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Now, it is time for Newswatcn, and this week, it examines the Lord | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
Rennard case, and it's coverage. Welcome to the programme. This week | :00:10. | :00:16. | |
come up did the allegations against Lord Rennard of unwanted advances | :00:17. | :00:20. | |
have the right kind of attention from BBC News? The offensive gesture | :00:21. | :00:28. | |
made by this footballer is news, but some viewers say showing it again | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
causes offence in itself. And following last week's outburst of | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
music from Nick Robinson's computer, we hear your suggestions | :00:42. | :00:51. | |
for music. Lord Rennard is credited with being the Liberal Democrats' | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
election mastermind. However, his public profile had been relatively | :00:58. | :01:00. | |
low until claims that he had sexually harassed female party | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
members over a number of years. After failing to apologise, he was | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
suspended from the party on Monday. Tonight at ten, the Lib Dems are | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
struggling to contain the crisis surrounding Lord Rennard. The party | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
leader tells him to apologise. He has now been suspended from the | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
party, no longer able to sit with colleagues in the House of Lords. | :01:26. | :01:32. | |
But was the BBC's coverage balanced? | :01:33. | :02:25. | |
The head of the BBC Newsroom joins me now to answer some of those | :02:26. | :02:31. | |
issues. Some viewers, as we saw in that sample, feel that the coverage | :02:32. | :02:37. | |
had somewhat sensationalised and built a story, rather than just | :02:38. | :02:42. | |
reported it? Our job is to report and follow a story. This story | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
unfolded over several days, and each day we were making judgements about | :02:48. | :02:49. | |
how significant the developments were on that day, and what | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
prominence it deserved. Early in the week, we felt that it had reached a | :02:55. | :03:00. | |
certain point in terms of the story itself, but also the debate and the | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
impact within the Liberal Democrats, the authority of Nick | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
Clegg, the coalition government, it became a really important political | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
story, and that is why it got a lot of prominence early in the week. | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
There was a specific concern, with Lord Rennard having denied the | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
allegations, as the BBC given enough airtime to his side? Every time we | :03:24. | :03:27. | |
did the story we made it very, very clear that he had denied all the | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
allegations. Some of the players in this story have come out and spoken | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
on air on the camera. Others have not, but Lord Rennard himself gave a | :03:38. | :03:39. | |
very long statement, which we recorded. People close to him have | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
also been on air, putting his side of the story. So, I am satisfied | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
that we have always worked hard to make sure that we represent all | :03:52. | :03:57. | |
different views. One viewer compared it to Plebgate. There is a concern | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
that BBC political coverage goes after these very personal stories, | :04:03. | :04:07. | |
which then become big rows, partly because of the media attention? I do | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
not think that is the case, we are not going after them, we are | :04:12. | :04:14. | |
tracking and following and reporting, and it is true that | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
sometimes at the heart of these stories is an individual, a | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
personality, but it is then the reaction to that which bills the | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
story just in both cases, and I would not want to draw too many | :04:27. | :04:29. | |
parallels, but there was an element of accusation, denial, counter | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
accusation, and it is very important that we report what has been said by | :04:36. | :04:41. | |
everybody involved. Also we have to attract them over time because | :04:42. | :04:47. | |
Plebgate led to an ongoing examination of the nature of trust | :04:48. | :04:50. | |
in releasing, the Police Federation, and of course the | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
politics of how Cameron dealt with the situation. Meanwhile, with Lord | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
Rennard, you are looking at how a political party and a leader deals | :04:59. | :05:05. | |
with that situation. Overtime, it becomes clearer, or not, exactly | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
what happened, but also how the institutions are dealing with it. | :05:10. | :05:14. | |
There is an awful lot of cases around sexual abuse or alleged | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
sexual abuse and harassment, but in the Lord Rennard case, there has | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
