18/07/2014 Newswatch

chance to vote if you are eligible. `` you don't miss out on your chance

to vote. Now it's time for Newswatch.

Welcome to Newswatch. Coming up, the BBC has announced was ?15 million of

cuts to its news budget. What effect will that have on the services it

provides for its audiences? As a corporate director of news heralds a

digital transformation, I will be asking him about the budget cuts. In

these days of this territory, BBC News is by no means the first

organisation in the country to have to deal with the big budget

reduction, but how does it advocate its resources and in a fast changing

media landscape, it is a matter of great controversy. The need for the

BBC to save money is clear after the licence fee settlement made in 2010.

There were suggestions that cap back news might cut a hole channel, but

instead, savings will be found from job losses and efficiencies.

Panorama will lose all those dedicated reporters. The BBC threes

news bulletin will be scrapped and the BBC News Channel will switch

from two news anchors to a single presenter. Well audiences suffer as

a result Mr Mac? Daschle will audiences suffer as a result?

Traditional TV and radio bulletins are not exactly on their last legs,

although 5 million people watch BBC News at certain points of the day.

Some people are not interested in the digital revolution.

The BBC's started radio in this country and then television. The

forefront of online news and now new technology means it can lead a

fourth revolution in use, but if the audience ready for that and if that

is a gain from this week's announcements, what are the losses?

I have been speaking to James Hardie and Aston if he looked seriously at

get reading an entire service channel rather than slicing lots of

different budgets. Yes, we looked very seriously at that. We looked

very seriously at that. We're talking about the BBC looking at 26%

in its resources, nearly ?50 million out of BBC News. We did look at

that, but when we looked at it, it was clear we would meet to small

saving for too high a price for our viewers and listeners. To give you a

sense of the scale, we could have taken out the real cost of the news

channel, taking news out of five live, closed down for five language

services, put an end to radio current affairs specials and read a

number of other savings and all of that wouldn't have been sufficient

to meet that ?40 million savings target. What will you achieved by

doing it this way? What we have achieved is I hope that where we

have money to invest, we are investing it, in original,

distinctive journalism at the BBC, we keep on investing in local

journalism and prepare for the digital transformation of news. A

world where people don't just get their news on television and online,

but increasingly in the power of their hand. After the Jimmy Savile

scandal, the BBC had to rebuild its reputation. How does losing all the

dedicated reporters from Kalorama do that M `` panorama. The fact is that

we want to make sure we get the story from the people who have real

expertise in those stories. Some of them exist in her newsrooms, some

work outside the BBC. I don't think that Panorama's work, which is

challenging reporting, that is going to change. If anything, it will be

more enabled by these changes. If you look recently, we have had

really powerful films. Just last week, you sort and in ``

extraordinary brave correspondent explaining ices from the front line

in Iraq, in Syria, in Turkey. I think those kinds of films are

extremely important. We have seen it done at home as well. I think he

will see more of that. On the news channel, viewers will get more

cut`and`paste reports from agencies. If that is the case, we have not

done a good enough job of explaining what we're doing. We're making

changes that will the news more immediate and distinctive. For

example, I'm extremely excited that Victoria Derbyshire will have our

own show. Victoria has a singular ability to get to the issues that

really matter in this country and she will be doing that on weekdays

on the BBC News Channel. It is those kind of changes that will make the

news even more meaningful to people watching at home. Growing audiences

are watching the traditional bulletins. Viewers CV jeopardise

that by putting the focus on digital content when these are quite early

in development. We live in a world that is changing very rapidly in

news, but nothing is more important than what we put out every day, the

actual reporting at explanation of the news. Purists will wonder how

the prestige programmes could possibly be made to the same

standard on these much smaller budgets. That would be the case of

we didn't understand quite how important those programmes are, and

that is the reason we have gone out of our way to protect, and in some

of the important flagship programmes, invest in them. You will

see investment in a bit programme like Today. A number of politicians

want to see the BBC made much smaller and the new service, which

is the heart of the public service broadcasting remit, it can't go on

at the same scale and size, it is going to have to get smaller. I

previously worked in newspapers, I have only been here for a year. When

I joined the BBC, people said to me I would find an organisation that

an organisation that is extremely an organisation that is extremely

clean and effective. If people watching thing about all the

different ways they can get news, and they get that for just 7p a day.

They get that without necessarily seeing all that is done

internationally. The question was not about whether the BBC is lead

now, it is about whether the BBC news department will have to get

smaller. My understanding was you were saying that BBC News is going

to have to keep on being cut. I would like to make the case the unit

that is not true. I think we should be investing in BBC news, because it

delivers an service. It instructed `` it is trusted and relied on by

people in this country and around the world. An issue that has caused

a lot of controversy is news coverage of events in Gaza. Viewers

say they feel the coverage is hugely asymmetrical in favour of Israel,

given the scale of casualties on the Palestinian side and that is not

reflected by the BBC. That is what being `` that is what is being

reported by the BBC every day. The reality is that we have, unlike most

news organisations, made sure we have kept people both in Israel and

working in Gaza. We have a whole team in Gaza and we report, not just

the numbers, but the stories about what is happening. We have been

really committed to getting out the story on the ground. In addition to

that, we are always extremely keen to give context. It is not just

about what is happening today, it is about explaining the frustrations

that exist among people in Gaza and the concerns and anxieties of people

who live in Israel, and to explain that context as well as reporting

vividly and accurately what is happening on the ground. What would

you say to the people who have been complaining? I think it is extremely

important that people on all sides unable to voice their views on our

coverage, and they do that to me directly. We referred to the protest

on air and online, because the public needs to know there are

strong feelings about this. We need to do everything we can to get the

best coverage on the ground and get voices on`air that reflect the very

different views around the issues in the Middle East. Thank you. Thank

you for all your comments this week. If you want to share your comments

on what's been said or any aspects of BBC News, you can call us or

e`mail us. Catch up with previous editions of the programme at our

website. That's all from us, we will be back to hear your thoughts about

BBC News coverage again next week. Goodbye.

Tonight, the thunderstorms maybe even