03/11/2017 Newswatch

The market update:

Now - it's time for Newswatch.

This week Samira Ahmed asks

whether the BBC's coverage

of Catalonia has been

balanced and impartial.

Hello, and welcome to Newswatch.

Has BBC News been too sympathetic

to those wanting Catalonia to be

independent of Spain?

Was Newsnight right to label

its special this week

The Problem With Men?

First the week's news has again

by dominated by accusations

of sexual impropriety

and inappropriate behaviour,

we discussed on this programme

a fortnight ago complaints

that the allegations

against Harvey Weinstein had

dominated the agenda to excess.

Now we have heard the same charge

in relation to the latest slew

of cases now focussed

firmly on Westminster.

Theresa May wants a new Code

of Conduct to protect those working

for MPs from sexual harassment.

A woman tells the BBC how

a senior Labour Party figure

persuaded her to drop allegations

of rape by a party member.

Tonight at ten, the Defence

Secretary Michael Fallon has

resigned, following allegations

of inappropriate conduct.

The allegations made

against Michael Fallon

which prompted his resignation

as Defence Secretary

and the attention given to it

by BBC News prompted this

anonymous telephone message.

Hello, I am phoning to complain

about this continual witch hunt

people being sexual predators,

more worrying things

are going on in the world.

I agree that serious

sexual predators should be

in the noteworthy news item,

but somebody putting their hand

on your knee is not.

That phrase used there, witch hunt,

was picked up by other viewers

including Tom Parkinson

who e-mailed:

And Eleanor London asked:

Newsnight tackled this

fraught topic with a special

editionn on Wednesday,

subtitled, to dismay

of some viewers,

The Problem With Men.

Good evening.

Tonight, we want to reflect

the new national conversation

about an age-old problem.

Sex, power, abuse and allegation.

Have the rules changed,

are we redefining what we are

prepared to put up with and how do

we feel about calling people guilty

in such a vocal public way?

Edward Talbot was one

of the viewers who got in touch

to respond to the programme,

writing:

The political crisis in Spain

started just over a month ago,

with the first of October referendum

on self determination in Catalonia.

That saw a yes vote of 90%,

but was boycotted by many of those

opposed, and the Spanish Government

said the vote and the idea of

independence was unconstitutional.

Last Friday, the regional Government

declared an independent republic

and Madrid promptly dismissed

the entire Catalan cabinet,

dissolved the regional

Parliament, and appointed

the Spanish Deputy Prime Minister

to run the region temporarily.

The sacked Catalan President,

Carles Puigdemont, has been

ordered to appear in court,

accused of rebellion,

and has said he won't return

from Belgium without a guarantee

of a fair trial.

BBC News has been following

the twists and turns of this saga.

This is the people

facing down the police.

These are riot police

who have been drafted

in from other parts of Spain.

But their heavy-handed tactics today

appear to be making deep divisions

in this region worse.

All round here Catalans

are singing their National Anthem.

The National Anthem

they now believe belongs

to their independent republic,

separate from the Spanish state.

There are so many questions, what

will the Spanish Government now do?

But for now this crowd

just wants to celebrate.

No doubting the passion

of this crowd.

Belting out "long live Spain",

along Barcelona's main

boulevards, these are Catalans

who don't want independence.

Who reject the independence

declaration made last week.

It has been a complex

and confused dispute,

and some viewers have

detected what they feel is a lack

of balance in coverage,

One Spaniard living in Lancaster

thought the Catalan independence

protestors were portrayed

as brave and principled,

while the Spanish state in trying

to stop an illegal referendum

and secession from Spain

is seen as acting like Franco

and oppressing the people.

While M Nardini told us:

And Paul Summers wondered:

Well, to discuss this now I am

joined by Andrew Roy who is world

editor for BBC News,

thank you for coming on Newswatch.

Most of the viewers who complained

said the BBC had been too favourable

to the pro independence side,

how do you respond?

