12/01/2018 Newswatch

Welcome to Newswatch. The BBC's

China editor accuses her employer of

unlawful pay descript gs. What do

fewers -- zrum nation what do

viewers think? Patients aren't being

seen within the target of four

hours, but do the BBC know what

number that is?

It was one of those weeks when the

BBC itself became the story.

Presenting Radio 4's Today Programme

on Monday morning with John

Humphreys was carry Gracie who until

the day before had been the China

editor. Her resignation from that

post appeared on the front pages of

several ever that day's newspapers

and led to discussions in

Parliament, as well as throughout

the media. How did it come to this?

The row stems from the publication

last summer of the salaries of the

BBC's best paid on-air employees.

Carrie Gracie with £135,000 did not

appear on that list, but she noticed

that two other international on-air

editors did, Jermey Bowen, earning

between £150,000 and £200,000 and

Jon Sopel with 200,000 to £250,000.

Having thought she had secured pay

parity with men on equivalent roles

when she took up the post, she

initiated a grievance procedure

against her employer. Frustrated

with the lack of progress, on Sunday

said she would leave China and

return to the London newsroom. BBC

management refused our request for

someone to discuss this on the

programme, pointing us no this

statement:

programme, pointing us no this

statement:

Carrie Gracie was not satisfied with

the BBC's response. Here's what she

had to say. . The BBC talks about a

gender pay gap, but what I'm talking

about is not a gender pay gap, where

sometimes men and women are in

different roles, which explains the

differences in pay. What I'm talking

about is pay discrimination, which

is when men are paid more for doing

the same job or a job of equal

value. That is illegal. What do

newswatch viewers think? Michelle

newswatch viewers think? Michelle

Gross e mailed:

Colin Robertson agreed:

But for Peter Stuart, it wasn't the

gap in salaries that was the issue,

but their level. Why such amazing

high salaries to people the British

public have no particular attachment

to or Afghanistan for which is --

affection for, which is key to their

market value, be they male or

female? More people leaving at

Westminster this week as Theresa May

made changes to her ministerial

team. On Tuesday the BBC's deputy

political editor had a glimpse of

the new Cabinet.

Allowed through the door at Number

Ten today, for a quick peak at the

new-look Cabinet. Nobody move,

almost nobody moved yesterday

because Theresa May couldn't make

them. Where is she? There she is,

Jeremy Hunt the Health Secretary was

in the way and wouldn't budge, just

like yesterday.

It appears not everything went

entirely to plan with the reshuffle.

Did BBC News unfairly portray it as

a shambles when it was nothing a

kind:

It's no secret that the NHS is under

pressure at the moment. But just how

bad are things in our hospitals?

Well, it can help to get some

statistics, for instance on waiting

times, but only if those statistics

are accurate. Twice this week on BBC

News, they weren't.

Here's Sarah Smith reporting on the

difficulties faced by A&E

departments in Scotland for

Tuesday's news at 6pm.

Busy Accident

& Emergency departments in Scotland

mean patients are facing their

longest recorded waiting times. Last

week, over 100,000 patients waited

more than four hours to be seen,

nearly 300 waited longer than 12

hours.

Scott is one of a number of

viewers who pointed out what he

called quite a huge error:

BBC News confirmed that. Sarah Smith

mistakenly used an annual figure

rather than a weekly time for

waiting times in A&E departments in

Scotland. The weekly figure was

5,686. We used the weekly stats in

all subsequent bulletins and

coverage. But that wasn't the end of

the matter, on Thursday, Katherine

Burns was reporting about problems

in hospitals in England.

To add to this, more statistics,

showing that December was the worst

month for A&E waiting times since

records began in 2004. 3,000

patients in England were not seen

within the four-hour waiting target.

Viewer Scott wrote:

Do let us know your thoughts on

those issues or anything else that

catches your eye on BBC News.

Details of how to contact us at the

end of the programme. Before that,

the BBC's foreign coverage was the

subject of a comment this week. He

recorded on camera the thoughts of

relative attention given to two

different international leaders.

Angela Merkel is the most important

European politician and in Germany,

in the elections in September she

lost her majority and since then,

she's been fighting to create a

coalition. But almost nothing at all

is heard about this on the BBC News,

especially the Six O'Clock News.

Jenny Hill, the fine Berlin

correspondent, is virtually never

heard. The person who is heard and

is seen almost all the time,

especially in the first week of

January is Donald Trump. In that

week it was virtually wall-to-wall

Donald Trump. The reason why Merkel

is virtually ignored and Donald

Trump is featured so heavily is

quite obvious - one is Zen trick,

interesting -- eccentric,

interesting, the other is probably

fairly dull. But on the Six O'Clock

News, and in the BBC charter, their

purpose should surely be to inform

rather than to entertain. I feel

that in featuring Donald Trump so

much and Mrs Merkel hardly at all

the balance has been lost

completely.

Thanks to Brian Watson

for that.

Others feel it's not just President

Trump who's getting too much air

time on the BBC, but the country he

leads and anything that happens

there. One example came on

Wednesday, where news came of the

destruction caused by mudslides in

Southern California. At least 17

people died and more than 100 homes

were swept away, after heavy

rainfall hit an area of Santa

Barbara county. After that led the

news at 6pm, similaron wondered: --

Simon.

Back in the UK, the Parole Board

decided at the end of last week that

John Wallboys, thought to have

carried out more than 100 rapes and

sexual assaults on women in London,

will be released after completing

his minimum term of eight years in

jail. Mark Easton reported on the

case last Friday.

The London Cabi,

who drugged and raped or sexually

assaulted numerous women in the back

of his taxi, is to be released after

nine years, a Parole Board decision

that's prompted fury and questions.

Not least - were victims ignored?

Sarah had this comment to make:

Finally, videos without any

commentary where information is

presented on screen in text form are

being seen increasingly on BBC News,

not just on output tailored for

watching on mobile phones, where

people tend to watch rather than

listen, but also on television.

Here's an example from the News

Channel last week.

Bill e-mailed us to make this point:

Well, we'll leave that one with the

powers that be. 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:

Or e-mail us: find us on Twitter as

well. Look at our website for

previous discussions.

Bbc.co.uk/newswatch. That's all from

us. We'll be back to hear your

thoughts about BBC News coverage

again next week.

Goodbye.