:00:00. > :00:00.who knocked out Roger Federer. At ten o'clock, Sophie will be here
:00:00. > :00:09.with a round-up of the day's news. First, it is time for Newswatch.
:00:10. > :00:17.The contest to become our next Prime Minister has been full
:00:18. > :00:19.of surprise, but has BBC News hyped the drama and forgotten
:00:20. > :00:25.And with plenty of coverage of the battle to lead
:00:26. > :00:30.the Labour Party too, is there a need for more
:00:31. > :00:36.journalistic calm in these turbulent political days?
:00:37. > :00:39.First though, it was 2.5 million words long, covered eight years
:00:40. > :00:42.of government policy and was seven years in the writing, so it's no
:00:43. > :00:48.surprise that Sir John Chilcot's report on the Iraq War occupied
:00:49. > :00:50.a great deal of airtime on BBC News this week.
:00:51. > :00:53.Opinions are strongly held about the conduct of Tony Blair
:00:54. > :00:55.in the lead-up to the war and so were opinions
:00:56. > :01:00."The BBC News reporting before and after Chilcot's
:01:01. > :01:03.statement was biased firmly towards the defenders
:01:04. > :01:07.of the decisions taken before the Iraq war.
:01:08. > :01:09.I am including the long defence by Blair himself,
:01:10. > :01:17.But Richard Wright felt the opposite.
:01:18. > :01:20."Tony Blair did not act independently, but all the comments
:01:21. > :01:23.Some of the comments of relatives of casualties were
:01:24. > :01:28.To blame Tony Blair and only Tony Blair is wrong and unfair."
:01:29. > :01:32.It is strange to think it was only two weeks ago that a majority
:01:33. > :01:34.of British voters elected to leave the European Union.
:01:35. > :01:38.Since then, the world of politics has barely drawn breath.
:01:39. > :01:42.That has left reporters sometimes struggling to keep up with events
:01:43. > :01:45.and it has given them other challenges as well.
:01:46. > :01:48.I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it
:01:49. > :01:52.David Cameron's announcement that he was standing down
:01:53. > :01:56.as Prime Minister in the wake of the referendum triggered
:01:57. > :01:59.a fortnight of further resignations, real and aborted leadership
:02:00. > :02:04.challenges and, at times, a sense of political pandemonium.
:02:05. > :02:19.# I've got the eye of the tiger, fire, dancing through the fire...
:02:20. > :02:22.# 'Cos I am the champion and you're going to hear me roar...
:02:23. > :02:25.That last treatment of the two candidates to become the next
:02:26. > :02:27.Conservative leader irked Kate Cashmore, who wrote.
:02:28. > :02:31."I was aghast to see coverage of the May/Leadsom leadership
:02:32. > :02:33.campaign broadcast to the sound of Katie Perry's hit single Roar.
:02:34. > :02:35.I found it not only inappropriate, but horrendously
:02:36. > :02:43.I very much doubt that if Michael Gove and Stephen Crabb
:02:44. > :02:46.were still in the running, you would package up the story
:02:47. > :02:48.to the tune of Justin Bieber or Kendrick Lamar."
:02:49. > :02:51.But there have been wider concerns about how the BBC has
:02:52. > :02:53.been covering politics during these turbulent times.
:02:54. > :02:55.Here is Evan Davis chairing a Newsnight discussion at the end
:02:56. > :02:59.of last week about that Tory leadership campaign.
:03:00. > :03:01.Has it been edifying, are you impressed by
:03:02. > :03:05.I mean, we all love the drama, the House of Cards stuff,
:03:06. > :03:08.Well, I don't think anyone in the country
:03:09. > :03:12.It's been like some kind of astonishing pantomime, frankly.
:03:13. > :03:15.Viewer Sarah Senior took exception to a phrase of Evan Davis's there,
:03:16. > :03:22.To suggest that we love the House of Cards drama and
:03:23. > :03:24.intrigue of it all is a serious misjudgement of the attitude
:03:25. > :03:29.He appeared to be hardly able to contain his joy as he described
:03:30. > :03:31.the farcical infighting British politics has become.
:03:32. > :03:36.Much of this sorry mess is down to the media,
:03:37. > :03:38.although I had thought the BBC better than that.
:03:39. > :03:41.Please, this is Newsnight, not Top Gear.
