08/04/2016 Newswatch

political prisoners. 400 are still behind bars. At ten o'clock we will

have a full round-up of the day's news, but first, it is time for

Newswatch. Hello and welcome to Newswatch

with me, Samira Ahmed. Coming up: Is the BBC News channel

showing less, well, live And is the attention paid

by the media to the Prime Minister's Three weeks ago, the BBC News

channel made a couple of tweaks to its schedule,

introducing a repeat of the Newsnight programme

at 11.15pm, just after it's finished its transmission

on BBC Two, and extending the Victoria Derbyshire show to two

hours each weekday morning. But these moves, coupled

with other recent changes, have prompted some viewers

to observe that the channel is rowing back on the core

purpose it has long held, Hello, and welcome for the first

time to BBC News 24. Even at its launch back in 1997,

the then News 24 mixed live news But of late the view

that there is increasingly less of the former and more

of the latter has been growing I remember the old mantra -

get the headlines every 15 minutes. I remember when the channel

was called BBC News 24. It seems to me like the BBC

News Channel is going through a sort of piece by piece dismantling,

doing less of the things that it

really should be doing. We seem to be getting more and more

sort of less relevant content, The Travel programme,

Meet the Author, what place do The Weather Show -

what was with the endless of the Weather Show programme over

the course What really irks me is

the Victoria Derbyshire programme. This programme, which is broadcast

on BBC Two at the same time, takes almost two hours of airtime

every weekday, so with the business during that prime spot from 8.30am

until 11 o'clock, we get That turns that mantra of getting

the headlines every 15 The addition to the schedule

a year ago of Outside Source, Business Live,

and the Victoria Derbyshire show Questions are being raised

particularly about whether the News Channel is a suitable home

for the Victoria Derbyshire show, with its discussions this week

about shared parental leave, addiction to gambling

and the bucket list of a woman We already have three over

lightweight magazine programme, Do we really need for you to

continue in the same format under When I turn on BBC News, I don't

want to see a magazine programme. I want to see a newsreader sitting

at a desk, giving me the news. I want to know where it happened

and when it happened, and I'm not getting this from

the BBC News Channel at the moment. I now watch Sky News,

something I never thought Well, at weekends especially

the News Channel shows a number of feature programmes,

including our very own Newswatch, We're all aware that the BBC

currently faces a number of budget challenges,

and I've come up with a number of suggestions that I think might be

able to help. I'd like to propose that the BBC

change the existing BBC News Channel For me, if you stop wasting money

on programmes such as Click, The Travel Show, HARDtalk,

The Film Review, Meet the Author, Reporters, Our World -

why not provide a good quality basic news service

for the licence fee payer? So welcome to our look ahead

to what the papers are bringing The latest schedule change replaces

one of the two evening newspaper review slots at 11.30pm with that

Newsnight repeat, just after it has finished

being shown on BBC Two. I do understand, of course,

the BBC does have to make some savings, some quite

big savings in fact, but it seems to me that

live news is the thing that the BBC is known

for and is best at, frankly. And it is a real disappointment

to see that it is cutting in this area things like the late-night

review of the papers, and I am also disappointed

that the replacement for the review of the papers at 11.30pm

is a repeat of Newsnight, which has already been shown earlier

in the evening. Call me old-fashioned,

but I think a news channel should be about live news and analysis,

not repeating something that has been shown already

earlier in the evening. Thanks to all of those viewers

who recorded their thoughts there. And Sam Taylor, who oversees

the BBC News Channel, Sam, let's start with Newsnight

getting a repeat straight after it's In the age of iPlayer,

what's the point of that? Well, look, firstly I should say

that one of the great things about working on the BBC

News Channel is that we have got such a committed

and interested audience who, you know, are very free

in telling us what they think about the network,

what they like and Of course, we do get a wide

range of opinion. When it comes to Newsnight,

that's not about saving money. It's actually just about us looking

at a way to give people another chance to see the programme that

sets the agenda. Well, actually, at that time

in the evening we think that some people are not able to watch

the programme in the 10.30pm slot, and were trying out whether of them

can watch it in a slot immediately Newsnight, of course, flagship BBC

News current affairs programme, regularly sets the agenda,

with award-winning coverage of Kids Company

