0:00:00 > 0:00:01This week Samira Ahmed hears viewers' comments
0:00:01 > 0:00:03on the Paradise Papers.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11Hello and welcome to Newswatch with me, Samira Ahmed.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14A huge leak of financial documents dominated BBC News
0:00:14 > 0:00:16at the start of this week.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Did they deserve all that attention, or was this
0:00:19 > 0:00:21journalistic self-indulgence?
0:00:21 > 0:00:25And did the BBC unfairly suggest wrongdoing on the part
0:00:25 > 0:00:26of politicians, royalty and celebrities when
0:00:26 > 0:00:31they had broken no laws?
0:00:34 > 0:00:36Another week, another departure from Theresa May's cabinet.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39Pressure had been building on Priti Patel since the emergence
0:00:39 > 0:00:44last Friday of her undisclosed meetings while on holiday in Israel.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47But was some of that pressure imposed in an unwarranted way
0:00:47 > 0:00:50by the media, particularly the BBC, which broke the story?
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Yes, according to Andy Ramsbottom, who asked:
0:01:11 > 0:01:13And Keith Brown thought:
0:01:18 > 0:01:21The long predicted end came for Priti Patel after her hastily
0:01:21 > 0:01:23arranged journey home from Africa, monitored at one point by 22,000
0:01:23 > 0:01:28people on a flight tracking website, as shown on the BBC News Channel.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31That prompted Ian Miller to tweet:
0:01:38 > 0:01:41While a user called Kubrick's Lens Cap thought:
0:01:48 > 0:01:50When the soon-to-be ex-International Development secretary
0:01:50 > 0:01:53reached Heathrow Airport,
0:01:53 > 0:01:55the coverage switched from flight tracker to helicopter camera,
0:01:55 > 0:01:56and the complaints continued.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58Here's Roy Ramm:
0:02:19 > 0:02:21It was a huge information dump,
0:02:21 > 0:02:26the leak of over 13 million documents,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29worked on for a year by almost 100 different media organisations.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31A lot of work clearly went into the so-called Paradise Papers,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34and despite it being a busy news week as well, the BBC gave
0:02:34 > 0:02:39the story a lot of airtime.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Tonight on Panorama,...
0:02:43 > 0:02:46It started at 6pm on Sunday with a Panorama special,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51and more than half of the News at Ten was dedicated to the subject,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54pushing a report of the Texas shooting and new allegations
0:02:54 > 0:02:57against Damian Green down the running order.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59On Monday, there was another hour-long Panorama special,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02watched by Neil Spellings:
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Immediatedly following Panorama was the BBC News at ten o'clock.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11This dedicated the first half of the show, so 15 minutes,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13covering exactly the same topics that had just been shown immediately
0:03:13 > 0:03:18previous to the news by Panorama.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21I thought it was a strange editorial decision to repeat so much content
0:03:21 > 0:03:26immediately adjacent to programmes, especially when the news
0:03:26 > 0:03:29were using the same clips of Richard Bilton doorstepping
0:03:29 > 0:03:33celebrities outside the studios, and with the same infographics
0:03:33 > 0:03:36and pretty much everything.
0:03:36 > 0:03:41It was like a Panorama-lite for 15 minutes.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45The Paradise Papers also led BBC One bulletins
0:03:45 > 0:03:47for a third night on Tuesday, ahead of the death of Welsh
0:03:47 > 0:03:49politician Carl Sargeant and the ongoing travails
0:03:49 > 0:03:52of Boris Johnson and Priti Patel.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55So was the big investigation worth the prominence given to it?
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Not according to scores of viewers, including Paul Titley,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00who asked:
0:04:24 > 0:04:26Others targeted in the investigation, or hounded
0:04:26 > 0:04:30as several viewers saw it, were actors from Mrs Brown's Boys,
0:04:30 > 0:04:32Conservative Party donor Lord Ashcroft, US commerce
0:04:32 > 0:04:36Secretary Wilbur Ross and Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41The latter case prompted Sandra Lipscomb to record this video.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44I was really incensed the other morning, listening
0:04:44 > 0:04:48about Lewis Hamilton and his avoidance of VAT.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53All of us, no matter who we are, it's human nature.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56If we can save a few pennies, we will.
