:00:00. > :00:11.Now, Newswatch. Did the BBC's screening of the debate on the EU do
:00:12. > :00:19.a favour to UKIP? Welcome to Newswatch. Coming up...
:00:20. > :00:25.Wednesday's EU debate, we look at the dilemma for the BBC over how
:00:26. > :00:29.much air time to give to it. Is this Nick Robinson's new interviewing
:00:30. > :00:32.technique, questioning politicians when they are busy talking to
:00:33. > :00:37.someone else which are marked Mr Farrow, are you still arguing that
:00:38. > :00:44.President Assad did not use chemical weapons? And we look back at when
:00:45. > :00:51.the BBC cheered as up with a cheerful hoax about spaghetti
:00:52. > :00:56.growing on trees. The build`up seemed to promise the latest in a
:00:57. > :01:01.series of heavyweight confrontations. But did Wednesday
:01:02. > :01:09.night causing big fight live up to the billing? Seconds out for round
:01:10. > :01:15.two of the bout between the man who says he is leading a people's army,
:01:16. > :01:23.and the man who says he is exposing a dangerous fallacy. Last week, they
:01:24. > :01:27.sized each other up. Tonight it is the career political class and their
:01:28. > :01:33.friends in big his nose, they want us to keep the status quo. If it
:01:34. > :01:37.sounds too good to be true, it probably is. But was this debate the
:01:38. > :02:04.BBC should have been screening? Some people thought not...
:02:05. > :02:12.Others felt that coverage of the debate exposed or did something to
:02:13. > :02:35.redress what they see as the BBC's pro`EU bias.
:02:36. > :02:46.Well, the BBC's chief political adviser joins me in the studio now.
:02:47. > :02:50.Nigel Farage has his supporters as well as his detractors, but why
:02:51. > :02:55.screen a debate about this topic, which no voter is going to have a
:02:56. > :02:58.say on, for the time being? It is clearly one of the big political
:02:59. > :03:07.issues of our time, Britain's relationship with the European issue
:03:08. > :03:12.union `` the European Union. We get criticism from both sides, that we
:03:13. > :03:17.do not do enough on Europe. I think this was a really good opportunity
:03:18. > :03:19.to hear from someone who is very much in favour of the European
:03:20. > :03:24.Union, up against somebody who is very much against it, to hear some
:03:25. > :03:29.of those arguments, ahead of a time when this will become a really big
:03:30. > :03:33.issue, in two or three years' time. But there are lots of big issues
:03:34. > :03:37.that we could have a debate on, but this particular issue plays into the
:03:38. > :03:42.hands of UKIP, many people would say. Well, it was Nick Clegg who
:03:43. > :03:45.threw down the gauntlet and offered to have a debate. I think he felt
:03:46. > :03:50.that he wanted to put that side of the argument. Nigel Farage of course
:03:51. > :03:56.has also been prominent in the last year or two. It is quite right that
:03:57. > :03:59.these two quite prominent politicians should have an
:04:00. > :04:05.opportunity on the BBC to talk about this important issue. We will talk
:04:06. > :04:10.about how we define prominent ` UKIP have no MPs, the Green Party have
:04:11. > :04:14.one, but they do not seem to be getting invited to debate issues.
