:00:00. > :00:00.Now on BBC News, it's time for Newswatch, with guest
:00:00. > :00:24.Welcome to Newswatch with me, Roger Bolton,
:00:25. > :00:37.Coming up on the programme, the other flood.
:00:38. > :00:43.Around 40 people have died in Hurricane Harvey
:00:44. > :00:49.having been killed in the floods of South East Asia.
:00:50. > :00:51.Shouldn't that disaster have been given greater problem -- prominence?
:00:52. > :00:54.We will also ask if the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's
:00:55. > :00:56.death has prompted an outpouring of what one BBC editor
:00:57. > :01:00.But first, the reputation of August as being the silly season for news
:01:01. > :01:09.share of cataclysmic events over the years.
:01:10. > :01:11.The outbreak of World War I, the partition of India,
:01:12. > :01:13.and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, for example.
:01:14. > :01:16.This summer hasn't exactly been quiet on the world's North Korean
:01:17. > :01:18.missiles flying over Japan and President Trump twittering
:01:19. > :01:22.With many politicians and others on holiday there has been the odd
:01:23. > :01:26.Back in the dog days of early August, news presenter Simon McCoy
:01:27. > :01:28.could barely bring himself to introduce an item
:01:29. > :01:30.of, shall we say, less than earth-shattering importance.
:01:31. > :01:33.This doesn't look like a walk in the park.
:01:34. > :01:36.Dog owners and their pets in California have hit the waves
:01:37. > :01:38.in the second annual world dog surfing Championships.
:01:39. > :01:49.There is style, confidence, the size of the way.
:01:50. > :01:52.Some events have really big waves, some have small waves.
:01:53. > :01:54.There is a lot of style and technique.
:01:55. > :01:58.The competitor's main challenge is to stay afloat on the board.
:01:59. > :02:03.This is in Pacifica near San Francisco.
:02:04. > :02:06.There are also prizes for the best dressed and tandem surfing dogs.
:02:07. > :02:07.The winner of course being crowned top dog.
:02:08. > :02:12.Simon McCoy became something of a folk hero after his
:02:13. > :02:20.That video went viral with Judy Hutchinson
:02:21. > :02:21.describing his fantastically lacklustre delivery as British
:02:22. > :02:29.Jeff thought, you can hear the existential misery
:02:30. > :02:38.But a canine twitter user complained that Simon fails to show
:02:39. > :02:41.the necessary respect when reporting on the dog surfing competition.
:02:42. > :02:44.It reminds me of a skateboarding duck who appeared on an early
:02:45. > :02:47.More conventional sports have also featured strongly on BBC news
:02:48. > :03:03.From the world athletics and digits to last weekend's boxing
:03:04. > :03:05.extravaganza in Las Vegas in which Floyd Mayweather
:03:06. > :03:08.That contest led some news bulletins on Sunday morning,
:03:09. > :03:11.prompting viewer Jackie grounds to complain, this report should have
:03:12. > :03:20.There is no doubting the news value of Gurricane Harvey which landed
:03:21. > :03:23.in Texas a week ago and has continued to cause huge damage
:03:24. > :03:26.as a storm and tropical depression with floods now
:03:27. > :03:37.James Cook was on the spot for BBC News on Saturday.
:03:38. > :03:39.Hurricane Harvey smashed ashore just a short time ago.
:03:40. > :03:42.Not very far from here, about 30 miles east north east
:03:43. > :03:44.of where we are standing here in Corpus Christi.
:03:45. > :03:50.The winds are said to be at 130 miles an hour according
:03:51. > :03:54.That makes it a category four hurricane and an
:03:55. > :04:00.Christian Hudson was concerned about the danger, asking,
:04:01. > :04:02.why was he standing outside getting soaking wet and being
:04:03. > :04:06.Surely isn't this responsible of the BBC to put its
:04:07. > :04:13.I know the BBC likes to report on what is happening around
:04:14. > :04:15.the world but safety should be paramount.
