:00:16. > :00:24.Welcome to Newswatch. An ongoing challenge for the BBC. As
:00:25. > :00:27.distressing details are aired in the trial of Stuart Hall and elsewhere,
:00:28. > :00:29.so how should the news report abuse allegations, especially at times
:00:30. > :00:32.when children might be watching? Should this man have been so widely
:00:33. > :00:49.described on air as the Scull Cracker, or names that glorify his
:00:50. > :00:52.crimes? `` Skull Cracker. And with BBC News slow to report on the
:00:53. > :00:55.schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria, was BBC News slow? Since the Jimmy
:00:56. > :00:58.Savile scandal broke in 2012, news bulletins are regularly featured
:00:59. > :01:00.celebrities who've been accused of a range of sexual offences. It has
:01:01. > :01:03.made for some extremely upsetting reports which, by some viewers,
:01:04. > :01:06.particularly those with children, have gone into too much detail at
:01:07. > :01:09.too great a length. This week has proved no exception. Friday saw the
:01:10. > :01:12.trial of Rolf Harris start at Southwark Crown Court. The artist
:01:13. > :01:15.and entertainer denies all 12 charges made against him of indecent
:01:16. > :01:25.assault against poor girls, said to have taken place between 1968 and
:01:26. > :01:28.1986. Also in court this week, has been BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall,
:01:29. > :01:31.who denies 20 charges of rape and indecent assault between 1976 and
:01:32. > :01:33.1981. They were alleged to have taken place at two former BBC
:01:34. > :01:36.studios in Manchester. On Tuesday it emerged that entertainer Freddie
:01:37. > :01:39.Starr will not be prosecuted over sex offence allegations, because of
:01:40. > :01:42.insufficient evidence on the claims. Last Friday, Max Clifford was jailed
:01:43. > :01:44.for eight years for a string of historic indecent assaults against
:01:45. > :01:52.girls and young women, the first conviction arriving at the operation
:01:53. > :01:54.Investigations. Such distressing crimes have been reported the
:01:55. > :01:57.decades, and few would deny that they are in the public interest, but
:01:58. > :02:00.the frequency with which they've recently been beamed into sitting
:02:01. > :03:03.rooms raises the questions of the effect it has. `` for decades.
:03:04. > :03:09.Let's talk through these issues with the head of the BBC newsroom.
:03:10. > :03:11.Everybody knows we have to report the stories, that it is
:03:12. > :03:14.uncomfortable, and sometimes you have had three abuse stories in a
:03:15. > :03:18.half`hour bulletin, you can see why viewers are concerned. It's
:03:19. > :03:22.something we talk a lot about in the newsroom. We can't control when the
:03:23. > :03:25.stories arise, and for a couple of reasons, it's absolutely right that
:03:26. > :03:28.there are many of them coming through, day after day, we have to
:03:29. > :03:34.report them, because they're part of the news agenda. Following the case
:03:35. > :03:37.of Jimmy Savile, that in itself led to other figures in historic crimes
:03:38. > :03:41.being investigated, and once you get one of the stories, they can lead to
:03:42. > :03:47.others as police investigate more, or members of the public come
:03:48. > :03:50.forward. We've seen that with the question of abuse in schools, which
:03:51. > :04:00.is another issue coming into the news agenda. We cannot control when
:04:01. > :04:04.the News Gods decide that the stories will happen. It is our job
:04:05. > :04:08.to report them. There is the idea of a watershed, and that at tea`time,
:04:09. > :04:17.can you report this in a different way? And should you? It seems there
:04:18. > :04:21.really isn't any difference in the amount of detail given after 9:00pm,
:04:22. > :04:29.maybe we have to rethink about what goes out at breakfast and daytime.
:04:30. > :04:35.We are very conscious of the watershed, and we are regulated in a
:04:36. > :04:38.way that means we take it seriously, so I hope that viewers will notice
:04:39. > :04:42.and appreciate that we are very careful in the use of language. The
:04:43. > :04:45.language we use is often the language of the court, so it's our
:04:46. > :04:48.job as part of court reporting to report accurately what the charges
:04:49. > :04:52.are, which means we will be using phrases like sexual assault. We will
:04:53. > :04:55.use the word rape. There is a lot of detail that we do not give. What
:04:56. > :04:57.about the wider discussions that happen? For example, discussing
:04:58. > :05:02.pornography at breakfast? I do have a lot of sympathy with the e`mails
:05:03. > :05:05.coming to you. Our view is that we covered the topic very responsibly
:05:06. > :05:10.and I really don't think that it in any way was normalising pornography.