:04:15. > :04:20.There is a question about how much the BBC has helped build up the
:04:21. > :04:24.profile of UKIP over the past year? We give coverage to political
:04:25. > :04:28.parties according to the level of electoral support they have had in
:04:29. > :04:32.the past. It is true that UKIP do not have any MPs, they did not get
:04:33. > :04:36.any in the 2010 election, but since then, it is undeniable that they
:04:37. > :04:40.have made a big impact in electorally. They did extremely well
:04:41. > :04:43.in the local elections last year. Their ratings in the opinion polls
:04:44. > :04:48.have been extremely strong over the past couple of years. Mostly higher
:04:49. > :04:53.than the Lib Dems. So the fact that UKIP is making an impact with real
:04:54. > :04:58.voters means the BBC has to reflect that and reflect those views. There
:04:59. > :05:01.is a question about what happens next, because now that he has
:05:02. > :05:06.debated with Nick Clegg, surely Nigel Farage will expect to be part
:05:07. > :05:11.of any general election leadership debate next year. Would he be? We
:05:12. > :05:15.looked at each election. At the moment we are looking towards the
:05:16. > :05:19.European elections next month. In that context, UKIP have done
:05:20. > :05:24.extremely well over the years, they came second last time, some people
:05:25. > :05:27.even think they might the general election is still more than a year
:05:28. > :05:32.away. At an appropriate time, we will look at it. Is there definitely
:05:33. > :05:36.going to be a leadership debate before the general election next
:05:37. > :05:40.year? It is not set yet. We would like to do one. We thought they were
:05:41. > :05:44.incredibly successful last time, particularly engaging younger
:05:45. > :05:47.voters. We and the other broadcasters would like to do one
:05:48. > :05:53.again this time, but it is still more than a year away, so it is not
:05:54. > :05:59.certain. I am just looking at the number of MEPs, nearly half have
:06:00. > :06:04.quit, resigned, been expelled or changed party, from UKIP? It is
:06:05. > :06:08.true, but people voted for them at the last election, and one thing
:06:09. > :06:13.about giving a party like that more coverage is that we ask them more
:06:14. > :06:17.difficult questions. It means that the BBC, as part of its job, has to
:06:18. > :06:22.hold them to account. That is what we are doing when we do this kind of
:06:23. > :06:27.coverage. Debates is just one part of it. We will be doing lots of
:06:28. > :06:33.other coverage about Europe. Thank you.
:06:34. > :06:40.You have been sending us comments relating to that debate, and you
:06:41. > :06:46.were doing so before it kicked off. Nick Robinson was live for the news
:06:47. > :06:50.at six outside New Broadcasting House in London following earlier
:06:51. > :06:56.comments from Nigel Farage about the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
:06:57. > :07:00.And who should be behind him? Nigel Farage is answering questions about
:07:01. > :07:05.those comments. Because the UN did not take a decision about who used
:07:06. > :07:11.chemical weapons in Syria, but they did conclude that the weapons were
:07:12. > :07:16.used. Are you still arguing that President Assad did not use chemical
:07:17. > :07:40.weapons in Syria? Some viewers were unimpressed by that...
:07:41. > :07:47.Another topic caught your eye last weekend, coverage of the first
:07:48. > :07:53.same`sex marriage is, which took place in England and Wales following
:07:54. > :07:58.a new law coming into effect. Was it a major cultural shift or a small,
:07:59. > :08:02.incremental change, following the introduction of civil partnerships
:08:03. > :08:03.in 2005 and now some people felt BBC News gave the event too much
:08:04. > :08:32.attention. If same`sex marriage is a divisive
:08:33. > :08:37.issue, so, too, is climate change. This week the BBC was criticised for
:08:38. > :08:41.its reporting on that subject by a Parliamentary committee. MPs said
:08:42. > :08:44.some editors were poor at determining the level of expertise
:08:45. > :08:49.amongst the public, and sometimes pitted lobbyists against top
:08:50. > :08:54.scientists, as if their views had equal weight. The BBC responded that
:08:55. > :09:16.it did not believe in erasing wider viewpoints.
:09:17. > :09:25.Finally, the date on Tuesday prompted Colin Paterson to look back
:09:26. > :09:33.at one of broadcasting's most famous tricks on the audience. On the 1st
:09:34. > :09:35.of April 1957, in between Hancox half`hour and some heavyweight
:09:36. > :09:41.boxing, panorama featured one of the most famous April Fools of all time.
:09:42. > :09:45.Spaghetti cultivation in Switzerland is not carried out on anything like
:09:46. > :09:54.the tremendous scale of the Italian industry. That was the voice of
:09:55. > :10:08.Richard and bubbly. `` Richard Dimbleby.
:10:09. > :10:14.Others were on the lookout for similar trickery this year. One
:10:15. > :10:27.viewer thought she had found a candidate on the BBC News website.
:10:28. > :10:34.No, that story actually is true, along with all the other unlikely
:10:35. > :10:39.sounding reports you heard or read on the BBC on Tuesday. The BBC did
:10:40. > :11:01.however relay some stories from the papers.
:11:02. > :11:09.If in our naivete we missed any BBC April Fools this week, do let us
:11:10. > :11:11.know. We want you to share all of your opinions on BBC current affairs
:11:12. > :11:30.by contacting us... Thanks for all your comments about
:11:31. > :11:42.BBC News. These join us again next week. Goodbye.
:11:43. > :11:46.You will need to factor in the possibility of rain at least into
:11:47. > :11:47.your plans for the