:04:16. > :04:17.Many more viewers had a different concern
:04:18. > :04:21.The floods had displaced thousands of Americans and the death toll
:04:22. > :04:25.It is clear has been a major natural disaster.
:04:26. > :04:27.But a much greater one has been taking place
:04:28. > :04:32.Monsoon rain in India, Bangladesh and Nepal has affected no
:04:33. > :04:37.fewer than 16 million people, killing 1200 so far.
:04:38. > :04:41.Although BBC News has covered this Asian disaster,
:04:42. > :04:45.the amount of airtime it has been given is far less than that given
:04:46. > :04:50.Here's what some of the audience felt about that relative lack
:04:51. > :04:58.I'd like to know how the BBC decide which to cover and why
:04:59. > :05:00.the floods in America, which are less fatal, has been
:05:01. > :05:02.covered more than the floods in the Asian subcontinent.
:05:03. > :05:05.Is it because there are more reporters there?
:05:06. > :05:12.Or is it because they are poor people all that the Asian people
:05:13. > :05:23.While what Hurricane Harvey has at least is truly catastrophic
:05:24. > :05:39.and I feel for the huge loss of lives and property,
:05:40. > :05:56.I was surprised to find the disproportionately
:05:57. > :05:58.and somewhat superficial coverage of, for instance,
:05:59. > :06:01.These places do not have the kind of coping mechanisms
:06:02. > :06:03.available, for instance, in the American scenario.
:06:04. > :06:06.But the coverage doesn't seem to be anything like the type of continuous
:06:07. > :06:09.blow by blow account that we seem to get off the American experience.
:06:10. > :06:11.And it does raise questions of Western media's Euro-American bias.
:06:12. > :06:13.To be honest we expect better from the BBC.
:06:14. > :06:16.I've hardly seen any coverage of the flooding in southern Asia.
:06:17. > :06:19.It seems that 20 people have lost their lives in Texas
:06:20. > :06:22.and that was a tragedy but it also seems over 1200 people have
:06:23. > :06:26.Are their lives somehow less important than those of Texans?
:06:27. > :06:32.It's like, why are you giving it less coverage?
:06:33. > :06:37.Well, to answer those questions, I'm joined by Paul Royal,
:06:38. > :06:40.editor of the BBC's News at Six and News at Ten.
:06:41. > :06:46.You don't deny that Storm Harvey has received much more coverage
:06:47. > :06:49.in your news programmes than the floods in south-east Asia.
:06:50. > :06:52.There has been a lot of coverage of Storm Harvey over the last four
:06:53. > :06:57.Probably in totality more than the South Asia floods.
:06:58. > :07:00.But, what needs to be made clear and it's really important,
:07:01. > :07:03.BBC News and BBC television news covered the south Asia floods
:07:04. > :07:06.in the middle of August from about August 13 onwards.
:07:07. > :07:11.What was going on in Nepal, and then the BBC South Asia
:07:12. > :07:16.correspondent reported for television news on August 20
:07:17. > :07:21.on BBC One Sunday tea-time and Sunday Ten O'Clock News.
:07:22. > :07:24.We were in country reporting that story.
:07:25. > :07:28.We are currently in India at the moment reporting their today
:07:29. > :07:33.and over the weekend on the latest stage in these floods.
:07:34. > :07:35.Nobody is denying that you are covering it
:07:36. > :07:39.but when you look rather crudely at the casualties, around 40
:07:40. > :07:42.around 40 killed from Storm Harvey, we are talking at 1200 and counting
:07:43. > :07:48.You know, viewers say this is an immense disparity
:07:49. > :07:54.and want to know why and they have suspicions.
:07:55. > :07:56.You heard David say is it because more reporters
:07:57. > :08:01.It is true all the American networks are going live and you can pick
:08:02. > :08:04.up their coverage very easily and at very little cost.
