0:00:07 > 0:00:15Welcome to Newswatch. The BBC's China editor accuses her employer of
0:00:15 > 0:00:21unlawful pay descript gs. What do fewers -- zrum nation what do
0:00:21 > 0:00:24viewers think? Patients aren't being seen within the target of four
0:00:24 > 0:00:29hours, but do the BBC know what number that is?
0:00:29 > 0:00:34It was one of those weeks when the BBC itself became the story.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Presenting Radio 4's Today Programme on Monday morning with John
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Humphreys was carry Gracie who until the day before had been the China
0:00:42 > 0:00:45editor. Her resignation from that post appeared on the front pages of
0:00:45 > 0:00:48several ever that day's newspapers and led to discussions in
0:00:48 > 0:00:52Parliament, as well as throughout the media. How did it come to this?
0:00:52 > 0:00:56The row stems from the publication last summer of the salaries of the
0:00:56 > 0:01:03BBC's best paid on-air employees. Carrie Gracie with £135,000 did not
0:01:03 > 0:01:08appear on that list, but she noticed that two other international on-air
0:01:08 > 0:01:16editors did, Jermey Bowen, earning between £150,000 and £200,000 and
0:01:16 > 0:01:20Jon Sopel with 200,000 to £250,000. Having thought she had secured pay
0:01:20 > 0:01:25parity with men on equivalent roles when she took up the post, she
0:01:25 > 0:01:28initiated a grievance procedure against her employer. Frustrated
0:01:28 > 0:01:33with the lack of progress, on Sunday said she would leave China and
0:01:33 > 0:01:36return to the London newsroom. BBC management refused our request for
0:01:36 > 0:01:39someone to discuss this on the programme, pointing us no this
0:01:39 > 0:01:41statement:
0:01:41 > 0:01:47programme, pointing us no this statement:
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Carrie Gracie was not satisfied with the BBC's response. Here's what she
0:02:10 > 0:02:15had to say. . The BBC talks about a gender pay gap, but what I'm talking
0:02:15 > 0:02:20about is not a gender pay gap, where sometimes men and women are in
0:02:20 > 0:02:24different roles, which explains the differences in pay. What I'm talking
0:02:24 > 0:02:29about is pay discrimination, which is when men are paid more for doing
0:02:29 > 0:02:35the same job or a job of equal value. That is illegal. What do
0:02:35 > 0:02:37newswatch viewers think? Michelle
0:02:37 > 0:02:43newswatch viewers think? Michelle Gross e mailed:
0:02:53 > 0:03:00Colin Robertson agreed:
0:03:03 > 0:03:06But for Peter Stuart, it wasn't the gap in salaries that was the issue,
0:03:06 > 0:03:11but their level. Why such amazing high salaries to people the British
0:03:11 > 0:03:15public have no particular attachment to or Afghanistan for which is --
0:03:15 > 0:03:19affection for, which is key to their market value, be they male or
0:03:19 > 0:03:24female? More people leaving at Westminster this week as Theresa May
0:03:24 > 0:03:27made changes to her ministerial team. On Tuesday the BBC's deputy
0:03:27 > 0:03:31political editor had a glimpse of the new Cabinet.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36Allowed through the door at Number Ten today, for a quick peak at the
0:03:36 > 0:03:42new-look Cabinet. Nobody move, almost nobody moved yesterday
0:03:42 > 0:03:48because Theresa May couldn't make them. Where is she? There she is,
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Jeremy Hunt the Health Secretary was in the way and wouldn't budge, just
0:03:52 > 0:03:55like yesterday. It appears not everything went
0:03:55 > 0:03:59entirely to plan with the reshuffle. Did BBC News unfairly portray it as
0:03:59 > 0:04:07a shambles when it was nothing a kind:
0:04:26 > 0:04:30It's no secret that the NHS is under pressure at the moment. But just how
0:04:30 > 0:04:34bad are things in our hospitals? Well, it can help to get some
0:04:34 > 0:04:38statistics, for instance on waiting times, but only if those statistics
0:04:38 > 0:04:43are accurate. Twice this week on BBC News, they weren't.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Here's Sarah Smith reporting on the difficulties faced by A&E
0:04:47 > 0:04:52departments in Scotland for Tuesday's news at 6pm.Busy Accident
0:04:52 > 0:04:56& Emergency departments in Scotland mean patients are facing their
0:04:56 > 0:05:01longest recorded waiting times. Last week, over 100,000 patients waited
0:05:01 > 0:05:07more than four hours to be seen, nearly 300 waited longer than 12
0:05:07 > 0:05:11hours.Scott is one of a number of viewers who pointed out what he
0:05:11 > 0:05:16called quite a huge error:
0:05:31 > 0:05:36BBC News confirmed that. Sarah Smith mistakenly used an annual figure
0:05:36 > 0:05:38rather than a weekly time for waiting times in A&E departments in
0:05:38 > 0:05:45Scotland. The weekly figure was 5,686. We used the weekly stats in
0:05:45 > 0:05:49all subsequent bulletins and coverage. But that wasn't the end of
0:05:49 > 0:05:52the matter, on Thursday, Katherine Burns was reporting about problems
0:05:52 > 0:05:57in hospitals in England. To add to this, more statistics,
0:05:57 > 0:06:03showing that December was the worst month for A&E waiting times since
0:06:03 > 0:06:06records began in 2004. 3,000 patients in England were not seen
0:06:06 > 0:06:19within the four-hour waiting target. Viewer Scott wrote:
0:06:30 > 0:06:34Do let us know your thoughts on those issues or anything else that
0:06:34 > 0:06:38catches your eye on BBC News. Details of how to contact us at the
0:06:38 > 0:06:42end of the programme. Before that, the BBC's foreign coverage was the
0:06:42 > 0:06:49subject of a comment this week. He recorded on camera the thoughts of
0:06:49 > 0:06:52relative attention given to two different international leaders.
