:00:00. > :00:00.areas of the country. At Ten, Fiona will be here with a
:00:00. > :00:10.round-up of the day's news, first it's time for NewsWatch.
:00:11. > :00:12.Hello and welcome to Newswatch with me, Samira Ahmed.
:00:13. > :00:15.The Chancellor's Autumn Statement contained some good news and some
:00:16. > :00:18.bad news about the prospects for the UK economy, but did the BBC
:00:19. > :00:21.accentuate the negative and blame too much of it on Brexit?
:00:22. > :00:24.And left out in the rain - was it really necessary for this
:00:25. > :00:33.First, Nigel Farage and Donald Trump have both made considerable waves
:00:34. > :00:39.in the news this year and this week they did so again in tandem.
:00:40. > :00:41.The now interim Ukip leader joined a rally held by the President-elect
:00:42. > :00:45.over the summer and was the first British politician to visit him
:00:46. > :00:50.And on Monday came this - a tweet from Mr Trump,
:00:51. > :00:54.saying that "many people would like to see Mr Farage
:00:55. > :00:56.become British Ambassador to the United States.
:00:57. > :01:02.The British government swiftly made it clear that there was no vacancy
:01:03. > :01:04.for that position, but the proposal was still extensively
:01:05. > :01:10.Some people felt that given the position of British ambassador
:01:11. > :01:13.isn't in the gift of the US president, the story gained more
:01:14. > :01:22.I was increasingly frustrated on Tuesday by the prominence given
:01:23. > :01:27.on the BBC News and elsewhere to Donald Trump's extraordinary
:01:28. > :01:31.tweets suggesting Nigel Farage would make a good ambassador to the USA.
:01:32. > :01:34.And all of it missed the point in my view.
:01:35. > :01:37.We don't do government by Twitter and we certainly don't use social
:01:38. > :01:47.Downing Street on Monday night had said how ludicrous it was,
:01:48. > :01:53.and yet the BBC on Tuesday seemed to be leading on it all the time.
:01:54. > :01:57.Trump had also made other pronouncements, including this idea
:01:58. > :02:02.that he was going to withdraw from the Pacific trade agreement.
:02:03. > :02:08.That really is important, much more so than Mr Farage.
:02:09. > :02:13.I wish the BBC would be a little less parochial in its editorial
:02:14. > :02:20.decisions and take the wider sweep that it used to take,
:02:21. > :02:28.Now, when the history of 2016 is written, the term "Brexit" -
:02:29. > :02:30.already chosen by one dictionary as its word of the year -
:02:31. > :02:32.will undoubtedly feature prominently.
:02:33. > :02:37.One area where the actual and potential consequences of June's
:02:38. > :02:40.vote have been much discussed is that of the economy.
:02:41. > :02:43.Much of course is disputed here, but it seems pretty clear
:02:44. > :02:46.that the decision to leave the European Union has led to a fall
:02:47. > :02:49.in the value of the pound, as highlighted last month
:02:50. > :02:51.by the BBC's economics editor, Kemal Ahmed.
:02:52. > :02:55.It's certainly been a rocky ride for the pound.
:02:56. > :02:59.Here's the beginning of the month, when the pound was valued at $1.30,
:03:00. > :03:03.but it began to fall after Theresa May suggested Britain
:03:04. > :03:08.would not only be leaving the European Union, but the EU
:03:09. > :03:11.free market as well, which many economists
:03:12. > :03:14.see as a poor option, and then on Friday the flash crash,
:03:15. > :03:18.down to $1.14, as automatic computer trading drove down the price.
:03:19. > :03:24.The extent to which that fall is a good or bad thing
:03:25. > :03:27.is the subject of strong debate, and some viewers have told us
:03:28. > :03:30.they think BBC News has misrepresented its effects.
:03:31. > :03:55.This week, in the build-up to the Chancellor's Autumn Statement,
:03:56. > :03:59.On the News Channel's Outside Source on Monday, business editor
:04:00. > :04:02.Simon Jack articulated one of the questions being asked
:04:03. > :04:09.What happens on the morning after we leave the European Union?
:04:10. > :04:11.Because once you've triggered the process, you've got two years.
:04:12. > :04:14.If you haven't got some things in place by then
:04:15. > :04:19.are you going to fall off into this regulatory and trading no man's
:04:20. > :04:21.land, this cliff edge that some people are talking about?
