05/02/2016 Newswatch

Welcome to Newswatch. The American presidential campaign kicked off in

Iowa this week, but have we already seen and heard enough about this

man? And why is this man standing outside the BBC building rather than

inside in the warmth of the studio? Still an awfully long way to go

before we find out in November who the next president of the United

States will be but this week the race to the White House began in

earnest, with voters in their state of Iowa expressing their preferences

on who the Republican and Democratic candidates should be forced up the

media blitz has started but do British audiences find the contest

is as compelling as generally seem to? Today I will probably announce

my candidacy for presidency of the United States of America.

Presidential election campaigns have certainly featured their gripping

moments. Yes, I was Bill Clinton's lover. There was the scandal ridden

first campaign of another Clinton, with the comeback kid first making

it to the White House in 1992. The new Prime Minister of India is...

No. Eight years later the battle between George Bush Junior and Al

Gore culminated in a dramatic tie. And in 2008 Barack Obama was swept

to power after a campaign of idealistic fervour. But in between

the standout moments, US elections are protracted affairs with some

arcane and complex procedures, not the taste of all audiences here. Ted

Cruz wins the first Republican nomination and Hillary Clinton

narrowly beats Barney Sanders. I do not believe it is needed such a

long, in-depth coverage. To have most of the candidates spin

finishing speeches broadcast in full, to have in-depth analysis of

the results and the way the votes went, almost at the same extent you

get coverage for the UK election. This is not the actual election for

presidency, this is just to find their nominees to run for the

presidency. So I would question how much time and effort you dedicate to

this. This year there is the Donald. Trump

mania. Have news organisations, including the BBC, fallen for an

effective PR machine in giving the Republican front runner so much

airtime? One viewer contacted us this week. Brian, what will your

main concerns about the coverage you have been watching? I think the BBC

should cover the US presidential election, I think it has an

important bearing for UK foreign policy. But every time I switched it

on it seems to be dominated by Donald Trump. There seems to be very

little about the other Republican candidates and even less about the

Democrats' campaign. When it came to the Iowa caucus, what did you

notice? It is interesting who actually won. I know the man who

won, Ted Cruz. But most of the reporting was all about Donald Trump

losing. And again, there was very little about the Democrats coverage,

the fact it was neck and neck between Hillary Clinton and Bernie

Saunders. I suppose one might say he is out in front in all the polls

people American politics believe Donald Trump is the big difference

in this election process, he is a very big player? Yes, that's because

he says all this very controversial comments, very histrionic comments

in a very bombastic way, which I suppose is very good seed for the

BBC and other news reporters as well. I can understand that. But I

think if we are really looking at what is going on with the

presidential election, we need to find out what the other candidates

are saying. What are the Republicans saying, what are their policies and

debates on foreign affairs, home issues and so on. Let me read you

what the BBC have said in the statement they have given us about

this coverage. What you make of that? I watched the

news readily, six o'clock or ten o'clock. I have breakfast TV on in

the morning. I disagree with that. In fact, I think it would be very

difficult to name all of the other Republican candidates. I know Ted

Cruz and Jeb Bush but apart from that I don't know anybody else. And

I watch it and listen to and have an interest in it as well. Last night

there was a very good debate, apparently, between Hillary Clinton

and Bernie Sanders. It was mentioned on Radio 4 this morning but it was

not mentioned on television. It is interesting thinking about some of

the complaints we had at Newswatch in the last few years about Nigel

Farage and Ukip and people say you always cover what happens to Ukip

even if they don't do well, rather than covering all the parties. Do

you think there is a comparison? I do. Another example is last week

Donald Trump pulled out of the televised debate, and yet most of

the news coverage from the BBC was more about him pulling out of the

debate rather than listening to what the debate actually said and what

the other candidates were saying. If you could tell BBC editors, what

should they be doing in terms of how they are covering this process?

Clearly you do believe the process should be covered? Yes. One other

point before that, I also noticed on Saturday night after match of the

dates, Donald Trump is on again with the young American apprentice. It

seems like he is getting a lot of coverage. But what I would advise

is, please BBC, get your act together. Do a rational and fair

appraisal of all the candidates and let's listen to what they all have

to say and concentrate on policies, rather than these knee jerk,

bombastic statements that come out from Mr Trump. Thank you so much for

coming on Newswatch. Just like the US elections the

upcoming referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union

seems certain to dominate much of this year's news. This week

Prime Minister unveiled the draft agreement on the new terms of that

membership, prompting accusations from Newswatch viewers of biased BBC

coverage. A future edition will be examining how BBC News approaches

impartiality, but for now, a look at a report exploring whether migrants

from countries like Romania might be encouraged to move here because of

high pay. Look where the UK minimum wage sits

within Europe. Only Ireland and Luxembourg are more generous. And

you have to go a long way down the list before you find Romania. Back

home, the minimum wage for our potential migrants will be a little

over ?2000, less than a sixth of what he would be paid in the UK.

But did those figures tell the whole story, in suggesting high wages

might be encouraging migrants to the UK from other countries? One viewer

made this point. Now, featured several times on ABC

News is week was the BBC itself, or in some cases, its own programmes.

-- BBC News. Monday's programme at six o'clock or some viewers

attention. Life is very different for Romario

since he fled to the UK several years ago, escaping homophobic

abuse. He is transgender. You can watch the full documentary

on the BBC I player. Behind the scenes with Camila

Batmanghelidjh as kids company crumbled. Part of that deal was I

stepped down as chief executive. You can watch the full documentary, the

inside story, this Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.

Andy e-mailed us asking: the biggest story involving the BBC

itself this weekend on Sunday, when the death was announced of Sir Terry

Wogan. But unlike the hundreds of complaints we featured a few weeks

ago on Newswatch, the reaction from viewers to this coverage was more

balanced. But it wasn't all compliments, I'm

afraid. Several of you are commenting on this.

David Sillito is outside BBC Broadcasting House. A tremendous

talent but also a man who inspired a lot of devotion from his fans? An

extraordinary day, so many tributes far and wide. This is what James

Kelly had to say: thank you for all of your comments

this week. You can contribute to Newswatch and could appear on the

programme. Please call us with your views on BBC News and current

affairs, on the number on screen. All of our programmes from the past

year can be viewed on our website. We will be back with more of your

thoughts on BBC News coverage again next week. Goodbye.