:00:00. > :00:19.Welcome to Newswatch. The American presidential campaign kicked off in
:00:20. > :00:26.Iowa this week, but have we already seen and heard enough about this
:00:27. > :00:27.man? And why is this man standing outside the BBC building rather than
:00:28. > :00:38.inside in the warmth of the studio? Still an awfully long way to go
:00:39. > :00:40.before we find out in November who the next president of the United
:00:41. > :00:46.States will be but this week the race to the White House began in
:00:47. > :00:49.earnest, with voters in their state of Iowa expressing their preferences
:00:50. > :00:52.on who the Republican and Democratic candidates should be forced up the
:00:53. > :00:56.media blitz has started but do British audiences find the contest
:00:57. > :01:03.is as compelling as generally seem to? Today I will probably announce
:01:04. > :01:07.my candidacy for presidency of the United States of America.
:01:08. > :01:11.Presidential election campaigns have certainly featured their gripping
:01:12. > :01:17.moments. Yes, I was Bill Clinton's lover. There was the scandal ridden
:01:18. > :01:22.first campaign of another Clinton, with the comeback kid first making
:01:23. > :01:30.it to the White House in 1992. The new Prime Minister of India is...
:01:31. > :01:38.No. Eight years later the battle between George Bush Junior and Al
:01:39. > :01:42.Gore culminated in a dramatic tie. And in 2008 Barack Obama was swept
:01:43. > :01:48.to power after a campaign of idealistic fervour. But in between
:01:49. > :01:52.the standout moments, US elections are protracted affairs with some
:01:53. > :01:58.arcane and complex procedures, not the taste of all audiences here. Ted
:01:59. > :02:03.Cruz wins the first Republican nomination and Hillary Clinton
:02:04. > :02:08.narrowly beats Barney Sanders. I do not believe it is needed such a
:02:09. > :02:14.long, in-depth coverage. To have most of the candidates spin
:02:15. > :02:18.finishing speeches broadcast in full, to have in-depth analysis of
:02:19. > :02:23.the results and the way the votes went, almost at the same extent you
:02:24. > :02:29.get coverage for the UK election. This is not the actual election for
:02:30. > :02:33.presidency, this is just to find their nominees to run for the
:02:34. > :02:34.presidency. So I would question how much time and effort you dedicate to
:02:35. > :02:54.this. This year there is the Donald. Trump
:02:55. > :02:58.mania. Have news organisations, including the BBC, fallen for an
:02:59. > :03:02.effective PR machine in giving the Republican front runner so much
:03:03. > :03:08.airtime? One viewer contacted us this week. Brian, what will your
:03:09. > :03:13.main concerns about the coverage you have been watching? I think the BBC
:03:14. > :03:17.should cover the US presidential election, I think it has an
:03:18. > :03:21.important bearing for UK foreign policy. But every time I switched it
:03:22. > :03:25.on it seems to be dominated by Donald Trump. There seems to be very
:03:26. > :03:32.little about the other Republican candidates and even less about the
:03:33. > :03:35.Democrats' campaign. When it came to the Iowa caucus, what did you
:03:36. > :03:41.notice? It is interesting who actually won. I know the man who
:03:42. > :03:46.won, Ted Cruz. But most of the reporting was all about Donald Trump
:03:47. > :03:50.losing. And again, there was very little about the Democrats coverage,
:03:51. > :03:56.the fact it was neck and neck between Hillary Clinton and Bernie
:03:57. > :04:01.Saunders. I suppose one might say he is out in front in all the polls
:04:02. > :04:04.people American politics believe Donald Trump is the big difference
:04:05. > :04:11.in this election process, he is a very big player? Yes, that's because
:04:12. > :04:15.he says all this very controversial comments, very histrionic comments
:04:16. > :04:19.in a very bombastic way, which I suppose is very good seed for the
:04:20. > :04:24.BBC and other news reporters as well. I can understand that. But I
:04:25. > :04:26.think if we are really looking at what is going on with the
:04:27. > :04:30.presidential election, we need to find out what the other candidates
:04:31. > :04:34.are saying. What are the Republicans saying, what are their policies and
:04:35. > :04:39.debates on foreign affairs, home issues and so on. Let me read you
:04:40. > :04:40.what the BBC have said in the statement they have given us about
:04:41. > :05:19.this coverage. What you make of that? I watched the
:05:20. > :05:23.news readily, six o'clock or ten o'clock. I have breakfast TV on in
:05:24. > :05:27.the morning. I disagree with that. In fact, I think it would be very
:05:28. > :05:31.difficult to name all of the other Republican candidates. I know Ted
:05:32. > :05:35.Cruz and Jeb Bush but apart from that I don't know anybody else. And
:05:36. > :05:40.I watch it and listen to and have an interest in it as well. Last night
:05:41. > :05:47.there was a very good debate, apparently, between Hillary Clinton
:05:48. > :05:50.and Bernie Sanders. It was mentioned on Radio 4 this morning but it was
:05:51. > :05:54.not mentioned on television. It is interesting thinking about some of
:05:55. > :05:58.the complaints we had at Newswatch in the last few years about Nigel
:05:59. > :06:02.Farage and Ukip and people say you always cover what happens to Ukip
:06:03. > :06:07.even if they don't do well, rather than covering all the parties. Do
:06:08. > :06:12.you think there is a comparison? I do. Another example is last week
:06:13. > :06:22.Donald Trump pulled out of the televised debate, and yet most of
:06:23. > :06:24.the news coverage from the BBC was more about him pulling out of the
:06:25. > :06:27.debate rather than listening to what the debate actually said and what
:06:28. > :06:29.the other candidates were saying. If you could tell BBC editors, what
:06:30. > :06:32.should they be doing in terms of how they are covering this process?
