:00:00. > :00:00.political prisoners. 400 are still behind bars. At ten o'clock we will
:00:00. > :00:08.have a full round-up of the day's news, but first, it is time for
:00:09. > :00:13.Newswatch. Hello and welcome to Newswatch
:00:14. > :00:15.with me, Samira Ahmed. Coming up: Is the BBC News channel
:00:16. > :00:18.showing less, well, live And is the attention paid
:00:19. > :00:27.by the media to the Prime Minister's Three weeks ago, the BBC News
:00:28. > :00:33.channel made a couple of tweaks to its schedule,
:00:34. > :00:39.introducing a repeat of the Newsnight programme
:00:40. > :00:42.at 11.15pm, just after it's finished its transmission
:00:43. > :00:44.on BBC Two, and extending the Victoria Derbyshire show to two
:00:45. > :00:47.hours each weekday morning. But these moves, coupled
:00:48. > :00:49.with other recent changes, have prompted some viewers
:00:50. > :00:51.to observe that the channel is rowing back on the core
:00:52. > :00:54.purpose it has long held, Hello, and welcome for the first
:00:55. > :01:02.time to BBC News 24. Even at its launch back in 1997,
:01:03. > :01:10.the then News 24 mixed live news But of late the view
:01:11. > :01:15.that there is increasingly less of the former and more
:01:16. > :01:25.of the latter has been growing I remember the old mantra -
:01:26. > :01:29.get the headlines every 15 minutes. I remember when the channel
:01:30. > :01:31.was called BBC News 24. It seems to me like the BBC
:01:32. > :01:35.News Channel is going through a sort of piece by piece dismantling,
:01:36. > :01:37.doing less of the things that it
:01:38. > :01:39.really should be doing. We seem to be getting more and more
:01:40. > :01:42.sort of less relevant content, The Travel programme,
:01:43. > :01:49.Meet the Author, what place do The Weather Show -
:01:50. > :02:03.what was with the endless of the Weather Show programme over
:02:04. > :02:05.the course What really irks me is
:02:06. > :02:08.the Victoria Derbyshire programme. This programme, which is broadcast
:02:09. > :02:11.on BBC Two at the same time, takes almost two hours of airtime
:02:12. > :02:20.every weekday, so with the business during that prime spot from 8.30am
:02:21. > :02:23.until 11 o'clock, we get That turns that mantra of getting
:02:24. > :02:26.the headlines every 15 The addition to the schedule
:02:27. > :02:34.a year ago of Outside Source, Business Live,
:02:35. > :02:35.and the Victoria Derbyshire show Questions are being raised
:02:36. > :02:44.particularly about whether the News Channel is a suitable home
:02:45. > :02:49.for the Victoria Derbyshire show, with its discussions this week
:02:50. > :02:51.about shared parental leave, addiction to gambling
:02:52. > :02:53.and the bucket list of a woman We already have three over
:02:54. > :02:57.lightweight magazine programme, Do we really need for you to
:02:58. > :03:01.continue in the same format under When I turn on BBC News, I don't
:03:02. > :03:16.want to see a magazine programme. I want to see a newsreader sitting
:03:17. > :03:20.at a desk, giving me the news. I want to know where it happened
:03:21. > :03:24.and when it happened, and I'm not getting this from
:03:25. > :03:28.the BBC News Channel at the moment. I now watch Sky News,
:03:29. > :03:30.something I never thought Well, at weekends especially
:03:31. > :03:35.the News Channel shows a number of feature programmes,
:03:36. > :03:37.including our very own Newswatch, We're all aware that the BBC
:03:38. > :03:51.currently faces a number of budget challenges,
:03:52. > :03:53.and I've come up with a number of suggestions that I think might be
:03:54. > :03:55.able to help. I'd like to propose that the BBC
:03:56. > :03:59.change the existing BBC News Channel For me, if you stop wasting money
:04:00. > :04:02.on programmes such as Click, The Travel Show, HARDtalk,
:04:03. > :04:06.The Film Review, Meet the Author, Reporters, Our World -
:04:07. > :04:08.why not provide a good quality basic news service
:04:09. > :04:12.for the licence fee payer? So welcome to our look ahead
:04:13. > :04:15.to what the papers are bringing The latest schedule change replaces
:04:16. > :04:24.one of the two evening newspaper review slots at 11.30pm with that
:04:25. > :04:27.Newsnight repeat, just after it has finished