and other major stories, you know, it is an important part of the BBC

news and current affairs offer. And we are the network that shows

the best of BBC News We have had a lot of complaints ever

since it started a year ago. The basic message, it is too

much of a magazine show, when there are plenty of commercial

rivals doing that. Where is the hard rolling

news all morning? The Victoria Derbyshire programme

has got a specific brief, to really drive forward BBC News

commitment to original stories, to audience interaction,

and to finding out things that And then it also has the brief

to cover breaking news. That's why it cleared the decks

for the Brussels attacks, for the recent hijacking in Cyprus,

and other big stories as well, So it has a big brief,

and I think it is doing it well and it is actually about ensuring

that we do move forward the range and scale of what we deliver and,

crucially, to tell stories that But, crucially, it is also going out

simultaneously on BBC Two, so you have actually reduced

the choice of people I think we need to look

at the other way round. The programme is actually put

together each morning They make the show, and, you know,

BBC Two takes the show. It also takes Newsroom Live at 11

o'clock each morning, so the discussion is about

the journalism the programme does but I am very comfortable with how

it sits on the News Channel, because The crucial thing with all of these

changes is that when big breaking news happens

we get to it and do it. When breaking news does happen,

some people say, look, the economy and scale of a proper

rolling news channel is that to it straight away,

you stick with it, and we have had complaints,

in some cases, where the Victoria Derbyshire show has

done the odd bit but it has not been able to go over, as it would have

done in the old days? I think the critical thing with this

is that when really big stories happen, we cleared

the decks across-the-board. We even drop Newsnight,

on occasions, as you know, That's what happened

with Brussels, with Paris, Other more incremental breaking

developments, you know, we have always had a judgment call

about when to do them That has always been the case

and will always be the judgement When we need to clear the decks

and roll on a story, People feel, and we have read a lot

in those viewer comments, that it is just about saving money,

the budget cuts, isn't it? Otherwise, why mess with a formula

that people wanted? Look, obviously, the BBC as a whole

needs to save money. We've been saving money as well,

and we have to have an eye to make sure we use our resources

as efficiently as possible. In an but the key thing is to ensure

we retain the capability to do the key stories as they happen on the

other thing I think is important, the whole marketplace has changed.

We do have to recognise that TV news channels around the world are all

evolving because people have more ways to get the court news headlines

and coverage from mobile phones and online. It feels like there are

fewer places offering proper rolling news on the number of times we hear

from viewers who said it will have to watch Sky News for proper rolling

news. The BBC News channel is not doing it any more and too much is

merged with BBC Two or BBC World. I think all TV news channels are

evolving. You can see networks Evra looking at new programming. The

rivals you just mentioned, they have changed their schedule quite a lot

as well. That is because we all know people can get their basic headlines

on their mobile phone very easily, so if we are to have an audience in

the future we need to give people more reasons to tune in and I am

proud that when we see TV channels around the world trying to innovate

we are ahead of the game in many ways. That is what is going on, I

think. Channels need to innovate but hold onto, where it really matters,

their core purpose, that is what we doing. We appreciate people's

feedback as we try out different things in that context. That you

very much. Just time before we go to mention the reaction to the biggest

story of the week, the document leaked from the Panamanian law firm,

Mossack Fonseca, which lifted the lid on the use of tax havens by the

world's rich and powerful. As the week went on, the involvement of

David Cameron via an offshore fund set up by his late father has come

increasingly under the spotlight. A few viewers got in touch, along the

lines of Jeremy, who wrote... Finally, Tuesday's Newsnight

featured on a draft cultural -- Tuesday's Newsnight featured an item

of cultural appropriation. Justin Bieber with dreadlocks.

Many thanks for all your comments this week. We may feature your

comments and opinions if you call us on the number on screen. Or you can

e-mail. You can also reach us on Twitter and do have a look at our

website. That is from us. We will be back to hear your thoughts about BBC

News coverage again next week. Goodbye.

Coming up in Sportsday, the latest in Jordan Spieth's quest for

back-to-back Masters. We will hear from Anthony Joshua as he