:00:00. > :00:00.down 116 points. Full coverage of the final farewell to Muhammad Ali,
:00:07. > :00:15.but a little early on than normal, this week 's edition of Newswatch.
:00:16. > :00:19.Welcome to Newswatch. Was the death of Muhammad Ali are significant
:00:20. > :00:27.enough event to blow almost all other news off the screen on
:00:28. > :00:32.Saturday? And as a search for clarity in the referendum debate
:00:33. > :00:41.continues, did this debate generate more heat than light? The BBC have
:00:42. > :00:43.tried to respond to the widely held perception amongst the public that
:00:44. > :00:51.they are not getting the truth, unvarnished facts in the debate over
:00:52. > :01:04.membership of the European Union. Thursday was deemed EU referendum
:01:05. > :01:08.questions they. Five editors gave their answers to queries from the
:01:09. > :01:13.public about the consequences of leaving of remaining in the EU. What
:01:14. > :01:15.some challenged those responses, one anonymous viewer appreciated the
:01:16. > :01:39.effort... Yes, debate. There will be more of
:01:40. > :01:45.them in the coming days. We saw some lively exchanges this week mostly
:01:46. > :01:56.featuring the comedian and remain campaign supporter, Eddie Isard. --
:01:57. > :02:02.Izzard. Because we want the control... I think we should make
:02:03. > :02:11.you change sees if you go on like this! I know, I know. We are trying
:02:12. > :02:17.to make the whole economy better. The economy is better if we are
:02:18. > :02:27.inside. No it isn't, no it isn't! Yes it is! We try to avoid pantomime
:02:28. > :02:44.here. One viewer was unimpressed. He said...
:02:45. > :02:49.The referendum has dominated broadcasting news out route over the
:02:50. > :02:53.first half of this year, but it has been a year full of the deaths of
:02:54. > :02:58.celebrities. The BBC's coverage of it has often proved controversial.
:02:59. > :03:03.Last Saturday morning we woke up to news of the death of the man
:03:04. > :03:07.considered by many, including himself, to be the greatest. One of
:03:08. > :03:13.the greatest personalities in world sport, the boxer Muhammad Ali has
:03:14. > :03:18.died. I am the champion, the real champion, there will never be one
:03:19. > :03:27.like me... All of the four-hour programme followed was dedicated to
:03:28. > :03:31.Muhammad Ali. Segments of other programmes like Newswatch would
:03:32. > :03:34.drop. The news channel continued in a similar vein throughout the day
:03:35. > :03:39.and all of the BBC One tea-time bulletin was devoted to the boxer
:03:40. > :03:45.with a special tribute programme replacing the drama. Some viewers
:03:46. > :04:20.did not pull their punches in response.
:04:21. > :04:28.Two more viewers who contacted as this week, grey Staughton and John
:04:29. > :04:35.Maclean joining now, and in the BBC's corner is deputy news editor
:04:36. > :04:44.Toby Castle. I worked at the news that Muhammad Ali had passed away.
:04:45. > :04:48.It was on the lunchtime news. By the six o'clock News it was a single
:04:49. > :04:54.issue news bulletin. By that time it was not news, in that sense. I had
:04:55. > :05:00.always prided the BBC on in-depth coverage of all news, not just a
:05:01. > :05:06.single item. Did you have an issue about the relevance of Muhammad Ali
:05:07. > :05:11.to some viewers? I'm the same era as him, sadly, but then I reflected on
:05:12. > :05:15.my children who are in their 30s. They would have no relevance to that
:05:16. > :05:20.particular item. Some people might be saying, who is he? That meant
:05:21. > :05:26.there is a disenfranchisement of much of the news. You are younger.
:05:27. > :05:31.It might have been because Muhammad Ali did not play a part in your
:05:32. > :05:39.growing up. I am 24. I was well aware who you was. I was intrigued
:05:40. > :05:43.but it was frustrating that there was a much coverage given to it. The
:05:44. > :05:50.BBC News channel ran for a large part of Saturday. Lots of programmes
:05:51. > :05:54.that are normally order were moved, like Click, that I normally enjoy,
:05:55. > :05:59.that had been moved to replay coverage over and over again about
:06:00. > :06:03.the death of Muhammad Ali. So it seemed like you had no other news
:06:04. > :06:07.including a bulletin that was 14 hours after the news had broken that
:06:08. > :06:13.Muhammad Ali had died. I would reject that it is a news blackout. I
:06:14. > :06:21.accept that the tea-time bulletin was devoted to Muhammad Ali. I have
:06:22. > :06:25.no regrets. 14 hours later? It was the tea-time bulletin of that day.
:06:26. > :06:29.It was, I would say, one of the most significant stories of the week.