:04:28. > :04:30.being shown on BBC Two. I do understand, of course,
:04:31. > :04:33.the BBC does have to make some savings, some quite
:04:34. > :04:35.big savings in fact, but it seems to me that
:04:36. > :04:38.live news is the thing that the BBC is known
:04:39. > :04:42.for and is best at, frankly. And it is a real disappointment
:04:43. > :04:45.to see that it is cutting in this area things like the late-night
:04:46. > :04:47.review of the papers, and I am also disappointed
:04:48. > :04:50.that the replacement for the review of the papers at 11.30pm
:04:51. > :04:52.is a repeat of Newsnight, which has already been shown earlier
:04:53. > :04:54.in the evening. Call me old-fashioned,
:04:55. > :04:57.but I think a news channel should be about live news and analysis,
:04:58. > :04:59.not repeating something that has been shown already
:05:00. > :05:08.earlier in the evening. Thanks to all of those viewers
:05:09. > :05:11.who recorded their thoughts there. And Sam Taylor, who oversees
:05:12. > :05:14.the BBC News Channel, Sam, let's start with Newsnight
:05:15. > :05:21.getting a repeat straight after it's In the age of iPlayer,
:05:22. > :05:25.what's the point of that? Well, look, firstly I should say
:05:26. > :05:28.that one of the great things about working on the BBC
:05:29. > :05:30.News Channel is that we have got such a committed
:05:31. > :05:32.and interested audience who, you know, are very free
:05:33. > :05:35.in telling us what they think about the network,
:05:36. > :05:37.what they like and Of course, we do get a wide
:05:38. > :05:40.range of opinion. When it comes to Newsnight,
:05:41. > :05:42.that's not about saving money. It's actually just about us looking
:05:43. > :05:45.at a way to give people another chance to see the programme that
:05:46. > :05:47.sets the agenda. Well, actually, at that time
:05:48. > :05:54.in the evening we think that some people are not able to watch
:05:55. > :05:57.the programme in the 10.30pm slot, and were trying out whether of them
:05:58. > :06:00.can watch it in a slot immediately Newsnight, of course, flagship BBC
:06:01. > :06:06.News current affairs programme, regularly sets the agenda,
:06:07. > :06:08.with award-winning coverage of Kids Company
:06:09. > :06:14.and other major stories, you know, it is an important part of the BBC
:06:15. > :06:19.news and current affairs offer. And we are the network that shows
:06:20. > :06:22.the best of BBC News We have had a lot of complaints ever
:06:23. > :06:28.since it started a year ago. The basic message, it is too
:06:29. > :06:30.much of a magazine show, when there are plenty of commercial
:06:31. > :06:32.rivals doing that. Where is the hard rolling
:06:33. > :06:34.news all morning? The Victoria Derbyshire programme
:06:35. > :06:36.has got a specific brief, to really drive forward BBC News
:06:37. > :06:39.commitment to original stories, to audience interaction,
:06:40. > :06:41.and to finding out things that And then it also has the brief
:06:42. > :06:45.to cover breaking news. That's why it cleared the decks
:06:46. > :06:47.for the Brussels attacks, for the recent hijacking in Cyprus,
:06:48. > :06:50.and other big stories as well, So it has a big brief,
:06:51. > :06:54.and I think it is doing it well and it is actually about ensuring
:06:55. > :06:57.that we do move forward the range and scale of what we deliver and,
:06:58. > :07:00.crucially, to tell stories that But, crucially, it is also going out
:07:01. > :07:04.simultaneously on BBC Two, so you have actually reduced
:07:05. > :07:07.the choice of people I think we need to look
:07:08. > :07:14.at the other way round. The programme is actually put
:07:15. > :07:18.together each morning They make the show, and, you know,
:07:19. > :07:23.BBC Two takes the show. It also takes Newsroom Live at 11
:07:24. > :07:25.o'clock each morning, so the discussion is about
:07:26. > :07:27.the journalism the programme does but I am very comfortable with how
:07:28. > :07:31.it sits on the News Channel, because The crucial thing with all of these
:07:32. > :07:35.changes is that when big breaking news happens
:07:36. > :07:38.we get to it and do it. When breaking news does happen,
:07:39. > :07:42.some people say, look, the economy and scale of a proper
:07:43. > :07:47.rolling news channel is that to it straight away,
