01/09/2017 Newswatch


01/09/2017

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Now on BBC News, it's time for Newswatch, with guest

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Welcome to Newswatch with me, Roger Bolton,

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Coming up on the programme, the other flood.

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Around 40 people have died in Hurricane Harvey

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having been killed in the floods of South East Asia.

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Shouldn't that disaster have been given greater problem -- prominence?

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We will also ask if the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's

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death has prompted an outpouring of what one BBC editor

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But first, the reputation of August as being the silly season for news

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share of cataclysmic events over the years.

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The outbreak of World War I, the partition of India,

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and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, for example.

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This summer hasn't exactly been quiet on the world's North Korean

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missiles flying over Japan and President Trump twittering

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With many politicians and others on holiday there has been the odd

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Back in the dog days of early August, news presenter Simon McCoy

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could barely bring himself to introduce an item

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of, shall we say, less than earth-shattering importance.

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This doesn't look like a walk in the park.

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Dog owners and their pets in California have hit the waves

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in the second annual world dog surfing Championships.

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There is style, confidence, the size of the way.

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Some events have really big waves, some have small waves.

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There is a lot of style and technique.

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The competitor's main challenge is to stay afloat on the board.

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This is in Pacifica near San Francisco.

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There are also prizes for the best dressed and tandem surfing dogs.

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The winner of course being crowned top dog.

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Simon McCoy became something of a folk hero after his

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That video went viral with Judy Hutchinson

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describing his fantastically lacklustre delivery as British

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Jeff thought, you can hear the existential misery

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But a canine twitter user complained that Simon fails to show

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the necessary respect when reporting on the dog surfing competition.

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It reminds me of a skateboarding duck who appeared on an early

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More conventional sports have also featured strongly on BBC news

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From the world athletics and digits to last weekend's boxing

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extravaganza in Las Vegas in which Floyd Mayweather

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That contest led some news bulletins on Sunday morning,

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prompting viewer Jackie grounds to complain, this report should have

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There is no doubting the news value of Gurricane Harvey which landed

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in Texas a week ago and has continued to cause huge damage

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as a storm and tropical depression with floods now

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James Cook was on the spot for BBC News on Saturday.

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Hurricane Harvey smashed ashore just a short time ago.

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Not very far from here, about 30 miles east north east

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of where we are standing here in Corpus Christi.

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The winds are said to be at 130 miles an hour according

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That makes it a category four hurricane and an

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Christian Hudson was concerned about the danger, asking,

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why was he standing outside getting soaking wet and being

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Surely isn't this responsible of the BBC to put its

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I know the BBC likes to report on what is happening around

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the world but safety should be paramount.

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Many more viewers had a different concern

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The floods had displaced thousands of Americans and the death toll

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It is clear has been a major natural disaster.

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But a much greater one has been taking place

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Monsoon rain in India, Bangladesh and Nepal has affected no

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fewer than 16 million people, killing 1200 so far.

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Although BBC News has covered this Asian disaster,

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the amount of airtime it has been given is far less than that given

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Here's what some of the audience felt about that relative lack

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I'd like to know how the BBC decide which to cover and why

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the floods in America, which are less fatal, has been

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covered more than the floods in the Asian subcontinent.

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Is it because there are more reporters there?

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Or is it because they are poor people all that the Asian people

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While what Hurricane Harvey has at least is truly catastrophic

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and I feel for the huge loss of lives and property,

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I was surprised to find the disproportionately

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and somewhat superficial coverage of, for instance,

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These places do not have the kind of coping mechanisms

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available, for instance, in the American scenario.

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But the coverage doesn't seem to be anything like the type of continuous

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blow by blow account that we seem to get off the American experience.

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And it does raise questions of Western media's Euro-American bias.

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To be honest we expect better from the BBC.

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I've hardly seen any coverage of the flooding in southern Asia.

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It seems that 20 people have lost their lives in Texas

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and that was a tragedy but it also seems over 1200 people have

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Are their lives somehow less important than those of Texans?

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It's like, why are you giving it less coverage?

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Well, to answer those questions, I'm joined by Paul Royal,

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editor of the BBC's News at Six and News at Ten.

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You don't deny that Storm Harvey has received much more coverage

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in your news programmes than the floods in south-east Asia.

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There has been a lot of coverage of Storm Harvey over the last four

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Probably in totality more than the South Asia floods.

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But, what needs to be made clear and it's really important,

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BBC News and BBC television news covered the south Asia floods

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in the middle of August from about August 13 onwards.

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What was going on in Nepal, and then the BBC South Asia

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correspondent reported for television news on August 20

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on BBC One Sunday tea-time and Sunday Ten O'Clock News.

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We were in country reporting that story.

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We are currently in India at the moment reporting their today

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and over the weekend on the latest stage in these floods.

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Nobody is denying that you are covering it

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but when you look rather crudely at the casualties, around 40

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around 40 killed from Storm Harvey, we are talking at 1200 and counting

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You know, viewers say this is an immense disparity

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and want to know why and they have suspicions.

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You heard David say is it because more reporters

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It is true all the American networks are going live and you can pick

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up their coverage very easily and at very little cost.

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It is a factor in terms of accessability and where resources

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It is easier to report that there are still challenges

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It is easier in a practical and technical sense to report

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from somewhere like Houston than it is from countries

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where you might need that these are all where practical access

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It is much harder and involves more time and effort to get there.

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Nicola Davenport, who we heard from, said, do you think Asian lives

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The news is respected and revered for its global news coverage.

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The other big lead story of the summer was in Sierra Leone,

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the lead story on the sixth got news on the day it happened.

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Those on the bulletins, the six and Ten O'Clock News

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for days at five that week with a correspondent

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That is not a broadcaster that only looks in one direction when it

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The BBC expects you not to follow the rest of

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They say that is not the case and they do believe it leaves

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an unfortunate impression that anything that happens in the States,

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in the West can you give more importance to perhaps

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because you feel that your audiences are more interested in that.

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Of course our audiences are interested in stories

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that happen in the UK, and America, and in

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What has happened in Houston in Texas this week is a big story.

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I totally accept there are questions around proportionality

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and it is good that viewers and listeners have these concerns

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What I would say is this is not a broadcaster that only

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It is not a question of have you covered it,

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Another aspect briefly in terms of the American coverage that some

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listeners and viewers have brought up, is about to seem preoccupied

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with the fact how President Trump will handle it in

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financially what really matters now is what is happening on the ground.

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Are you slightly obsessed with President Trump and his tweets?

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Clearly the bulk of the reporting has been about what is happening

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There is a political story in terms of what happened

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with Hurricane Katrina, which was a very big and important

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story in modern America's history and whether President Trump

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would repeat some of them stakes are made in terms

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It is personally legitimate to cover that aspect of the story.

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It is one piece on the day that President Trump went

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Clearly the south East Asian crisis will continue though

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properly with a big health problem in Bangladesh.

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We are committed. We are there right now and you will probably is the

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coverage on BBC News. Finally, we mentioned at the start of a Britain

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that major news events to happen in August despite what some might think

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is one example is the death of Princess Diana which took place on

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the last day of that month in 1997. Thursday's 20 anniversary was marked

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by a number of TV programmes and news reports which were not

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appreciated by everyone. Our editor described himself on social media as

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board of the coverage, saying, hopefully today will be the last

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that we have to suffer mawkish media Diana drivel. Brian Peacock was one

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of a number of viewers who seconded that sentiment. Thank you for all

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your comments this week and please keep them coming. If you do want to

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share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs or appear on the

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programme you can call us. Or e-mail. You can find us on twitter.

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To have a look at our website. -- do have. That is all from me. Samir

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will be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage again next

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week. Goodbye. Good evening. The first day of

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September in the first aired meteorological autumn. This started

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off on a fine note for many of

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