:04:22. > :04:24.And on Wednesday's News at Ten, after Philip Hammond had
:04:25. > :04:28.delivered his statement in the House of Commons, there was no mistaking
:04:29. > :04:31.the link between the state of the UK's finances
:04:32. > :04:39.The Chancellor has delivered his Autumn Statement, praising
:04:40. > :04:44.the resilience of the British economy, but the scale
:04:45. > :04:47.of the challenge with the Brexit process ahead became clear
:04:48. > :04:51.Slower growth, higher inflation, weaker tax receipts
:04:52. > :04:57.Mary Thomas spoke for a number of viewers when she e-mailed her
:04:58. > :05:16.thoughts on the BBC's recent economic coverage.
:05:17. > :05:44.And Tom Morris-Jones agreed, writing...
:05:45. > :05:47.Well, Simon Jack has come to the Newswatch studio to address
:05:48. > :05:53.Everything does seem to be happening through the prism of Brexit.
:05:54. > :05:57.Is that fair, given that we don't know how it's going to happen?
:05:58. > :06:00.That's interesting, because as one of your last correspondents wrote,
:06:01. > :06:02.there are lots of factors that affect the economy,
:06:03. > :06:05.interest rates, jobless numbers, those kinds of things -
:06:06. > :06:08.those kinds of things happen all the time.
:06:09. > :06:11.But I don't think we can ignore the fact we've got one new massive
:06:12. > :06:14.variable here to think about, and that is what's going to happen
:06:15. > :06:18.when we leave the European Union, and I think if I look
:06:19. > :06:23.through the Autumn Statement coverage the BBC did this week,
:06:24. > :06:25.we're looking at numbers that the last time we got
:06:26. > :06:28.the financial watchdog to have a look at the economy
:06:29. > :06:31.We look at it now in November post-Brexit.
:06:32. > :06:34.Well, the vote to leave the European Union.
:06:35. > :06:37.So I think it's not surprising that people were looking to see
:06:38. > :06:40.what has changed in the view of the independent watchdog
:06:41. > :06:44.And so we focused a little bit on that, saying what did
:06:45. > :06:46.they think the economic picture looked like then,
:06:47. > :06:48.and what do we think it looks like now.
:06:49. > :06:51.As it happens the OBR thinks the economic outlook
:06:52. > :06:56.This is an independent watchdog appointed by the government,
:06:57. > :06:59.which the Chancellor himself has to respond to.
:07:00. > :07:02.If that forecast is going to impact tax and spending decisions,
:07:03. > :07:06.what he actually decides to do, then we have a duty to report on it
:07:07. > :07:10.and in those numbers they said they thought that the impact
:07:11. > :07:17.That's the number we have to report, because that's the number
:07:18. > :07:19.that's going to affect what the Chancellor actually does.
:07:20. > :07:21.Everyone agrees that the pound has fallen sharply since
:07:22. > :07:25.Some viewers are saying, have the BBC focused too much
:07:26. > :07:30.I think there might be fair criticism in a sense,
:07:31. > :07:35.Lots of people did think the pound was overvalued,
:07:36. > :07:38.a lot of economists thought it was a bit high against
:07:39. > :07:40.the dollar and the euro, and this is a good thing.
:07:41. > :07:44.Having said that, for most people, we all go abroad a little bit every
:07:45. > :07:47.day when we buy stuff in the shops, and the fact is we import
:07:48. > :07:50.more than we export, and that means the stuff coming
:07:51. > :07:52.into the country is going to get that bit more expensive,
:07:53. > :07:54.so the cost of living is going to rise.
:07:55. > :07:57.I would say you look at things like the trade deficit
:07:58. > :08:00.and balance of payments, what most people care
:08:01. > :08:03.about is the cost of what they do when they go shopping,
:08:04. > :08:07.So by focusing on that I think we are focusing on the thing most
:08:08. > :08:09.relevant to people's lives, the thing they'll notice first.
:08:10. > :08:11.I think it's legitimate to look at that.