0:06:52 > 0:07:00Angela Merkel is the most important European politician and in Germany,
0:07:00 > 0:07:05in the elections in September she lost her majority and since then,
0:07:05 > 0:07:11she's been fighting to create a coalition. But almost nothing at all
0:07:11 > 0:07:18is heard about this on the BBC News, especially the Six O'Clock News.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21Jenny Hill, the fine Berlin correspondent, is virtually never
0:07:21 > 0:07:26heard. The person who is heard and is seen almost all the time,
0:07:26 > 0:07:32especially in the first week of January is Donald Trump. In that
0:07:32 > 0:07:38week it was virtually wall-to-wall Donald Trump. The reason why Merkel
0:07:38 > 0:07:43is virtually ignored and Donald Trump is featured so heavily is
0:07:43 > 0:07:47quite obvious - one is Zen trick, interesting -- eccentric,
0:07:47 > 0:07:54interesting, the other is probably fairly dull. But on the Six O'Clock
0:07:54 > 0:08:01News, and in the BBC charter, their purpose should surely be to inform
0:08:01 > 0:08:06rather than to entertain. I feel that in featuring Donald Trump so
0:08:06 > 0:08:09much and Mrs Merkel hardly at all the balance has been lost
0:08:09 > 0:08:14completely.Thanks to Brian Watson for that.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Others feel it's not just President Trump who's getting too much air
0:08:17 > 0:08:21time on the BBC, but the country he leads and anything that happens
0:08:21 > 0:08:26there. One example came on Wednesday, where news came of the
0:08:26 > 0:08:29destruction caused by mudslides in Southern California. At least 17
0:08:29 > 0:08:34people died and more than 100 homes were swept away, after heavy
0:08:34 > 0:08:40rainfall hit an area of Santa Barbara county. After that led the
0:08:40 > 0:08:46news at 6pm, similaron wondered: -- Simon.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09Back in the UK, the Parole Board decided at the end of last week that
0:09:09 > 0:09:13John Wallboys, thought to have carried out more than 100 rapes and
0:09:13 > 0:09:16sexual assaults on women in London, will be released after completing
0:09:16 > 0:09:20his minimum term of eight years in jail. Mark Easton reported on the
0:09:20 > 0:09:25case last Friday.The London Cabi, who drugged and raped or sexually
0:09:25 > 0:09:30assaulted numerous women in the back of his taxi, is to be released after
0:09:30 > 0:09:34nine years, a Parole Board decision that's prompted fury and questions.
0:09:34 > 0:09:44Not least - were victims ignored? Sarah had this comment to make:
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Finally, videos without any commentary where information is
0:10:14 > 0:10:18presented on screen in text form are being seen increasingly on BBC News,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21not just on output tailored for watching on mobile phones, where
0:10:21 > 0:10:25people tend to watch rather than listen, but also on television.
0:10:25 > 0:10:33Here's an example from the News Channel last week.
0:10:55 > 0:11:06Bill e-mailed us to make this point:
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Well, we'll leave that one with the powers that be. Thank you for all
0:11:35 > 0:11:38your comments this week. If you want to share your opinions on BBC News
0:11:38 > 0:11:45and current affairs or even appear on the programme, you can call us:
0:11:45 > 0:11:53Or e-mail us: find us on Twitter as well. Look at our website for
0:11:53 > 0:11:57previous discussions. Bbc.co.uk/newswatch. That's all from
0:11:57 > 0:12:00us. We'll be back to hear your thoughts about BBC News coverage
0:12:00 > 0:12:06again next week. Goodbye.