:06:30. > :06:35.Definitely the most significant story of Saturday. And the BBC, I
:06:36. > :06:42.personally believe, has a responsibility to provide depth and
:06:43. > :06:45.context to stories. And I felt that talking to John 's point
:06:46. > :06:52.specifically about audiences that might not be aware of the
:06:53. > :06:56.significance of, not just the sporting figure that Muhammad Ali
:06:57. > :07:05.was, but arguably his influence beyond that, culturally, and I felt
:07:06. > :07:10.that those items on my bulletin provided that context for the
:07:11. > :07:17.audience. What do you feel about Toby 's justification? I appreciate
:07:18. > :07:25.that he is right to give depth to this, showing the importance of
:07:26. > :07:30.Muhammad Ali is a boxer and activist. But by 8:30pm in the
:07:31. > :07:34.evening, it should have been established, and not the entire news
:07:35. > :07:39.bulletin at the expense of everything else that was going on.
:07:40. > :07:45.Grace, what did you think? I think it is concerning how generally the
:07:46. > :07:51.media has increasingly focused on celebrities. We're having a of
:07:52. > :07:57.celebrity deaths this year because of the way the media has changed in
:07:58. > :08:00.the last century there are more famous people dying than centuries
:08:01. > :08:04.ago. That kind of rock 'n' roll demographic. I don't think it is
:08:05. > :08:08.healthy for the British public to get so emotional about people they
:08:09. > :08:14.have not met Allsop no disrespect to them, but I don't think it is good
:08:15. > :08:17.that we obsess quite so much about some individuals. It is better for
:08:18. > :08:21.the news to give information that can inspire us to do useful things
:08:22. > :08:27.or give information we need. Getting on with this point that grace me, it
:08:28. > :08:32.is not the job of the BBC to be part of the collective morning and fill
:08:33. > :08:36.hours of airtime. You can give information, you can put obituaries
:08:37. > :08:42.online and direct people there but keep the news bulletins for news.
:08:43. > :08:47.Specifically we are talking about Muhammad Ali year, and I would say
:08:48. > :08:53.that is more than just a celebrity death. It is a significant
:08:54. > :08:57.individual. He went beyond sport. But we are talking about more than
:08:58. > :09:03.three hours of a four our breakfast programme being devoted to just his
:09:04. > :09:08.death. The evening schedule, the BBC, the network, decided to put
:09:09. > :09:12.their tribute in prime time which was the right decision to make. We
:09:13. > :09:18.followed that prime-time tribute programme with the late news
:09:19. > :09:24.bulletin and if you watch that bulletin, John Sobell, American
:09:25. > :09:27.editor, led that with all of the reporting about the specifics of
:09:28. > :09:30.what had happened that day, the reaction to the announcement of his
:09:31. > :09:34.death that broke in the early hours of the morning. And we could then
:09:35. > :09:42.therefore reflect what happened through the day in a packaged news
:09:43. > :09:46.programme. You have all these online resources. If you want to clear
:09:47. > :09:50.prime time to show a documentary, shouldn't the news channel then be
:09:51. > :09:54.moving on? Why is everyone all doing all the same coverage? I cannot
:09:55. > :10:00.speak about the decision of the network to put the tribute on in
:10:01. > :10:04.prime time. I can speak about our decisions, and I believe that we
:10:05. > :10:09.gave comprehensive context and analysis for our audience across
:10:10. > :10:16.what was a very significant news story that day. Your thoughts,
:10:17. > :10:21.Grace? Why have all this coverage dedicated to one person when telling
:10:22. > :10:27.us about it isn't going to change anything or help anyone? I still
:10:28. > :10:31.maintain, maybe I am unique but I watch the BBC because of its breadth
:10:32. > :10:37.of coverage as well as depth of analysis. And I did feel on Saturday
:10:38. > :10:45.that that breadth disappeared and that perspective was lost. Thank you
:10:46. > :10:50.all very much. We have heard the observation that the death was
:10:51. > :10:54.described as breaking news many hours after it happened. It is an
:10:55. > :10:57.example of a phenomenon that Andrew Stevenson and spotted and he rang
:10:58. > :11:02.with a question and suggestion. For how long can a story be considered
:11:03. > :11:11.to be breaking? Sometimes stories carry on breaking four hours. Surely
:11:12. > :11:15.there has got to be a limit to this. It can be in pending or just
:11:16. > :11:26.pending, breaking, developing. Maybe even old hat. Remember, if Newswatch
:11:27. > :11:33.is not shown on its normal slot, you should be able to catch up with ours
:11:34. > :11:36.on the BBC iPlayer. If you want to share your opinions on BBC News and
:11:37. > :11:54.current affairs coverage, you can contact us...
:11:55. > :12:05.We would not back to hear your thoughts about BBC news coverage
:12:06. > :12:11.again next week. -- we will be back. Good evening. It has been a week of
:12:12. > :12:12.extremes. Today was no exception. We had some warm sunshine,