17/11/2017 Newswatch


17/11/2017

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LineFromTo

management. More on that later in

the sports bulletin.

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Now it's time for Newswatch.

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This week Samira Ahmed

hears your thoughts

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about the BBC's Brexit coverage.

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Hello and welcome to the show.

Halfway to Brexit so how is the

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BBC's coverage doing? Biased,

baffling and boring save you ease --

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assay viewers. We asked how to

inform viewers on this most divisive

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issue. First, event in Zimbabwe

which first came to the attention of

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news desks on Tuesday evening. It

has been taking a while to work out

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what exact has happened, it was a

military coup or not. The confusion

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was not helped by the BBC quoting as

a source a fake Twitter account in

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the name of the ruling party,

Zanu-PF. On BBC One television,

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breaking news alert and the website.

It is not clear that she runs the

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account which referred to an elderly

man who had been taken advantage of

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by his wife being detained in a

bloodless transition. Some people

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were unimpressed.

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BBC World News later apologised and

a spokesperson said...

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On Wednesday Boris Johnson met

Richard Ratcliffe whose wife is in

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prison in Iran and that prompted the

dimensions on the BBC the Foreign

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Secretary's incorrect statement last

week that she had been working in

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the country training journalists.

She was on holiday. On Sunday Andrew

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Marr followed up on the comment by

asking Michael Gove about Nazanin

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Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

What was she

doing when she went to Iran?

I don't

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know. One of the things I want to

stress, there is no reason why

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe should be

in prison in Iran as far as any of

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us know.

You say you don't know what

shooting, her husband is clear she

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was on holiday. That what she was

doing.

I take her husband 's

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assurance.

He said she was training

journalists that has been grabbed by

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the Iranian judicially to put her

plight into an even worse position

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also that is surely his fault.

Whatever we as Democrats choose to

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do or say extremist will choose to

deploy for their own purposes. We

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play their game. We point the finger

at Democrat to try to do the right

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thing when it is extremist

responsible for the use of human

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rights.

That exchange, and what

Boris Johnson said about it, went on

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for around five minutes and prompted

this reaction about Andrew Marr.

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This week saw the latest chapter in

the saga of the UK Buddha

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preparations for leaving the EU with

the withdrawal bill reaching its

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stake in the House of Commons. It is

part of a compact legislative

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process in Westminster mirrored by

equally lengthy negotiations in

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Brussels where David Davis and

Michel Barnier have reached the six

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macro round of talks. BBC News have

been following the talks every step

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of the way.

12 months after the UK

voted to leave the EU, the first

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formal talks to set the terms of

departure have taken place in

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Brussels. Michel Barnier, the chief

negotiator. Said he hoped the talks

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would be held in a constructive

atmosphere.

Behind the smart suits,

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stiff smiles, and it was clear that

both sides are talking at cross

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purposes. Time is a precious

commodity. Don't the UK and the EU

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know it. We are halfway between the

date of our referendum and actually

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leaving the club. Expect many more

face-offs along the way. And if

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those negotiations are proving

tricky, so too is the BBC's task in

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covering Brexit in a way that

satisfies the audience of its

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impartiality while keeping it

informed in a clear and interesting

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way. Not everyone feels that is

being achieved. Martin from Plymouth

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said...

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Meanwhile, David begged...

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And another few had this concern...

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The BBC's Europe editor catcher

Adler spent much of her life living

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and breathing the Brexit process and

she joins me now. The biggest

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complaint we get is about perceived

bias, a sense that BBC reporting is

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constantly knocking British

negotiators.

It is a fair comment

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that you would expect to make. As

Europe editor is my job to put

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across the European perspective.

That might come across as anti-UK

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but it is putting across the other

point of view. As we see these

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negotiations becoming pretty bad

tempered, obviously there is very

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differing points of view.

Taking all

that on board, viewers feel we don't

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seem to get the same scrutiny of EU

negotiators and their strategy.

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Since the negotiations started, I

don't know if you're familiar with

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the Sicilian word omerta which means

silence. EU leaders have been told

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to zip it and only let Mr Barney

speak about Brexit -- Michel

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Barnier. We just don't have that

same access at this stage to talk to

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the main players on the European

side as we do on the British side to

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put those difficult questions to

them on camera or on the record in a

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radio interview. I understand that

for our viewers and listeners that

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is extremely frustrating and it

feels like when not doing our job

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but believe me, because it is my

job, I am doing it and asking those

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questions but the players are not

allowing me to do that on the record

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and that is why I have to quote

sources and contacts and EU

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diplomats.

A lot of complaints say

there is acres of coverage that

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little fact. Why do you spend so

much airtime speculating?

Many in

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the UK feel we voted for Brexit and

it's a done deal and we can move on

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and see some action. There isn't

much action. I feel your pain on

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that one because we have to deal

with that as well. Brexit remains

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one of the top stories of importance

for us in the UK so it is going to

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remain right up there and we have to

keep coming back to it as the

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negotiating rounds proceeds. Even

though actually, for example the

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last round, pretty much nothing

happened in terms of news terms but

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we had to cover it and say that very

little had happened. That leads you

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to speculate, and that is where it

comes in, if there will be a deal in

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the end or will we be in a no deal

scenario.

How do you feel about

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viewers think that the coverage is

too complicated?

I would say that

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Brexit is a very combative issue.

What about the financial services

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industry, agriculture, other goods,

what happens to the label that says

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made in the UK but between the jar

and the labelled the content it

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crosses over between the UK and

Europe several times before a

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product is finished? These are all

fiendishly compensated and that is

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why, as well as the Brexit

negotiators, you have lawyers on

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both sides. This is dry and detailed

stuff but that is what goes into

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untangling the UK from the EU and in

the end will do into making a trade

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agreement between the two sides.

Repetitive coverage is a bit charge

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also a lot of men in grey suit

walking out of buildings. Is making

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this coverage front and interesting

and challenging question of on a

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daily and hourly and weekly level it

can seem quite dreary without much

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progress.

I can tell you that here

in Brussels I am surrounded by the

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EU institutions and they are grey

and full of people in grey suits.

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That can be a bit difficult

sometimes, the way we can lift it is

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in a different kind of coverage we

have this whether it is my blog

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where I can get some colour into it,

we have the Brexit podcast as well.

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Tell us about that, what is the

thinking behind it?

It is two fold

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really. On the one hand, if I have

to do a Q and a on got news, and

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often told, you got 50 seconds in

which to get so much nuance in and

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that's pretty much impossible. Never

mind trying to get fact and a bit of

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colour. You go on Brexitcast you

have ages of time to chat. We have

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our hosts and Laura Kuenssberg as

well, a lot of knowledge in there

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and a lot of humour and we are able

to get some humour into it. But I

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admit, Brexit is not something where

events happen in a fast and furious

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manner but it is a hugely dramatic

moment in EU and UK history.

Thank

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you for coming on. Before we go, no

secret that some newspapers like to

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have a go at the BBC and this week

the Sun Italy enjoy doing so.

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Published photographs of night shift

workers asleep at their desks,

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passed to them a fellow member of

staff who complained... We won't

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embarrass our sleeping colleagues

that we will mention the response of

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Middle East correspondent Quentin

Sommerville, perhaps recovering from

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his exclusive report on Sunday.

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Thank you for all of your comments

this week. If you want to share your

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opinions or even appear on the

programme you can call us on this

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number.

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You can find us on Twitter and have

a look at our website for previous

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discussions.

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That is all from us, we will be back

to hear your thoughts about BBC News

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coverage

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