:00:00. > :00:00.him. `` has not had to go to prison. And now we ask this BBC coverage
:00:00. > :00:17.risk being a platform for militants? Hello, and welcome to Newswatch.
:00:18. > :00:20.With air strikes, parliamentary votes and hostage videos, Islamist
:00:21. > :00:27.militants are very much in the headlines. But if the BBC helping
:00:28. > :00:31.the propaganda war? Why did the BBC's royal correspondent disappear
:00:32. > :00:35.from the Scottish bridge last Friday evening? And indiscreet, perhaps,
:00:36. > :00:42.but can't a man have a private conversation without it being
:00:43. > :00:46.broadcast all over the world? Whether you call that an Islamic
:00:47. > :00:49.State, ISIS or ISIL, and we will be coming to that later, the radical
:00:50. > :00:54.Islamist group which has seized land in Syria and Iraq in the past few
:00:55. > :00:58.months now unquestionably dominates the news agenda. US led air strikes
:00:59. > :01:02.against the militants began on Monday night. On Tuesday, a second
:01:03. > :01:07.video was released featuring journalist John Cantlie, kidnapped
:01:08. > :01:12.in Syria in 2012. And the threat to kill another British hostage, Alan
:01:13. > :01:18.Henning, remains. It is all worthwhile when you see
:01:19. > :01:22.what is needed to get to actually wear it needs to go. He is the taxi
:01:23. > :01:25.driver from Salford, held hostage by Islamic State. Tonight, Alan
:01:26. > :01:29.Henning's wife Barbara begged for his release. She said she had
:01:30. > :01:34.received an audiophile of Alan pleading for his life.
:01:35. > :01:37.All this presents considerable challenges to journalists. The
:01:38. > :01:41.obvious dangers of kidnapped in reporting from Syria and Iraq, the
:01:42. > :01:45.distress of the facts of the story, with difficult judgements of taste
:01:46. > :01:48.and decency for editors back in London. Then there is the risk of
:01:49. > :01:50.providing a platform for the terrorists. Doug Graham is one fewer
:01:51. > :02:30.concerned by that. There is also the issue of the
:02:31. > :02:33.terminology used to describe these crimes and their perpetrators,
:02:34. > :02:51.picked up in this e`mail by Paul Lodwick.
:02:52. > :03:23.That last point was echoed by Neal Hastings.
:03:24. > :03:30.Well, to discuss all that, the BBC's deputy director of news and
:03:31. > :03:34.current affairs joins me now. Fran, we have spoken on Newswatch recently
:03:35. > :03:37.about the principle that the BBC does use some stills and sometimes
:03:38. > :03:41.audio from hostage videos, but given that there seemed to be more and
:03:42. > :03:44.more of these videos coming out, doesn't the BBC need to rethink
:03:45. > :03:49.whether it uses them at all? Absolutely. We need to reassess, as
:03:50. > :03:53.we go along, exactly how we treat these videos. Whether we will ever
:03:54. > :03:57.get to the point where we will say we will not use any of them at all,
:03:58. > :04:00.in some cases we might do that, if we thought there was no public
:04:01. > :04:06.interest served by it. But what we have to do here is balance a number
:04:07. > :04:12.of different things, which is, I duty to inform versus the taste and
:04:13. > :04:18.decency issues, and also, as you have described, the platform of the
:04:19. > :04:23.oxygen of publicity issue. And balancing all these things can be
:04:24. > :04:26.quite tricky, and to lead to tricky editorial judgements, which we must
:04:27. > :04:32.constantly keep under review, as you suggest. Let's talk about language.
:04:33. > :04:35.A lot of viewers questioned the taste of news constantly talking
:04:36. > :04:38.about the details of how the hostages were beheaded. Or even the
:04:39. > :04:44.word executed. Shouldn't you just say murdered? We do say murdered in
:04:45. > :04:48.some instances. Executed probably tends to imply, although I don't
:04:49. > :04:50.think this is actually the definition of it, a legal process.
:04:51. > :04:57.And obviously there hasn't been a legal process in any of these cases.
