:00:00. > :00:00.found for her in the future. Now at ten o'clock Fiona Bruce will be here
:00:00. > :00:09.with a round-up of today's news, but before that, Newswatch.
:00:10. > :00:11.Hello, welcome to Newswatch with me, Samira Ahmed.
:00:12. > :00:14.Interviewing the leader of the French Front National
:00:15. > :00:18.on Remembrance Sunday, was that the right decision for
:00:19. > :00:29.And in an item about road safety, should this BBC reporter have spoken
:00:30. > :00:34.Last weekend's Andrew Marr Show, on BBC One, fell on Remembrance
:00:35. > :00:39.Sunday and one of the guests caused quite a stir.
:00:40. > :00:42.Before showing the interview with the President of
:00:43. > :00:45.the Front National Party in France, Marine Le Pen, which had already
:00:46. > :00:47.been recorded, Andrew Marr took on the criticism
:00:48. > :00:53.Now I know this morning some people are offended and upset that I've
:00:54. > :00:55.been to interview Marine Le Pen and that we're showing this
:00:56. > :01:00.I understand that, but I would say this.
:01:01. > :01:02.Le Pen could, under some circumstances, become the next
:01:03. > :01:08.This week, in the immediate aftermath of the Trump victory,
:01:09. > :01:12.she's declared that the whole world has changed and that her brand
:01:13. > :01:20.In the end, we are a news programme and I don't think the best way
:01:21. > :01:23.to honour the fallen is to fail to report on the next big challenge
:01:24. > :01:26.Despite that defence, hundreds of viewers contacted
:01:27. > :01:31.the BBC to voice their disapproval of the interview being broadcast.
:01:32. > :01:38.The BBC has no place in offering this woman and her hateful views
:01:39. > :01:43.a platform on its flagship political programme.
:01:44. > :01:47.Le Pen and her party want to destroy all aspects of liberal democracy,
:01:48. > :01:52.including tolerance, freedom of speech and freedom
:01:53. > :01:55.of movement and these values are now under threat as never before,
:01:56. > :02:01.The BBC should have used its editorial judgment to realise
:02:02. > :02:05.that nothing and no-one was being served by offering
:02:06. > :02:12.Le Pen, let me remind you, tried to sue for being called
:02:13. > :02:17.a fascist in the French courts and lost.
:02:18. > :02:20.When our very democracy itself seems under threat,
:02:21. > :02:23.the BBC should not be fanning the flames of intolerance
:02:24. > :02:34.TRANSLATION: Marine Le Pen being elected French President.
:02:35. > :02:42.TRANSLATION: It's a global revolution.
:02:43. > :02:44.I think it seemed a very respectful interview.
:02:45. > :02:48.I mean, she was one of the sort of stars of that show almost.
:02:49. > :02:50.She was built up, absurdly, she was given the oxygen
:02:51. > :02:53.of publicity and, it seemed to me, a very respectful, very differential
:02:54. > :02:55.interview and, to me, I didn't understand why
:02:56. > :02:58.she was given a chance to air her views which are
:02:59. > :03:02.Can Muslims be good French citizens and be welcome in
:03:03. > :03:07.TRANSLATION: We're not going to welcome any more people.
:03:08. > :03:14.That is not the question, I don't judge people
:03:15. > :03:17.based on their religion, I'm not interested.
:03:18. > :03:21.This was the one day of the year when we were supposed to remember,
:03:22. > :03:24.respectfully, all those who gave their lives
:03:25. > :03:28.fight fascism and here we were, on Sunday morning,
:03:29. > :03:30.Remembrance Sunday, confronted with the sight of a woman
:03:31. > :03:36.Lest we forget, I think Mr Marr forgot.
:03:37. > :03:39.Well, the editor of the Andrew Marr Show, Rob Burley, is with me
:03:40. > :03:43.Let's start with whether Marine Le Pen should have been
:03:44. > :03:47.Well, we don't decide on the programme who is important,
:03:48. > :03:51.in democracies voters decide who's important,
:03:52. > :03:54.and in France, in the regional elections in 2015, Marine Le Pen's
:03:55. > :03:59.In the opinion polls, ahead of the French presidency next
:04:00. > :04:02.year, she's running first in many of them, with 30%.
:04:03. > :04:06.When she last ran, she got six million votes.
