:00:00. > :00:00.More than 900 of them are vying for seats on local councils. At 10pm we
:00:00. > :00:00.will have a full round-up of the news from today, but before then it
:00:00. > :00:07.is time for Newswatch. Hello and welcome to
:00:08. > :00:09.Newswatch, I'm Samira Ahmed. Coming up: The media scrum
:00:10. > :00:12.in the house of the San Bernardino Islamist killers, going
:00:13. > :00:15.through their possessions Perhaps most poignantly of all,
:00:16. > :00:25.just behind here, is the baby's cot. The six-month-old baby
:00:26. > :00:30.that is now an orphan. Covering the terrible destruction
:00:31. > :00:32.and the personal grief inflicted Was the BBC insensitive and crass
:00:33. > :00:39.in some of its reporting? You have lost your possessions,
:00:40. > :00:42.how does that make you feel? And what is afoot with extending
:00:43. > :00:51.the News at 10 by ten minutes? First, the mass
:00:52. > :01:01.shootings in California. Nearly 200 viewers complained
:01:02. > :01:04.about BBC reporters joining a media scrum that went into the home
:01:05. > :01:11.of Sayed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. The married couple were killed
:01:12. > :01:13.in a shoot out with police after they themselves
:01:14. > :01:15.killed 14 people at The BBC was among many outlets that
:01:16. > :01:21.broadcast live footage of rooms strewn with baby toys,
:01:22. > :01:22.religious objects and The BBC said they had
:01:23. > :01:29.the permission of the landlord. Here is the reporter
:01:30. > :01:31.going through the This is apparently quite
:01:32. > :01:44.an ordinary apartment building. Going into the bedroom
:01:45. > :01:50.here on the second floor and you can see
:01:51. > :01:55.a copy of the Koran here, you can see various other bits
:01:56. > :02:01.and pieces that have been left here presumably
:02:02. > :02:06.by members of the FBI. This is the Californian driving
:02:07. > :02:08.licence belonging to the one of the two key suspects
:02:09. > :02:19.in this attack. Ross Anderson was amongst those
:02:20. > :02:21.contacting Newswatch to question whether the BBC had fallen below
:02:22. > :02:23.the journalistic integrity We're joined now by
:02:24. > :02:59.the editor of the Six I think it is important first
:03:00. > :03:16.of all to restate the context here. This was the worst terror attack
:03:17. > :03:18.inside America since 9-11. There was a rare presidential
:03:19. > :03:21.address and it was a nightmare for the security
:03:22. > :03:25.services because here was a couple who were seemingly
:03:26. > :03:31.ordinary, living the American dream inside suburbia, who turned
:03:32. > :03:35.into mass killers, so clearly there was a need
:03:36. > :03:38.to understand the background to these killers who carried
:03:39. > :03:48.out this massacre. I think it is also important
:03:49. > :03:51.to stress that the FBI had finished their work at the house,
:03:52. > :03:53.they had finished going It was never a crime scene in so far
:03:54. > :04:00.as the massacre was elsewhere, but it was obviously
:04:01. > :04:01.investigated to find out The FBI had finished
:04:02. > :04:06.and the police were there Just because everyone else piled on,
:04:07. > :04:11.in by the landlord. It was the right
:04:12. > :04:19.journalistic thing to do. We make our own decisions
:04:20. > :04:21.and do our own thinking and we make
:04:22. > :04:23.our own judgments. It is not uncommon that we are
:04:24. > :04:26.covering stories where there are a lot of other media
:04:27. > :04:28.outlets there from America, UK and around the world,
:04:29. > :04:31.but ultimately we still make our own decisions and it wasn't a pack
:04:32. > :04:34.mentality or anything like this, it was a legitimate
:04:35. > :04:36.thing to do which a large number of media
:04:37. > :04:39.organisations were doing. Can you see why people
:04:40. > :04:41.felt uncomfortable? There were baby toys
:04:42. > :04:44.and personal possessions, a sense of feeling like an intrusion
:04:45. > :04:47.and a question of what was the point given that none of these journalists
:04:48. > :04:50.are themselves criminal I think it was a very
:04:51. > :04:57.unusual situation. We were outside the house,
:04:58. > :05:00.we were allowed inside the house, and combine that
:05:01. > :05:04.with modern technology and new technology which allows
:05:05. > :05:07.you to broadcast live How do you go for what
:05:08. > :05:18.you saw inside that house, which to all intents
:05:19. > :05:23.and purposes looks completely ordinary, a couple that
:05:24. > :05:32.were not on the security services radar, who were unknown,
:05:33. > :05:35.they were not on a list somewhere, how did you go from
:05:36. > :05:38.that to what they I think there was a journalistic
:05:39. > :05:41.and editorial purpose One other issue I wanted to raise
:05:42. > :05:46.briefly is that the news at ten Why, when Newsnight
