0:00:11 > 0:00:13Hello and welcome to Newswatch, with me Samira Ahmed.
0:00:13 > 0:00:18Praise but also concerns about how BBC News reported the terrible
0:00:18 > 0:00:20Grenfell Tower block fire in London.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24And was the general election result wrongly presented as a disaster
0:00:24 > 0:00:26for the Conservatives and a triumph for Labour?
0:00:26 > 0:00:29There have been many shocking and distressing images on the news
0:00:35 > 0:00:38There have been many shocking and distressing images on the news
0:00:38 > 0:00:41recently and Tuesday night's fire which engulfed a West London block
0:00:41 > 0:00:42of flats provided yet more.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45The following morning Victoria Derbyshire spoke to a man
0:00:45 > 0:00:49who had escaped from the tower.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52There is a man who threw two of his children.
0:00:52 > 0:01:00Two of his children.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02Come on, man.
0:01:02 > 0:01:03Wow. We saw a lot.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05We saw a lot, man.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07We saw a lot with our own eyes.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12We saw friends, families...
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Honestly, it's all right, you don't have to say any more.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17Sandra Martin e-mailed us with this message
0:01:17 > 0:01:21about Victoria Derbyshire:
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Some viewers, though, objected to what they saw as the intrusive
0:01:38 > 0:01:39nature of that interview.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41And others, including this one from home affairs
0:01:41 > 0:01:42editor Mark Easton.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43My sister, and her son.
0:01:43 > 0:01:46How old was he?
0:01:46 > 0:01:47He's 12 years old.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50His name is Brooke.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52That's why I ask...
0:01:52 > 0:01:57A 12-year-old boy.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59John Gosling contacted us about the BBC's coverage
0:01:59 > 0:02:03following the fire, here are his thoughts:
0:02:03 > 0:02:05Is it now the job of BBC reporters to chase
0:02:06 > 0:02:07down the traumatised,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11the bereaved, the despairing, and, basically, ring out every last drop
0:02:11 > 0:02:16of despair from that person in the of ratings?
0:02:16 > 0:02:20I watched one particular person being interviewed with a microphone
0:02:20 > 0:02:22thrust into their face.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25They were crying, they were distraught,
0:02:25 > 0:02:28they had lost somebody, they had no idea what had happened
0:02:28 > 0:02:30to a member of their family.
0:02:30 > 0:02:31And...
0:02:31 > 0:02:37There just seemed to be no benefit in this interview.
0:02:38 > 0:02:39You are not ambulance chasers.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43But that's the impression you are starting to give.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45Later, on Wednesday, news bulletins were presented
0:02:45 > 0:02:49from the site of the still burning tower, with Sophie Raworth fronting
0:02:49 > 0:02:52the news at six location, and Hugh Edwards doing the same
0:02:52 > 0:02:54at ten o'clock.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58Scores of viewers said they found it inappropriate to have that
0:02:58 > 0:03:00background while presenting news about the tower and other topics.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Here's John Sutton.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Sophie Raworth, chatting about the DUP and Tim Farron
0:03:07 > 0:03:11while standing in front of a burning tower block, presumably
0:03:11 > 0:03:13containing the charred corpses of people's loved ones.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17How has it come to this?
0:03:17 > 0:03:19A channel should pool resources, share footage,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22not send the main presenter.
0:03:22 > 0:03:26And if you must, have the basic respect and human decency to not
0:03:26 > 0:03:32treat it like a chat back on a studio sofa.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35Thank you for all of your thoughts on the issues arising
0:03:35 > 0:03:37out of the coverage of the Grenfell Tower fire.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41We may well be discussing them with the BBC News editor next week.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47It's been a week since the general election results
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and its implications are still unclear.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Last Friday political editor Laura Kuenssberg reflected
0:03:52 > 0:03:57on what was widely considered to be something of a political earthquake.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01What was surprised at the start...
0:04:01 > 0:04:03And what we're saying is the Conservatives
0:04:03 > 0:04:06are the largest party, note they don't have an overall
0:04:06 > 0:04:12majority at this stage.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Gradually, seat after seat was glorious shock for Labour.