0:04:56 > 0:05:02Why aren't they going, or you going after the likes
0:05:02 > 0:05:06of these financial experts, who are being paid lots
0:05:06 > 0:05:12of money by celebrities to help save them money?
0:05:12 > 0:05:15And also, HMRC.
0:05:15 > 0:05:21They need some whizzkids to sort out these loopholes.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24With me now to explore coverage of the Paradise Papers story
0:05:24 > 0:05:26is James Stephenson, news editor for BBC News.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29Welcome to Newswatch.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31We kept hearing the phrase "none of this is illegal",
0:05:31 > 0:05:35so who exactly were you targeting in this investigation?
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Well, it's perhaps worth saying that, as you and many of your
0:05:38 > 0:05:43listeners will know, this was an enormous project over
0:05:43 > 0:05:46a long timespan and only began with the leak of the documents.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49After that, there was a great deal of journalistic work to sift
0:05:49 > 0:05:52through and identify stories that we should be doing,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56and not just do stories because names were found in papers.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00We applied a very rigorous public interest test above and beyond
0:06:00 > 0:06:02"Is it interesting?"
0:06:02 > 0:06:04to the stories we decided to take on.
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Which was?
0:06:06 > 0:06:09It varied from case to case, and that was part of the complexity
0:06:09 > 0:06:12that the Panorama team and the wider news operation had to work through.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17Each case was somewhat different, but where people were simply, to use
0:06:17 > 0:06:19that phrase, avoiding tax, we didn't think that
0:06:19 > 0:06:24that was in itself a reason to include them in our coverage.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28If it was aggressive tax avoidance or if it was tax evasion,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30or if there were some other big public interest element,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33we felt that was the reason why we would do a story rather
0:06:33 > 0:06:36than leave it to one side.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Of course, tax evasion is illegal whereas tax avoidance,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41even at the blurry line, is legal.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43Why didn't you focus just on the firms and advisers, instead
0:06:43 > 0:06:50of tarnishing the reputation of, say, the Queen?
0:06:50 > 0:06:53I think we did do that.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56We obviously thought carefully about what was a story and how
0:06:56 > 0:06:59we should present the story and whether it was newsworthy.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03As you saw, we concluded that it was.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06The most newsworthy thing was that these tax havens
0:07:06 > 0:07:09around the world had had all their documents from this
0:07:09 > 0:07:11company, Appleby, but also from the company registers
0:07:11 > 0:07:15in these places revealed.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18And we felt that that was in itself a big story worthy of reporting.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21We then moved on to reporting individual cases where we felt
0:07:21 > 0:07:25there were controversial issues to be raised or issues of public
0:07:25 > 0:07:29interest to be considered.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32One of the other issues which came up is that it has been
0:07:32 > 0:07:33a very busy news week.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36The biggest complaint we got was how much airtime this got,
0:07:36 > 0:07:37sometimes half of a bulletin when there
0:07:37 > 0:07:41were important stories such as the Foreign Secretary's comments
0:07:41 > 0:07:44about a British citizen in an Iranian jail.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48We feel we have done justice to those other stories as well.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52It's part of the nature of news and part of the nature of BBC News
0:07:52 > 0:07:57that we often have to do several very big stories at one time.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00It is worth saying that the Priti Patel story
0:08:00 > 0:08:04was broken by James Landale, our diplomatic correspondent.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06So it wasn't that we focused all our energies on one
0:08:06 > 0:08:10story and not on others.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12But we did feel that this long investigation with these
0:08:12 > 0:08:16high-profile companies and individuals was worthy
0:08:16 > 0:08:18of the time we gave it.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21We also gave some additional airtime to two things.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24One was to put into broader context what tax havens are,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28how they have grown up over the century,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30so people will have seen, on Sunday night,
0:08:30 > 0:08:32our economics editor Kamal Ahmed stepping through that.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34And we also had reaction.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36We had an interview with Wilbur Ross after the revelation.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40So it wasn't just the original journalism.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44We were also doing the context and the follow-up.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48We can tell that it was a huge, coordinated news operation
0:08:48 > 0:08:50with international partners.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53It even had its own hashtag, Paradise Papers.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Again, viewers feel that in the end, this wasn't the big scoop that
0:08:56 > 0:09:02you are claiming and the amount of coverage was self-indulgent.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04People will have to judge that for themselves.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07I think different viewers will have different views on that.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10If you take one example, Apple,
0:09:10 > 0:09:12Apple is the biggest company in the world,
0:09:12 > 0:09:16and we've revealed where it places its funding,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20effectively its wealth, offshore.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Where did the papers come from?