:04:58. > :04:59.Beheaded, well, I think it is actually quite important to know how
:05:00. > :05:05.these people died, which is particularly gruesome. Then there is
:05:06. > :05:11.the language of how this group is described. Islamic State, ISIS,
:05:12. > :05:17.ISIL. Even politicians vary how they describe them. Even if you use the
:05:18. > :05:20.qualifications so called, a lot of viewers are concerned that this
:05:21. > :05:22.group are not an organised, legitimate political power, but they
:05:23. > :05:26.are being talked about in a way which gives them legitimacy. This is
:05:27. > :05:29.quite a tricky issue, because what we are seeking to do here is just
:05:30. > :05:32.explain to the audience who it is that we are talking about. They
:05:33. > :05:39.chose to call themselves Islamic State. You can imply whatever
:05:40. > :05:43.meaning you think attaches itself to that, but that is what they call
:05:44. > :05:46.themselves. Politicians are calling them something different, and we
:05:47. > :05:52.have two actually reflects that as well, because of the politician is
:05:53. > :05:55.calling them ISIL, then we also have to say the Islamic State, sometimes
:05:56. > :06:02.known as ISIL, which we do in some of our coverage. But if we start to
:06:03. > :06:09.decide ourselves what they are called, then I am not sure how
:06:10. > :06:11.appropriate that is either. The BBC has engaged with British jihadists
:06:12. > :06:14.in the region to try to understand what is going on and why they are
:06:15. > :06:18.going up. But there is a concern that the BBC could be a kind of
:06:19. > :06:21.platform for their propaganda. The interest that some media show in
:06:22. > :06:26.tracing Jihadi John, for example, distresses a lot of viewers. This is
:06:27. > :06:31.obviously a very tricky issue, and we don't particularly want to be
:06:32. > :06:38.providing a platform for people with very extreme views. However, our job
:06:39. > :06:42.is about understanding as well. I think that what our policy is here
:06:43. > :06:45.is to show enough of this that we think would answer any questions of
:06:46. > :06:51.public interest that people have about them. So, for instance, if you
:06:52. > :06:55.take Jihadi John, so`called Jihadi John, we use some of the audio of
:06:56. > :06:58.this person to show that they were British. It was quite clear from
:06:59. > :07:04.their accent. And they were probably from the London area. Also, there is
:07:05. > :07:07.an argument for putting this out, because somebody might be able to
:07:08. > :07:16.identify him, which might be of help to the authorities. Fran, thank you
:07:17. > :07:19.very much for coming on Newswatch. Do let us know your thoughts on
:07:20. > :07:23.that, or on any aspect of BBC News. And stay with us for details on how
:07:24. > :07:29.to get in touch. Now for some of your other concerns this week,
:07:30. > :07:32.starting with an apology from the BBC for showing some footage of
:07:33. > :07:39.Jimmy Savile on a repeat of an old edition of top of the pops a couple
:07:40. > :07:42.of weeks ago. The BBC's News article website featured, you guessed it, a
:07:43. > :07:44.photograph of the disgraced disc jockey. Ingrid Green did not
:07:45. > :08:01.appreciate the irony. The fallout from last week's
:08:02. > :08:04.referendum in Scotland will be felt for some time politically, and it
:08:05. > :08:09.has continued to have an impact on our inbox over the past week. During
:08:10. > :08:13.last Friday's News at 6pm, the reaction of the Queen to the
:08:14. > :08:18.referendum result was `` result was keenly awaited. Within the last few
:08:19. > :08:21.minutes, a statement from the Queen has been published. Our royal
:08:22. > :08:35.correspondent has the details for us at Balmoral. Nicholas, what does it
:08:36. > :08:37.say? I'm sorry, we seem to have a few difficulties trying to get a
:08:38. > :08:42.hold of Nicholas. Apologies for that.
:08:43. > :08:47.Five minutes later we did get to hear something of Her Majesty's
:08:48. > :08:52.statement, but with these results. Do not, as they say, adjust your
:08:53. > :08:55.set. For many in Scotland and elsewhere today, there will be
:08:56. > :08:59.strong feelings and contrasting emotions among family, friends and
:09:00. > :09:13.neighbours. That, of course, is the nature of the robust, Democratic...
:09:14. > :09:17.INAUDIBLE I am so sorry for that.
:09:18. > :09:20.Despite our best efforts to talk to Nicholas Witchell in Balmoral, we
:09:21. > :09:25.are not managing. We will try later again in the programme.
:09:26. > :09:26.Technical problems do sometimes occur, of course. But Caroline
:09:27. > :09:59.Holmes made this point. There were more royal ramifications
:10:00. > :10:02.of the independence vote on Tuesday, when, to the Prime Minister's great
:10:03. > :10:19.embarrassment, this footage was aired on the BBC and elsewhere.
:10:20. > :10:22.After that conversation with former New York City Mayor Michael
:10:23. > :10:27.Bloomberg Cameron said he would apologise in
:10:28. > :10:55.person to the Queen when they next meet.
:10:56. > :11:01.Do let us know whether you think it was inappropriate for BBC News to
:11:02. > :11:05.have reported that conversation. And we welcome all your opinions on BBC
:11:06. > :11:06.News and current affairs. Yours may feature next week, and you may even
:11:07. > :11:28.appear on the programme. That is all from us. We will be back
:11:29. > :11:41.to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next week. Goodbye.