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