:00:00. > :00:00.At ten o'clock will have a full round-up of today's news. In a
:00:00. > :00:00.moment the last film review from my colleague Gavin Esler. First, time
:00:07. > :00:20.for Newswatch. Brexit is officially under we but is
:00:21. > :00:23.the BBC playing down the views of unhappy Remainers like the tens of
:00:24. > :00:29.thousands who marched in London last weekend? Complaints as well that BBC
:00:30. > :00:38.News is much too negative about leaving. So how do you cover this in
:00:39. > :00:42.century subject impartially? 60 years ago last Saturday the Treaty
:00:43. > :00:47.of Rome, the funding agreement of what became the European Union, was
:00:48. > :00:52.signed. The anniversary was marked across Europe but march in London
:00:53. > :00:59.that day was not so much a celebration as a protest against the
:01:00. > :01:04.decision of Britain to leave the EU. After the violence a few short days
:01:05. > :01:08.ago a protest with peace and love at its heart. Thousands made their way
:01:09. > :01:12.to Parliament Square, many like pensioner Jacqueline Skelton had
:01:13. > :01:16.never protested before, many of her generation voted to leave in the
:01:17. > :01:20.referendum but she sees that as a disaster for her home City of
:01:21. > :01:26.London. That report which went on to hear from a number of people from
:01:27. > :01:30.the demonstration ran on BBC London is but the BBC One national network
:01:31. > :01:34.bulletins only mentioned the march in passing with ten seconds of
:01:35. > :01:40.footage showing. Many people complained to the BBC about what
:01:41. > :01:45.they saw as insufficient coverage, two of those viewers recorded their
:01:46. > :01:49.thoughts on Camara for us. As Article 50 was triggered on March 29
:01:50. > :01:53.would have thought that much more credence would have been given to
:01:54. > :01:57.the march taking place. The early evening news put the numbers
:01:58. > :02:02.attending and 20,000. I consider that there were a great deal more
:02:03. > :02:08.than this. As leaving the EU is such a momentous decision in this country
:02:09. > :02:13.and for some of us, a disaster, we should have had a lot more coverage
:02:14. > :02:21.than we actually got. We deserve better. It was disappointing to find
:02:22. > :02:26.an organisation of the BBC's reputation, supportively impartial
:02:27. > :02:31.reporting body, had neglected to give appropriate cover to this huge
:02:32. > :02:37.event. I would like to know whether BBC did not deem it sufficiently
:02:38. > :02:41.newsworthy. Thank you. Would put the points to BBC News. A spokesperson
:02:42. > :02:47.said, there was significant coverage of the marches on the main
:02:48. > :02:53.bulletins, on the BBC News Channel and online and we also covered other
:02:54. > :02:57.political developments including the resignation of Douglas Carswell from
:02:58. > :03:04.Ukip. Impartiality is our cornerstone and we go to great
:03:05. > :03:09.lengths to ensure that we balance news and will continue to discover
:03:10. > :03:14.developments in fair and impartial manner. The start of the week of
:03:15. > :03:17.news which has been dominated by the triggering of Article 50 on
:03:18. > :03:21.Wednesday. It kick-starts officially the process of leaving the European
:03:22. > :03:25.Union. The subject was extensively covered on the BBC with input from
:03:26. > :03:30.members of the public giving their views on the UK's decision to depart
:03:31. > :03:34.and what they expect from the next two years of talks. It was all too
:03:35. > :03:39.much were David Roberson, who wrote this. There is no way that the BBC
:03:40. > :03:43.has any idea of the final outcome of the Brexit negotiations so I spent
:03:44. > :03:46.time interviewing people on the street who have even less
:03:47. > :03:55.information about what the future holds. This is another viewers said
:03:56. > :03:59.we have constant streams of ministers, ex-ministers, actors,
:04:00. > :04:03.singers, etc, saying that they don't know what the outcome of the
:04:04. > :04:08.negotiations will be. You are quoting. Card we leave it alone
:04:09. > :04:13.until there is some news to report? Not much chance of the BBC or any of
:04:14. > :04:17.the media leaving it alone, certainly not on Wednesday when in a
:04:18. > :04:19.special programme on BBC One and renewal interviewed the Prime
:04:20. > :04:24.Minister followed by a number of other party leaders. The presenter
:04:25. > :04:29.got praise for the way that he conducted piece interviews including
:04:30. > :04:36.this telephone message. Thank goodness for Andrew Neill. One of
:04:37. > :04:41.the very few in the BBC to stick to strictly accurate quotation. In
:04:42. > :04:49.general there is far too much sloppiness and buyers but bravo
:04:50. > :04:53.Andrew Neill. That allegations of bias in relation to Brexit is one we
:04:54. > :04:58.have heard since before the referendum in June and politicians
:04:59. > :05:01.have joined in the argument with 70 MPs writing to newspapers last week
:05:02. > :05:05.that the BBC had fallen far short of its obligation to provide balanced
:05:06. > :05:10.coverage and had skewed good economic news since the referendum.
