:00:00. > :00:00.been violent clashes in parts of the capital, Kampala. At 10pm, Sophie
:00:00. > :00:00.Ray Werth will be here with a full round-up of the day's news. First,
:00:00. > :00:09.it is time for Newswatch. Hello, welcome to Newswatch,
:00:10. > :00:11.with me, Samira Ahmed. On this week's programme:
:00:12. > :00:13.Allegations of bias and a lack of balance in the BBC's coverage
:00:14. > :00:16.of the EU are likely to increase How can the corporation ensure
:00:17. > :00:21.it treats both sides And, do reports of a former Pope's
:00:22. > :00:29.friendship with a married woman try It is certain to be one of the most
:00:30. > :00:38.contentious subjects the BBC will be Many people have fixed
:00:39. > :00:42.and passionately held views on whether the UK should leave
:00:43. > :00:46.or remain in the EU. And how BBC News presents
:00:47. > :00:49.the argument on both sides is sure to be scrutinised very
:00:50. > :00:55.carefully indeed. David Cameron's negotiations
:00:56. > :00:58.with his fellow EU leaders have been a lengthy and tricky process,
:00:59. > :01:01.but the arguments over in-work benefits for migrants,
:01:02. > :01:04.the emergency brake, ever closer union and the rest of it
:01:05. > :01:07.will be just as fiercely fought And they will be fought
:01:08. > :01:11.largely on the airwaves. The BBC have a commitment to due
:01:12. > :01:15.impartiality and independence from political influence,
:01:16. > :01:17.particularly during election But how to enforce such a commitment
:01:18. > :01:23.when much about membership of the EU Already, the complaints have been
:01:24. > :01:29.coming into Newswatch, with Bob writing on Thursday
:01:30. > :01:35.and representing the majority point By contrast, Victoria had this
:01:36. > :02:29.to say about a recent news report: It is clear that not everybody
:02:30. > :02:32.is likely to be satisfied by the campaign coverage,
:02:33. > :02:35.but how will the BBC be at least be News programmes and bulletins
:02:36. > :02:39.try to allocate equal That could prove difficult when most
:02:40. > :02:44.of the leading figures in mainstream political parties
:02:45. > :02:50.are in the stay camp. And there is a worrying
:02:51. > :02:53.precedent for the BBC - coverage of the Scottish referendum
:02:54. > :02:56.campaign 17 months ago was heavily criticised by those favouring
:02:57. > :02:58.independence, who thought the corporation displayed
:02:59. > :03:03.pro-Westminster bias. Will it again be charged
:03:04. > :03:06.with showing too much sympathy To try and answer some of those
:03:07. > :03:11.questions I'm joined now by Ric Bailey, the BBC's
:03:12. > :03:13.Chief Political Adviser. It feels like there is already a lot
:03:14. > :03:18.of tension out there about alleged I think it's true of referendums
:03:19. > :03:24.that the passions are very hard People feel very strongly
:03:25. > :03:29.about referendums, because, by their nature, they are polarised
:03:30. > :03:34.and they are binary. It is a choice
:03:35. > :03:36.between that and that. And so any referendum is a real
:03:37. > :03:38.challenge for impartiality. And of course when you are talking
:03:39. > :03:41.about the European Union, something which is so important
:03:42. > :03:44.to the UK's future, of course What we have to do is
:03:45. > :03:50.balance the arguments. So we're not necessarily
:03:51. > :03:52.balancing the two campaigns, although of course we will hear
:03:53. > :03:55.from both of them, but the most important thing for the electorate
:03:56. > :03:58.and for the audience is that we are balancing
:03:59. > :04:00.the arguments on the Remain side Is that then really boiling down
:04:01. > :04:06.to a matter of equal airtime I mean, there will be people
:04:07. > :04:10.watching with stopwatches, won't there, and
:04:11. > :04:12.counting the minutes? We are very clear that
:04:13. > :04:14.you don't judge impartiality Of course it's important,
:04:15. > :04:20.it would be wrong to have twice as much air time for one side
:04:21. > :04:24.as the other, but that is not the be Actually, impartiality is a much
