:00:00. > :00:09.He dropped out of the race in March. At 10pm Fiona Bruce will be here
:00:10. > :00:11.with a round-up of the news, but first Newswatch.
:00:12. > :00:16.Accusations that outrageous sound bites and media stunts have trumped
:00:17. > :00:18.the discussion of policy in the BBC's
:00:19. > :00:23.coverage of the US presidential campaign.
:00:24. > :00:26.It is not the Boris Johnson show, it is the
:00:27. > :00:29.Andrew Marr Show, I get to ask the questions.
:00:30. > :00:31.A struggle for sovereignty on the Andrew Marr Show
:00:32. > :00:38.between the presenter and the mayor of London.
:00:39. > :00:40.In a month's time, voters in United States of America
:00:41. > :00:45.You may have had an inkling of this already as the various candidates
:00:46. > :00:48.for that role, and one in particular, have featured
:00:49. > :01:06.In a moment we will hear from the BBC's North America editor,
:01:07. > :01:08.but first where have we got to so far?
:01:09. > :01:11.Although the front runners for both parties are pretty clear by now,
:01:12. > :01:14.there is still a long way to go in this race.
:01:15. > :01:16.The process of choosing the Republican and Democratic
:01:17. > :01:22.candidates began on the 1st of February.
:01:23. > :01:25.Each date there is an election with a winner klaxon number of collection
:01:26. > :01:28.points. Next Tuesday's primaries,
:01:29. > :01:29.including Florida and North Carolina, page proved
:01:30. > :01:31.decisive in this process. The delegates then have the right
:01:32. > :01:34.to vote for the chosen There the candidates
:01:35. > :01:38.will be formally Then the real campaign starts
:01:39. > :01:41.commentating on a nationwide It is too much for
:01:42. > :01:45.some who wrote last I am going to build a wall
:01:46. > :02:07.and Mexico is good to pay for it. To the surprise of
:02:08. > :02:13.some, many Americans have already been
:02:14. > :02:17.voting for this man. But has Donald Trump's success be
:02:18. > :02:20.mainly down to media attention? I think in the run-up to super
:02:21. > :02:23.Tuesday, Trump was pulling the media strings and there was lazy
:02:24. > :02:33.journalism in that the BBC journalists were reacting
:02:34. > :02:41.to the latest Trump big show or comment, rather than helping us
:02:42. > :02:44.understand the policy issues behind it and rather than giving us balance
:02:45. > :02:47.coverage of the several people We were not hearing from the other
:02:48. > :03:07.candidates, or Hillary Clinton, instead we were having response
:03:08. > :03:09.to the latest outrage, Taking a brief respite
:03:10. > :03:12.from the campaign show back in the UK is the BBC's
:03:13. > :03:15.North America editor. The field has narrowed that many
:03:16. > :03:19.viewers felt that the BBC's coverage has focused too much
:03:20. > :03:22.on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton from the start, and that other
:03:23. > :03:24.candidates never really got Then you could have been
:03:25. > :03:35.in danger of boring If you covered everyone equally,
:03:36. > :03:39.even though you need the researching candidates had next to no chance
:03:40. > :03:42.of being in the race, then you could have given us
:03:43. > :03:45.the criticism that we are doing too much on marginal figures who do not
:03:46. > :03:48.stand a chance of being president. There have been times
:03:49. > :03:56.when I thought we have done too much in that has been
:03:57. > :03:59.will be focused on the minor There is a phenomenal
:04:00. > :04:03.situation that the next president of the United States
:04:04. > :04:06.of America with the biggest nuclear arsenal in the world could be
:04:07. > :04:09.a billionaire businessman who has never held any elected office,
:04:10. > :04:11.who has said some pretty extraordinary things
:04:12. > :04:13.in terms of building a 200 mile wall between Mexico
:04:14. > :04:15.and the United States, who would like to ban
:04:16. > :04:18.all Muslims from the country, there is an inevitability
:04:19. > :04:19.that you're going to focus on a character
:04:20. > :04:22.like that and we did that and focused on Hillary Clinton
:04:23. > :04:24.and Bernie Sanders He is very smart at playing
:04:25. > :04:40.the media to maximise attention without scrutiny and consider
:04:41. > :04:43.audiences, like some of our viewers, that the BBC is along for the ride
:04:44. > :04:47.and they're not really analysing him I think we have tried
:04:48. > :04:55.to scrutinise his policies I have done a number of pieces that
:04:56. > :04:59.have tried to look at health care or international
:05:00. > :05:01.relations to try and... It is trying to nail blancmange
:05:02. > :05:04.to the wall in terms He is out in front,
:05:05. > :05:09.he is going to be the Republican But the process of that is
:05:10. > :05:12.part of the concern. In Britain he is widely
:05:13. > :05:14.seen as Maybe we should have taken him more
:05:15. > :05:17.seriously all along? Last June it seemed
:05:18. > :05:28.like a joke and without -- we thought it would
:05:29. > :05:31.be over in six weeks. I heard from an authoritative
:05:32. > :05:33.source that he was planning to back out of the race
:05:34. > :05:36.after a few weeks having had the publicity and he
:05:37. > :05:38.was going to back I have felt, and I have been
:05:39. > :05:46.saying to BBC bosses, that we need to take
:05:47. > :05:50.him seriously as it could
:05:51. > :05:57.be the Republican nominee. He could be the next
:05:58. > :06:00.president in the United In the UK he would have
:06:01. > :06:03.a policy release every week in the run-up to a general