:04:07. > :04:09.So we don't decide that she's important, we interview people who,
:04:10. > :04:14.because of their electoral success and relevance and potential in this
:04:15. > :04:17.case to be the next French president, they are important
:04:18. > :04:20.Whatever you think of their views, we don't make a judgment
:04:21. > :04:24.on their views, if they're within the law, we do interview them
:04:25. > :04:27.The timing, Remembrance Sunday, that's what a lot of people
:04:28. > :04:32.I recognise that and I'm sorry people were upset by that
:04:33. > :04:36.In the end, as Andrew said in the clip you showed,
:04:37. > :04:39.the Andrew Marr Show is a news programme and the election
:04:40. > :04:42.of Donald Trump on the previous Tuesday, had set a context
:04:43. > :04:44.where things that had perhaps seemed unlikely,
:04:45. > :04:49.his election, for example, and the election of Marine Le Pen
:04:50. > :04:52.potentially as the French president, seem possible.
:04:53. > :04:56.So, in that context, and I think the French Prime Minister has said
:04:57. > :04:59.that her election as French president is possible.
:05:00. > :05:02.We think it would have been wrong to try and to delay the airing
:05:03. > :05:06.We're a news programme, we honoured Remembrance Sunday
:05:07. > :05:12.We had a film about veterans and rehabilitation, we had
:05:13. > :05:16.an interview with the Chief of the Defence Staff and we played
:05:17. > :05:18.out with some music reflecting on the Somme.
:05:19. > :05:20.So all of those things were in the programme,
:05:21. > :05:23.but the programme on Remembrance Sunday has always included other
:05:24. > :05:25.elements and, given what happened that week,
:05:26. > :05:29.A lot of the complaints are actually about how
:05:30. > :05:33.People felt she did not get challenged enough
:05:34. > :05:36.and it was effectively a platform for her to spread her views?
:05:37. > :05:39.I mean, Andrew Marr is not a Jeremy Paxman-style interviewer,
:05:40. > :05:43.he has his own style, and, in that context,
:05:44. > :05:46.he picked her up on her father's famous comments about the Holocaust,
:05:47. > :05:50.he talked about Muslims in France, he talked about the funding
:05:51. > :05:54.of the party by Russian money, and he talked about the dangers
:05:55. > :05:59.of returning to the 30s, but also we chose to talk
:06:00. > :06:01.about other things, which are really important,
:06:02. > :06:04.if you consider she might be the next president of France,
:06:05. > :06:06.namely Nato, the relationship with Vladimir Putin,
:06:07. > :06:09.her attitude to the European Union, all of those things were really
:06:10. > :06:12.important and we wanted to hear those as well and not every
:06:13. > :06:15.interview with Marine Le Pen has to be the kind of definitive last
:06:16. > :06:17.word on her attitudes on immigration and race.
:06:18. > :06:19.It was right to raise them, we did that.
:06:20. > :06:23.We had other things also on our agenda that we wanted to talk about.
:06:24. > :06:26.But it was the most important issue arguably to talk to her
:06:27. > :06:29.about and many people felt, - I mean, we saw that clip there,
:06:30. > :06:31.where she was asked specifically whether law abiding Muslims
:06:32. > :06:33.in France would be welcome under her presidency
:06:34. > :06:35.and she completely ducked the question and said,
:06:36. > :06:36."we're not going to welcome any more.
:06:37. > :06:40.Did not answer the question, was not picked up on it?
:06:41. > :06:43.Well, I think people will judge whether what they think
:06:44. > :06:46.of her and her attitude to Muslims in France and immigration and race
:06:47. > :06:47.when she says - "stop, we're full up."
:06:48. > :06:50.They may think that's evidence of an attitude towards those people.
:06:51. > :06:52.We put the question, we put the question -
:06:53. > :06:56.The point is, people are saying, if you support those views,
:06:57. > :06:59.they felt that she's getting an easy ride and if you were concerned
:07:00. > :07:01.about her views she wasn't challenged on them.
:07:02. > :07:03.I don't accept that she wasn't challenged.
:07:04. > :07:07.Andrew has a style where he wants people to express their views
:07:08. > :07:10.and allow people to make a judgment, but he will challenge them.
:07:11. > :07:12.He picked her up on a number of questions.
:07:13. > :07:15.In fact, at times, she was unhappy and uncomfortable in the interview
:07:16. > :07:17.and looked affronted at some of the questions
:07:18. > :07:20.So I don't accept there wasn't challenge.