:04:25. > :04:27.more subtle judgment on that. You have got to think about the two
:04:28. > :04:30.arguments, you have got to think about fairness,
:04:31. > :04:32.about tone, about There many different aspects
:04:33. > :04:35.to impartiality that go way As we heard, the BBC was very
:04:36. > :04:41.strongly attacked by the SNP during the Scottish referendum
:04:42. > :04:43.campaign for allegedly being pro-Westminster,
:04:44. > :04:45.which meant pro keeping the union. Most Westminster parties officially
:04:46. > :04:51.back remaining in the EU. So where does that leave
:04:52. > :04:53.the BBC, on balance? We have to be very clear
:04:54. > :04:56.in the debate on the referendum that this is not between parties,
:04:57. > :04:58.this is about an argument And we will have to represent
:04:59. > :05:04.the wider range of views on both sides, it is not just a single view
:05:05. > :05:07.on each side. Many political parties,
:05:08. > :05:09.quite a wide range of parties, will be on one side,
:05:10. > :05:12.there will be many voices on the other side, and we have
:05:13. > :05:14.to balance those. We absolutely, I think if you look
:05:15. > :05:17.at the BBC's reputation globally, I don't think it is for necessarily
:05:18. > :05:21.always going with the Establishment, of course part of our job
:05:22. > :05:24.is to scrutinise the Establishment and Government, and to scrutinise
:05:25. > :05:28.the status quo, if you like. Because most of the interviews tend
:05:29. > :05:31.to be from established political parties, there is already a sense
:05:32. > :05:34.from viewers that that means that there tend to be more guests
:05:35. > :05:37.who are pro remaining in the EU, and that is why
:05:38. > :05:40.they say it has bias. That is assuming this is only
:05:41. > :05:43.going to be a referendum This is a referendum in which people
:05:44. > :05:47.are being asked individually to vote They are not being asked
:05:48. > :05:52.to back a particular party, they are being asked,
:05:53. > :05:55.when they vote in this referendum, And they say it won't just be
:05:56. > :06:00.politicians we will hear from. Viewers complained that to this
:06:01. > :06:03.point it feels as if they have been So you are saying that's
:06:04. > :06:07.going to change, then? Of course, the story so far has
:06:08. > :06:10.been about the deal, what the Prime Minister
:06:11. > :06:14.is doing in Brussels. Once the referendum campaign starts,
:06:15. > :06:16.it will be very clearly balanced Even up to now we have been very
:06:17. > :06:20.careful whilst representing the views of the Prime Minister
:06:21. > :06:24.and the political parties, who are all on one side,
:06:25. > :06:27.also to hear the other voices. At the moment, there is no
:06:28. > :06:33.figurehead for the Leave campaign I go back to the idea that this
:06:34. > :06:38.is an argument, this is between the argument and not
:06:39. > :06:41.between the individuals So part of the story
:06:42. > :06:44.is what is happening And of course we will cover that,
:06:45. > :06:48.it is important that people understand what those arguments
:06:49. > :06:51.are on the Leave side. But it doesn't mean that that
:06:52. > :06:55.disrupts if you like the idea It looks more divided,
:06:56. > :07:00.a figurehead kind of crystallises people's attention, you have got one
:07:01. > :07:04.on one side and none on the other. Part of our obligation
:07:05. > :07:07.during the referendum campaign is to hear from the range of voices
:07:08. > :07:11.on both sides, and, you know, you have to look at the Remain side
:07:12. > :07:14.to see how many different political parties and views from business
:07:15. > :07:18.and so when you will hear, and on the Leave side,
:07:19. > :07:21.to know that over a very long campaign, 16 weeks,
:07:22. > :07:24.our job is to represent a lot of those views across much
:07:25. > :07:28.of our output. It's not to channel this
:07:29. > :07:30.into a single position. Over the next few months we are sure
:07:31. > :07:40.to be looking again at how the EU referendum campaign is covered,
:07:41. > :07:44.so please let us know your thoughts