0:04:14 > 0:04:20Loss after loss for the Conservatives.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22Images of cheering Labour politicians and supporters,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25and of disappointed or angry conservatives made it hard
0:04:25 > 0:04:28to remember at times that the latter had won 56 more seats
0:04:28 > 0:04:32than the former.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33And were back in power.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36When the Prime Minister from ten Downing St on Friday
0:04:36 > 0:04:40was the question Laura Kuenssberg shouted out to her.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42Is this strong and stable, Prime Minister?
0:04:42 > 0:04:47She who dares doesn't always win.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51But she had won, some Newswatch viewers pointed out.
0:04:51 > 0:04:53At least in the sense that the Conservatives were forming
0:04:53 > 0:04:56the next government.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58And Graham Watts objected to what he saw as:
0:05:24 > 0:05:27There certainly seemed to be some relish in comments
0:05:27 > 0:05:29made by George Osborne on Sunday's Andrew Marr Show,
0:05:29 > 0:05:34repeated widely on BBC News.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Theresa May is a dead woman walking.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39It's just how long she's going to remain on death row.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43I think we will know very shortly.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46David Hines objected to the airtime given to that phrase,
0:05:46 > 0:05:50and what he saw as a wider trend.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07Later in the week, on Thursday night, there was Laura
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Kuenssberg began talking again about how the government might
0:06:09 > 0:06:12respond to the London tower block fire.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Remember also right now this is an extremely fragile government,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18the State Opening of Parliament is not even under Theresa May
0:06:18 > 0:06:27is only just days after a bruising political defeat.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30Nigel Rawlins was one of a number of viewers to pick
0:06:30 > 0:06:32up the phrase there, a bruising political defeat,
0:06:32 > 0:06:33writing:
0:06:42 > 0:06:45The charge of a lack of political balance was one
0:06:45 > 0:06:47we heard many times during the election campaign.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49For instance, after the BBC's debate from Cambridge,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52eight days before the vote, featuring the leaders of Ukip,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Plaid Cymru, the Greens, the Liberal Democrats
0:06:54 > 0:06:56and Labour parties.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00And representatives from the SNP and the Conservatives.
0:07:00 > 0:07:06But since the result, the omission from that line-up,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and from most of the coverage of the Democratic Unionist Party
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and other Northern Irish parties, has been questioned by viewers such
0:07:12 > 0:07:16as Jack O'Dwyer Henry, who recorded this video for us.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19As a Northern Irish voter I was somewhat dissatisfied
0:07:19 > 0:07:22with the BBC's general election coverage because it didn't seem
0:07:22 > 0:07:24to include the parties from Northern Ireland and never
0:07:24 > 0:07:26the issues Northern Irish voters were concerned
0:07:26 > 0:07:30about in the election.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33I think this is especially obvious whenever it came to the big set
0:07:33 > 0:07:35piece television debates and interviews of the campaigns,
0:07:35 > 0:07:38such as the leaders debates, and the leaders interviews
0:07:38 > 0:07:40with Andrew Neil.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42First, I'd like to ask what the justification
0:07:42 > 0:07:44is for excluding all Northern Ireland parties
0:07:44 > 0:07:49from those programmes?
0:07:49 > 0:07:52And secondly, given that the DUP is in such a prominent national
0:07:52 > 0:07:55position after the election, will the BBC reconsider this for
0:07:55 > 0:08:01future general election coverage?
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Let's discuss some of those issues which the BBC's
0:08:05 > 0:08:07head of news gathering, Jonathan Munro.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Jonathan, let's start with the DUP.
0:08:09 > 0:08:12In hindsight was it a mistake, it was, wasn't it, not to include
0:08:12 > 0:08:13them in that debate?
0:08:13 > 0:08:15No, it wasn't a mistake it was deliberate.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19The reason for it there are five parties in Northern Ireland
0:08:19 > 0:08:20who are described as major parties.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22Parties of significant support in the constituencies
0:08:22 > 0:08:23in Northern Ireland.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25We cannot put the DUP into a networked programme
0:08:25 > 0:08:28without also putting Sinn Fein, the SDLP Alliance,
0:08:28 > 0:08:32and the Ulster Unionists.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34That would have taken Cambridge from a 7 handed debate
0:08:34 > 0:08:36to a 12 handed debate.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38It would have been completely impossible to Marshall.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42People in the rest of the UK don't have the option to vote for the DUP,
0:08:42 > 0:08:45whereas everyone on the Cambridge debate was facing each other in some
0:08:46 > 0:08:47part of the UK or another.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51So what we did instead was we did a Northern Ireland only debate
0:08:51 > 0:08:53on the Tuesday just before polling day, which went out
0:08:53 > 0:08:57in Northern Ireland, and was then seen on the BBC News
0:08:57 > 0:08:59channel across the UK.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Viewers have complained that the BBC presented the election result
0:09:02 > 0:09:04is a triumph for Labour and defeat for the Conservatives.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06Now, that was just wrong, wasn't it?
