27/10/2017 Newswatch

will do too. Thank you for joining

us, we will keep an eye on the

developments in Spain throughout the

evening, and the latest headlines

coming up at eight o'clock but now,

it is time for Newswatch.

Hello and welcome to Newswatch. The

new series of Blue Planet II starts

on Sunday, good news for viewers but

is it news as such? Theresa May's

shoes make another appearance during

her report on her news conference

from Brussels. Why? And, should BBC

News be interested in what President

Macron's dog did in the fireplace of

the Elysee Palace? What exactly is

going on in the negotiations over

the UK's departure from the European

Union? That can be hard to discern

that Damian Grammaticas last Friday

was trying to get some answers...

Enter the man who sits in the

negotiation room...

Your

recommendation today is significant

progress...

Sorry, we are going to

work...

It's Michel Barnier who the

UK has two satisfy first. Today, he

was here to brief EU leaders on how

negotiations had progressed.

I'm

sorry, but I don't want to answer

your question now. I'm sorry, let me

work, please.

David Roberts was

troubled by that encounter and got

in touch with us to explain why.

And another aspect of that summit

reporter at the end of last week

caught the attention of a number of

viewers. A short use during a clip

of Theresa May's news conference.

Nobody need be concerned for the

current budget plan, that they would

have to either pay in more or

receive less as a result of the UK

leaving, and we will honour the

commitments we made during our

membership.

Mrs Worrall was watching

this and left us this telephone

message.

There is an important

article with Theresa May, and about

the European Union. And halfway

through, bizarrely, we shot to a

picture of her shoes. Why? At no

other point in the news that I've

watched any day this week, we

suddenly have that. Suddenly, a shot

of her shoes. What is going on?

Mel

hunt from your e-mailed us on the

same subject, asking... -- Mel Hunt

from New

We put that point to BBC News and

they told us this...

Fans of high quality natural history

programmes had been looking keenly

forward to the start of Blue Planet

II, and there's a good chance you

will have heard it starts on Sunday

on BBC One. Sneak previews of what

the David Attenborough fronted

series will be bringing us appeared

in several of Monday's newspapers

and widely across BBC News as well.

It is 16 years since the

ground-breaking blue planet

programme appeared on our screens,

for the first time millions of

viewers here and around the world

can see the wonders of the deep

ocean. Now, it's back for a second

series presented by, of course, Sir

David Ambra. For the last four

years, the BBC Natural History Unit

crews have been scouring the planet

to see these aquatic animals. David

Shukman has been speaking to David

Ambra about this series.

That many

questioned whether it deserved its

place in the news.

It certainly isn't the first time

we've heard the charge of

self-promotion, and the same day

Breakfast featured items not just on

Blue Planet but several other BBC

programmes too.

Two decades after it

first aired, Sir David

Attenborough's Blue Planet is coming

back for a second series. The team

from Autumnwatch back...

Let's speak

to the presenters who are at the

National Trust Sherbourne Park

estate in the Cotswolds... Doctor

Who's first female Time Lord will be

joined by three female companions.

Jodie Whittaker takes over as the

30th doctor this year and will be

joined regularly.

There is plenty of

debate about the new Gunpowder plot

drama on the BBC, how much gore is

too much?

Is the BBC using its new

service to advertise other

programmes or are items like that

editorially justified? With me is

Richard Burgess, the UK news editor

for BBC News. Welcome, we know David

Attenborough is an important

documentary maker and his programmes

are a big event but is it news?

I

think so, it's a significant moment

not only for television that in the

culture of the UK and across the

world. His last series, Blue Planet

II -- Planet Earth II, it was one of

the most watched natural history

programmes of all time, the iguana

sequence was watched nearly 5

million times on YouTube. A new

series by David Attenborough is a

big moment in UK life and people are

interested.

But the top line in how

the BBC reported it is "There is a

new BBC TV programme on". There's no

newsline.

In the David Attenborough

interview, we got some news lines.

We sent our science editor, David

Shukman, we could speak about ocean

pollution and acidity, the bleaching

of the coral reef, climate change,

there was a big report about the

increasing acidity of the oceans

that day and it gave us an

opportunity to get onto that subject

on some major output.

The interview

was but first, and all the TV

bulletins ran it from breakfast to

the news that six. It takes up more

than three minutes on the six

o'clock news, there are probably two

other stories that were not covered

properly as a result.

We covered a

lot of important stories that they

like Brexit and the Rohingya

Muslims. You made the point that the

newspapers covered Blue Planet II

that morning as well. We weren't

alone in covering it and we don't

just cover BBC programmes. Recently

we covered the start of The Crown on

Netflix, Bake-Off on Channel 4, it's

judged editorially, and we don't

make a decision based on whether it

is a BBC series or not.

We know

there are a lot of budget cuts

affecting BBC News right now, this

is cheap telly, isn't it?

I don't

think so, there is a lot of interest

in Sir David Attenborough, and his

views, his views on British life,

the environment, and climate change

came across in the interview and are

of interest to the audience.

Several

items just in one day. Doctor Who,

or to watch and Blue Planet II on

Monday alone. Can you see why the

viewers are frustrated? --

Autumnwatch do they realise how much

airtime is covered in what looks

like promotions for their

programmes.

I do not think they

were. Think about the Gunpowder

story, that was as much criticism.

That was in passing, a newspaper

thing. These items were set up.

A

programme like BBC Breakfast, it's a

long programme that is a mixture of

news, chat and discussion, you would

expect a programme like that to

reflect on what people are talking

about and people do talk about

programmes like Strictly Come

Dancing, more than 10 million people

watch it and people like to discuss

who did well and who didn't. On a

programme like Breakfast you would

expect that to be reflected. We

discuss other programmes as well. I

remember when Broadchurch was coming

to an end it was a major feature on

Breakfast and BBC output. It isn't

just BBC.

A lot of Newswatch viewers

would complain about that as well,

they want news events from around

the world. All you remove his watch

viewers concerned? -- will you

remove Newswatch viewers concerns?

Three in one day. That's the

airtime.

It's a fair point, you had

to think about the prominence and

the number of times BBC programmes

are mentioned within one particular

news programme but in the mix,

generally I think it is OK and

reflective on what the audience is

talking about but you are right, we

need to be careful that we do not

overdo it.

Richard Burgess, thank

you. Finally, 32 merged from the

Elysee Palace of a meeting between

President Macron and junior members

of his government. Did it contain

information about the plans for

economic reforms or plans on Brexit?

No...

Amusing, certainly, but one viewer

was concerned about the prominence

the BBC gave its story on its news

feed, tweeting...

Thank you for all of your comments

this week. We welcome all of your

opinions on BBC News and current

affairs. If you want to share them

with us or appear on the programme,

call us on this number, or e-mail us

to this address. You can find us on

twitter, and do have a look at the

website. You can search for and

watch previous discussions. The

address is this. That's all from us,

we will be back to hear your

thoughts on BBC News coverage again

next week. Goodbye.