:03:42. > :03:43.I expect a little more gravitas and a little less
:03:44. > :03:49.The charge of hyping up and relishing the current political
:03:50. > :03:52.dramas was also made by Chris Ward, who objected recently to multiple
:03:53. > :03:54.repetitions of how Michael Gove is stabbing Boris Johnson
:03:55. > :03:59."Emotive language and treating political decision-making as theatre
:04:00. > :04:05.will not help us come together as a united nation.
:04:06. > :04:07.And it is not just reporting about the Conservatives,
:04:08. > :04:09.Christine Beardmore e-mailed about the frankly hysterical
:04:10. > :04:25."The way Corbyn has been treated is disgusting.
:04:26. > :04:31.The Six o'clock News close to watching bear-baiting."
:04:32. > :04:33.So have BBC journalists been using inflammatory, over the top
:04:34. > :04:35.language and been making drama out of a crisis?
:04:36. > :04:37.Here is political correspondent Chris Mason speaking
:04:38. > :04:41.So let's look at Labour first, because that story
:04:42. > :04:48.For those on the centre ground of Labour politics,
:04:49. > :04:51.it is a bit like bat the rat with the Labour left.
:04:52. > :04:55.They had been batting away in the '80s trying to get rid
:04:56. > :04:58.of the militant movement and Lord Kinnock felt he had been
:04:59. > :05:08.And here, the left in the guise of Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters.
:05:09. > :05:10.I suppose as you know very well, many Conservative MPs
:05:11. > :05:14.were surprised, as the rest of us, by the way these events have turned
:05:15. > :05:16.out and perhaps not quite made up their minds.
:05:17. > :05:19.Some Conservative MPs would just, they found the process
:05:20. > :05:23.There is a huge amount of anger over the behaviour of Michael Gove.
:05:24. > :05:25.That Olympian act of school duggery really
:05:26. > :05:28.Well, Chris Mason joins me now from Westminster.
:05:29. > :05:30.Chris, thank you for coming on the programme.
:05:31. > :05:33.With so many developments and twists and turns in British politics
:05:34. > :05:36.recently, it must be quite hard to report when you really do not
:05:37. > :05:42.It is very hard because in the last couple of weeks, it has felt
:05:43. > :05:44.like political reporting only exists to make astrology seem respectable.
:05:45. > :05:47.People are always asking me to predict what might happen next.
:05:48. > :05:50.And to be honest, the honest and truthful answer at the moment
:05:51. > :05:52.seems to revolve around saying, I simply don't know.
:05:53. > :05:58.That is how astounding political times are at the moment.
:05:59. > :06:01.Those of us paid to professionally observe it are frequently taken
:06:02. > :06:07.Some reviewers have taken you to task, some of the language
:06:08. > :06:14.Dealing with the Labour left is like a game of bat the rat.
:06:15. > :06:16.Michael Gove's Olympian act of skulduggery.
:06:17. > :06:17.Those sorts of phrases, apparently revelling
:06:18. > :06:19.in the kind of chaos, actually not helpful
:06:20. > :06:28.Look, I am going to plead guilty to a penchant for the occasional
:06:29. > :06:32.On that, you definitely have me bang the rights.
:06:33. > :06:34.On that, you definitely have me bang to rights.
:06:35. > :06:37.That is partially because a lot of the time in reporting politics,
:06:38. > :06:39.I am keenly aware, and this is what is so exceptional
:06:40. > :06:42.about the current period, I am keenly aware that reporting
:06:43. > :06:45.politics a lot of the time, in my view, does need to be told
:06:46. > :06:48.very well otherwise there is a grave danger that a lot
:06:49. > :06:51.I think that political journalists should firstly plead guilty
:06:52. > :06:54.to the fact that we do find times like this exciting.
:06:55. > :06:58.That phrase that I used last weekend I think it was about the game of bat
:06:59. > :07:00.the rat that Labour sometimes feel they are playing,
:07:01. > :07:02.that was reflecting on a conversation I had
:07:03. > :07:05.had with a Labour MP, that was a phrase put to me
:07:06. > :07:07.by a Labour MP which I then broadcast.