We haven't been, we have been

physically in both locations,

in Madrid and Barcelona,

so we can put both points of view,

our correspondents have been careful

to get pro and anti clips

from protesters and politicians

into their pieces.

We have been trying throughout to be

absolutely rigorous,

in being impartial and objective,

and putting both sides

of the argument.

I think the concern

is that the headline coverage,

which is how most viewers encounter

the stories they feel has given

which is how most viewers encounter

the stories, they feel has given

the impression that was a violent

state crackdown on a popular

independence movement

and that is not fair.

I think that is incorrect as well.

There was violence at the very

beginning round the illegal

referendum, we reported

that the referendum was illegal,

we showed what was happening

in the polling stations,

we also reported afterwards

the disparity in figures

about the numbers arrested,

people injured by both sides.

Since then, there hasn't been much

violence, there has only

been series of rallies,

in Madrid and Barcelona,

both pro and anti independence

and we have been reporting that,

reporting what the politicians have

been saying, and giving

both sides air time.

Do you think you did

enough to explain why

the referendum was illegal?

We've put online an awful lot

of explainers, we have pieces

about the constitution of Spain,

we have got pieces about

the devolved powers of Catalonia,

we have the history of the two

sides in this dispute.

If your audiences are

saying they still don't

understand it may be we need do

more, but we've certainly gone out

of our way to try to explain

what is a complex situation

and anyone who wants more depth,

that is all available online.

The trouble is, audiences,

I think reasonably can say we can't

be expected to go hunting for every

piece of background online,

the bulletins are what a lot

of people watch and that is

what they are complaining about.

And perhaps in reports, that tend

to be two or three minutes long,

it becomes simplified as a tale

of right and wrong.

We haven't been doing just two

or three minutes on this story,

we have been doing much,

much more than that,

throughout the whole

dispute, and like I say,

we have also been pointing out

here is a correspondent in Madrid,

here is a correspondent

in Barcelona, we are giving

you both sides of the story.

We have done historical explainers

on air, we have also brought

in the issues about the economics

around this independence movement,

and whether it would or wouldn't

work, so we have tried as hard

as we can to get across to

the audience the complexities of it,

in a reduced television bulletin,

but this programme, this issue has

had an awful lot of air time.

I think there is a particular

challenge for television

when you get passionate colourful

demonstrations wanting changed,

compared to what consumers

a relatively grey argument,

the Government that wants to keep

things the same, does that leave

you with an unbalanced impression?

You saw from those clips,

that the people who are in favour

of unity are just as passionate

and waving just as many flags,

confusingly similarly coloured

to the Catalan flags

confusingly similarly coloured

to the Catalan flags,

but they are as passionate

in putting their views across.

We covered those rallies,

we covered them when they

are in Barcelona that

and when they are in Madrid.

And we also go out into the crowd

and get the voices supporting

the rallies and also the voices down

the sides of the rallies,

who are possibly not

supporting that point of view,

who are possibly not supporting that

point of view.

So we do try to get the balance

across time, but also

within the bulletins pieces we do.

Thank you.

Before we go, a little more

of your reaction to how the BBC

covered the news this week.

On Friday morning, one

of the stories getting

the headline treatment was this.

And President Trump's twitter

account is closed for 11 minutes,

by a member of staff

on their last day.

Moira had this response:

And Andrew Garner agreed with that:

And finally, we mentioned last week

complaints that BBC News should not

have concerned itself

with the trivial though amusing tale

of President Macron's dog urinating

in a fireplace during a meeting

at the Elysee Palace.

We have had some feedback

about that feedback,

including this from Liz Stewart:

And that is all from us,

thank you for all your

comments this week.

If you want to share your opinions

on BBC News and current affairs

or even appear on the programme,

you can call us on

0370 0106 676 or e-mail us.

You can find us on Twitter and do

have a look at our website.

So that is all from us, we will be

back to hear your thoughts about BBC

News coverage next week.

Goodbye.