13/06/2014 Newswatch

2014 Commonwealth Games. Now it is time for Newswatch.

Hello and welcome to the programme. Coming up ` a certain sporting

tournament has started. How much attention and how many news teams

should BBC News be devoting to it? Stereotyping women voters ` why did

the BBC go to a beauty parlour to canvass opinion on the Scottish

referendum? And Iraq is falling apart, but tensions in the EU, of

what is this breaking news? Every four years, around half the world

seems to go football crazy, but this week, some of those who are not fans

of the beautiful game have been getting pretty exercised about the

attention given to the World Cup by BBC News. It has featured on

bulletins all week for the tournament has even started, with

John so Paul on the spot for the news at one on Monday. That is

copper cup, and behind that is another famous beach, and three

miles further on is the England hotel. Natalie Pirks, with the first

training session this afternoon coming up, is everything as good as

it could be... ? The England squad is on its way to Manaus, where they

will face high temperatures and high humidity and a pretty ropey pitch.

Andy Swiss is the heir. Already in Rio, the FIFA fan festival has been

disrupted. Police have had to close off part of the beach`front.

Football has got off to a great start and it continues today and

into the weekend. But the tournament is unlikely to be trouble`free. I

Monday, one viewer from Gloucester had already had enough...

Meanwhile, another viewer felt the focus on the England team amounted

to support from the BBC. Well, to discuss those points, I am

joined by the BBC's head of news gathering. And we start with how

many BBC News people you have sent out to Brazil, and why do they need

to be there? The number of BBC News people, including technical and

other, is 39. In addition, there are a couple of dozen or so who are

therefore non`UK outlets. That is a couple of dozen covering it for BBC

global outlets which are not seen in the UK, some not even broadcast in

the English language. And a couple of other people, who are health and

safety advisers. But 39 is the key figure for the number we have sent

to Brazil a when an audience sees a BBC presenter who is not a sports

presenter, interviewing another BBC journalist, before the tournament

has even started, they are right to say, why they need to be there? The

numbers are there to sustain a five`week deployment, not one single

programme. First of all, relating to that e`mail, that news presenter was

one of the people who is not paid for by the licence fee. He is

therefore global output. He can help with coverage on different channels.

That number 39 compares to 55 who went from BBC News to the South

Africa World Cup four years ago, so we have driven these numbers down.

But people still say, it is not news to be reporting on where the England

team were in the states, and when they arrive, and why not have

reports on something which has happened, rather than anticipatory

build`up? I think it is news that a team from England are on the way to

the World Cup, they are in the last few days of training, weather they

are fit, the climate, the state of the pitch, that kind of thing. There

is an awful lot of viewer interest in that. Those people who have

written to you are not interested, and we accept that a lot of stories

we do can divide the audience between those who like to go to the

back pages, and some who like to go to the front page of the newspaper.

But we are covering a broad agenda, from Iraq to Ukraine, and sport has

a big place to play in those stories. We are right to put them in

the programmes. Can you tell us how many news teams are inside the

official World Cup areas? There are news teams following the England

team, wonderful, one for television. There is a news team on a more

roving brief, one of those correspondents who actually lives in

Brazil, Wyre Davies. And then there is Ben Brown and Jon Sopel, one of

whom is paid for by the licence fee. They are experienced journalist, and

they are contributing an enormous amount. Have you thought about tone

come because there are some viewers within the United Kingdom who feel

the BBC is biased? I think Tony is really important. A lot of people

within the United Kingdom will support England, and some will not,

for good reasons. `` tone. It is not up to the BBC to decide who they

think people will support. But a lot of our audience will be wishing

England well. When England get knocked out, an awful lot of the

out. In the meantime, the tone is an out. In the meantime, the tone is an

important issue and we need to be vigilant about that. Are you giving

guidance to reporters? Very much so. We do not use, for example, phrases

like we and visit, and that is the right approach. But if they are

travelling with the England team, there is bound to be a bit of that

which rubs off. Some of the atmosphere might be joyous, some of

it might be disappointing, and that depends on the performance on the

pitch. There will be plenty of opportunities over the next month

for you to give us your views on how BBC News covers the World Cup.

Details of how to reach us at the end of the programme. Before that,

the Trojan Horse while, so called, related to allegations that schools

in Birmingham have been targeted as part of a hardline Islamist

takeover. For one viewer, there was less to all of this than met the

eye. There are now fewer than 100 days

before the referendum on independence in Scotland. On Monday,

one viewer was looking at why the no campaign still leads in the poles.

`` one correspondent. The polls say women are much more sceptical about

independence than men. Why? I asked the staff at this Edinburgh beauty

salon. I am a mother, and I think about the risk to the next

generation. We just have not made up our minds yet. One viewer wrote to

us, describing herself as a scientist with a neuroscientist

daughter, a chemistry teacher daughter, and a statistician for a

mother. Friday morning brought the news,

headlined on the News Channel, and featuring on the front page of the

website, that actor Harrison Ford was in hospital after injuring his

ankle while filming the latest Star Wars film. One viewer felt the BBC

gave this event too much prominence, e`mailing...

Finally, a return to the theme of the BBC's attitude towards the

England squad in the World Cup. If the team beats Italy, will reporters

maintain a studied neutrality or will they reflect the celebratory

mood of some? Thank you for that, and for all your

comments this week. If you want to share your opinions on any aspect of

BBC News and Current Affairs, these get in touch.

You can also reach us on Twitter and on our website. That is all from us.

We will be back next week. Good evening. Yesterday we got 26

degrees in London. Today it was in Southampton. This weekend will be a

few degrees cooler for many of us, but there is a lot of try weather to

be found this weekend, even though it will be cloudy at