:06:33. > :06:36.Clearly you do believe the process should be covered? Yes. One other
:06:37. > :06:41.point before that, I also noticed on Saturday night after match of the
:06:42. > :06:44.dates, Donald Trump is on again with the young American apprentice. It
:06:45. > :06:49.seems like he is getting a lot of coverage. But what I would advise
:06:50. > :06:54.is, please BBC, get your act together. Do a rational and fair
:06:55. > :06:59.appraisal of all the candidates and let's listen to what they all have
:07:00. > :07:04.to say and concentrate on policies, rather than these knee jerk,
:07:05. > :07:12.bombastic statements that come out from Mr Trump. Thank you so much for
:07:13. > :07:16.coming on Newswatch. Just like the US elections the
:07:17. > :07:19.upcoming referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union
:07:20. > :07:23.seems certain to dominate much of this year's news. This week
:07:24. > :07:27.Prime Minister unveiled the draft agreement on the new terms of that
:07:28. > :07:33.membership, prompting accusations from Newswatch viewers of biased BBC
:07:34. > :07:42.coverage. A future edition will be examining how BBC News approaches
:07:43. > :07:46.impartiality, but for now, a look at a report exploring whether migrants
:07:47. > :07:49.from countries like Romania might be encouraged to move here because of
:07:50. > :07:54.high pay. Look where the UK minimum wage sits
:07:55. > :07:58.within Europe. Only Ireland and Luxembourg are more generous. And
:07:59. > :08:03.you have to go a long way down the list before you find Romania. Back
:08:04. > :08:07.home, the minimum wage for our potential migrants will be a little
:08:08. > :08:14.over ?2000, less than a sixth of what he would be paid in the UK.
:08:15. > :08:18.But did those figures tell the whole story, in suggesting high wages
:08:19. > :08:20.might be encouraging migrants to the UK from other countries? One viewer
:08:21. > :08:48.made this point. Now, featured several times on ABC
:08:49. > :08:52.News is week was the BBC itself, or in some cases, its own programmes.
:08:53. > :08:56.-- BBC News. Monday's programme at six o'clock or some viewers
:08:57. > :09:00.attention. Life is very different for Romario
:09:01. > :09:03.since he fled to the UK several years ago, escaping homophobic
:09:04. > :09:11.abuse. He is transgender. You can watch the full documentary
:09:12. > :09:15.on the BBC I player. Behind the scenes with Camila
:09:16. > :09:21.Batmanghelidjh as kids company crumbled. Part of that deal was I
:09:22. > :09:25.stepped down as chief executive. You can watch the full documentary, the
:09:26. > :09:28.inside story, this Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.
:09:29. > :09:59.Andy e-mailed us asking: the biggest story involving the BBC
:10:00. > :10:04.itself this weekend on Sunday, when the death was announced of Sir Terry
:10:05. > :10:08.Wogan. But unlike the hundreds of complaints we featured a few weeks
:10:09. > :10:14.ago on Newswatch, the reaction from viewers to this coverage was more
:10:15. > :10:28.balanced. But it wasn't all compliments, I'm
:10:29. > :10:34.afraid. Several of you are commenting on this.
:10:35. > :10:38.David Sillito is outside BBC Broadcasting House. A tremendous
:10:39. > :10:42.talent but also a man who inspired a lot of devotion from his fans? An
:10:43. > :10:44.extraordinary day, so many tributes far and wide. This is what James
:10:45. > :11:20.Kelly had to say: thank you for all of your comments
:11:21. > :11:24.this week. You can contribute to Newswatch and could appear on the
:11:25. > :11:27.programme. Please call us with your views on BBC News and current
:11:28. > :11:42.affairs, on the number on screen. All of our programmes from the past
:11:43. > :11:45.year can be viewed on our website. We will be back with more of your
:11:46. > :11:49.thoughts on BBC News coverage again next week. Goodbye.