:00:00. > :00:18.Hello, and welcome to Newswatch, with me, Samira Ahmed. On this
:00:19. > :00:23.week's programme, has BBC reporting of Ashya King been fair to his
:00:24. > :00:27.parents, or intrusive and excessive? Alex Salmond blames the
:00:28. > :00:31.metropolitan media for unfair coverage of the Scottish referendum
:00:32. > :00:36.debate. Has the BBC being guilty of this? And what is more important, a
:00:37. > :00:42.live broadcast from the trades union Congress of the TCC leader's speech,
:00:43. > :00:48.or breaking news of a royal pregnancy? `` TUC leader's speech.
:00:49. > :00:52.Sometimes, a story can seem very clear when it is first reported, but
:00:53. > :00:54.then be transformed as new information emerges. The case of
:00:55. > :00:59.five`year`old brain tumour patient Ashya King is just such a story and
:01:00. > :01:04.has been followed widely throughout the British media, including on the
:01:05. > :01:08.BBC. Ashya is now being treated in Prague, but his name first hit the
:01:09. > :01:14.headlines two weeks ago. It started at around 2p yesterday, when Ashya
:01:15. > :01:17.was taken from the hospital by his parents. At 4pm whole family
:01:18. > :01:23.travelled to Portsmouth, where they boarded a ferry. At 8pm, six hours
:01:24. > :01:27.after they left hospital, the police were alerted. Initially, this seemed
:01:28. > :01:34.to many to be a simple but tragic tale that Mr and Mrs King as the
:01:35. > :02:28.villains, and to some that is how the BBC portrayed at first.
:02:29. > :02:32.In the past fortnight of course, events have moved on significantly,
:02:33. > :02:37.with Ashya undergoing scans this week at a clinic in Prague, in
:02:38. > :02:42.advance of planned proton beam treatment. Jenny Hill reported from
:02:43. > :02:47.Park for Monday's News at Ten. It has been a long journey for Ashya
:02:48. > :02:51.and his family. It is still unclear who will pay for his treatment, but
:02:52. > :02:55.the therapy for which they have fought so desperately is expected to
:02:56. > :02:57.start next week. Such coverage led to further complaints, such as this
:02:58. > :04:07.e`mail. The head of the BBC newsroom is Mary
:04:08. > :04:10.Hockaday and she joins me now. Some viewers felt the early coverage
:04:11. > :04:14.implied the parents were guilty, because of the prominence given to
:04:15. > :04:17.what the authorities were saying, the photographs under the talk of
:04:18. > :04:22.the arrest warrants. Should the BBC have done more to question the
:04:23. > :04:26.source and the reliability of what the authorities were claiming? At
:04:27. > :04:30.the first stage we are going to report because any face value that
:04:31. > :04:33.is an important thing to say, the service to the community, an
:04:34. > :04:37.announcement from the police and the hospital of the possibility of a
:04:38. > :04:40.missing child. At that stage, that feels unimportant, significant
:04:41. > :04:45.thing, being said by the authorities, and the right thing for
:04:46. > :04:49.us to do to draw attention to it. But very quickly them story moved on
:04:50. > :04:54.and our coverage moved on and that happened in a number of ways. One of
:04:55. > :04:58.the things that was notable and unusual about this story was the way
:04:59. > :05:00.the family quickly started to communicate themselves, partly by
:05:01. > :05:04.putting video on YouTube, and new phenomenon really, but it very much
:05:05. > :05:09.became part of the story playing out. Once it became clear that the
:05:10. > :05:13.family were going to be allowed to take Ashya to Prague, viewers were
:05:14. > :05:16.concerned that we should have left them alone and there was cameras
:05:17. > :05:22.everywhere, outside their home, outside the hospitals. Was it
:05:23. > :05:27.intrusive, and the idea it turned into a mini soap opera. The family
:05:28. > :05:34.themselves were very happy and in fact choosing to communicate us and
:05:35. > :05:40.to other media, so it wasn't us, if you like, pressuring them, and for
:05:41. > :05:45.our audiences and many of our audience were very engaged in this
:05:46. > :05:48.story and wanted to know what happened next. That is our
:05:49. > :05:53.fundamental job, what happens next, and it seems to me and I think this
:05:54. > :05:58.is absolutely right, that we followed that stage of the story
:05:59. > :06:03.through to Prague. All along, as well as reporting if you like the
:06:04. > :06:07.core elements of the story, we tended to the many issues it threw
:06:08. > :06:11.up because it really did raise many questions. Lots of questions for
:06:12. > :06:16.people about families' rights vis`a`vis care in hospital, lots of
:06:17. > :06:20.issues about the costs and truck choices of treatment in hospitals,
:06:21. > :06:26.issues around the European arrest warrant, questions about proton beam
:06:27. > :06:29.therapy itself, and other kinds of treatment for tumours and so on,
:06:30. > :06:33.with some really interesting testimony from other families, who
:06:34. > :06:38.have had experience of this. For us, reporting the story come airing the
:06:39. > :06:45.issues, he of `` hearing from all sides, that is the job we were
:06:46. > :06:49.doing. Thank you so much. Elsewhere this week, the referendum
:06:50. > :06:54.campaign in Scotland has been hotting up in advance of Thursday's
:06:55. > :06:58.vote. Next week's programme we will be examining the role the BBC has
:06:59. > :07:02.played in covering the campaign and the role it might have after the
:07:03. > :07:06.poll. But the corporation has been under fire this week for its
:07:07. > :07:09.reporting of the independence issue. Firstly, after this pronouncement by
:07:10. > :07:13.royal correspondent Nicholas Whichelow on Tuesday's BBC One
:07:14. > :07:17.bulletins. The Queen will accept the referendum result, whatever it is.
