:00:11. > :00:19.Coming up on this programme, snowstorms hit the USA last weekend.
:00:20. > :00:26.But the BBC get too carried away in reporting them?
:00:27. > :00:29.And the bedroom tax is back in the news, or should that be
:00:30. > :00:33.And someone in Worcester has won ?33 million on the lottery.
:00:34. > :00:38.Sophie Raworth gets less information than you might hope for
:00:39. > :00:41.from the BBC's reporter on the spot when she asks John Kay who it is.
:00:42. > :00:50.We don't know because they've decided to remain anonymous, Sophie.
:00:51. > :00:53.Last Friday night BBC News began reporting on the heavy snow linked
:00:54. > :00:57.to Storm Jonas, arriving on the east coast of the United States.
:00:58. > :01:00.It was one of the top stories on that night's News at Ten.
:01:01. > :01:11.The east coast of America braces itself for what could be
:01:12. > :01:24.leading most of them on Sunday and occupying lots of airtime on the
:01:25. > :01:32.But there are some who simply cannot hide their joy.
:01:33. > :01:37.At least 36 people died, though, as a result of the blizzard and there
:01:38. > :01:42.But scores of viewers felt the BBC got this out of proportion.
:01:43. > :01:58.While Rob Kitching posted a different question:
:01:59. > :02:00.Yes, it has been snowing pretty hard in the US,
:02:01. > :02:25.On Saturday morning, Dave Briggs was another one to object, asking:
:02:26. > :02:30.A lot of businesses are opening, but your patrons can't get to
:02:31. > :02:35.You can help us to get those streets clear.
:02:36. > :02:39.Stay off the streets, don't put snow in the middle of the street.
:02:40. > :02:41.And on Sunday, the News Channel broadcast experts
:02:42. > :03:01.from two press conferences to the bemusement of William from Glasgow.
:03:02. > :03:07.So, did the extremity of the weather and the availability of pictures
:03:08. > :03:11.like these warrant the extent of the coverage, or did the BBC get carried
:03:12. > :03:21.away by a bias towards all things American? Let's hear some answers to
:03:22. > :03:24.those questions. It was the heaviest snowfall on much of the east coast
:03:25. > :03:33.on record. Surely that's a news story? I guess it is newsworthy and
:03:34. > :03:38.it would probably be worthy of a final mention in the news, as often
:03:39. > :03:48.used to happen. But I felt that, like a lot of the people who wrote
:03:49. > :03:54.in, the amount of time given to this subject was totally out of
:03:55. > :03:59.proportion. It just seemed to be far too much on after all it is in the
:04:00. > :04:05.northern hemisphere, it is winter and its nose in the winter. Equally,
:04:06. > :04:10.Japan and Korea were suffering far worse weather and far more people
:04:11. > :04:14.died. And it didn't get a mention. It didn't get a mention at all. It
:04:15. > :04:19.will did die in the storms of the United States, but this kind of snow
:04:20. > :04:25.is a regular occurrence in the United States and many other
:04:26. > :04:32.countries, as Paul just said. You don't give them all that airtime.
:04:33. > :04:35.The US snow story was significant and unprecedented. 60 centimetres
:04:36. > :04:41.snow in Washington. New York shut down. A loss of life on quite a
:04:42. > :04:45.large scale. You've got federal government is closing down,
:04:46. > :04:51.legislation on hold. It is a significant story and, from a
:04:52. > :04:57.television news bulletin, it had an extraordinary picture. -- for a.
:04:58. > :05:02.There was an audience interest in it. As proven by how online
:05:03. > :05:06.statistics, just to give you an example. Last week that two most
:05:07. > :05:12.highly read stories on the BBC online, the UK site, both relating
:05:13. > :05:15.to this no story in the US. Paul, how do you feel about that?