0:09:06 > 0:09:08I don't think we did that, actually.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11We reported it as a result relative to expectations.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Theresa May herself said that if she lost six seats to Labour
0:09:14 > 0:09:17she would have lost the election, that was her phrase, not ours.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Obviously she lost a lot more than that, in fact
0:09:20 > 0:09:21she lost her overall majority.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25She was, of course, as we know, the leader of the biggest
0:09:25 > 0:09:27party in the Commons, and therefore forming a minority
0:09:27 > 0:09:28government with the DUP support.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30Relative to expectations, it was undeniably a setback
0:09:30 > 0:09:32for the Conservative Party, and undeniably better
0:09:32 > 0:09:37achievement for Labour than they better expected.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39Expectations, this is what viewers are concerned about,
0:09:39 > 0:09:40the expectations were wrong.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42They've been wrong in previous elections, such as the referendum.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Newswatch viewers have said the BBC has allowed itself to get swept up
0:09:46 > 0:09:48into focusing on expectations when covering the election.
0:09:48 > 0:09:56When you should just be reporting facts.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59Every election comes with a, a degree of expectation
0:09:59 > 0:10:01about what the result might leave us with.
0:10:01 > 0:10:02That is not unusual.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04At this election, people of the Conservative Party
0:10:04 > 0:10:07and the Labour Party were saying to us, both privately
0:10:07 > 0:10:10and indeed on the record, and in interviews, the Conservatives
0:10:10 > 0:10:16will get a landslide.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19I remember Nicola Sturgeon doing an interview for the BBC
0:10:19 > 0:10:23in which she used that exact phrase, we are headed for a
0:10:23 > 0:10:23Conservative landslide.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26So, the expectations were quite out there in terms of where people
0:10:26 > 0:10:28thought the results would be.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30All those expectations turned out to be false.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33And it really depends on the work that's done now about how voters
0:10:33 > 0:10:36behaved when political analysts get involved about why that happened.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38With every election there was a learning
0:10:38 > 0:10:39curve about those things.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42Some viewers detected a sense of relish and colleagues
0:10:42 > 0:10:44in the reporters' tone and questions to the Prime Minister.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46Notably the repeating of George Osborne's dead
0:10:46 > 0:10:47woman walking quote.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51I think it's a slightly odd thing to ask is not to report
0:10:51 > 0:10:53what the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was sacked
0:10:53 > 0:10:56by Theresa May, is now a major newspaper editor,
0:10:56 > 0:10:58is saying on the record on air.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00There was no relish in any of the questions...
0:11:00 > 0:11:02The strong and stable comment shouted at her?
0:11:02 > 0:11:06But Mrs May campaigned on a mandate for a strong and stable government.
0:11:06 > 0:11:07That was her phrase.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10In the spirit of robust questioning, and calling people to account,
0:11:10 > 0:11:13it's perfectly reasonable for us to put that back to her.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16Looking back, what should the BBC not do, or do differently next time
0:11:16 > 0:11:18in covering a general election?
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Well, I think it all depends on the circumstances
0:11:20 > 0:11:22in which the election is called.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24There is bound to be a different political landscape.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27There will be new programme ideas, things we will do differently,
0:11:27 > 0:11:31I think one of the things that we did very well this time
0:11:31 > 0:11:35around, and want to do even more of, is tapping into the youth vote,
0:11:35 > 0:11:38which we think turned out in bigger numbers than people expected.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41So, although there was a dedicated Newsbeat debate for young voters
0:11:41 > 0:11:44just before the election, I'd like to see even more voices
0:11:44 > 0:11:46from the younger generation's first-time voters and see them even
0:11:46 > 0:11:49more visible across the BBC.
0:11:49 > 0:11:50Jonathan Munro, thank you.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Thank you for all your comments this week.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56If you want to share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00or even appear on the programme: That's all from us, we will be back
0:12:00 > 0:12:03to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next week.
0:12:03 > 0:12:10Goodbye.