:05:11. > :05:14.On Thursday a rival group of politicians wrote another letter
:05:15. > :05:17.calling on the BBC to resist attempts at political interference
:05:18. > :05:23.and report fearlessly and impartially on the Brexit
:05:24. > :05:27.negotiations. That divided reaction was also evident among Newswatch
:05:28. > :05:33.viewers. Most people sided with this anonymous caller. Might I suggest
:05:34. > :05:39.that just for once the BBC could be more upbeat about our leaving the
:05:40. > :05:43.European Union? It has been so depressing, having to listen to all
:05:44. > :05:52.your presenters and God knows how many political editors you have
:05:53. > :05:56.talking about Brexit. Always, always in a negative fashion. Please try
:05:57. > :06:03.and be a little more positive. Thank you. Weather Brexit is a cause for
:06:04. > :06:09.celebration and a great opportunity for the UK to take back control or a
:06:10. > :06:12.process which has already had negative consequences and faces
:06:13. > :06:16.substantial difficulties depends on your point of view. Yet others
:06:17. > :06:23.agreed that the BBC has emphasised the latter at the cost of the
:06:24. > :06:27.former. Danny Gothard. I really am getting tired of the BBC's biased
:06:28. > :06:31.reporting of anything to do with Brexit. Country file giving nothing
:06:32. > :06:36.but negative opinions on what could happen to farmers. BBC world News
:06:37. > :06:43.this morning, global sales could drop 30% if we lose access to the
:06:44. > :06:47.single EU market. This Morning saying 70,000 banking jobs could be
:06:48. > :06:51.lost if no deal is struck. For heavens sake stop speculating.
:06:52. > :06:57.Another viewers said this. I realise the BBC is not want Brexit as is
:06:58. > :07:00.evident from the scaremongering and biased interviews. However democracy
:07:01. > :07:05.has spoken and it is time that everyone in the country backed it.
:07:06. > :07:10.The deal we get from the EU would be far better if we did not constantly
:07:11. > :07:15.report on the fears of what lies ahead. Lets take a step back and
:07:16. > :07:20.examine the BBC's approach to reporting our forthcoming departure
:07:21. > :07:25.from the EU. Strong feelings on all sides. Is there something different
:07:26. > :07:28.about Brexit which makes the BBC's commitment to impartiality any
:07:29. > :07:35.challenge? I think whenever you have a referendum in particular, opinion
:07:36. > :07:40.becomes polarised and fees become entrenched and it is very difficult
:07:41. > :07:45.often to appreciate all value impartiality in those circumstances.
:07:46. > :07:52.That vote is now done. Leave have won and our job now is to scrutinise
:07:53. > :07:57.carefully the execution of Brexit. And how the government carries out
:07:58. > :08:01.Brexit, how it carries out its negotiations but to scrutinise not
:08:02. > :08:04.just the government but all politicians and that is why Andrew
:08:05. > :08:09.Neill did the interviews this week with party leaders across the UK.
