:00:00. > :00:00.a recruit was found dead in barracks in 1995. No attempt yen Fiona Bruce
:00:00. > :00:08.will be here with a full round-up of the news, but first it is Newswatch.
:00:09. > :00:13.Coming up: Are you confused, bored or irritated by
:00:14. > :00:21.Why haven't BBC News reported more about allegations of electoral
:00:22. > :00:23.irregularities involving members of the Conservative Party at last
:00:24. > :00:36.And, the sound of the BBC's political editor being hissed
:00:37. > :00:44.We hear some reaction to that response.
:00:45. > :00:47.Less than three weeks to go and the EU referendum seems to have
:00:48. > :00:51.permeated every corner of BBC television output.
:00:52. > :00:53.As well as dominating the news, the subject featured
:00:54. > :00:55.in a documentary on BBC Two on Tuesday, fronted
:00:56. > :01:00.by the organisation's political editor, Laura Kuenssberg.
:01:01. > :01:03.Andrew Neil, it has been announced, will be hosting three prime-time
:01:04. > :01:07.television programmes on BBC One next week and the troublesome
:01:08. > :01:09.business of campaigning even found its way onto last
:01:10. > :01:17.We will ask the key players on both sides.
:01:18. > :01:20.Prime Minister David Cameron for Britain Stronger In Europe.
:01:21. > :01:27.I think it is one of our natural treasures.
:01:28. > :01:30.And Boris Johnson from the Vote Leave campaign.
:01:31. > :01:32.The countryside is central to ourselves and our sense
:01:33. > :01:55.Why backing them promises a rosy future for rural Britain.
:01:56. > :01:59.So were the rolling hills and bleating lambs of British
:02:00. > :02:01.countryside a suitable forum for arguments about why
:02:02. > :02:06.we should leave or stay in the European Union?
:02:07. > :02:50.We put that objection to Countryfile and the executive producer told us:
:02:51. > :02:55.That sense of referendum that he is clearly felt more widely. Andrew put
:02:56. > :03:14.it like this: it is not just the quantity but the
:03:15. > :03:19.nature of coverage that is turning some viewers. The leading players in
:03:20. > :03:24.this battle are in one particular political party and Conservative
:03:25. > :03:30.divisions are taking up too much air time for the tastes of this man. The
:03:31. > :03:33.referendum coverage is unbalanced. It is perpetuating the view that it
:03:34. > :03:41.is a struggle for power in the Conservative Party. On the evening
:03:42. > :03:48.bulletin there were discussions with some politicians about immigration,
:03:49. > :03:55.but at no point whether any interviews with Labour politicians
:03:56. > :03:58.or other opposition politicians, all of the contributions were from
:03:59. > :04:03.Conservative Party members. It is time that the national broadcaster
:04:04. > :04:09.respected non-Conservative Party views on this important issue. For
:04:10. > :04:10.one woman it is not the dominance of Conservatives that is the problem,
:04:11. > :04:38.but the dominance of politicians: to discuss those perceptions of how
:04:39. > :04:43.BBC News is covering the referendum campaign, and joined by Gavin Allen
:04:44. > :04:47.who controls daily news programmes. Too many politicians into many
:04:48. > :04:51.Conservatives in particular? Politicians are leading both the
:04:52. > :04:56.official campaigns and to give them credit they have a lot of experience
:04:57. > :04:59.at dealing with the departments that work with the European Union and it
:05:00. > :05:04.is legitimate that we hear from them. It is also important to see a
:05:05. > :05:07.range of voices which is what we have tried to do across all
:05:08. > :05:13.programmes and to hear from a range of parties. Tell me more about the
:05:14. > :05:18.range of voices. Viewers are saying it is not a party divide issue, it
:05:19. > :05:24.is bigger than that, so we should be hearing more people who are not
:05:25. > :05:28.politicians. If you look at breakfast TV coverage with the 10pm
:05:29. > :05:32.news this week we have looked at farming and fishing and education
:05:33. > :05:36.and the NHS, within those areas we have not been hearing from the
:05:37. > :05:47.Cabinet Secretary for that area but from people in the Trinity. -- in
:05:48. > :05:53.the community. Are we hearing a lot from people? I think so. Tim Martin
:05:54. > :05:57.from Wetherspoon 's was there, Ian both on with elsewhere, they were
:05:58. > :06:06.advocating their position on the referendum. Passion helps but so
:06:07. > :06:12.does explanation. If everyone is on one side it will confuse viewers.