:07:08. > :07:11.We have to be aware that when news is big and political news is big,
:07:12. > :07:13.that is often because people are depending on their view excited
:07:14. > :07:15.or worried and that should be reflected I think
:07:16. > :07:19.But I don't think that should mean that we revert
:07:20. > :07:24.We should continue to report in a way that it is as ear grabbing
:07:25. > :07:33.I think what people are saying is when they hear this discussion
:07:34. > :07:35.from correspondents about this excitement and drama,
:07:36. > :07:37.that maybe you have forgotten since the EU referendum that a lot
:07:38. > :07:39.of people are genuinely worried about the
:07:40. > :07:43.I think that theatre is always going to be
:07:44. > :07:49.And that theatre is part of what we have a responsibility to cover.
:07:50. > :07:51.Whilst at the same time, asking probing questions about how
:07:52. > :07:54.the next Prime Minister and her team will manage those negotiations out
:07:55. > :07:58.We also have to be well aware that whilst there are a lot of people,
:07:59. > :08:01.especially those who have voted Remain in the referendum
:08:02. > :08:03.who are both angry and nervous about the future, there
:08:04. > :08:11.are millions of people very excited about it as well.
:08:12. > :08:18.Those who back Jeremy Corbyn say that he has a lot of support
:08:19. > :08:21.out in the country at large and the media focus
:08:22. > :08:23.on the Westminster bubble, where they say he does
:08:24. > :08:28.not have much backing, and you're part of that Westminster
:08:29. > :08:34.Yes, it is a really big challenge at Westminster.
:08:35. > :08:37.Because the very nature of being a political correspondent
:08:38. > :08:39.is you report on MPs at Westminster and you have a lot
:08:40. > :08:43.And you have far less contact with ordinary party members.
:08:44. > :08:47.The central element of the Labour story is the gulf between a lot
:08:48. > :08:50.of Labour MPs and a lot of Labour party members, so we have
:08:51. > :08:53.to be careful about that but, at the same time,
:08:54. > :08:56.we would be failing in our duty if we were not reporting how
:08:57. > :09:09.astonishing the current times are in the Labour Party.
:09:10. > :09:12.I think it's fair to say that confidence in British politics has
:09:13. > :09:15.Do you think political correspondents like yourself
:09:16. > :09:17.have a role to play in rebuilding that confidence?
:09:18. > :09:20.That is a really, really good question because what I am
:09:21. > :09:23.struck by when I go home to the Yorkshire Dales and I talk
:09:24. > :09:25.to my friends and family, frequently, a conversation goes
:09:26. > :09:32.Chris, why on Earth do you want to work at Westminster
:09:33. > :09:35.when there are those MPs with their snouts in the trough
:09:36. > :09:38.and they all think the same thing and they have not got any principles
:09:39. > :09:43.That is the gist of the kind of conversation I have.
:09:44. > :09:44.And instinctively, I always defend politicians.
:09:45. > :09:47.I think aspiring to be an elected politician is a noble calling,
:09:48. > :09:54.A lot of them could earn a lot more doing something else.
:09:55. > :09:56.All of them could have an easier life.
:09:57. > :10:02.And so I am firmly of the view that, yes, we are paid to be
:10:03. > :10:04.professionally sceptical, but we should never be cynical
:10:05. > :10:08.about a politician's intentions and we should never easily
:10:09. > :10:10.impugn their motive either, unless we can be certain
:10:11. > :10:20.It is certainly not our job to encourage people to vote,
:10:21. > :10:23.for people to decide of their own free will,
:10:24. > :10:26.but I don't think we should be in the business of
:10:27. > :10:30.Away from politics, there was another resignation this
:10:31. > :10:33.week, that of Chris Evans from the newly relaunched Top Gear.
:10:34. > :10:39.Some people felt there was too much attention given to this
:10:40. > :10:41.given to this bombshell, but Dave Johns from
:10:42. > :10:52."For months, we had BBC News ramming Chris Evans down our throats,
:10:53. > :10:56.now he leaves and we get a simple statement, how come BBC News are not
:10:57. > :11:04.investigating the money Evans was paid and the loss to BBC
:11:05. > :11:06.Worldwide from being able to sell this now unpopular series,
:11:07. > :11:11.and how will the revenue drop affect other programme making?
:11:12. > :11:15.So many questions to answer, but BBC News goes mute,
:11:16. > :11:17.so clearly it was just a corporation stouge
:11:18. > :11:22.Thank you for all your comments this week.
:11:23. > :11:25.If you want to share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs
:11:26. > :11:28.or even appear on the programme, you can call us...
:11:29. > :11:39.That is all from us, we will be back to hear your
:11:40. > :11:43.That is all from us, we will be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News