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