12/02/2016 Newswatch


12/02/2016

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are the headlines from BBC News. Now, at ten o'clock, Sophie ray

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Sophie Waworth, but it is time for Newswatch.

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Hello and welcome to NewsWatch with me, Samira Ahmed. Don't go out in

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Storm Imogen, the authorities said, unless necessary, so how responsible

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was this BBC reporter's appearance on the sea-front? Who has been

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presented in a more favourable light over a dispute in a new contract,

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the junior doctors or the Government?

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Extreme weather, it makes the headlines and it regularly gets

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NewsWatchers attention too. The week started with reports of powerful

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winds and heavy rain hitting parts of Southern England and Wales. Not

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for the first time, BBC News sent cameras and reporters out into the

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midst of the storm, following in a tradition that spawned hundreds of

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clips on YouTube. I haven't seen a lot of debris recently, but it was a

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couple of hours ago that... With more dramatic weather events

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across the world, has come more dramatic weather broadcasting. Sorry

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about that. Wow, that was a heck of a gust. It is actually very

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dangerous because you have the added bonus of frostbite. The American

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networks and weather channels lead the field here with some presenters

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apparently competing to put themselves in the most hazardous

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situations. No, we're fine. BBC reporters have been known to put

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themselves in the thick of it with appearances in the sea-front and

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wading through the flooding Thames attracting the ire of NewsWatch

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viewers two years ago who felt the coverage was dangerous and

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irresponsible. One experienced news correspondent finds himself facing

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the storm of complaints after a live appearance on Monday's news at one.

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Let's join Duncan ken he had yes. Duncan, conditions look pretty wild

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where you are. That's a bit of an under statement really. It is hard

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to stand up here such are the force of the winds here. We reckon they

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are coming in at 90mph gusts across the western approaches. More of this

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is to come for the next few hours and the advice is to baton down the

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hatches as the storm goes through. Don't come out and try and fight it

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or travel if you have to. Jane Elliot contacted us following that

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broadcast. Here is the telephone message she left us.

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We were watching the reports on Storm Imogen on the BBC lunch time

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news on Monday and couldn't believe that a crazy reporter was standing

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just a few feet away from a raging sea whilst telling us how high and

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dangerous the waves were and not to venture out unless really necessary.

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He could easily have been swept away. This surely is most

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irresponsible reporting by the BBC. An exert from the live appearance by

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Duncan Kennedy featured later on the six and ten o'clock bulletins and

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the fear for some, despite repeating the authority's warning, not to go

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out unless necessary, the report sent the opposite message. There was

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concern from the coastguard when a group of schoolchildren were spotted

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on the beach as heavy winds and choppy waves swept in. In Cornwall

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storm chasers were deluged with water, a car was almost submerged by

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massive waves and a man taking photographs from the harbour was

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brought to his knees so could those near disasters been encouraged by

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the BBC and was a camera and reporter really necessary? No,

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thought Christopher Arnold. This is really irspble and quite frankly

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unnecessary. We don't need to see how bad the sea is. We know how bad

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it is. So putting your correspondents at any sort of risk

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is quite frankly unbelievably silly. Well, to talk this through, I'm

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joined by UK News Editor for BBC News. It looked genuinely hazardous,

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are you sure that Duncan Kennedy and the crew were safe? He was safe. He

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was there with an experienced producer who lived by the sea for 20

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years and covered, snow, floods, harsh weather. They spend a lot of

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time risk assessing these situations. I think they spent of a

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an hour to an hour ahead of doing the broadcast to check everything

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was OK. What you don't see was there was about five meters of steps

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beyond that wall. So there was no danger of waves hitting Duncan. The

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water you could see was spray coming up from the steps. So, we take the

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safety of our correspondents, our reporters, our producers seriously.

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We wouldn't put them into a dangerous situation. I wonder if

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more of that information needed to be spelt out if you're going to do

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that live because it didn't look like there was much distance and it

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gave a sense that the drama of the picture was more important than the

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safety, because you could have shot from further away and people would

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have been reassured that the reporter was clearly much further

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away from the water? Sure. I understand that viewers are

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concerned and want to know that our people are safe and they have

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concerns about where we shoot lives and is it really necessary to be in

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those situations? I think in this case, you know, it really did

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illustrate the strength of the winds which was a big story that day. A

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great interest to our audience. We know they are interested in the

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weather and what Duncan's live did was really show how strong the winds

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were and that was the intention and I can assure viewers that he was

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safe. You see, the advice is not to go out unless absolutely necessary,

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why is it all right for him to go out when no one else is supposed to?

