.extreme lengths to get good pictures. I am not saying it should
:03:31. > :03:33.never happen, but there are certain circumstances where things are
:03:34. > :03:39.clearly more dangerous than others. This was a dangerous situation it
:03:40. > :03:46.seemed to me. Gary Smith, the BBC's UK news editor
:03:47. > :03:49.joins me now. You are responsible for deploying many of the reporters.
:03:50. > :03:56.That particular scene in Scotland, it just looked really reckless,
:03:57. > :04:01.reporting from the seafront and it looks dangerous? I am glad you have
:04:02. > :04:06.given me the chance to explain that we take safety incredibly seriously
:04:07. > :04:10.when we are deploying any reporters and news teams around the country.
:04:11. > :04:16.That particular clip in Scotland, when the team arrived they assessed
:04:17. > :04:19.the depth of the water and found a location with slightly higher
:04:20. > :04:27.ground, protect it by a hedge, that you could not see in front of the
:04:28. > :04:30.shot. It is not just the producer, there is a cameraman watching the
:04:31. > :04:35.weather as it changes and develops. On that occasion they had to
:04:36. > :04:39.policeman as well who they consulted with beforehand who said they could
:04:40. > :04:44.go there. I kept watching throughout the whole broadcast. It is partly a
:04:45. > :04:48.matter of instinct. You look at that and it does look like you cannot
:04:49. > :04:55.predict what will crash over the sea wall. As the viewer was saying, at a
:04:56. > :05:02.time when the public were told to stay away from the sea fronts, this
:05:03. > :05:05.seemed to be contradict hurry? They chose their location very carefully.
:05:06. > :05:10.It can look dramatic, the scene behind the reporter. But they always
:05:11. > :05:15.choose a position where they are out of danger's way. Even before they
:05:16. > :05:20.get there they have taken advice from the Environment Agency, from
:05:21. > :05:23.local authorities, the police about the scene they will encounter and
:05:24. > :05:28.what the weather is like. Everybody has safety training on the BBC
:05:29. > :05:31.before they go out to report. The cameraman, producers and the
:05:32. > :05:37.reporters undergo a course of training before they go out of the
:05:38. > :05:40.building. Every journalist gets issued with the journalism safety
:05:41. > :05:47.guide which details all sorts of situations they might come across
:05:48. > :05:53.and it includes a whole page on the dangers of flooding. You are happy
:05:54. > :05:56.everybody behaved responsibly, nobody took any unnecessary risks
:05:57. > :06:01.from what you saw and what viewers have complained about? All my
:06:02. > :06:06.reporters are careful that when they go out they don't take unnecessary
:06:07. > :06:10.risks. They assessed the situation on the ground and take advice from
:06:11. > :06:14.professionals. It is important for them to do the job they are doing to
:06:15. > :06:19.tell the viewers what is happening. Can you tell the challenges in
:06:20. > :06:22.deploying on a story like this because events were changing very
:06:23. > :06:28.quickly, it was a very large geographical spread. How did you
:06:29. > :06:35.deploy on this? You will have seen in the extent of our coverage, there
:06:36. > :06:38.is a use of the BBC helicopter. There are certain parts of the
:06:39. > :06:43.country we cannot get to or are too dangerous to get to on the ground.
:06:44. > :06:47.The best way of telling the story is from above. The places we do go to,
:06:48. > :06:51.we talk to the weather team about where the weather will be
:06:52. > :06:56.particularly bad and choose appropriate locations. Where is the
:06:57. > :06:59.balance for news coverage in reporting what has happening, here
:07:00. > :07:04.is flooding and you see reporters awaiting around, and giving more
:07:05. > :07:08.predict of information about rising tides and weather information and
:07:09. > :07:16.information people would use to plan? It is a bit of both. Our job
:07:17. > :07:20.is to report the news as it happens. But with weather stories, people are
:07:21. > :07:26.interested if the flooding is getting worse in their area. We put
:07:27. > :07:31.a bit of that in as well. We try to leave the forecasting to weather
:07:32. > :07:34.experts so we're not giving contradictory information. How much
:07:35. > :07:39.emphasis should be given to the issue of climate change and its role
:07:40. > :07:44.in extreme weather conditions? It was mentioned after a few days, but
:07:45. > :07:49.there was some disagreement about whether the BBC was giving it the
:07:50. > :07:56.prominence it should have? What are experts in the science team always
:07:57. > :08:01.say is these climate change things are different. It is something that
:08:02. > :08:12.happens over many years, so you cannot read too much into climate
:08:13. > :08:16.change. Thank you so much. We welcome your thoughts on what you
:08:17. > :08:21.heard and on any aspect on BBC News. Details on how to contact us at the
:08:22. > :08:26.end of the programme. Starting now with reaction to the
:08:27. > :08:30.coverage of the Mark Duggan inquest. The verdict that the 29-year-old,
:08:31. > :08:34.whose shooting by police sparked riots in London in 2011 had not been
:08:35. > :08:37.unlawfully killed came as a surprise and the disappointment and anger
:08:38. > :08:43.felt by his friends and family, was fully reflect it on BBC News. Too
:08:44. > :09:01.much for hundreds of viewers who did complain.
:09:02. > :09:08.Following the Prime Minister's announcement at the weekend that the
:09:09. > :09:13.state pension will rise by 2.5% a year, if the Conservatives win the
:09:14. > :09:18.next election, the subject has remained in the news all week.
:09:19. > :09:22.Increasing the state pension will benefit all pensioners, including
:09:23. > :09:26.some who are already enjoying comfortable lifestyles. And it will
:09:27. > :09:31.have to be paid for by those who are working.
:09:32. > :09:33.But the image and language used elsewhere and on BBC News annoyed
:09:34. > :10:01.viewers such as this who wrote: Finally, beards are rarely seen on
:10:02. > :10:05.television, particularly on the face of news and current affairs
:10:06. > :10:10.presenters. But that changed, Newsnight gets on a lot these days,
:10:11. > :10:20.usually it's presenters dressing up or dancing. This is about Jeremy
:10:21. > :10:25.Paxman growing a beard. Everyone got used to it and the fuss died down.
:10:26. > :10:29.This week, he appeared to present clean-shaven and the media were
:10:30. > :10:34.alerted by in an interview in the Radio Times. The presenter told the
:10:35. > :10:40.magazine beards are 2013. Debates raged cross media outlets and made a
:10:41. > :10:45.feature on the BBC News website. There were 11 stories about his
:10:46. > :10:52.beard on the website on Friday. 20 of viewers tweeted about that. --
:10:53. > :11:20.plenty of viewers. Why don't you tell us what you think
:11:21. > :11:35.is so 2014 about BBC News in a good or a bad way. You can contact us on:
:11:36. > :11:42.That is all from us, we will be back to hear your thoughts about ABC news
:11:43. > :11:55.coverage again next week. Goodbye. Rain is making its way across
:11:56. > :12:00.England and Wales at the moment. Showers across Scotland and Northern
:12:01. > :12:03.Ireland and then as we move into the night, temperatures will come down.
:12:04. > :12:07.Ice will be our next talking point as we look at the weather moving
:12:08. > :12:08.into Saturday morning. Most of the ice