11/12/2015 Newswatch

More than 900 of them are vying for seats on local councils. At 10pm we

will have a full round-up of the news from today, but before then it

is time for Newswatch. Hello and welcome to

Newswatch, I'm Samira Ahmed. Coming up: The media scrum

in the house of the San Bernardino Islamist killers, going

through their possessions Perhaps most poignantly of all,

just behind here, is the baby's cot. The six-month-old baby

that is now an orphan. Covering the terrible destruction

and the personal grief inflicted Was the BBC insensitive and crass

in some of its reporting? You have lost your possessions,

how does that make you feel? And what is afoot with extending

the News at 10 by ten minutes? First, the mass

shootings in California. Nearly 200 viewers complained

about BBC reporters joining a media scrum that went into the home

of Sayed Farook and Tashfeen Malik. The married couple were killed

in a shoot out with police after they themselves

killed 14 people at The BBC was among many outlets that

broadcast live footage of rooms strewn with baby toys,

religious objects and The BBC said they had

the permission of the landlord. Here is the reporter

going through the This is apparently quite

an ordinary apartment building. Going into the bedroom

here on the second floor and you can see

a copy of the Koran here, you can see various other bits

and pieces that have been left here presumably

by members of the FBI. This is the Californian driving

licence belonging to the one of the two key suspects

in this attack. Ross Anderson was amongst those

contacting Newswatch to question whether the BBC had fallen below

the journalistic integrity We're joined now by

the editor of the Six I think it is important first

of all to restate the context here. This was the worst terror attack

inside America since 9-11. There was a rare presidential

address and it was a nightmare for the security

services because here was a couple who were seemingly

ordinary, living the American dream inside suburbia, who turned

into mass killers, so clearly there was a need

to understand the background to these killers who carried

out this massacre. I think it is also important

to stress that the FBI had finished their work at the house,

they had finished going It was never a crime scene in so far

as the massacre was elsewhere, but it was obviously

investigated to find out The FBI had finished

and the police were there Just because everyone else piled on,

in by the landlord. It was the right

journalistic thing to do. We make our own decisions

and do our own thinking and we make

our own judgments. It is not uncommon that we are

covering stories where there are a lot of other media

outlets there from America, UK and around the world,

but ultimately we still make our own decisions and it wasn't a pack

mentality or anything like this, it was a legitimate

thing to do which a large number of media

organisations were doing. Can you see why people

felt uncomfortable? There were baby toys

and personal possessions, a sense of feeling like an intrusion

and a question of what was the point given that none of these journalists

are themselves criminal I think it was a very

unusual situation. We were outside the house,

we were allowed inside the house, and combine that

with modern technology and new technology which allows

you to broadcast live How do you go for what

you saw inside that house, which to all intents

and purposes looks completely ordinary, a couple that

were not on the security services radar, who were unknown,

they were not on a list somewhere, how did you go from

that to what they I think there was a journalistic

and editorial purpose One other issue I wanted to raise

briefly is that the news at ten Why, when Newsnight

starts at 10:30pm? There has always been an issue

for me as editor of the six and Ten O'Clock News that the network part

of the Ten O'Clock News is actually the shortest network bulletin that

BBC News does and I always found that a bit of a strange situation

when in many respects it is the sort I have always advocated

a longer slot. What we did at the beginning

of the year leading into the election in anticipation

of election coverage and everything else

was that we trialled an extended run involving the network

part of the Ten O'Clock News and the nations

and regions and the weather, Audiences liked it and thought

it was a good thing, At the same time,

the network part of the Ten O'Clock News will end

roughly at the time Newsnight starts, so it is a really good offer

and choice for audiences which is the network

ten and then extra strong coverage from the nations

and regions and weather or, if you want more analysis,

debate and original journalism on BBC Two,

you can watch Newsnight. I think they've come up

with a formula that really Do let us know your thoughts on that

or on any aspect of BBC News. Details on how to contact us

at the end of the programme. The impact of the US

shooting also led to The BBC covered the Republican

presidential hopeful's call for a temporary halt on Muslims

entering the United States. Donald Trump is a familiar face

in Scotland because of his golf One local residents

lodged a petition calling for him to be banned

from the UK for hate speech. It has attracted more

than 100,000 signatures. Several viewers got in touch to say

that the BBC took the position that Donald Trump's views

were unacceptable and Dave had

the following to say: Throughout the week the storms

which brought flooding to southern Scotland, northern England,

Wales and Northern Ireland have Tens of thousands of people

been affected by direct On Monday one particular bit

of reporting annoyed The BBC's Ed Thomas spent the day

with residents from a street in Carlisle which had been

very badly affected. There seems to be no

beginning or end. Alan has lived in

Carlisle all his life. He has seen this before

and once again his family have lost everything

and it is not getting any easier. Stephen Williams was one of many

viewers who got in touch to complain about Ed Thomas's question

to a clearly distressed man and he joins us now

from our Birmingham studio. Stephen, what prompted

you to contact us about that particular bit

of news? Normally I wouldn't respond

strongly as I don't, but I did feel on Monday

our hearts were really going out to these poor people

in Cumbria whose homes were being flooded,

I was just astounded to see the BBC reporter thrust a microphone

at this resident who was just standing by his house

and standing in the water. If you have the question,

you have lost all your possessions It is hardly surprising

that he did not get an answer because the pool man

was too upset to respond. Let me read you what the BBC has

said in response to your complaint and those of the other

viewers who contacted us. There is a sense that maybe seeing

how much grief it caused was maybe a part of the story

if the person was I think it is entirely

right to see the effect of the flooding on individuals,

but I think it is rather playing on their emotions

when they are already very upset to be asked

such a crass question, you have lost everything,

how do you feel about losing What would that possibly bring

in terms of answer to increase Thank you for your

comments this week. If you want to share your opinions

or appear on the programme you can call us using the number

on screen or email us. You can find us on Twitter

and do look at our That is from us, we will be back

to hear your thoughts about BBC News