:07:21. > :07:23.But this was not the definitive interview on her attitudes
:07:24. > :07:26.That was in there, but there were other things
:07:27. > :07:30.Vital things, if it's possible, as the Prime Minister of France
:07:31. > :07:32.is saying this woman could become the President of France.
:07:33. > :07:34.You're saying it's not the definitive interview,
:07:35. > :07:36.but it's a very significant interview, it was
:07:37. > :07:40.She seems to have been interviewed before any of the other French
:07:41. > :07:44.So again viewers are asking, why was she on alone and why
:07:45. > :07:49.It's not the first time she's been interviewed on the BBC
:07:50. > :07:52.in recent times at all, she's done Newsnight at least twice
:07:53. > :07:56.So we weren't doing something that hadn't been done before by BBC
:07:57. > :07:58.outlets because of the reasons I outlined about her support.
:07:59. > :08:00.On the question of the other candidates, Emmanuel Macron
:08:01. > :08:03.was recently on the programme, in his role at that time
:08:04. > :08:08.We have bids in for all of the other leader contenders for
:08:09. > :08:16.You know, they don't all say yes, some others may yes,
:08:17. > :08:40.Now, a few weeks ago, after a BBC News piece on the use
:08:41. > :08:42.of mobile phones by drivers, we received complaints -
:08:43. > :08:44.not for the first time - about the reporter speaking
:08:45. > :08:48.We didn't have space to feature it then, but this week same
:08:49. > :08:51.And the AA has also questioned the police commitment
:08:52. > :08:54.Figures show that fixed penalty notices dropped from 30,000
:08:55. > :08:57.to around 17,000 over the past two years.
:08:58. > :09:01.But a number of viewers felt it was the BBC that deserved a fixed
:09:02. > :09:03.penalty notice, and some of them recorded their
:09:04. > :09:11.Incredibly and unbelievable journalist Duncan Kennedy was filmed
:09:12. > :09:15.speaking to a camera positioned on his left while he was driving
:09:16. > :09:17.which necessitated him taking his eyes off the road
:09:18. > :09:24.People are being needlessly killed and maimed by such actions.
:09:25. > :09:27.The BBC made a grave error of judgment in allowing this item
:09:28. > :09:32.This could have caused a really bad accident.
:09:33. > :09:35.In the clip, it referred to the lorry driver that killed four
:09:36. > :09:37.people doing exactly the same type of thing.
:09:38. > :09:41.The BBC should refrain from using these practices,
:09:42. > :09:49.I've seen them done once or twice before, but on this clip to refer
:09:50. > :09:52.to the crime and then do the crime, was hypocrisy.
:09:53. > :09:57.Albeit it may have been a car park situation,
:09:58. > :10:00.more chance of a person crossing the road in that situation
:10:01. > :10:12.It's not OK to talk on the phone, but it's OK to talk into a camera!
:10:13. > :10:15.Well, we put those point to BBC News, and they told us...
:10:16. > :10:17."The item was filmed in a quiet car park,
:10:18. > :10:27.not a main road and no pedestrians were nearby.
:10:28. > :10:33.I suspect you will, because since he left the BBC
:10:34. > :10:35.and Top Gear last year, after he assaulted a member
:10:36. > :10:37.of the production team, he and his colleagues have
:10:38. > :10:39.been making a new car show for Amazon Prime,
:10:40. > :10:41.called The Grand Tour, which has received a lot
:10:42. > :10:44.of attention this week, not least on the BBC.
:10:45. > :10:47.Last Sunday, Will Gompertz spoke to Mr Clarkson for the News at Ten,
:10:48. > :10:50.and the interview was shown again on Breakfast on the News
:10:51. > :10:56.And on Friday, the day The Grand Tour was released,
:10:57. > :10:58.there were clips of the programme, and an interview, on Breakfast,
:10:59. > :11:01.on top of features this week on other BBC outlets,
:11:02. > :11:20.For Sheila McKenzie, it was all too much.
:11:21. > :11:34.Thanks for all your comments this week.
:11:35. > :11:37.If you want to share your opinions on BBC news and current affairs
:11:38. > :11:41.or even appear on the programme, you can call us on 0370 010 6676
:11:42. > :11:43.or e-mail newswatch @bbc.co.uk You can find us on Twitter
:11:44. > :11:45.@newswatch bbc, and do have a look at our website,
:11:46. > :11:52.the address for that is - bbc.co.uk/newswatch.
:11:53. > :11:55.We'll be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News