15/01/2016 Newswatch

At 10pm we will be here with a full round-up of the day's News but first

it's time for Newswatch. Welcome to Newswatch. On the

programme, an outpouring of grief shown on screen and extensive

analysis of its cultural impact, but did BBC go over the top in its

coverage of the death of David Bowie?

Was this week's question Time balanced or unfairly weighted

towards right-wingers? Those convicted of the bar yet Hatton

Gardens are getting on a bit but did we need this much information? They

were struggling with infirmity, even in comp -- incontinence. The week

began with the announcement of an unexpected death early on Monday

morning. For many he was an inspiration and cultural icon and

for others a pop star with no wider significance. No surprise then that

the very prominent coverage of his best divided viewers.

Some breaking news just now this morning and it has been confirmed

that David Bowie, the singer and musician has dry at the age of 69.

From breakfast on words, BBC News on Monday reported extensively on the

life and career of David Bowie across the news channels and online.

The subject to cop the first half of the BBC One bulletins at 1pm and 6pm

and the first 17 minutes of the News at ten. Each of the bulletins also

ended with the musical tribute and then between all that BBC One

replaced its scheduled regional programme Inside Out with a

half-hour special presented by Jeremy Vine. One

But that was very much a minority view. More typical was this from

Helen Belsen. To discuss all this I'm joined by a

viewer and by the BBC's head of news gathering. Thank you very much for

coming on Newswatch. Do you think it should have been the lead story? I

was happy that it was mentioned in the headlines at the top of the news

announcing his death and perhaps people hadn't heard it first thing

in the morning so it could go on for the 6pm and 10pm news, but 70

minutes on the ten o'clock news? What they were showing was not news

but old footage, to a certain extent, about his achievements and

what he had done. There is no question he achieve the lot and was

an icon to some people and changed his persona all through his career,

but on that day the aid convoy got into Madaya and I felt that should

have been the lead story and followed up at the end with maybe

five minutes about the reaction to David's Beth. There are two issue

is, let's start with duration, half of the one and six bulletins and 70

minutes on the ten p.m., doesn't this reveal the personal tastes of

the bosses running the newsroom? I think we just felt there was a lot

to say and people wanted to hear the music as well which was an important

part of the way you report the death of an artist like David Bowie. There

are probably half a dozen people probably alive who genuinely shaped

modern culture in some shape or form, so we're not doing justice to

them to have a obituary, rather like running a comparison to the Alan

Rickman obituary, which was atypical, well thought through and

nicely produced appreciation of a person's career, but he didn't have

the impact across as many things as David Bowie had, so we felt we

needed the time to really express that and talk to people who had been

touched by that. These stories often attract reaction of the kind we have

seen, divided reaction, but it was a judgment about the there was to say

him. Let's talk about what there was to say. That the stuff you see on

the news programmes seem like news to you? It didn't. It is not that I

am not someone who appreciated David Bowie, I went to the V exhibition,

so I am aware of what he achieved in his life, but I just felt that big

chunk could have been saved for perhaps another obituary type

programme, a documentary, rather than news, because it wasn't news.

Can we talk about what got dropped? You mention the seizure of this tone

and Serie A, the eve of the NHS junior doctors strike. These

half-hour bulletin is where people go to be told what is important

today. They could have been redirected to the website for all

the extra material? Both the stories run on both the 6pm and 10pm news on

the Serie A story was the first story after David Bowie on both

programmes. We are dead with that story on the previous evening when

the convoy was setting. We think it is a very important story and nobody

for the moment was considering dropping the story. There is a

practical issue specifically that we used every single piece of footage

we had and we cannot go and gather footage ourselves because it is

frankly too dangerous. Other stories got dropped though? The NHS didn't

get dropped, that was on the bulletins, and so was the

resignation of the Environment Agency chief, and the report on the

aftermath of the Labour Party reshuffle on the today programme. We

had an extended interview with Jeremy Corbyn and the Archbishop of

Canterbury so we got through a lot of other news. You will know this

comes up a lot of time with obituaries, so why not just run an

obituary and news package and direct people to the other stuff. There was

a special as well. We asked the regional programmes to move to

Wednesday and they were still transmitted, just moves 48 hours,

and there were some important programmes, so they have run and we

took out a repeat on Wednesday evening to accommodate that. There

are some stories where we just feel that the peak-time audience that is

not typically watching the 6pm or 10pm news, although some will watch

both, also want to hear the bet about some of the major stories of

the year, so occasionally we will replace a programme with the new

special. I can understand the taking out of Inside Out London for me but

what I cannot understand is why you didn't alter the running, as it

were, of the other stories that they weren't at the top of the programme,

and then at the end do your bit on David Bowie? And in the end in terms

of what you have heard, what would you like to say what would you like

to say? I would say, think about those who want to watch the news for

news rather than a retrospective, but not 70 minutes on the ten

o'clock news. We will have to leave it there, thank you very much for

coming in. Do let us know your thoughts on that and on any aspect

of BBC News, details on how to contact us at the end of the

programme. Before that, some protests as to the make-up of the

panel on Thursday's Time. Alongside one Labour MP, it consisted of a

Ukip MEP, a Conservative MP, a journalist from the Sunday Times and

a columnist from the sun. They were both writers for a right-leaning

Murdoch newspapers and to some that was unbalanced. Hughes is John Adler

Steyn from In response BBC News put out this

statement. Reporting of the ongoing dispute

over the government proposals for a new contract for junior doctors has

proved controversial before among Newswatch viewers and we heard more

following Tuesday's industrial action.

I am an NHS consultant and I was very disappointed by the BBC

coverage of the junior doctors strike on the 10pm news. It showed

the public response in a very negative light and only should be

the actions of two members of the public. The first was a man behaving

aggressively in the street towards a striking doctor. The second was a

lady being interviewed on her own home about who postponed operation.

We have got people's lights on their hands and walking out. Whilst I do

have every sympathy for patients affected by the strike, the fact is

that it is a huge amount of public support for the strike but one would

never know this. I don't think the report was either balanced or

representatives. That is the subject we are likely to be returning to

that finally, this week we had complaints after three more men were

convicted for their part in the ?40 million Hatton Garden Burghley last

year, and some felt BBC News was obsessed with the age of the

thieves. The men in their 60s and 70s were

secretly filmed in a local pub. Those four other men all in their

60s and 70s... The ageing men let themselves in through a back door. A

combined age of 278. They just couldn't resist even at the age.

Struggling with infirmity, even incontinence. That last detail was

too much for Jane Jones, who asked...

More of your comments on BBC News and current affairs next week. If

you'd like to put your views across either in person or in print, please

do collars... You can message us Twitter. Have a

look at our website. That's all from us, we will be back

to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next week, goodbye.

Coming up in the sports day, a classic in the quarterfinals at the

Masters snooker, and we will show you how Joe Root was the month in

England once again as he led a