0:09:22 > 0:09:26We actually don't know.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28In one sense, we do.
0:09:28 > 0:09:33They came from Appleby originally, which is this law firm which has
0:09:33 > 0:09:36offices in these various tax havens.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38It came into the possession of Suddeutsche Zeitung,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42a German newspaper.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44They then collaborated with the ICIJ,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49and BBC Panorama is one of the partners among 100
0:09:49 > 0:09:52partners in that consortium.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56But we don't know how the leak happened.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59Are you comfortable with that?
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Some viewers feel it is unethical for the BBC to publish them.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04We are.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08We have taken the decision that there is a public interest,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11but it takes us back to the point I'm making, which is that we haven't
0:10:11 > 0:10:14simply published what is in those documents, we have gone
0:10:14 > 0:10:16through a lengthy journalistic, editorial and legal process
0:10:16 > 0:10:21including right to reply by the people concerned,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25to establish that we think there is a public interest
0:10:25 > 0:10:27above and beyond simply the fact that people
0:10:27 > 0:10:29appear in these papers.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Is there a risk to the BBC's values if it partners
0:10:32 > 0:10:34in this way in future, do you think?
0:10:34 > 0:10:37I don't.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40We didn't subcontract our editorial judgments to the ICIJ.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43They have done an outstanding job in corralling this group
0:10:43 > 0:10:46of investigative journalists, something that a few years ago
0:10:46 > 0:10:51would have seemed a very improbable thing for investigative journalism.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54But we have made our own editorial decisions about which stories
0:10:54 > 0:10:57we thought we should do, which we thought were justified.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00If we didn't think they met the standards of what we wanted
0:11:00 > 0:11:04to broadcast, we didn't put them out on any of our platforms.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08James Stephenson, thank you.
0:11:08 > 0:11:10Finally, a very unusual picture appeared on the
0:11:10 > 0:11:12BBC News website on Monday.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14This anonymous caller describes what she saw
0:11:14 > 0:11:17and what she thought of it.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Hello, I've been increasingly frustrated by the dumbing down
0:11:20 > 0:11:23of the BBC News web pages.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26I finally reached the limit when I looked and saw an item
0:11:26 > 0:11:32which was "My dog looks like Donald Trump's face".
0:11:32 > 0:11:35I think you're just trying to appeal to masses and dumbing down.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38If people want to read that stuff, they can read it elsewhere.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41That is not what BBC News is for and I hope you get that
0:11:41 > 0:11:43message loud and clear from other people too.
0:11:43 > 0:11:45Thank you for your comments this week.
0:11:45 > 0:11:51If you want to share your opinions on BBC News and current affairs
0:11:51 > 0:11:56or even appear on the programme, you call us or e-mail us.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59You can find us on Twitter, and do have a look at our website
0:11:59 > 0:12:04for previous discussions.
0:12:04 > 0:12:05That's all from us.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08We'll be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News
0:12:08 > 0:12:09coverage again next week.
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Goodbye.