30/05/2014 Newswatch


30/05/2014

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Hello and welcome to Newswatch. Last week's elections brought a UKIP

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political earthquake to Britain, or did they? If they did, was the BBC

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partly responsible? The Corporation's political editor

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response to charges that their success was overhyped and discusses

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his questioning of Nigel Farage during the election campaign.

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As the results of the English local elections and those for the European

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Parliament came in, one man's smiling face dominated television

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screens. Much of the talk was about UKIP and Nigel Farage, as it had

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been during the campaign. Even when he was speaking to one set of

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cameras, the UKIP leader had to deal with a question thrown at him by a

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nearby Nick Robinson. Viewers complained about this at the time,

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as they did when the BBC's political complained about this at the time,

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as they did when the editor questioned him about employing his

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German wife as a secretary? Nobody else could do that job. No British

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person could work for you as your secretary? You do not think anybody

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capable is of doing that job? And again when they discussed concerns

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people might have if a group of Romanians moved in next door. What

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if Jamaica Inn is moved next door? No. Nigerians?

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Projected national shared... Perhaps because of the scrutiny Nigel Farage

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and his party were put under, they did well in the local elections in

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England, but how well? David Graves looked closely at the numbers. The

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BBC have talked about a surge, a massive increase, huge success, UKIP

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the story of the day. To put it in context, look at the results.

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Labour, 2100 seats. United Kingdom Independence party, at the most

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fourth place, 163 seats. Try and reconcile that with BBC coverage. It

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does not make sense. When the European results came through, it

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was clear that UKIP at won. For some viewers, the BBC had played a part

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in that victory. The BBC's political editor, Nick

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Robinson, joins us down the line. Let's start with the election

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campaign, were your interviews with Nigel Farage to personal? I don't

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think they were. I did take a view that Nigel Farage was likely to be

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at the centre of this election campaign, that it was widely

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predicted by all parties that UKIP could win the European elections,

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and that Nigel Farage had done a lot of clips for news programmes,

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usually with a pint in his hand and a smile on his face, usually

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inviting him to comment on others, rather than being interrogated on

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his own position. I thought it was right to do that. It is clear that

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Nigel Farage divides viewers and voters, and we have had complaints

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from both sides, but on the local elections, the charge is that the

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BBC over reported, exaggerated how successful UKIP had been. They only

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got 163 seats, compared to more than 2004 Labour, and their share of the

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vote went down. I think Labour supporters were deeply frustrated

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that they had many gains, the most of councils and councillors and

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bodes. I get these messages myself, they feel that was not properly

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represented. We did report that, although it is worth remembering

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that the results got much better into Friday than they were overnight

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Thursday night and into Friday morning. So the picture on Friday

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night was much better and healthier for Labour than it had been the

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night before, and at the time people were switching on their radios or

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televisions, or downloading things on the internet first thing on

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Friday morning. The point we were making again and again was to report

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the facts, you always got to gain this and you gave that, but also we

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are there to add analysis and interpretation. `` who gained this

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and who gained that. The people who study elections, Professor John

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Curtice, Peter Kellner, they all agreed that these results were not

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good enough for Labour to be confident of winning the next

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election. They only had a lead of about 1% over the Conservatives.

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They were not as good as other positions had done at a similar time

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in this sort of situation before an election. UKIP, on the other hand,

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had made a breakthrough, no longer just a European party, they were

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finding a base in local councils not just in the South against the

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Tories, but in the North against Labour, establishing themselves as

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the fourth party of English politics. They went on to do it in

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British politics at the Euro elections, but we were right to

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point that out. In the European elections, UKIP clearly won, but

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viewers are concerned that the BBC coverage made that a self`fulfilling

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prophecy, almost a cheerleader for UKIP. I know there is that feeling,

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but I think it is wrong. Why do I think it is wrong? Because the big

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rise in UKIP's poll ratings happened before this campaign, long before Mr

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Farage was getting onto the television day in and day out. There

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had already been a surge, one year ago they had a record`breaking

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performance at the local council, county council elections last May.

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And therefore you cannot make that link between recent coverage and his

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performance. We got the same complaints over last year's local

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elections, and many people feel the BBC has been building up UKIP for

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over a year. The BBC has to try to give their coverage to politicians,

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and in case people wonder how that is done, it is by studying how

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parties have performed in the past, how many seats they have got, for

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example, how they did in previous elections. We also look at their

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current poll ratings, and decisions are made not by the likes of me all

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by my editors, but we have a chief political adviser whose job it is to

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advise the regulators, the BBC Trust, who makes a judgment about

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share of coverage. His decision, which was echoed in Tiley by ITV and

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Channel 4 and Sky, was that UKIP should get equal coverage to the big

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three parties in the European elections. `` entirely. It was a

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national vote, they performed very well in 2009, they were performing,

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in the opinion polls, in a way that suggested they may come first, and

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therefore a decision was made by our regulators that my being fair and

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balanced, that meant giving UKIP same level of coverage as the other

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parties. BBC News analysis presented both the euro and local boats as the

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other parties. BBC News analysis presented both the euro and. ``

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votes. There was very little on the issues, surely that is failing to do

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the job. If you listen to your local radio station, you will see stories

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about local councils, reported in terms of that council, the decisions

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they are taking. It is not realistic that at a national level we can do

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that, so at the elections we see them through a prism of what it

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means for a general election, and there is a long history of local

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elections being a pretty good guide as to what will happen. On the

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European Parliament, I think that is a fair criticism, there was

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certainly coverage around, and it is fair criticism that we need to

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constantly think about how we explain to people what a member of

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the European Parliament does, and what the differences are between

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people who represent one party and represent another. Nick Robinson,

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thank you. Just time for a couple of other

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items on BBC News this week which have caught your attention. Question

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Time certainly did that, the panel included Piers Morgan and footballer

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Jo Wheeler Barton, who put it to Louise Bours that the should not be

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pleased with their performance. All you represent is the best of a bad

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bunch. If I am somewhere and there was four really ugly girls, I am

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thinking... Oh dear, oh dear! That is all you are to us.

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Finally, some or positive feedback, Borrell Williams was interviewed on

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Breakfast, and his hit signal Most viewers applauded the

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enthusiasm and bravery that went into that.

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Do let us know what on BBC News makes you happy or unhappy! That is

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all for this week, but call us with your views. We are on Twitter, and

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if you ever miss our programme on telly, you can catch up on the

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website. We will be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News

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coverage again next week. Goodbye. Hopefully the weather will make you

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happy this weekend, because there will be a lot of dry weather out

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