:08:10. > :08:14.And also to scrutinise European Union officials. The job is now much
:08:15. > :08:20.more intricate and complicated than a simple mathematical balance
:08:21. > :08:24.between people who were Remain or Leave. So that journalistic
:08:25. > :08:30.challenge is strong but the audience trusts the BBC to do it more than
:08:31. > :08:34.anyone else. But we did get a lot of complaints, particularly from people
:08:35. > :08:39.who fear the BBC is always wearing and what might go wrong. There will
:08:40. > :08:43.be parts of the community who will have concerns about it and we should
:08:44. > :08:46.report that. I don't think every time we find someone who is
:08:47. > :08:50.optimistic or pessimistic we should suddenly have to find the opposite
:08:51. > :08:54.view every time. We are no longer in that situation of mathematical
:08:55. > :08:56.balance. What we have to do is reported properly so that the
:08:57. > :09:01.audience understands what the challenges are. That stomach that
:09:02. > :09:05.must be a broad range. Not just those people who are worried, those
:09:06. > :09:12.people who think their opportunities. The references to
:09:13. > :09:18.that March, the BBC goes to great lengths to ensure impartial
:09:19. > :09:21.coverage. How do you do that? We put a lot of obligation on individual
:09:22. > :09:27.editors of programmes to do that. Part of what I do is help make those
:09:28. > :09:31.judgments. But across time it may not be in one individual programme,
:09:32. > :09:34.it may be a series of programmes, people have to think about making
:09:35. > :09:41.sure they are getting bad range of view. Is that about a headcount or
:09:42. > :09:46.measuring air time? It is important we don't pretend that you can get
:09:47. > :09:52.impartiality by a stopwatch or an abacus or a calculator. You don't
:09:53. > :09:56.measure it by maths. You get impartiality by really good
:09:57. > :10:02.judgment. That is what our editors are trying to do all the time.
:10:03. > :10:08.People also wonder how they could report a story like Lloyds bank of
:10:09. > :10:10.moving jobs to Brussels, for some viewers it is about emphasising the
:10:11. > :10:16.negative whereas that is only part of a changing picture. I think you
:10:17. > :10:20.have to make judgments on developing stories, and take advice from the
:10:21. > :10:24.business community itself. Editors are making judgments about those
:10:25. > :10:29.things. I agree it is important that when you hear those stories you also
:10:30. > :10:32.hear others that might reflected from a different perspective. After
:10:33. > :10:37.all this is going to go on for long time. In the coming years there will
:10:38. > :10:41.be many examples of this. I think it's quite right that editors should
:10:42. > :10:48.be challenged to think about a wide range of views, not just those
:10:49. > :10:52.stories that have been talked about. On the other hand many viewers have
:10:53. > :11:02.got in touch with Newswatch to say, any critics of the Brexit strategy
:11:03. > :11:06.are labelled Remoaners and they feel that some editors are code by
:11:07. > :11:17.viewers and complain to the Director General. Are you coward? One MP said
:11:18. > :11:20.this week that relying on MPs to be arbiters of impartiality is like
:11:21. > :11:26.asking Sir Alex Ferguson to referee at home match at Old Trafford! We
:11:27. > :11:31.should listen to criticism, act on it and it is also important that we
:11:32. > :11:34.are robust in defending the BBC's editorial decisions and journalism
:11:35. > :11:38.when we get political pressure. Sometimes they will be genuine
:11:39. > :11:43.issues and sometimes political pressure, so it is important for the
:11:44. > :11:48.independence of the BBC that they withstand about. Thank you very
:11:49. > :11:55.much. Thank you all for your comments. If you want to share your
:11:56. > :12:01.views on current affairs get in touch by calling us or by sending an
:12:02. > :12:09.e-mail. We are on Twitter. Also do look at our website. That's all from
:12:10. > :12:11.us. We will be back to view your thoughts on BBC news coverage again
:12:12. > :12:28.next week. Goodbye. Coming up in a few moments a
:12:29. > :12:30.detailed forecast of the weather for the week ahead followed by the day's
:12:31. > :12:32.main