:06:13. > :06:17.Part of the challenges that the campaigns are pumping out repetitive
:06:18. > :06:21.lines and edited daily line-up of celebrities on every issue. It is
:06:22. > :06:25.not your fault that they are running their campaigns that we did do you
:06:26. > :06:34.think the BBC goes along with that too much. The agenda they tried to
:06:35. > :06:38.set is normally the economy, controlling our borders, and a big
:06:39. > :06:43.topic so it is important to look at them in debt. It would be remiss of
:06:44. > :06:49.us if we waited for either camp to tell us what they want to do that
:06:50. > :06:52.day and we just followed it. Another complaint is that there is a lot of
:06:53. > :06:59.relevant comment and opinion in Europe. Heads of major EU businesses
:07:00. > :07:04.and institutions. But apart from Angela Merkel, very little of that
:07:05. > :07:10.gets onto the television. Should you not be putting more of those voices
:07:11. > :07:14.on-air? There is a lot of material on the website and we are trying to
:07:15. > :07:20.be comprehensive. We covered Angela Merkel on the Ten O'Clock News. We
:07:21. > :07:25.also looked at comments from Spain and the Netherlands. It was also
:07:26. > :07:30.from citizens in the EU, not just people in positions of the party. We
:07:31. > :07:36.did a piece for Newsnight where he toured across Europe. We have a
:07:37. > :07:43.referendum generation programme that looks younger people, including
:07:44. > :07:46.people who are not British, to see how they are preceding the
:07:47. > :07:52.referendum. There have been a lot of events in Cali over migrants, which
:07:53. > :07:56.people say should be part of the immigration issue coverage and not
:07:57. > :08:02.kept separate. I think it is a difficult area. When you say, keep
:08:03. > :08:10.it separate, we are covering those stories. It is the perceptions of
:08:11. > :08:18.people and members of the public but it is also distinct from it. There
:08:19. > :08:21.are EU and non-EU migration issues. If we blurred the boundaries of that
:08:22. > :08:26.I don't think we are serving the audience. There are still three
:08:27. > :08:31.weeks ago and there is already quite a frenzy. A lot of the public feel
:08:32. > :08:40.they are being put off, there is too much coverage. What should the BBC
:08:41. > :08:44.do? What we're getting from audience research is that there is an
:08:45. > :08:49.appetite for a clearer coverage and more coverage. It might be fishing
:08:50. > :08:54.or farming you are interested in that we have to cover the whole
:08:55. > :08:58.remit of this. Whatever someone is driven by, somewhere in a coverage
:08:59. > :09:08.we must be able to let them see that make an informed decision thank you.
:09:09. > :09:12.No doubt we will be looking at other aspects of the BBC's referendum
:09:13. > :09:15.coverage between now and the 23rd of June did in the meantime we leave
:09:16. > :09:21.you with some other topic boycott your attention week. The subject of
:09:22. > :09:25.must each discussion on social media, 11 police forces around the
:09:26. > :09:28.country have began inquiries following claims that the
:09:29. > :09:33.Conservatives broke the law during last year's general election and the
:09:34. > :09:37.electoral commission is also investigating. Channel 4 News has
:09:38. > :09:42.covered the story extensively, and while it has been mentioned on some
:09:43. > :09:48.BBC News outlets, there has not been nearly enough on it. Hundreds of
:09:49. > :09:54.years that this, including this one. Surely this is a big story and the
:09:55. > :09:59.BBC should be climbing all over it. Why are they not? Adi frightened?
:10:00. > :10:03.Will upset someone in the establishment? The ramifications for
:10:04. > :10:08.this is that we could be fighting an EU referendum by a party that was
:10:09. > :10:15.voted in by election of fraudulent practices. The BBC has taken my
:10:16. > :10:18.licence fee but it is not protecting the public or democracy. We at BBC
:10:19. > :10:45.very responsive and they told us: the BBC's political editor, Laura
:10:46. > :10:49.Kuenssberg, has found herself in the news and an online petition calling
:10:50. > :10:53.for her to be sacked gathered 35,000 signatures before being removed last
:10:54. > :11:00.month as it had become a focal point for misogynistic abuse. This week
:11:01. > :11:03.Jeremy Corbyn said that the BBC was obsessed with trying to damage the
:11:04. > :11:08.leadership of the party. On Thursday, when Laura Kuenssberg
:11:09. > :11:12.Peterborough Hand ASCII question, this happened. Laura Kuenssberg from
:11:13. > :11:26.the BBC. There has been much comment on the
:11:27. > :11:33.smile and the poll is before Jeremy Corbyn lifted his hand, but Tom
:11:34. > :11:47.Watson with quick to condemn the behaviour. He said: Laura Kuenssberg
:11:48. > :11:53.posted this gentle reminder: thank you for all your comments this week.
:11:54. > :11:56.If you want to share your opinion on the BBC's political reporting or any
:11:57. > :12:04.aspect of BBC News and current affairs do telephone us or send us
:12:05. > :12:13.an e-mail. You can find us on Twitter and they look at our
:12:14. > :12:15.website. That is all from us, we will be back to hear your thoughts
:12:16. > :12:16.about BBC News coverage again next