:00:00. > :00:00.Now it's time for Newswatch. This week Samira Ahmed looks at the
:00:00. > :00:14.difficulty of reporting on allegations of abuse.
:00:15. > :00:21.Currently ongoing challenge for the BBC, as distressing are aired in the
:00:22. > :00:24.trial of Stuart Hall and elsewhere, so how should the news report abuse
:00:25. > :00:28.allegations, especially at times when children might be watching?
:00:29. > :00:33.Should this man have been so widely described on air as the Scull
:00:34. > :00:41.Cracker, orders that glorify his crimes? And with BBC news slow to
:00:42. > :00:46.report on the school 's kidnapped in Nigeria Daschle was BBC news slow?
:00:47. > :00:50.Since the Jimmy Savile scandal broke in 2012, news bulletins are
:00:51. > :00:53.regularly featured celebrities who've been accused of a range of
:00:54. > :00:56.sexual offences. It has made for some extremely upsetting reports
:00:57. > :01:00.which, by some viewers, particularly those with children, have gone into
:01:01. > :01:05.too much detail at too great a length. This week has proved no
:01:06. > :01:08.exception. Friday saw the trial of Rolf Harris start at Southwark Crown
:01:09. > :01:13.Court. The artist and entertainer denies all 12 charges made against
:01:14. > :01:18.him of indecent assault against poor girl is said to have taken place
:01:19. > :01:22.between 1968 and 1986. Also in court this week has been BBC broadcaster
:01:23. > :01:28.Stuart Hall who denies 20 charges of rape and indecent assault between
:01:29. > :01:32.1976 and 1981. They were alleged to have taken place at two former BBC
:01:33. > :01:35.studios in Manchester. On Tuesday it emerged that entertainer Freddie
:01:36. > :01:39.Starr will not be prosecuted over sex offence allegations because of
:01:40. > :01:45.insufficient evidence on the claims. Last Friday, Max Clifford was jailed
:01:46. > :01:47.for eight years for a string of historic indecent assaults against
:01:48. > :01:54.girls and young women, the first conviction arriving at the operation
:01:55. > :01:57.Investigations. Such distressing crimes have been reported the
:01:58. > :01:59.decades and few would deny that they are in the public interest but the
:02:00. > :02:03.frequency with which they've recently been beamed into sitting
:02:04. > :03:07.rooms raises the questions of the effect it has.
:03:08. > :03:11.Let's talk through these issues with the head of the BBC newsroom.
:03:12. > :03:14.Everybody knows we have to report the story is that it is
:03:15. > :03:17.uncomfortable and sometimes you have had three abuse stories and a
:03:18. > :03:20.half`hour bulletin, you can see what viewers are concerned. It's
:03:21. > :03:25.something we talk a lot about in the newsroom. We can't control when the
:03:26. > :03:29.stories arise, and for a couple of reasons, it's absolutely right that
:03:30. > :03:32.there are many of them coming through, day after day, we have to
:03:33. > :03:38.report them, because they're part of the news agenda. Following the case
:03:39. > :03:44.of Jimmy Savile, that in itself lead to other figures in historic crimes
:03:45. > :03:47.being investigated, and once you get one of the stories, they can lead to
:03:48. > :03:52.others as police investigate more, or members of the public come
:03:53. > :03:55.forward. We've seen that with a question of abuse in schools, which
:03:56. > :04:02.is another issue coming into the news agenda. We cannot control when
:04:03. > :04:07.the news gods decide that the stories will happen. It is our job
:04:08. > :04:11.to report them. There is the idea of a watershed, and that at tea`time,
:04:12. > :04:14.can you report this in a different way? It seems there really isn't any
:04:15. > :04:18.difference in the amount of detail given after 9pm maybe we have to
:04:19. > :04:24.rethink about what goes out at breakfast and daytime. A career we
:04:25. > :04:27.are regulated in a way that means we take it seriously so I hope that
:04:28. > :04:32.viewers will notice and appreciate that we are very careful in the use
:04:33. > :04:37.of language. The language we use is often the language of the court, so
:04:38. > :04:41.it's our job is part of court reporting to report accurately what
:04:42. > :04:46.the charges are, which means we will be using phrases like sexual
:04:47. > :04:51.assault. We will use the word rape. There is a lot of detail that we do
:04:52. > :04:53.not give. What about the wider discussions that happen? For
:04:54. > :04:59.example, discussing pornography at breakfast? I do have a lot of
:05:00. > :05:07.sympathy with the e`mails coming to you. Our view is that we covered the
:05:08. > :05:14.topic very responsibly and I really don't think that it in any way was
:05:15. > :05:17.normalising pornography. It was based on the shocking evidence that
:05:18. > :05:22.a lot of children, because of social media and the Internet now exposed
:05:23. > :05:27.to this sort of content. That is serious matter that everybody,
:05:28. > :05:31.including families and parents. Seven away we have to accept that we
:05:32. > :05:39.talk about these things and away we did 20 years ago? We are becoming