:06:04. > :06:06.election, but here there seems to be no policy coming out of Donald Trump
:06:07. > :06:10.so you cannot hunt for it. There are flourishes but if you look
:06:11. > :06:14.beyond the detail of that to any policy positions,
:06:15. > :06:17.and other toppings as diplomats and other day from a number
:06:18. > :06:24.of countries, the normal processes and Election Day will mark
:06:25. > :06:26.who these candidates are, so they know who the key people
:06:27. > :06:29.are if they win the election they will be in office
:06:30. > :06:31.with. Donald Trump stands up
:06:32. > :06:34.and says things that we do not know who the policy people
:06:35. > :06:37.are over the detail of anything. That is one of the things
:06:38. > :06:40.that is good to come under closer scrutiny as the election
:06:41. > :06:42.process was forward. I think broadly
:06:43. > :06:44.in the balance of our coverage, there are some
:06:45. > :06:46.things we have gone wrong, but I would defend that we are told
:06:47. > :06:49.an extraordinary story pretty well about the phenomenon that is Donald
:06:50. > :06:51.Trump on the populist right and a phenomenal
:06:52. > :07:00.that is Bernie Sanders on the left. Political nerds and journalists get
:07:01. > :07:03.very excited by the detail of that. There are viewers who said
:07:04. > :07:06.that it is November when the election happens and they
:07:07. > :07:08.feel they're getting too There was a debate before Iowa
:07:09. > :07:23.which kicked off the election It is a caucus as opposed to a
:07:24. > :07:28.primary. I said at the end of the day it is an election but letters
:07:29. > :07:34.not get bogged down in the process of voting. We know there is going to
:07:35. > :07:39.be a winner emerging and whoever wins was any better position than
:07:40. > :07:42.they were before the election. If we did not start coverage until
:07:43. > :07:48.October, we would not have explained to Donald Trump is, we would not
:07:49. > :07:53.have explained the rise of Bernie Sanders, and is yearning of young
:07:54. > :07:58.people in particular for a socialist solution in the most capitalist
:07:59. > :08:03.country in the world, I think we would have been doing the viewers a
:08:04. > :08:06.disservice. We still have a monster called and this election. Can you
:08:07. > :08:14.promise us that we will not get bored? Where do we go from here? It
:08:15. > :08:18.will not be wall-to-wall. I'm sure there will be a lot about the
:08:19. > :08:23.European Union in the coming months. It is only on when it is
:08:24. > :08:29.interesting. If the Pope launches an attack on Donald Trump, we should
:08:30. > :08:36.cover it. It was incredible. Like so much of this US election race. Thank
:08:37. > :08:41.you. No doubt we will be hearing more
:08:42. > :08:44.opinions on that before the election in November. A vote that is more
:08:45. > :08:51.imminent is also been concerning this week, coverage of the EU
:08:52. > :08:54.referendum has again arose the attention of viewers, specifically
:08:55. > :09:00.an interview on the Andrew Marr Show with the most visible figure on the
:09:01. > :09:09.B-side, Boris Johnson, clashed with Andrew Marr on several issues. That
:09:10. > :09:15.is exactly what he said. This report says very clearly that the best
:09:16. > :09:23.future is to get out often unreformed EU. But he says... Can I
:09:24. > :09:29.just explain for the benefit of our viewers who remain listening to this
:09:30. > :09:36.conversation why I think... What I think the problem with the EU is. I
:09:37. > :09:43.give you the chance to do that. Let us move on. We do need to move on.
:09:44. > :09:48.I'm good to tell you what I'm going to cover. It is not the Boris
:09:49. > :09:53.Johnson show, it is the Andrew Marr Show. I get to ask the questions. I
:09:54. > :10:02.have sovereignty over this programme. To viewers recorded
:10:03. > :10:06.reactions. I was totally disgusted by the way their Boris Johnson was
:10:07. > :10:10.treated. She was never allowed to answer a question and he was being
:10:11. > :10:15.interrupted all the time. This is an important issue. We heard plenty
:10:16. > :10:20.from the we must seeing campaign and the threats and the come out and I
:10:21. > :10:26.could see Boris Johnson's frustration and we need to know
:10:27. > :10:32.more. I just want to explain the single market... You have explained
:10:33. > :10:39.it three or four times. I need to explain the difference between what
:10:40. > :10:42.we have in Europe... I watch programmes like these to get as much
:10:43. > :10:48.information as possible so I can make an informed decision. This fell
:10:49. > :10:52.short of my expectations are left me none the wiser. The consul
:10:53. > :10:56.interrupted to the extent the Boris Johnson was unable to finish
:10:57. > :11:00.answering the questions. If all of the interview was the shot it and
:11:01. > :11:06.the feel of the interview was uncomfortable, verging on road. The
:11:07. > :11:07.editor of the Andrew Marr Show, who also oversees Newswatch, had this to
:11:08. > :11:42.say in response: thank you for all your comments this
:11:43. > :11:46.week. If you want to share your opinions on BBC news and current
:11:47. > :11:50.affairs or appear on the programme, you can call us on this telephone
:11:51. > :11:59.number or e-mail us at the address on screen. You can find us on
:12:00. > :12:05.Twitter and a look at our website. -- do look at. That is from us. We
:12:06. > :12:17.will be back to your thoughts again next week. Goodbye.
:12:18. > :12:18.Coming up in the sport, we will tell you about