:00:00. > :00:10.contribution. Time for a look at coverage by the
:00:11. > :00:16.BBC of the budget. Hello and welcome to Newswatch. A welter of
:00:17. > :00:21.statistics, claims and counterclaims over this year's budget. We look at
:00:22. > :00:29.how impartial and comprehensible the BBC's economic coverages and... Not
:00:30. > :00:37.a lot going on in that studio. Did no one from the News Channel notice
:00:38. > :00:40.for nearly four minutes? The battered red box, the on the spot
:00:41. > :00:44.analysis from economic and political editors, the reaction from so`called
:00:45. > :00:47.ordinary families around the country. Wednesday's news was
:00:48. > :00:53.dominated by all the traditional elements of the Budget. Have you any
:00:54. > :00:57.rabbits in that box, Chancellor? The answer was yes and for once it had
:00:58. > :01:02.not leagues. He knew the message she was taking to the house of, Ms
:01:03. > :01:06.Russ`macro the House of Commons was falling unemployment and wages for
:01:07. > :01:10.the first time in years set to rise faster than inflation. George
:01:11. > :01:14.Osborne. How people responded to what followed may have depended
:01:15. > :01:20.partly on how it would affect their pockets and on their political
:01:21. > :01:20.allegiance but at `` but did the BBC maintain impartiality? No, said
:01:21. > :01:35.Jacqueline. And although the opposite sentiment
:01:36. > :01:38.was also expressed, that charge of being glass half empty on the
:01:39. > :01:55.economy has been levelled by others, such as David Ross.
:01:56. > :02:00.Another recurrent issue with the BBC's coverages whether there is
:02:01. > :02:02.enough explanation of complex economic concepts and terms. One
:02:03. > :02:27.anonymous viewer for not. To respond to all those points I'm
:02:28. > :02:32.joined by the head of the BBC's business and economics unit. Thank
:02:33. > :02:36.you for coming on Newswatch. It seems there is a politically lowly
:02:37. > :02:40.strong political tone to every bit of economic news and we get more
:02:41. > :02:44.complaints, saying they feel the BBC is too negative about how it reports
:02:45. > :02:48.these items. What is your view? Our job is to give people the context,
:02:49. > :02:51.to explain the background and provide them with the best analysis
:02:52. > :02:55.we can and we do that through the facts and sourcing expert opinion
:02:56. > :02:59.and providing them with as much detail as we can about how these
:03:00. > :03:03.issues affect their lives. So on incomes for example, or job
:03:04. > :03:06.security, and jobs growth, so it is not our job to talk about whether
:03:07. > :03:10.the Budget is positive or negative, it is to make sense of it for people
:03:11. > :03:13.so they can have answers to difficult questions as they judge
:03:14. > :03:18.what decisions to make about their futures. Things like pension reform,
:03:19. > :03:21.people think it is not as relevant to a lot of younger people, who
:03:22. > :03:25.don't have the kind of pensions that people in their 40s and 50s do, that
:03:26. > :03:28.every issue like employment has a negative side, which is thinking
:03:29. > :03:33.about what will happen to interest rates of employment is going? Our
:03:34. > :03:37.purpose is to provide us broader perspective as we can, to seek as
:03:38. > :03:41.many different views as we cannot provide audiences with the answer is
:03:42. > :03:45.that they think `` that we think they are asking. We also do it on
:03:46. > :03:49.the website and if you look at the way the web coverage was consumed on
:03:50. > :03:53.Wednesday in particular and again on Thursday, with some of the questions
:03:54. > :03:57.and answers that were done, they were consumed in great numbers.
:03:58. > :04:02.Equally, on phone`ins like five live, they did phone`ins with the
:04:03. > :04:06.pensions minister to answer questions, Robert Peston was doing a
:04:07. > :04:10.question and answer on Facebook. What difference do they make to the
:04:11. > :04:15.range of information people get? How much do they really add? It is
:04:16. > :04:18.trying to access audiences in different ways and ask questions in
:04:19. > :04:21.different contexts. Those opportunities have been valuable. We
:04:22. > :04:27.have done it on Twitter in the past. We are trying to allow me new ways
:04:28. > :04:32.to allow audiences to contact us to get the benefit of our expertise,
:04:33. > :04:36.secure in the knowledge it is hopefully impartial coverage. Our
:04:37. > :04:39.research suggests audiences turned the BBC when they want impartial
:04:40. > :04:44.coverage, in ever greater numbers as they did. Some of these new ways of
:04:45. > :04:48.reaching them have been invaluable. Tell me more about competence
:04:49. > :04:52.ability. We heard a complaint about people who feel there is a lot of
:04:53. > :04:57.jargon and date and it is not always explained to them. We strive to make
:04:58. > :05:03.it compensable. If you hear jargon term in a news bulletin. Such as
:05:04. > :05:08.GDP? You should hear it explained, what it means, so you should never
:05:09. > :05:11.hear the term GDP in isolation without instant explanation of
:05:12. > :05:14.growth in the economy. That is something we have taken to heart,
:05:15. > :05:20.particularly as interest in the economy has remained at high levels
:05:21. > :05:24.since the crisis five or six years ago. We are trying to make sure we
:05:25. > :05:28.explain terms. In the pension reform on Wednesday, we made sure to always
:05:29. > :05:32.explain what an annuity was, a defined contribution scheme was, the
:05:33. > :05:36.specific areas of interest that we knew they would be asking questions
:05:37. > :05:44.about, we tried to give as much clarity in the answers as we could.
