13/09/2014 Newswatch


13/09/2014

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Hello, and welcome to Newswatch. On this week 's programme, has BBC

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reporting of Ashya King been fair to his parents, or intrusive and

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excessive? Alex Salminen blames a metropolitan media for unfair

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coverage of the referendum debate. Have the BBC been guilty of this?

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And what is more important, a live broadcast from the trade

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Congress, or breaking news of a royal pregnancy? Sometimes a story

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can seem very clear when it is first reported, and then be transformed as

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new information emerges. The case of fight your brain tumour patient

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Ashya King is such a story and has been borrowed through the British

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media, in June `` including on the BBC `` five`year`old. He is now

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being treated in Prague, but his name hit the headlines two weeks

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ago. It started at 2pm yesterday, when he was taken from the hospital

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by his parents. At 4pm, his whole family travel to Portsmouth weather

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got on a ferry, and at 8pm, six seemed to many to be a simple but

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tragic tale, with Mr and Mrs King being the villains. To some, that is

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how the BBC portrayed it at first. One viewer said:

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In the past fortnight, events have moved on significantly. Ashya King

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is undergoing scans this week at a clinic in Prague. In advance of

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plans proton beam treatments `` planned. Our correspondent reported

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from Prague. It has been a long Jennifer Ashya King and his family.

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Is unclear who will pay for his treatment, but the therapy they

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fought desperately for is expected to start next week. Such coverage

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led to further complaints, such as this e`mail from one view on Monday

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morning. `` viewer.

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Another viewer greed, writing: `` agreed.

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The head of the BBC newsroom is Mary Hockaday who joins me now. Some

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viewers felt that the early coverage implied that the parents were

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guilty, because of the prominence of what the authorities were saying,

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and those photographs released. And the talk of arrest warrants. Should

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the BBC have done more to question the source and reliability of what

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authorities were claiming from `` claiming? At any face value, is the

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important thing to say. It's a service to the community, an

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announcement from police and the hospital, the possibility of a

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missing child. At that stage, it feels an important and significant

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thing said by the authorities and the right thing is to draw attention

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to it. Quickly, the story moved on, as did our coverage. That happened

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in a number of ways. One of the things was noticeable `` notable and

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unusual about the story is how the family quickly communicated

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themselves, partly by putting a video on YouTube, a new phenomenon

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that became part of how the story fadeout. When it became clear that

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the family were going to be allowed to take Ashya King to Prague,

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viewers were concerned that we should have left them alone, and

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there were cameras everywhere outside their home and both

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hospitals. Was it intrusive? There's this idea that it turned into a mini

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soap opera. The family themselves were very happy to, and in fact

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choosing, to communicate to us and other media. It wasn't asked, if you

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like, pressuring them. For our audiences, and many of our audiences

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were very engaged in the story. They wanted to know what happened next.

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That is our fundamental job, what happens next. It seemed to me, and I

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think this is absolutely right, if you like, we followed that stage of

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the story through to Prague. All along, as well as reporting the core

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elements of the story, we attended to the many issues it threw up. It

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really did raise many questions. A lot of them about family 's rights,

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with care and hospitals, a lot of issues around costs and choices of

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treatment in hospitals. Issues around the European arrest warrant,

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and what this is. A lot of questions about proton beam therapy itself and

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other kinds of treatments for tumours and so on, with some really

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interesting testimony from other families with experience of all of

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this. For us, reporting the story and airing the issues, hearing from

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all sides, that's the job we were doing. Thank you for coming in.

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Elsewhere this week, the referendum campaign in Scotland has been

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hotting up in advance of Thursday 's vote, in next week 's programme we

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will be examining the role the BBC has played in coverage and ``

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covering the campaign and the role it has after the poll. The

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corporation has already been under fire this week for reporting of the

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independence issue. Firstly, after this pronouncement by the Royal

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correspondent Nicholas Witchell, on Tuesdays BBC One bulletin. The Queen

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will accept the referendum result, whatever it is. That is her duty as

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a constitutional monarch. But nobody should be in any doubt, any breakup

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of the United Kingdom would be a matter of deep and private sadness

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to her. One viewer 's comments said:

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Alex Salmond has been at the heart of much of this week 's news

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output, demanding that the BBC should co`operate in an enquiry into

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the leaking of RBS 's plan to move its registered office to London, if

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there is a yes vote. The Minister was `` the first Minister was

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questioned by Nick Robinson this week. Should a Scottish voter

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

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of pounds of profit. He didn't answer, but he attacked the

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

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mean by the metropolitan media? Did Alex Salmond really not answer Nick

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Robinson 's question? One viewer said the following:

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Earlier on Thursday, the news channels broadcasting live a speech

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from Alex Salmond, and at the same time something else was going on on

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the other side of the world. For the first time ever, Scots now

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believe that this can happen, and indeed this will happen. Back to the

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judge giving her verdict in the murder case of Oscar Pistorius, she

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has said the state has not proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is

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guilty of premeditated murder. This was the response of one viewer.

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Cutting away from showing a live event, also resulted in our final

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comment this week. Here's Frances O'Grady, telling the TUC conference

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on Monday morning what was wrong with the society we live in. Where

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the blame is heaped on the most vulnerable, migrants, claimants,

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whether powerful and privileged set pretty. `` where the. Breaking news

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now, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are pleased to announce

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that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting their second child. By the

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time the news channel had finished discussing the royal pregnancy,

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Frances O'Grady 's speech had finished. Mary Pearson, president of

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the Birmingham trades union Council, was watching. Here is her

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reaction. We could have waited 20 minutes to learn about the pregnancy

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of the Duchess of Cambridge. I couldn't see that it was a matter of

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national importance, it `` that it couldn't wait 20 minutes. Here is

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the leader of over 5 million workers in the trade union movement, she was

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cut off and allowed two minutes 25 seconds. It is crazy. It seems so

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unbalanced and so unfair. Thank you to Mary Pearson and all of those who

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sent us the comments this week. If you want to share your opinions, or

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even appear on the programme, get in touch with us.

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That is all from us, we will be back to hear your thoughts on the

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coverage of the Scottish referendum and other topics next week. Goodbye.

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It is looking fine overnight, there will be varied amounts of cloud,

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where we get clear skies there will be mist and fog developing,

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especially in northern and western areas. We have cloud, and a bit less

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cold. Towns and cities are looking at temperatures not falling below 12

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degrees, and winds remain light.

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