:07:48. > :07:49.you stick with it, and we have had complaints,
:07:50. > :07:51.in some cases, where the Victoria Derbyshire show has
:07:52. > :07:54.done the odd bit but it has not been able to go over, as it would have
:07:55. > :07:57.done in the old days? I think the critical thing with this
:07:58. > :08:00.is that when really big stories happen, we cleared
:08:01. > :08:02.the decks across-the-board. We even drop Newsnight,
:08:03. > :08:04.on occasions, as you know, That's what happened
:08:05. > :08:07.with Brussels, with Paris, Other more incremental breaking
:08:08. > :08:10.developments, you know, we have always had a judgment call
:08:11. > :08:13.about when to do them That has always been the case
:08:14. > :08:20.and will always be the judgement When we need to clear the decks
:08:21. > :08:24.and roll on a story, People feel, and we have read a lot
:08:25. > :08:28.in those viewer comments, that it is just about saving money,
:08:29. > :08:31.the budget cuts, isn't it? Otherwise, why mess with a formula
:08:32. > :08:33.that people wanted? Look, obviously, the BBC as a whole
:08:34. > :08:35.needs to save money. We've been saving money as well,
:08:36. > :08:39.and we have to have an eye to make sure we use our resources
:08:40. > :08:44.as efficiently as possible. In an but the key thing is to ensure
:08:45. > :08:47.we retain the capability to do the key stories as they happen on the
:08:48. > :08:50.other thing I think is important, the whole marketplace has changed.
:08:51. > :08:52.We do have to recognise that TV news channels around the world are all
:08:53. > :08:56.evolving because people have more ways to get the court news headlines
:08:57. > :09:00.and coverage from mobile phones and online. It feels like there are
:09:01. > :09:03.fewer places offering proper rolling news on the number of times we hear
:09:04. > :09:12.from viewers who said it will have to watch Sky News for proper rolling
:09:13. > :09:16.news. The BBC News channel is not doing it any more and too much is
:09:17. > :09:18.merged with BBC Two or BBC World. I think all TV news channels are
:09:19. > :09:21.evolving. You can see networks Evra looking at new programming. The
:09:22. > :09:25.rivals you just mentioned, they have changed their schedule quite a lot
:09:26. > :09:28.as well. That is because we all know people can get their basic headlines
:09:29. > :09:32.on their mobile phone very easily, so if we are to have an audience in
:09:33. > :09:39.the future we need to give people more reasons to tune in and I am
:09:40. > :09:42.proud that when we see TV channels around the world trying to innovate
:09:43. > :09:45.we are ahead of the game in many ways. That is what is going on, I
:09:46. > :09:50.think. Channels need to innovate but hold onto, where it really matters,
:09:51. > :09:54.their core purpose, that is what we doing. We appreciate people's
:09:55. > :10:03.feedback as we try out different things in that context. That you
:10:04. > :10:07.very much. Just time before we go to mention the reaction to the biggest
:10:08. > :10:11.story of the week, the document leaked from the Panamanian law firm,
:10:12. > :10:15.Mossack Fonseca, which lifted the lid on the use of tax havens by the
:10:16. > :10:19.world's rich and powerful. As the week went on, the involvement of
:10:20. > :10:23.David Cameron via an offshore fund set up by his late father has come
:10:24. > :10:25.increasingly under the spotlight. A few viewers got in touch, along the
:10:26. > :11:07.lines of Jeremy, who wrote... Finally, Tuesday's Newsnight
:11:08. > :11:11.featured on a draft cultural -- Tuesday's Newsnight featured an item
:11:12. > :11:38.of cultural appropriation. Justin Bieber with dreadlocks.
:11:39. > :11:46.Many thanks for all your comments this week. We may feature your
:11:47. > :11:54.comments and opinions if you call us on the number on screen. Or you can
:11:55. > :12:01.e-mail. You can also reach us on Twitter and do have a look at our
:12:02. > :12:04.website. That is from us. We will be back to hear your thoughts about BBC
:12:05. > :12:11.News coverage again next week. Goodbye.
:12:12. > :12:20.Coming up in Sportsday, the latest in Jordan Spieth's quest for
:12:21. > :12:22.back-to-back Masters. We will hear from Anthony Joshua as he