:05:16. > :05:22.Unprecedented and audiences are interested? I think if you feed
:05:23. > :05:26.people that much information, give it that much airtime, people will be
:05:27. > :05:30.interested. There's a lot of other stuff going on at the moment. It's
:05:31. > :05:33.not like it's a no new season. People are dying in the
:05:34. > :05:41.Mediterranean. It is quite an interesting time. Begin up on that,
:05:42. > :05:45.on the News at Ten on Friday night, this was not the lead story, it was
:05:46. > :05:49.the third story on the bulletin. Yes, we had Google tax and the
:05:50. > :05:52.migrant crisis ahead of this in the running orders. It didn't lead the
:05:53. > :05:55.bulletins. I felt it had exactly the correct place in those running
:05:56. > :06:02.orders for the significance of the story. In terms of pictures, that
:06:03. > :06:07.panda video, for example, on the website was the most shared video of
:06:08. > :06:12.the year and it was something that was incredibly well-received by our
:06:13. > :06:16.audiences. It led to so much of the news coverage through the weekend on
:06:17. > :06:20.the News Channel. People got plenty of coverage, a lot of it just
:06:21. > :06:24.pictures of Americans dealing with snow. It didn't feel that important
:06:25. > :06:30.and it is a bias because perhaps there are many BBC correspondent in
:06:31. > :06:34.America and maybe it is cheap and easy news at the weekend, when BBC
:06:35. > :06:39.budget have been cut? I absolutely reject that. Our model is to have
:06:40. > :06:43.eyed -- eyewitness reporting on the ground. It would be a bad state of
:06:44. > :06:47.affairs if we didn't have correspondence on the ground
:06:48. > :06:52.reporting on these stories. -- correspondents. Owl Eamonn all of
:06:53. > :06:55.the stories we cover internationally is that we have reporters based
:06:56. > :07:01.locally so they can give their opinion and their view on the
:07:02. > :07:06.ground. -- our aim on all. Is there a perceived Americanisation of the
:07:07. > :07:11.news? What are your thoughts? I will make it clear, I am not
:07:12. > :07:16.anti-American or anti-panda. It is horrible when one person dies, but
:07:17. > :07:20.it wasn't a tsunami or natural disaster. You think it is a North
:07:21. > :07:25.American obsession, at the expense of other stories in the world?
:07:26. > :07:30.Absolutely. You made the point of lots of BBC personnel being in and
:07:31. > :07:38.around the US makes it easy reporting. We will have to leave it
:07:39. > :07:46.there but thank you to both of you for coming on Newswatch. We can
:07:47. > :07:48.expect more coverage of the United States in the next week as the
:07:49. > :07:52.attention turns to the presidential election campaign. Please let us
:07:53. > :07:56.know your thoughts, or on any aspect of BBC News. Details of how to
:07:57. > :08:01.contact us at the end of the programme. Before that, one of the
:08:02. > :08:05.biggest stories of the week has been a row over the amount of tax paid by
:08:06. > :08:09.Google in the UK. BBC News claimed a scoop on this last Friday night.
:08:10. > :08:17.Google reveals to the BBC that it has agreed to pay ?130 million in
:08:18. > :08:20.back dated tax. But what proportion of Google's UK profits was that
:08:21. > :08:25.amount? That was much discussed later in the week, but it didn't get
:08:26. > :08:30.a mention on that addition of the news at 10pm, or the following
:08:31. > :08:51.morning, prompting this maths teacher to write:
:08:52. > :08:56.On Wednesday, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government's
:08:57. > :08:59.withdrawal of the spare room subsidy back in 2013 had just committed
:09:00. > :09:07.against a domestic violence victim and the family of a disabled
:09:08. > :09:13.teenager. The family challenged the bedroom tax. A female victim of
:09:14. > :09:17.domestic violence was raped and stalked. Since 2013, households
:09:18. > :09:21.deemed to have spare room is received blessing benefits. Those
:09:22. > :09:26.affected lose 40% of their housing benefit for a spare bedroom. Well,
:09:27. > :09:33.the terminology used their prompted Lawrence Williams to ring us. In
:09:34. > :09:36.other areas of reporting the news the BBC rightly adds a so-called
:09:37. > :09:42.disclaimer Web referring to organisations and the like. However,
:09:43. > :09:45.why do BBC News outlets state the so-called bedroom tax were the
:09:46. > :09:49.subject referred to has a perfectly acceptable correct and official name
:09:50. > :09:57.and also when it is a tax anyway? -- it isn't. On that addition, the
:09:58. > :09:59.change in laws was described three times as the so-called bedroom tax
:10:00. > :10:04.and three times simply as the bedroom tax. But never as the spare
:10:05. > :10:15.room subsidy. John from Guildford was another to object:
:10:16. > :10:45.We put that point to BBC News and they told us:
:10:46. > :10:54.Finally, the search for the second winner of a record ?33 million share
:10:55. > :10:57.of a national lottery jack pot was declared the over on Thursday almost
:10:58. > :11:02.three is after the ticket was bought. Our correspondent revealed
:11:03. > :11:08.almost all on the news at six p.m.. The ticket was bought in Worcester
:11:09. > :11:11.but whose is it? John is there now. We don't know because they have
:11:12. > :11:16.decided to remain anonymous, which means there is a rather curious,
:11:17. > :11:42.suspicious atmosphere here. A disgruntled viewer e-mails us:
:11:43. > :11:47.That's all from us. Thanks for your comments this week. If you want to
:11:48. > :11:57.share your opinions or even appear on the programme, you can call us
:11:58. > :12:03.on: Or e-mail Newswatch at: You can find us on Twitter and have a look
:12:04. > :12:08.at our website. You can watch previous discussions there. That's
:12:09. > :12:10.all from us. We will be back to hear your thoughts on BBC coverage next
:12:11. > :12:14.week. Goodbye.