:05:45. > :05:47.Thank you for coming on Newswatch. You had plenty of other things to
:05:48. > :05:51.get off your chest is this week. Time to mention a few of them. The
:05:52. > :05:54.saga of the missing Malaysian airliner has continued to make
:05:55. > :06:00.headlines, notably this incident in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
:06:01. > :06:03.Distressed Chinese relatives, trying to complain about the lack of
:06:04. > :06:07.information to journalists outside a news conference, were dragged away
:06:08. > :06:11.by security guards. Afterwards correspond in Jonah Fisher tried to
:06:12. > :06:17.find out why. Can you, excuse me sir, why are you not allowing the
:06:18. > :06:22.relatives to speak to us? Why are you not allowing the relatives to
:06:23. > :06:27.speak to us? Excuse me, why are you not allowing the relatives to speak
:06:28. > :06:32.to us, sir? OK, no comment? It is a bit strange, isn't it? They wanted
:06:33. > :06:38.to speak to us. Ansa came their norm. A fall number of viewers felt
:06:39. > :06:38.uncomfortable at the way the situation was handled. Gareth
:06:39. > :07:00.Crosthwaite disgusted. Earlier in the week Rupert
:07:01. > :07:04.Wingfield`Hayes pursued a different angle on the missing plane, finding
:07:05. > :07:09.out how to change a flight path in a cockpit stimulator. In a simulated
:07:10. > :07:20.today, it took me just a few minutes to learn how to navigate and to
:07:21. > :07:27.change course. O M M L I N. These are waypoints, and insert? And now
:07:28. > :07:33.the plane is heading, it is turning towards the new wage point. It is as
:07:34. > :07:34.simple as that. Or is it? Tom, an Airbus captain, writing to us said
:07:35. > :07:57.it is not. Chris Lawrence made a different
:07:58. > :08:19.point. The BBC's coverage of the debate
:08:20. > :08:22.over Scottish independence will come under increasing scrutiny as
:08:23. > :08:27.September's referendum approaches and last Sunday some hackles north
:08:28. > :08:32.of the border were raised by Andrew Marr's interview with the first
:08:33. > :08:37.Minister, Alex Salmond. After some discussion about European
:08:38. > :08:41.president's Jose Manuel Barroso's view that it would be difficult for
:08:42. > :08:45.an independent Scotland to join the EU, the presenter asked this. You
:08:46. > :08:49.are but then I think it would be hard to get back in, I have to say,
:08:50. > :08:56.but let's move on to Theresa May. Sorry, can I just examine that for a
:08:57. > :09:03.second, Andrew? This is what the Andrew Marr analysis, as opposed
:09:04. > :09:07.to... Having talked to the Secretary`General. Is that ended the
:09:08. > :09:12.big `` is that an individual expression? I have no views on this,
:09:13. > :09:20.nor does the BBC. I was reflecting what Mr Barroso said. You gave your
:09:21. > :09:23.opinion. Not everyone accepted Andrew Marr's explanation, with one
:09:24. > :09:30.viewer leaving us this phone message. I think Andrew Marr was out
:09:31. > :09:33.of order and on Sunday in his programme. He doesn't have the right
:09:34. > :09:38.to comment on whether Scotland would be accepted into the EU or not. I
:09:39. > :09:42.think the way he handled Alex Salmond was an absolute disgrace and
:09:43. > :09:47.I think it is high time the BBC took a look at itself and thought to
:09:48. > :09:49.itself, whose side am I on here? In a statement BBC News defended the
:09:50. > :10:15.interview, reiterating that... Finally, if you were watching the
:10:16. > :10:18.news channel at about 9:55pm on Monday evening, you would have seen
:10:19. > :10:27.the weather bulletin interrupted. Weather fronts are mainly active
:10:28. > :10:31.off. For almost four minutes nothing else was seen. All that could be
:10:32. > :10:34.heard was the clicking noise of a computer keyboard and a few
:10:35. > :10:35.off`camera words from Huw Edwards, preparing for the News at Ten. Paul
:10:36. > :10:48.Thorpe was unimpressed. We asked what went wrong that night
:10:49. > :11:14.and were told. Thanks for all your comments this
:11:15. > :11:26.week. You can share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs.
:11:27. > :11:33.Have a look at our website for previous discussions. We will be
:11:34. > :11:34.back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next week.
:11:35. > :11:47.Goodbye. Good evening. It was a cool,
:11:48. > :11:50.blustery and showery end to the week and that's how we will get on into
:11:51. > :11:55.the weekend as well. Last weekend it was quite warm. This weekend we will
:11:56. > :11:57.be on the cool side. It was cool and breezy,