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It sends out the wrong message? Well, they have done a lot of risk

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assessment and I have got great trust in my producer and Duncan who

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are experienced. Look, we gave all the warnings. We were very clear

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that people shouldn't go out. We took advice from the Met Office and

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from the relevant authorities. Why was it all right for the reporter to

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be out if everyone isn't supposed to be? Well, Duncan was safe. He was

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out there to illustrate the strength of the winds which I think he did,

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the package included clips of the dangers posed, by the winds and

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Duncan himself spoke about the dangers posed by the winds. Zl There

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were so many incidents of the public with cameras trying to film the

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wind. You are giving the message that you can make a judgement and

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get great pictures that the BBC said you have got to see? I don't think

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there was any sense in which Duncan was encouraging people to go out.

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Well, the BBC was, by giving that coverage? No, I don't think. I think

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Duncan was clear in his messages which he said, don't go out, baton

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down the hatches, stay safe. He was safe. We took a lot of precautions

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to make sure he was safe. And as I've said to you, even the people

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who we interviewed later on, they were safe as well. One thing that

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struck me watching it, on the one o'clock, he was live. And that's

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what added to part of the viewer concern because you didn't know

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whether something might happen and he could actually be injured before

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our eyes. Wouldn't it have been more responsible to have filmed that and

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put it into an edited package like you did later, not to have done it

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live? Well, I mean, I think again, it was to illustrate the strength of

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the winds... That's the point, but to have done it as a pre-recorded

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item would have made it clear, yes, it was fine and it was all safe,

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wouldn't that be a possible compromise? We showed it live

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because we really wanted to illustrate at that point the

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strength of those winds and Duncan did that very well. Duncan is a very

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experienced correspondent and he knows what he is doing. I've come on

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here because I understand viewers were concerned and I appreciate

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that. I'm coming on here to reassure them that we take the safety of our

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people seriously and we spent a lot of time assessing this situation and

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making sure it was safe. In the en, given that this is not the first

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conversation we have had on NewsWatch about this reporting,

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viewers might say is anything going to be different? Are you going to

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re-think these situations, otherwise there is a fear, it is only when

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someone is injured that the BBC might re-think or compared to two

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years ago, for example, is it already being as far as you are

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aware rethinking each year about how you approach these stories? We think

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about the safety of our people. They have to report from around the world

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in potentially dangerous situations, but if it is not safe, we won't put

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them in there and that's not changed and when we get feedback from

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viewers, of course, we take it on board and that's why I have come on

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here to explain Duncan was safe. Thank you very much.

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We are keen to hear your thoughts on any aspect of BBC News. Stay tuned

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for details of how to contact us. More of your reactions to what you

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have seen over the past few days. Starting with the week's big story.

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The dispute over the proposed new contract for junior doctors. After

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Wednesday's strike and Thursday's announcement by the Government that

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it would be imposing the new contract, passions are still running

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high on both sides, both about the issue it's he have and the -- itself

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and David Kenny: On the other side of the argument,

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scores of viewers this week alleged a bias in the other direction. Here

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is Sue Robson writing: Finally, the BBC News Channel along

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with other 24 hour channels is keen to tell us when it has breaking

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news. But what developments are considered significant and newsy

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enough to qualify for that status? Last week the announcement that Matt

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LeBlanc was going to be one of the present irs of Top Gear prompted a

:10:56.:11:03.

breaking news alert. Scientists are claiming a stunning

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discovery in their quest to fully understand the origins of the

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universe. They have detected evidence of so-called gravitational

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waves. Ripples in the fabric of space. If this was was a newspaper,

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you would be hearing cries of, "Hold the front page." David Macmillan

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said: But, Ned BH was more sceptical.

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Do let us know if you think BBC News lives up to its own hype. You can

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send us your views by calling us: Or e-mailing:

:11:56.:12:00.

You can post your comments on Twitter:

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And catch up with any eds of the programme you've missed at our

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website: That's all from us. We will be back

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

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