:08:12. > :08:13.I would accept there is some positive news
:08:14. > :08:17.In fact, just today, as we are speaking, we've got some
:08:18. > :08:20.numbers that actually exports in the last month actually went up,
:08:21. > :08:23.so there are positive benefits and we do report them,
:08:24. > :08:26.but we have to take a judgment on which we think are the most
:08:27. > :08:29.When it comes to inflation we think that's it.
:08:30. > :08:31.Is there a tendency to emphasise bad news?
:08:32. > :08:33.Not paying off that debt as fast as hoped?
:08:34. > :08:35.The OBR saying wages are going to stagnate badly,
:08:36. > :08:40.Think on the Autumn Statement when we had those forecasts.
:08:41. > :08:42.There were lots of gloom around those economic forecasts
:08:43. > :08:44.and we had to report that, because that's what the body
:08:45. > :08:46.the government has to respond to actually said.
:08:47. > :08:50.But what I would say is even in my own reporting I've stood
:08:51. > :08:55.outside the factory gates at Nissan, we've reported on Facebook,
:08:56. > :08:59.on Google, all of whom have made big economic investments
:09:00. > :09:06.All of those stories ran either at the top or very high on the Six
:09:07. > :09:09.and Ten O'Clock News and had prime locations on our website.
:09:10. > :09:12.If I can return to the OBR forecasts for a minute,
:09:13. > :09:17.I think what we made very clear is this is not fact,
:09:18. > :09:20.this is not predicting the future - these are forecasts -
:09:21. > :09:23.and my colleague Laura Kuenssberg, our political editor,
:09:24. > :09:26.These are just forecasts, they might be wrong.
:09:27. > :09:30.But a body of experts has been charged with coming up with its best
:09:31. > :09:32.guess as to what's going to happen and the Chancellor has
:09:33. > :09:35.to respond to it, and that's what they came up with.
:09:36. > :09:37.Experts, so this is the issue, isn't it?
:09:38. > :09:40.You have to rely on them to make forecasts and explain what may lie
:09:41. > :09:43.ahead, but we all know they get it wrong sometimes.
:09:44. > :09:45.They got it wrong with saying Britain would be better off
:09:46. > :09:50.Does the BBC need to rethink how it uses what experts say?
:09:51. > :09:52.This has been a massive issue, hasn't it?
:09:53. > :09:54.We've all had enough of experts, said some politicians.
:09:55. > :10:00.I think you have to listen to what some of the most esteemed
:10:01. > :10:01.people in any profession say about something,
:10:02. > :10:05.and one of the things we struggled with in the run up and after Brexit
:10:06. > :10:11.was what kind of balance do we give to different opinions and experts,
:10:12. > :10:14.and what the wrong thing to do is to try and achieve false balance.
:10:15. > :10:17.So for example we were very clear that the weight of economic
:10:18. > :10:21.and business opinion, by and large, was actually in favour of remain.
:10:22. > :10:26.The balance was not even, and we had to report
:10:27. > :10:29.what the real weight of opinion was on the weigh-in.
:10:30. > :10:35.Finally there was some very bad weather around in the early part
:10:36. > :10:37.of the week and that had an impact on an item
:10:38. > :10:41.Gareth Southgate was being interviewed for the post of England
:10:42. > :10:44.manager at the Football Association headquarters and viewer
:10:45. > :10:50.I was interested in this particular topic.
:10:51. > :10:56.I soon found my interest had completely evaporated
:10:57. > :10:58.because I was more concerned at the conditions the poor
:10:59. > :11:03.There's no announcement expected today, or indeed by
:11:04. > :11:09.To me, there were reasonable opportunities for shelter,
:11:10. > :11:13.but he stood there in the teeming rain, the rain running
:11:14. > :11:16.down his face, running down his brow, dripping off his nose
:11:17. > :11:17.and I completely forgot and was distracted
:11:18. > :11:20.from the main topic, that is the selection of the England
:11:21. > :11:29.Health and safety, the welfare and comfort of the journalists seem
:11:30. > :11:31.to be completely overridden, so come on, BBC, you can
:11:32. > :11:38.We need to find you an umbrella, thank you very much for joining us.
:11:39. > :11:40.Thank you for that and for all your comments this week.
:11:41. > :11:43.Please do contact us with your opinions on BBC News
:11:44. > :11:48.and current affairs by telephone, on...
:11:49. > :11:57.Do have a look at our website for previous discussions.
:11:58. > :12:04.We'll be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage