:00:00. > :00:07.greater interest. Now it is time for Newswatch with Samira Ahmed. Can a
:00:08. > :00:12.war which started over 100 years ago the display well? `` be displayed
:00:13. > :00:19.well? Hello, welcome to Newswatch with me
:00:20. > :00:23.Samira Ahmed. BBC News gets into the act of describing World War I but
:00:24. > :00:33.was it correct for us to look at things this way correctly at this
:00:34. > :00:38.time? Was it a mistake, yes or no? Laura Kuenssberg girls Harriet
:00:39. > :00:42.Harman over links to a paedophile group, was this a smear campaign was
:00:43. > :00:46.the BBC correct to question Harriet Harman?
:00:47. > :00:51.The week began that complaints that the BBC was failing to run a story
:00:52. > :00:58.that newspapers were looking at, historic links with the Bielefeld
:00:59. > :01:00.exchange `` suggestion was that the Labour Party members had links to
:01:01. > :01:25.those groups. Well, on Monday night, Newsnight
:01:26. > :01:32.seemed an interview with Labour's Deputy Leader Harriet Harman who
:01:33. > :01:39.worked at the end NCL in the late 70s and 80s. Laura Kuenssberg
:01:40. > :01:44.grilled her for information. Surely it is a mistake to have that
:01:45. > :01:48.affiliation? It was correct to dispel them from the conference and
:01:49. > :01:55.make sure that their views were never taken forward by the end NCL.
:01:56. > :02:01.It is a very simple question, why will you not say that clearly it was
:02:02. > :02:05.a mistake for there to be any affiliation? Why will you not, with
:02:06. > :02:10.the benefit of decades up inside, say it was a mistake for there to be
:02:11. > :02:15.any connection at all? You are happy for your employer to take membership
:02:16. > :02:19.money from the group that was Brett Lee campaigning for the right of
:02:20. > :02:24.paedophiles, you are saying that was not a mistake? Jeremy Paxman did not
:02:25. > :02:27.ask the same question, but not far off. Elizabeth Wood fought Laura
:02:28. > :02:45.Kuenssberg went too far, writing... The following day Harriet Harman did
:02:46. > :02:49.express regret for the connection to the organisations and attack the
:02:50. > :02:51.Daily Mail for what he called a smear campaign on her. Since then
:02:52. > :02:58.another Labour Party member involved, Patricia Hewitt, has
:02:59. > :03:02.apologised for mistakes made by that organisation when she was the
:03:03. > :03:06.General Secretary. Others felt the BBC was covering the subject to
:03:07. > :03:25.extensively. Matt Gallon said the following...
:03:26. > :03:31.Abroad, BBC News teams have been dealing with that market changing
:03:32. > :03:35.situation and the Ukraine with the fall of the government after the
:03:36. > :03:39.deaths of many protesters and escalating tensions between pro`and
:03:40. > :03:44.anti`Russian groups. Although most reaction to the cup it was positive,
:03:45. > :03:48.some viewers contacted us with the reminder that the spelling of mines
:03:49. > :03:49.can have quite a significance. Roman Kozak's e`mail was typical of what
:03:50. > :04:12.many felt... We put that to BBC News and they
:04:13. > :04:28.told us... Wednesday saw the sentencing of two
:04:29. > :04:31.men who murdered soldier be baby and Woolwich last year, the case and the
:04:32. > :04:38.BBC's coverage of it have been controversial throughout and were
:04:39. > :04:42.again this week. Our reporter was Sarah Campbell, standing outside in
:04:43. > :04:49.advance of the verdict. Just so you know, members of the BNP and EDL are
:04:50. > :04:55.protesting and calling for the death penalty for both men.
:04:56. > :05:01.Just behind them and the next few minutes we are expecting to hear
:05:02. > :05:05.from a police officer. Carol Griffin you `` e`mailed us to say the
:05:06. > :05:30.following... It was something else that offended
:05:31. > :05:39.Carol Whittington from Nottingham. She complained that may be familiar
:05:40. > :05:54.to Newswatch viewers. `` she made a complaint that may be familiar.
:05:55. > :06:00.It would have escaped Edwin Poots Matt Lucas that this year as the
:06:01. > :06:03.centenary of the beginning of World War One. The BBC has marked the
:06:04. > :06:09.anniversary in numerous ways. BBC Two has shown documentaries of
:06:10. > :06:15.historians Max Hastings and Niall Ferguson. On Monday, a project
:06:16. > :06:22.called World War One At Home, began to air. Correspondent Robert Hall
:06:23. > :06:28.was in Scarborough at the sect of an attack by the German fleet in 1914.