been an internal inquiry only within the party, and with confusing | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
results. Is there a danger that the toll of BBC reporting has an | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
influence, the same as Operation Yewtree? Last week we had five | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
stories in this kind of area. It is an interesting question, one we have | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
been talking a lot about in the newsroom. In the end, the news gods | :05:45. | :05:48. | |
deliver, and we have to respond to that. We cannot control the fact | :05:49. | :05:52. | |
that there have been a number of court cases running in parallel, and | :05:53. | :05:56. | |
a number of stories coming along at the same time. Our job is to remain | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
very, very committed to accuracy, care with language and the necessary | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
detail. For instance, as you have said, making it very, very clear | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
that in some cases we are talking about allegations of sexual | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
harassment, in others, sexual abuse, sometimes, sexual abuse of minors, | :06:16. | :06:21. | |
it can be very many different charges or accusations. Again, being | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
really clear when we are talking about the court case, a trial, | :06:26. | :06:33. | |
charges, in Lord Rennard's case, a grievance process, in essence, | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
within a particular institution. So, we are determined and careful about | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
being as accurate as we possibly can, within a context where we | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
recognise that it can feel as if there is a lot of this sort of stuff | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
at the moment. But I hope that by being very careful and accurate, we | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
hope audiences navigate and understand the different nature of | :06:57. | :06:57. | |
these different stories. Please give us your feedback on that | :06:58. | :07:08. | |
issue and on any other aspect of BBC News. Details on how to contact us | :07:09. | :07:12. | |
at the end of the programme. Let's find out what else you have been | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
commenting on, starting with the controversy over the footballer | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
Nicola Anelka, who made a gesture after scoring a goal last month, | :07:20. | :07:24. | |
known as the quenelle, which is widely considered to be | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
anti-Semitic. On Tuesday he was charged by the Football | :07:28. | :07:30. | |
Association, and BBC reports on the case faced some objections... | :07:31. | :07:49. | |
One week ago, the body of three-year-old Mikaeel Kular was | :07:50. | :07:57. | |
found in Kirkcaldy after an extensive search. The BBC reported | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
on the reaction of the local community. It is so, so sad. | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
Devastating news for a community which had so wished for a positive | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
outcome. Throughout the day, families in Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy | :08:12. | :08:14. | |
have been laying flowers. We heard the news, it was just devastating. | :08:15. | :08:21. | |
We just wanted to come and pay our respects. It is absolutely | :08:22. | :08:31. | |
heartbreaking. Mikaeel's mother was later charged with his murder. There | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
was a variety of responses to the BBC's coverage of the case... | :08:36. | :09:08. | |
Pop singer Justin Bieber last hit the headlines when he turned up very | :09:09. | :09:17. | |
late for a concert last year. As was the case then, we received | :09:18. | :09:20. | |
objections on Thursday that his arrest on a variety of charges, | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
including driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, | :09:26. | :09:27. | |
did not warrant the attention given to it by BBC News. | :09:28. | :09:39. | |
Finally, last week we feature to an unusual occurrence in the middle of | :09:40. | :09:49. | |
a discussion on The Daily Politics. Nick Robinson's tablet computer | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
suddenly burst forth, for reasons which have not yet been explained, | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
with Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls, perhaps not most suitable choice of | :10:03. | :10:07. | |
music for the BBC's political editor. We asked you for some | :10:08. | :10:09. | |
suggestions. Thank you for all those suggestions | :10:10. | :10:35. | |
and for all your comments this week. If you want to share your opinions | :10:36. | :10:38. | |
or even appear on the programme, you can call us. Or you can e-mail us. | :10:39. | :10:49. | |
You can find us on Twitter. Also, have a look at our website. That is | :10:50. | :10:58. | |
all from us. We will be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
coverage again next week. Until then, goodbye. | :11:02. | :11:07. | |
Yet again, there is plenty of weather to talk about in the | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
forecast, and I am sure it is perhaps not what you would like. | :11:13. | :11:17. | |
Today, we had a brief clips of sunshine, but a cold day on the east | :11:18. | :11:25. | |
coast. An inch of rain in the south-west, but there was a lot | :11:26. | :11:26. |