12/09/2014 Newswatch

Hello, and welcome to Newswatch, with me, Samira Ahmed. On this

week's programme, has BBC reporting of Ashya King been fair to his

parents, or intrusive and excessive? Alex Salmond blames the

metropolitan media for unfair coverage of the Scottish referendum

debate. Has the BBC being guilty of this? And what is more important, a

live broadcast from the trades union Congress of the TCC leader's speech,

or breaking news of a royal pregnancy? `` TUC leader's speech.

Sometimes, a story can seem very clear when it is first reported, but

then be transformed as new information emerges. The case of

five`year`old brain tumour patient Ashya King is just such a story and

has been followed widely throughout the British media, including on the

BBC. Ashya is now being treated in Prague, but his name first hit the

headlines two weeks ago. It started at around 2p yesterday, when Ashya

was taken from the hospital by his parents. At 4pm whole family

travelled to Portsmouth, where they boarded a ferry. At 8pm, six hours

after they left hospital, the police were alerted. Initially, this seemed

to many to be a simple but tragic tale that Mr and Mrs King as the

villains, and to some that is how the BBC portrayed at first.

In the past fortnight of course, events have moved on significantly,

with Ashya undergoing scans this week at a clinic in Prague, in

advance of planned proton beam treatment. Jenny Hill reported from

Park for Monday's News at Ten. It has been a long journey for Ashya

and his family. It is still unclear who will pay for his treatment, but

the therapy for which they have fought so desperately is expected to

start next week. Such coverage led to further complaints, such as this

e`mail. The head of the BBC newsroom is Mary

Hockaday and she joins me now. Some viewers felt the early coverage

implied the parents were guilty, because of the prominence given to

what the authorities were saying, the photographs under the talk of

the arrest warrants. Should the BBC have done more to question the

source and the reliability of what the authorities were claiming? At

the first stage we are going to report because any face value that

is an important thing to say, the service to the community, an

announcement from the police and the hospital of the possibility of a

missing child. At that stage, that feels unimportant, significant

thing, being said by the authorities, and the right thing for

us to do to draw attention to it. But very quickly them story moved on

and our coverage moved on and that happened in a number of ways. One of

the things that was notable and unusual about this story was the way

the family quickly started to communicate themselves, partly by

putting video on YouTube, and new phenomenon really, but it very much

became part of the story playing out. Once it became clear that the

family were going to be allowed to take Ashya to Prague, viewers were

concerned that we should have left them alone and there was cameras

everywhere, outside their home, outside the hospitals. Was it

intrusive, and the idea it turned into a mini soap opera. The family

themselves were very happy and in fact choosing to communicate us and

to other media, so it wasn't us, if you like, pressuring them, and for

our audiences and many of our audience were very engaged in this

story and wanted to know what happened next. That is our

fundamental job, what happens next, and it seems to me and I think this

is absolutely right, that we followed that stage of the story

through to Prague. All along, as well as reporting if you like the

core elements of the story, we tended to the many issues it threw

up because it really did raise many questions. Lots of questions for

people about families' rights vis`a`vis care in hospital, lots of

issues about the costs and truck choices of treatment in hospitals,

issues around the European arrest warrant, questions about proton beam

therapy itself, and other kinds of treatment for tumours and so on,

with some really interesting testimony from other families, who

have had experience of this. For us, reporting the story come airing the

issues, he of `` hearing from all sides, that is the job we were

doing. Thank you so much. Elsewhere this week, the referendum

campaign in Scotland has been hotting up in advance of Thursday's

vote. Next week's programme we will be examining the role the BBC has

played in covering the campaign and the role it might have after the

poll. But the corporation has been under fire this week for its

reporting of the independence issue. Firstly, after this pronouncement by

royal correspondent Nicholas Whichelow on Tuesday's BBC One

bulletins. The Queen will accept the referendum result, whatever it is.

That is her duty as a constitutional monarch. But nobody should be in any

doubt, any break`up of the United Kingdom would be a matter of deep

private sadness to her. Alex Salmond has been at the heart

of much of this week's news output, demanding that the BBC should

cooperate in an enquiry into the leaking of RBS's plan to move its

registered office to London if there is a yes vote. The First Minister

was questioned by Nick Robinson on Thursday about concerns about banks

and retailers over an independent Scotland. Should a Scottish voter

believe you, a politician, against men who are responsible for billions

of pounds of profits? He didn't answer, but he did attack the

reporting of those in what he called the metropolitan media. Who could he

mean by the metropolitan media? And did Mr Salmond really not answer

Nick Robinson's question? Earlier on Thursday, the news

channel was broadcasting live a speech from Alex Salmond, but at the

same time something else was going on on the other side of the world.

For the first time ever, Scots now believe that this can happen, indeed

this will happen, and with that sense of relief... Back to the judge

giving her verdict in the case of Oscar Pistorius, she has said the

state has not proved beyond Remy `` reasonable doubt that he was guilty

of premeditated murder. Cutting away from showing a live

event also resulted in our final, this week. Here is Frances O'Grady,

general secretary of the trades union Congress, telling the TUC

conference on Monday morning what was wrong with the society we live

in. Where the blame is heaped on the most vulnerable, migrants,

claimants, while the powerful and privileged sit pretty. Just break

into Frances O'Grady's speech with this breaking news. The Duke and

Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce the Duchess of Cambridge is

expecting their second child. In fact by the time the news channel

had finished discussing the royal pregnancy, Frances O'Grady's speech

had finished. We could have waited 20 minutes to

wait and learn about the Duchess's pregnancy. I could not see that it

was a matter of national importance that it could not wait for 20

minutes. There is the leader of over 5 million workers in the trade union

movement who was cut off and allowed two minutes and 25 seconds. Crazy,

it just seemed so unbalanced and unfair. Thank you to Mary Pearson,

and all those who sent their comments this week. If you want to

share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs, or even appear on

the programme: That is all from us. We will be back

to hear your thoughts on the coverage of the Scottish referendum

under the topics next week. Goodbye.