:05:40. > :05:42.aware a society that `` things we weren't aware of before. You might
:05:43. > :05:44.say that this is a good thing, that we are able to talk
:05:45. > :05:48.straightforwardly, carefully and responsibly, about some of the
:05:49. > :05:56.things that happened Tom and the particular issues around the
:05:57. > :05:59.Internet. In the end, this is difficult because the audience
:06:00. > :06:04.varies. Families and how they talk about things varies and I recognise
:06:05. > :06:08.that viewers will have to make their own personal decisions about whether
:06:09. > :06:11.to switch off or not, depending on the age of their children, the
:06:12. > :06:14.extent to which it is something that they want the news to prompt
:06:15. > :06:19.discussion about. It's also possible for viewers to keep an ear out in
:06:20. > :06:22.the headlines because often you will be able to tell whether there is a
:06:23. > :06:28.story that is prominent and maybe make a judgement whether to turn off
:06:29. > :06:30.before the coverage gets going, or at least to be alert to the fact
:06:31. > :06:35.that it's coming and how you will handle it with children. Is that
:06:36. > :06:38.what people will have to do question other cases are not reducing in
:06:39. > :06:43.number, so I wonder how far the BBC has to think about changing how they
:06:44. > :06:48.cover it, or will parents have to accept that they make the decision
:06:49. > :06:52.themselves? It is not new that this is part of the agenda. We are part
:06:53. > :06:57.of a particular sequence of court cases, and that phase will work it
:06:58. > :07:01.self through. That does not mean we won't find new cases coming along or
:07:02. > :07:05.news stories or issues which have, at the heart of it, some aspects
:07:06. > :07:08.which are to do with sexual behaviour. That won't go away. Mary,
:07:09. > :07:19.thank you. We are here to air your opinions on
:07:20. > :07:22.BBC News, so do get in touch, and will be telling you how to do so
:07:23. > :07:26.shortly. Before that, some of you have been in touch about the
:07:27. > :07:29.reporting of the escaped convict, Michael Wigley, who is recaptured on
:07:30. > :07:34.Thursday after absconding from an open prison `` Michael Wheatley.
:07:35. > :07:38.Objections talked about sensationalise language, including
:07:39. > :07:41.this headline on Friday morning. An armed robber known as the Skull
:07:42. > :07:46.Cracker, who spent five days on the run from prison is due in court for
:07:47. > :07:51.raiding a building `` building society. One viewer was prompted by
:07:52. > :08:18.the coverage to write into the first time.
:08:19. > :08:23.In the past few days, there has been plenty of attention from BBC News on
:08:24. > :08:28.the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian school groups by the
:08:29. > :08:31.Islamist Nigerian group, but it's almost four weeks since the girls
:08:32. > :08:38.were seized, and some groups told us that they felt it took the global
:08:39. > :08:40.news audience to remind us through social media that this was a story
:08:41. > :09:18.that the public wanted to hear about.
:09:19. > :09:26.Monday's news bulletins featured the death of a lane about Thatcher at
:09:27. > :09:34.just 30. In the news at ten and included it in their headlines as
:09:35. > :09:36.follows. The world of tennis remembers Elena Balatcha, the former
:09:37. > :09:38.England number one, who has died of cancer at the age of number 30 ``
:09:39. > :10:16.age 30. Finally, on Thursday came news that
:10:17. > :10:21.Colin Pullinger had died. On that day's news that one, it was reported
:10:22. > :10:24.on the man best known for his attempt to land the Beagle
:10:25. > :10:28.spacecraft on Mars, but did his scientific gifts extend beyond that
:10:29. > :10:35.question must look out for the on`screen date caption at the end of
:10:36. > :10:39.this. Although he was not successful in landing Beagle on Mars, his
:10:40. > :10:41.efforts inspire the nation. It introduced a new generation to
:10:42. > :10:47.science and the wonders of space travel. He reached for the stars,
:10:48. > :10:54.and persuaded others that they could as well.
:10:55. > :11:09.Peter Smith from Dartford was one of those to spot the mistake.
:11:10. > :11:16.Thank you for all of your comments. Next week we will talk to Ian Katz,
:11:17. > :11:20.the editor of Newsnight, so give us your questions for him, and also any
:11:21. > :11:39.aspect of BBC news and current affairs.
:11:40. > :11:42.We'll be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next
:11:43. > :11:51.week. Until then, goodbye. Turning into a pretty wet night out
:11:52. > :11:55.there and that will get is in the mood for what is a far from settled
:11:56. > :11:58.weekend. There will be blustery showers around, it will be cold in
:11:59. > :12:01.the wind but not a complete wash`out. There will be some
:12:02. > :12:06.sunshine at times for nearly all of this. It has already started turning
:12:07. > :12:09.wet across southwestern parts `` all of us. The southwestern high
:12:10. > :12:10.pressure