09/05/2014 Newswatch

Now it's time for Newswatch. This week Samira Ahmed looks at the

difficulty of reporting on allegations of abuse.

Currently ongoing challenge for the BBC, as distressing are aired in the

trial of Stuart Hall and elsewhere, so how should the news report abuse

allegations, especially at times when children might be watching?

Should this man have been so widely described on air as the Scull

Cracker, orders that glorify his crimes? And with BBC news slow to

report on the school 's kidnapped in Nigeria Daschle was BBC news slow?

Since the Jimmy Savile scandal broke in 2012, news bulletins are

regularly featured celebrities who've been accused of a range of

sexual offences. It has made for some extremely upsetting reports

which, by some viewers, particularly those with children, have gone into

too much detail at too great a length. This week has proved no

exception. Friday saw the trial of Rolf Harris start at Southwark Crown

Court. The artist and entertainer denies all 12 charges made against

him of indecent assault against poor girl is said to have taken place

between 1968 and 1986. Also in court this week has been BBC broadcaster

Stuart Hall who denies 20 charges of rape and indecent assault between

1976 and 1981. They were alleged to have taken place at two former BBC

studios in Manchester. On Tuesday it emerged that entertainer Freddie

Starr will not be prosecuted over sex offence allegations because of

insufficient evidence on the claims. Last Friday, Max Clifford was jailed

for eight years for a string of historic indecent assaults against

girls and young women, the first conviction arriving at the operation

Investigations. Such distressing crimes have been reported the

decades and few would deny that they are in the public interest but the

frequency with which they've recently been beamed into sitting

rooms raises the questions of the effect it has.

Let's talk through these issues with the head of the BBC newsroom.

Everybody knows we have to report the story is that it is

uncomfortable and sometimes you have had three abuse stories and a

half`hour bulletin, you can see what viewers are concerned. It's

something we talk a lot about in the newsroom. We can't control when the

stories arise, and for a couple of reasons, it's absolutely right that

there are many of them coming through, day after day, we have to

report them, because they're part of the news agenda. Following the case

of Jimmy Savile, that in itself lead to other figures in historic crimes

being investigated, and once you get one of the stories, they can lead to

others as police investigate more, or members of the public come

forward. We've seen that with a question of abuse in schools, which

is another issue coming into the news agenda. We cannot control when

the news gods decide that the stories will happen. It is our job

to report them. There is the idea of a watershed, and that at tea`time,

can you report this in a different way? It seems there really isn't any

difference in the amount of detail given after 9pm maybe we have to

rethink about what goes out at breakfast and daytime. A career we

are regulated in a way that means we take it seriously so I hope that

viewers will notice and appreciate that we are very careful in the use

of language. The language we use is often the language of the court, so

it's our job is part of court reporting to report accurately what

the charges are, which means we will be using phrases like sexual

assault. We will use the word rape. There is a lot of detail that we do

not give. What about the wider discussions that happen? For

example, discussing pornography at breakfast? I do have a lot of

sympathy with the e`mails coming to you. Our view is that we covered the

topic very responsibly and I really don't think that it in any way was

normalising pornography. It was based on the shocking evidence that

a lot of children, because of social media and the Internet now exposed

to this sort of content. That is serious matter that everybody,

including families and parents. Seven away we have to accept that we

talk about these things and away we did 20 years ago? We are becoming

aware a society that `` things we weren't aware of before. You might

say that this is a good thing, that we are able to talk

straightforwardly, carefully and responsibly, about some of the

things that happened Tom and the particular issues around the

Internet. In the end, this is difficult because the audience

varies. Families and how they talk about things varies and I recognise

that viewers will have to make their own personal decisions about whether

to switch off or not, depending on the age of their children, the

extent to which it is something that they want the news to prompt

discussion about. It's also possible for viewers to keep an ear out in

the headlines because often you will be able to tell whether there is a

story that is prominent and maybe make a judgement whether to turn off

before the coverage gets going, or at least to be alert to the fact

that it's coming and how you will handle it with children. Is that

what people will have to do question other cases are not reducing in

number, so I wonder how far the BBC has to think about changing how they

cover it, or will parents have to accept that they make the decision

themselves? It is not new that this is part of the agenda. We are part

of a particular sequence of court cases, and that phase will work it

self through. That does not mean we won't find new cases coming along or

news stories or issues which have, at the heart of it, some aspects

which are to do with sexual behaviour. That won't go away. Mary,

thank you. We are here to air your opinions on

BBC News, so do get in touch, and will be telling you how to do so

shortly. Before that, some of you have been in touch about the

reporting of the escaped convict, Michael Wigley, who is recaptured on

Thursday after absconding from an open prison `` Michael Wheatley.

Objections talked about sensationalise language, including

this headline on Friday morning. An armed robber known as the Skull

Cracker, who spent five days on the run from prison is due in court for

raiding a building `` building society. One viewer was prompted by

the coverage to write into the first time.

In the past few days, there has been plenty of attention from BBC News on

the abduction of more than 200 Nigerian school groups by the

Islamist Nigerian group, but it's almost four weeks since the girls

were seized, and some groups told us that they felt it took the global

news audience to remind us through social media that this was a story

that the public wanted to hear about.

Monday's news bulletins featured the death of a lane about Thatcher at

just 30. In the news at ten and included it in their headlines as

follows. The world of tennis remembers Elena Balatcha, the former

England number one, who has died of cancer at the age of number 30 ``

age 30. Finally, on Thursday came news that

Colin Pullinger had died. On that day's news that one, it was reported

on the man best known for his attempt to land the Beagle

spacecraft on Mars, but did his scientific gifts extend beyond that

question must look out for the on`screen date caption at the end of

this. Although he was not successful in landing Beagle on Mars, his

efforts inspire the nation. It introduced a new generation to

science and the wonders of space travel. He reached for the stars,

and persuaded others that they could as well.

Peter Smith from Dartford was one of those to spot the mistake.

Thank you for all of your comments. Next week we will talk to Ian Katz,

the editor of Newsnight, so give us your questions for him, and also any

aspect of BBC news and current affairs.

We'll be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next

week. Until then, goodbye. Turning into a pretty wet night out

there and that will get is in the mood for what is a far from settled

weekend. There will be blustery showers around, it will be cold in

the wind but not a complete wash`out. There will be some

sunshine at times for nearly all of this. It has already started turning

wet across southwestern parts `` all of us. The southwestern high

pressure