:06:29. > :06:32.One of the biggest challenges facing the government when they did the
:06:33. > :06:37.centenary was how to make events from so long ago relevant and what
:06:38. > :06:40.this project does it says, OK, these events took place in the history
:06:41. > :06:44.books but they have direct connections to places near where a
:06:45. > :06:49.lot of us live and the stories draw those connections. It is a
:06:50. > :06:53.remarkable collaboration because it all comes from the public and from
:06:54. > :06:59.the BBC who worked with the Imperial War Museum and the stories are then
:07:00. > :07:03.compiled. Over 1000 of such stories will be told over the next week and
:07:04. > :07:13.many of them will be covered by the BBC. This puts the main `` this has
:07:14. > :07:17.asked `` people have been asking how accessible this is? Peter Gibson
:07:18. > :07:45.wrote to us to say the following... Well, to discuss the news coverage
:07:46. > :07:49.of the First World War, I am joined by Sam Taylor, the controller of the
:07:50. > :07:55.BBC News Channel. Thank you for joining us. There is a lot of
:07:56. > :08:05.concern that the BBC is just running history and not in use and there is
:08:06. > :08:11.a case elements to this. We are not marking the outbreak of World War I
:08:12. > :08:15.life, this is a historic event. People around the world will be
:08:16. > :08:19.marking the start of this conflict and by all measures that will be a
:08:20. > :08:22.significant moment to mark the centenary of such a devastating
:08:23. > :08:26.conflict. We have taken the approach that there are events to cover and
:08:27. > :08:30.there will be a debate to have, some of that has already happened, about
:08:31. > :08:34.the story itself, which we have reflected, but we are taking the
:08:35. > :08:38.opportunity to reflect some of the winter but that the BBC is doing.
:08:39. > :08:42.What you heard Roberts talking about was a project that has begun this
:08:43. > :08:47.week with local radio and regional television and online to look at
:08:48. > :08:54.stories that relates to individual parts of the United Kingdom. The
:08:55. > :08:59.reality of this war was a terrible slaughter happening abroad, some
:09:00. > :09:03.will ask why is the BBC looking at this when it did not impact at home
:09:04. > :09:10.the way in which the Second World War did? I think this project that
:09:11. > :09:14.the BBC has begun is very interesting because in the world
:09:15. > :09:21.where political discussion can dominate the ramifications, we know
:09:22. > :09:26.it fundamentally changed the entire country in a way we know we can
:09:27. > :09:30.barely comprehend to this day. But to documentaries can do that and
:09:31. > :09:36.there have been many years with more to come. President Kennedy Pozner
:09:37. > :09:41.assassination and the death of Nelson Mandela, these examples are
:09:42. > :09:47.things that viewers have told us are overplayed. We believe we are
:09:48. > :09:51.looking at stories that have moved people. For people to think the
:09:52. > :09:59.relatives they did not know about, and a world where news programming
:10:00. > :10:03.and longer formats like BBC News where we have more space to give you
:10:04. > :10:07.longer news, I think some of the stories are fascinating and they
:10:08. > :10:13.also bring to life the opposite of what you are seeing which is the
:10:14. > :10:15.human story and reflecting how genuinely many people of this
:10:16. > :10:20.country will be reflecting upon World War I and thinking about its
:10:21. > :10:29.impact on 100 years on. We are talking about for years, is this
:10:30. > :10:33.coverage justified? When you look at the events that will come up around
:10:34. > :10:38.this First World War, many people are conscious of doing it in the
:10:39. > :10:43.rate we and at every 10th. Events will not happen the way, there is
:10:44. > :10:49.the focus on August four and public bodies around the world will cover
:10:50. > :10:54.that and it will be a poignant moment. But I think those biggies
:10:55. > :10:58.will be spread out amongst the coverage. It will not be ongoing
:10:59. > :11:01.coverage. Thank you for joining us, Sam. Thank you for all of your
:11:02. > :11:06.comments. If you want to appear on the
:11:07. > :11:21.programme or give us your opinion, contact us, use the address above.
:11:22. > :11:29.That is all from us, we will give your thoughts on the coverage of BBC
:11:30. > :11:42.Newsnight Street. Goodbye. `` BBC News.
:11:43. > :11:43.The weekend will begin frosty with some