:05:11. > :05:13.It was based on the shocking evidence that a lot of children,
:05:14. > :05:21.because of social media and the Internet, are now exposed to this
:05:22. > :05:38.sort of content. That is serious matter that everybody, including
:05:39. > :05:41.families and parents. In a way, we have to accept that we don't talk
:05:42. > :05:45.about these things in the way we did 20 years ago? We are becoming aware
:05:46. > :05:48.as a society of things we weren't aware of before. You might say that
:05:49. > :05:51.this is a good thing, that we are able to talk straightforwardly,
:05:52. > :05:53.carefully and responsibly, about some of the things that happened,
:05:54. > :05:56.and the particular issues around the Internet. In the end, this is
:05:57. > :05:59.difficult because the audience varies. Families, and how they talk
:06:00. > :06:02.about things vary, and I recognise that viewers will have to make their
:06:03. > :06:05.own personal decisions about whether to switch off or not, depending on
:06:06. > :06:13.the age of their children, the extent to which it is something that
:06:14. > :06:19.they want the news to prompt discussion about. It is also
:06:20. > :06:22.possible for viewers to keep an ear out in the headlines, because often
:06:23. > :06:25.you will be able to tell whether there is a story that is prominent,
:06:26. > :06:29.and maybe make a judgement whether to turn off before the coverage gets
:06:30. > :06:32.going, or at least to be alert to the fact that it's coming, and how
:06:33. > :06:44.you will handle it with children. Is that what people will have to do?
:06:45. > :06:48.Because these cases are not reducing in number, so I wonder how far the
:06:49. > :06:51.BBC has to think about changing how they cover it, or will parents have
:06:52. > :06:55.to accept that they make the decision themselves? It is not new
:06:56. > :06:58.that this is part of the agenda. We are part of a particular sequence of
:06:59. > :07:01.court cases, and that phase will work itself through. That does not
:07:02. > :07:05.mean we won't find new cases coming along, or news stories or issues
:07:06. > :07:08.which have, at the heart of it, some aspects which are to do with sexual
:07:09. > :07:17.behaviour. That won't go away. Mary, thank you. We are here to air your
:07:18. > :07:20.opinions on BBC News, so do get in touch, and will be telling you how
:07:21. > :07:24.to do so shortly. Before that, some of you have been in touch about the
:07:25. > :07:26.reporting of the escaped convict, Michael Wheatley, who was recaptured
:07:27. > :07:40.on Thursday after absconding from an open prison. Objections talked about
:07:41. > :07:42.what some saw as sensationalised language, including this headline on
:07:43. > :07:45.Friday morning. An armed robber known as the Skull Cracker, who
:07:46. > :07:48.spent five days on the run from prison, is due in court for raiding
:07:49. > :07:50.a building society. One viewer was prompted by the coverage to write in
:07:51. > :08:20.for the first time. In the past few days, there has been
:08:21. > :08:23.plenty of attention from BBC News on the abduction of more than 200
:08:24. > :08:26.Nigerian schoolgirls by the Islamist Nigerian group, but it is almost
:08:27. > :08:29.four weeks since the girls were seized, and some groups told us that
:08:30. > :08:33.they felt it took the global news audience to remind us through social
:08:34. > :09:19.media that this was a story that the public wanted to hear about.
:09:20. > :09:23.Monday's news bulletins featured the death of Elena Baltacha at just 30.
:09:24. > :09:28.In the news at 10:00pm they included it in their headlines as follows.
:09:29. > :09:32.The world of tennis remembers Elena Baltacha, the former England number
:09:33. > :10:09.one, who has died of cancer at the age of 30.
:10:10. > :10:16.Finally, on Thursday came news that Colin Pullinger had died. On that
:10:17. > :10:20.day's news at 1:00, it reported on the man best known for his attempt
:10:21. > :10:27.to land the Beagle spacecraft on Mars, but did his scientific gifts
:10:28. > :10:33.extend beyond that? We must look out for the on`screen date caption at
:10:34. > :10:35.the end of this. Although he was not successful in landing Beagle on
:10:36. > :10:47.Mars, his efforts inspire the nation. It enthused a new generation
:10:48. > :10:50.to science, and the wonders of space travel. He reached for the stars,
:10:51. > :10:53.and persuaded others that they could as well. Peter Smith from Dartford
:10:54. > :11:08.was one of those to spot the mistake.
:11:09. > :11:15.Thank you for all of your comments. Next week we will talk to Ian Katz,
:11:16. > :11:18.the editor of Newsnight, so give us your questions for him, and also any
:11:19. > :11:25.aspect of BBC News and current affairs.
:11:26. > :11:29.We'll be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next
:11:30. > :11:58.week. Until then, goodbye. Hello there. Sunshine and showers,
:11:59. > :12:00.with an area