:05:47. > :05:51.starts at 10:30pm? There has always been an issue
:05:52. > :05:55.for me as editor of the six and Ten O'Clock News that the network part
:05:56. > :06:04.of the Ten O'Clock News is actually the shortest network bulletin that
:06:05. > :06:10.BBC News does and I always found that a bit of a strange situation
:06:11. > :06:14.when in many respects it is the sort I have always advocated
:06:15. > :06:17.a longer slot. What we did at the beginning
:06:18. > :06:19.of the year leading into the election in anticipation
:06:20. > :06:21.of election coverage and everything else
:06:22. > :06:24.was that we trialled an extended run involving the network
:06:25. > :06:26.part of the Ten O'Clock News and the nations
:06:27. > :06:28.and regions and the weather, Audiences liked it and thought
:06:29. > :06:31.it was a good thing, At the same time,
:06:32. > :06:35.the network part of the Ten O'Clock News will end
:06:36. > :06:37.roughly at the time Newsnight starts, so it is a really good offer
:06:38. > :06:40.and choice for audiences which is the network
:06:41. > :06:46.ten and then extra strong coverage from the nations
:06:47. > :06:48.and regions and weather or, if you want more analysis,
:06:49. > :06:56.debate and original journalism on BBC Two,
:06:57. > :06:58.you can watch Newsnight. I think they've come up
:06:59. > :07:00.with a formula that really Do let us know your thoughts on that
:07:01. > :07:11.or on any aspect of BBC News. Details on how to contact us
:07:12. > :07:18.at the end of the programme. The impact of the US
:07:19. > :07:21.shooting also led to The BBC covered the Republican
:07:22. > :07:40.presidential hopeful's call for a temporary halt on Muslims
:07:41. > :07:43.entering the United States. Donald Trump is a familiar face
:07:44. > :07:46.in Scotland because of his golf One local residents
:07:47. > :07:48.lodged a petition calling for him to be banned
:07:49. > :07:51.from the UK for hate speech. It has attracted more
:07:52. > :07:52.than 100,000 signatures. Several viewers got in touch to say
:07:53. > :07:56.that the BBC took the position that Donald Trump's views
:07:57. > :07:58.were unacceptable and Dave had
:07:59. > :08:38.the following to say: Throughout the week the storms
:08:39. > :08:40.which brought flooding to southern Scotland, northern England,
:08:41. > :08:42.Wales and Northern Ireland have Tens of thousands of people
:08:43. > :08:45.been affected by direct On Monday one particular bit
:08:46. > :08:48.of reporting annoyed The BBC's Ed Thomas spent the day
:08:49. > :08:52.with residents from a street in Carlisle which had been
:08:53. > :08:54.very badly affected. There seems to be no
:08:55. > :08:56.beginning or end. Alan has lived in
:08:57. > :09:00.Carlisle all his life. He has seen this before
:09:01. > :09:02.and once again his family have lost everything
:09:03. > :09:09.and it is not getting any easier. Stephen Williams was one of many
:09:10. > :09:30.viewers who got in touch to complain about Ed Thomas's question
:09:31. > :09:40.to a clearly distressed man and he joins us now
:09:41. > :09:46.from our Birmingham studio. Stephen, what prompted
:09:47. > :09:49.you to contact us about that particular bit
:09:50. > :09:50.of news? Normally I wouldn't respond
:09:51. > :09:55.strongly as I don't, but I did feel on Monday
:09:56. > :10:00.our hearts were really going out to these poor people
:10:01. > :10:03.in Cumbria whose homes were being flooded,
:10:04. > :10:18.I was just astounded to see the BBC reporter thrust a microphone
:10:19. > :10:21.at this resident who was just standing by his house
:10:22. > :10:24.and standing in the water. If you have the question,
:10:25. > :10:26.you have lost all your possessions It is hardly surprising
:10:27. > :10:31.that he did not get an answer because the pool man
:10:32. > :10:32.was too upset to respond. Let me read you what the BBC has
:10:33. > :10:36.said in response to your complaint and those of the other
:10:37. > :10:52.viewers who contacted us. There is a sense that maybe seeing
:10:53. > :10:56.how much grief it caused was maybe a part of the story
:10:57. > :10:58.if the person was I think it is entirely
:10:59. > :11:03.right to see the effect of the flooding on individuals,
:11:04. > :11:06.but I think it is rather playing on their emotions
:11:07. > :11:08.when they are already very upset to be asked
:11:09. > :11:10.such a crass question, you have lost everything,
:11:11. > :11:12.how do you feel about losing What would that possibly bring
:11:13. > :11:26.in terms of answer to increase Thank you for your
:11:27. > :11:34.comments this week. If you want to share your opinions
:11:35. > :11:42.or appear on the programme you can call us using the number
:11:43. > :11:47.on screen or email us. You can find us on Twitter
:11:48. > :11:50.and do look at our That is from us, we will be back
:11:51. > :11:55.to hear your thoughts about BBC News