01/07/2016 Newswatch

just some of the poignant moments, marking the 100th anniversary of the

Battle of the Somme. Now on BBC News Channel, here is News watch.

Hello and welcome to News watch with Mesa Mir Ahmed. Has the BBC response

to the Brexit vote been unfairly dominated by doom and gloom and if

possible negative consequences? And has those who voted to leave the

European Union been stereotyped as old, ill educated racists.

Journalistic consensus has taken a bit of a hammering in the past few

days, Boris Johnson was widely held for a week as the frontrunner to be

our next Prime Minister only for him to crash and burn before the race

had been started. In an's footballers were seen as dead cert

to beat the minnows of Iceland in Euro 2016 and winner what happened

and going back to June the 23rd, we will be exploring that the BBC

assumed that the country would and should vote to remain in the

European Union. But first, first a's surprised that element in the

Conservative Party leadership battle that led the assistant political

editor Norman Smith to speculate on Boris Johnson's next move. I would

not say it is a given at all that he will row in behind Michael Gove, and

he has certainly offered no indication at all that was his

intention, expression of that news reporters summed up the shock of

many at the news of Michael Gove standing instead of Boris Johnson.

It is fair to say that this guy didn't see it coming. Of course the

Conservatives are not any critical part in some turmoil, as John

Pienaar reported, the photo of Jeremy Corbyn and his newly reformed

Shadow Cabinet. This seems like a bad idea this photo, Jeremy Corbyn

is uncomfortable, a Shadow Cabinet patch together after mass

resignations, what were his advisers thinking?

The media were sent away but when they were called back later, empty

seats around the table representing unfilled posts, were commented upon.

But was this ebbing away partly the responsibility of the BBC. Yes

thought somebody from Colchester. So much has happened since, it seems

strange that it is a little more than a week since the referendum

vote. The way that the result and its aftermath have been reported by

the BBC has attracted hundreds of comments and we will be hearing in a

moment from some of those viewers who were accorded their thoughts on

cameras for us. First, a taste of what has been on our screens since

the public's verdict became clear early on Friday morning. Watch and

listen carefully, this is history in the making. The British people have

spoken and the answer is that we are Radstock loop negotiation will

produce a quite unacceptable deal for this country. Thursday night I

was going to bed and I woke up, thinking we would still be in

Europe, I will shocked, stunned and then scared. Like most young voters

he wanted to remain in the EU, he told me he felt betrayed. I'm

literally shaking because this is probably the biggest change of my

generation. Governments of Europe are very worried and in Brussels,

the mood is despondent and resentful. Meanwhile passionate

Europeans are now dubbing how referendum day, Black Thursday. It

has been another day of turmoil and as fears of Brexit seized the

markets. The pound sank by 3.4%, its lowest for 30 years.

in this take your country back, take our current feedback. It is not

racism, they're coming across too much stop once the vote happen? A

sense of relief. I'm joined by the BBC's head of news gathering,

Jonathan Munro. We have put together examples of viewers' comments. The

first one is typical of complaints. I am fed up with the constant

coverage of people he wanted to remain, and the worries and

negatives being generated. The country has voted, regardless of the

size of the majority, the majority has made the decision. We now need

to focus as a country, looking towards the future and the positives

this may hold. Stop reiterating how bad things may or may not go.

Essentially the BBC being far too alarmist. The result is in, and the

decision was to leave. In that scenario, what does it look like to

leave the European Union? A lot of the details are quite technical. We

don't know what the deal will be like when Britain signs and access

arrangements under the articles of the European constitution. That is

difficult to be precise about. Looking at the options, how it the

currency and jobs market, inward investment. Looking at things that

have already happened, the decision by the Prime Minister not to confirm

the decision on Heathrow Airport, that is a result of the leadership

challenge in the Conservative Party, which was part of the referendum

result, those are real news stories. Let's look at our second complaint.

I have noticed on the BBC, a reluctance to speak about the

positive aspects of the decision. The station seems to talk about the

dire consequences. Sometimes fabricated, supposition of future

scenarios. That may involve, they seem to consider it disastrous, this

situation. A reluctance to talk about the positive aspects of the

leave result. That is not the case. We did a lot of work and what it

will mean for immigration from non-EU countries. Big issues in the

campaign about what people on the League campaign described as

immigrants coming to the UK from non-EU countries, parts of the

Commonwealth. Trade deals which may open up with New Zealand and Canada,

for instance. The story is focused on the macro consequences of leaving

the European Union, that tears up a lot of the arrangements this country

currently has. We are right to scrutinise those things. A brief

e-mail from Dave Jones, saying he voted for Remain, but he is irked by

the BBC's coverage of hand-wringing. The idea of what went wrong in the

campaign? The Remain campaign were pretty confident they would win.

Widely reported, not particularly on the BBC, that they would win by a

narrow margin. Of course we know they were wrong. They did have a

numerical victory in London, Northern Ireland and Scotland, but

the UK voted out. We have not done our coverage of what went wrong from

an impartial point of view, but we have looked at the relationships

that did not work of the messages that did not get across. The

negativity of project fear, by the League campaign, what they called

it. Two comments about a sensitive issue. A lotto viewers got in touch.

The BBC coverage was completely imbalanced. The coverage on the 24th

of June basically implied all out voters did not understand the

argument. Railing against the bankers, and all in voters were well

informed and intelligent, which I did not think was fair. The coverage

is implying many of the out voters were racists, which is not fair. It

has created divisions. There has been inferred racism, the BBC making

a beeline to those who come across as uneducated or racist. This is

unhelpful. They cannot be 70 million-plus people uneducated

racists. I had understood the BBC were an impartial public

broadcasting service. I questioned this. The BBC accused of

stereotyping all Leave voters. There is nobody I know he thinks there are

17 million people who were racists. Nobody in the BBC takes thank you.

Only uneducated point, we need to talk to all our audience, no matter

what their education is. The person there is making a judgment we are

not making. In the clip we showed at the beginning of the compilation,

the gentleman with a swastika tattooed, films on Canvey Island,

Ten O'Clock News, we ran two reports talking to ordinary people than

ordinarily walks of life. The north-east of England and Canvey

Island. We must have interviewed 12 different people. One of them

tattooed, you have chosen to show that. Not ever sample. If you look

at the programme, the vast majority of people in those two reports, what

you might call honest, everyday people, with perfectly valid and

honourable intentions, whichever way they voted. Interesting we got those

complaints. Watching the news coverage, a spike in racist attacks.

Question Time saying the BBC as part of a London centric consensus, not

understanding why they voted league. Question Time from Preston, not

exactly in the London bubble. The life question Time was from

Birmingham. Very balanced questions, panel and audience. Is there

something about the tone of the referendum, the unexpected

consequences of the result taking BBC News by surprise. Proving a real

challenge in how to cover it? Undoubtedly a challenge. Clearly the

case. Unprecedented thing the United Kingdom has chosen to do. All kinds

of challenges in the period covering the fallout. There will be

challenges around balance, particularly the case when we get

towards a general election, we don't know what parties will say as they

approach manifesto time. Leadership contest going on, we will get a

better idea. We want to talk to the viewers who are the voters. That is

an important dialogue. That is all from us. Thank you for all your

comments this week. If you want to share your opinions on BBC News and

current affairs, or appear on the programme contact us on the number.

For our website. You can find us on Twitter, have a look at our website.

That is all from us, back to hear your thoughts about BBC News

coverage again next week. The Battle of the Somme

commemoration is taking place this evening in Eden Park in Manchester.

A concept under way. We will join the people gathering this