:08:05. > :08:08.It is a factor in terms of accessability and where resources
:08:09. > :08:11.It is easier to report that there are still challenges
:08:12. > :08:18.It is easier in a practical and technical sense to report
:08:19. > :08:20.from somewhere like Houston than it is from countries
:08:21. > :08:23.where you might need that these are all where practical access
:08:24. > :08:28.It is much harder and involves more time and effort to get there.
:08:29. > :08:33.Nicola Davenport, who we heard from, said, do you think Asian lives
:08:34. > :08:58.The news is respected and revered for its global news coverage.
:08:59. > :09:04.The other big lead story of the summer was in Sierra Leone,
:09:05. > :09:07.the lead story on the sixth got news on the day it happened.
:09:08. > :09:12.Those on the bulletins, the six and Ten O'Clock News
:09:13. > :09:14.for days at five that week with a correspondent
:09:15. > :09:20.That is not a broadcaster that only looks in one direction when it
:09:21. > :09:23.The BBC expects you not to follow the rest of
:09:24. > :09:28.They say that is not the case and they do believe it leaves
:09:29. > :09:30.an unfortunate impression that anything that happens in the States,
:09:31. > :09:32.in the West can you give more importance to perhaps
:09:33. > :09:35.because you feel that your audiences are more interested in that.
:09:36. > :09:37.Of course our audiences are interested in stories
:09:38. > :09:39.that happen in the UK, and America, and in
:09:40. > :09:43.What has happened in Houston in Texas this week is a big story.
:09:44. > :09:46.I totally accept there are questions around proportionality
:09:47. > :09:49.and it is good that viewers and listeners have these concerns
:09:50. > :09:53.What I would say is this is not a broadcaster that only
:09:54. > :09:57.It is not a question of have you covered it,
:09:58. > :10:01.Another aspect briefly in terms of the American coverage that some
:10:02. > :10:03.listeners and viewers have brought up, is about to seem preoccupied
:10:04. > :10:06.with the fact how President Trump will handle it in
:10:07. > :10:16.financially what really matters now is what is happening on the ground.
:10:17. > :10:18.Are you slightly obsessed with President Trump and his tweets?
:10:19. > :10:22.Clearly the bulk of the reporting has been about what is happening
:10:23. > :10:26.There is a political story in terms of what happened
:10:27. > :10:28.with Hurricane Katrina, which was a very big and important
:10:29. > :10:30.story in modern America's history and whether President Trump
:10:31. > :10:33.would repeat some of them stakes are made in terms
:10:34. > :10:36.It is personally legitimate to cover that aspect of the story.
:10:37. > :10:39.It is one piece on the day that President Trump went
:10:40. > :10:43.Clearly the south East Asian crisis will continue though
:10:44. > :10:45.properly with a big health problem in Bangladesh.
:10:46. > :10:53.We are committed. We are there right now and you will probably is the
:10:54. > :10:56.coverage on BBC News. Finally, we mentioned at the start of a Britain
:10:57. > :11:00.that major news events to happen in August despite what some might think
:11:01. > :11:05.is one example is the death of Princess Diana which took place on
:11:06. > :11:09.the last day of that month in 1997. Thursday's 20 anniversary was marked
:11:10. > :11:16.by a number of TV programmes and news reports which were not
:11:17. > :11:21.appreciated by everyone. Our editor described himself on social media as
:11:22. > :11:25.board of the coverage, saying, hopefully today will be the last
:11:26. > :11:34.that we have to suffer mawkish media Diana drivel. Brian Peacock was one
:11:35. > :11:37.of a number of viewers who seconded that sentiment. Thank you for all
:11:38. > :11:41.your comments this week and please keep them coming. If you do want to
:11:42. > :11:48.share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs or appear on the
:11:49. > :12:02.programme you can call us. Or e-mail. You can find us on twitter.
:12:03. > :12:07.To have a look at our website. -- do have. That is all from me. Samir
:12:08. > :12:08.will be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next
:12:09. > :12:20.week. Goodbye. Good evening. The first day of
:12:21. > :12:23.September in the first aired meteorological autumn. This started
:12:24. > :12:24.off on a fine note for many of