:07:18. > :07:22.That is her duty as a constitutional monarch. But nobody should be in any
:07:23. > :07:24.doubt, any break`up of the United Kingdom would be a matter of deep
:07:25. > :07:40.private sadness to her. Alex Salmond has been at the heart
:07:41. > :07:44.of much of this week's news output, demanding that the BBC should
:07:45. > :07:48.cooperate in an enquiry into the leaking of RBS's plan to move its
:07:49. > :07:52.registered office to London if there is a yes vote. The First Minister
:07:53. > :07:57.was questioned by Nick Robinson on Thursday about concerns about banks
:07:58. > :08:01.and retailers over an independent Scotland. Should a Scottish voter
:08:02. > :08:05.believe you, a politician, against men who are responsible for billions
:08:06. > :08:10.of pounds of profits? He didn't answer, but he did attack the
:08:11. > :08:15.reporting of those in what he called the metropolitan media. Who could he
:08:16. > :08:17.mean by the metropolitan media? And did Mr Salmond really not answer
:08:18. > :08:40.Nick Robinson's question? Earlier on Thursday, the news
:08:41. > :08:44.channel was broadcasting live a speech from Alex Salmond, but at the
:08:45. > :08:49.same time something else was going on on the other side of the world.
:08:50. > :08:53.For the first time ever, Scots now believe that this can happen, indeed
:08:54. > :09:02.this will happen, and with that sense of relief... Back to the judge
:09:03. > :09:06.giving her verdict in the case of Oscar Pistorius, she has said the
:09:07. > :09:08.state has not proved beyond Remy `` reasonable doubt that he was guilty
:09:09. > :09:37.of premeditated murder. Cutting away from showing a live
:09:38. > :09:42.event also resulted in our final, this week. Here is Frances O'Grady,
:09:43. > :09:45.general secretary of the trades union Congress, telling the TUC
:09:46. > :09:50.conference on Monday morning what was wrong with the society we live
:09:51. > :09:55.in. Where the blame is heaped on the most vulnerable, migrants,
:09:56. > :10:04.claimants, while the powerful and privileged sit pretty. Just break
:10:05. > :10:08.into Frances O'Grady's speech with this breaking news. The Duke and
:10:09. > :10:12.Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce the Duchess of Cambridge is
:10:13. > :10:16.expecting their second child. In fact by the time the news channel
:10:17. > :10:17.had finished discussing the royal pregnancy, Frances O'Grady's speech
:10:18. > :10:32.had finished. We could have waited 20 minutes to
:10:33. > :10:37.wait and learn about the Duchess's pregnancy. I could not see that it
:10:38. > :10:42.was a matter of national importance that it could not wait for 20
:10:43. > :10:46.minutes. There is the leader of over 5 million workers in the trade union
:10:47. > :10:50.movement who was cut off and allowed two minutes and 25 seconds. Crazy,
:10:51. > :10:55.it just seemed so unbalanced and unfair. Thank you to Mary Pearson,
:10:56. > :10:59.and all those who sent their comments this week. If you want to
:11:00. > :11:01.share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs, or even appear on
:11:02. > :11:20.the programme: That is all from us. We will be back
:11:21. > :11:23.to hear your thoughts on the coverage of the Scottish referendum
:11:24. > :11:25.under the topics next week. Goodbye.