0:00:00 > 0:00:00This week - is the BBC's coverage of President Trump too
0:00:00 > 0:00:02negative and too excessive?
0:00:09 > 0:00:13Hello and welcome to Newswatch with me, Samira Ahmed.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16With the Prime Minister on an important trade mission
0:00:16 > 0:00:20to China, did the BBC's political editor ask the wrong questions?
0:00:20 > 0:00:24And how well has the BBC reported on President Trump
0:00:24 > 0:00:25and his first year in power?
0:00:30 > 0:00:33The purpose of the Prime Minister's trip to China this week
0:00:33 > 0:00:34was to promote trade.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37But at a news conference on Wednesday, the BBC's political
0:00:37 > 0:00:42editor Laura Kuenssberg had matters closer to home on her mind.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45To get things done, leaders have to be able to lead.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48The Prime Minister says she will fight on
0:00:48 > 0:00:51but concedes something has to shift.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54Prime Minister, on the journey here, you acknowledged that you
0:00:54 > 0:00:58and your Government have to do more to be convincing.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01What is it that you plan to do differently
0:01:01 > 0:01:04and will you stand up to your critics?
0:01:04 > 0:01:06Several viewers felt that was not the time and place
0:01:06 > 0:01:07for such a question.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10Barbara Fierek put it like this:
0:01:10 > 0:01:12"Laura Kuenssberg asked Mrs May a question
0:01:12 > 0:01:15in front of the major media reporters of the world
0:01:15 > 0:01:17regarding her cabinet's loyalty and disarray.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20I felt it was very undermining for her to use that opportunity
0:01:20 > 0:01:24to have a dig very publicly at Theresa May's party,
0:01:24 > 0:01:26and it was not appropriate to the occasion.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Surely her job was to report on the visit."
0:01:29 > 0:01:36And Paul Smith added:
0:01:48 > 0:01:50On Friday, Laura Kuenssberg pursued the same theme
0:01:50 > 0:01:54in an interview with the Prime Minister.
0:01:54 > 0:01:55People are asking you again and again
0:01:55 > 0:01:56to be clearer about your priorities.
0:01:56 > 0:01:58How long can you stay on, do you believe?
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Well, let's be very, very clear about this.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03I've set out what my vision is.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06I've set out and I've said to people that at every stage
0:02:06 > 0:02:08where we can fill in the detail,
0:02:08 > 0:02:09we will do so and that's exactly...
0:02:09 > 0:02:11But how long can you stay on?
0:02:11 > 0:02:14That line of questioning prompted more complaints,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16including this from Tony Webb:
0:02:32 > 0:02:34On Tuesday night, Donald Trump addressed a joint session
0:02:34 > 0:02:38of the United States Congress in his first State of the Union
0:02:38 > 0:02:41address, just over 12 months since he took office.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44To say it's been a newsworthy and controversial first year
0:02:44 > 0:02:51as President is something of an understatement.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53The weightiest issues on the planet were discussed
0:02:53 > 0:02:55at Donald Trump's inaugural address,
0:02:55 > 0:02:57but what the president is in a white rage about
0:02:57 > 0:03:02are suggestions that the crowds forhim weren't as big as they were
0:03:02 > 0:03:05for Barack Obama eight years ago, even though the evidence
0:03:05 > 0:03:07is incontrovertible.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09Many people around the world will be saddened
0:03:09 > 0:03:12and sickened to see the president of the United States
0:03:12 > 0:03:16appearing to validate tweets from a far-right group.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19Ten months into this unorthodox and provocative
0:03:19 > 0:03:24presidency, Donald Trump still has the capacity to shock.
0:03:24 > 0:03:29And it wasn't until I became a politician that I realised
0:03:29 > 0:03:32how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake
0:03:32 > 0:03:35the press can be as the cameras start going off
0:03:35 > 0:03:39in the background.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42That antagonistic relationship with the press has been caused,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46in the opinion of some Newswatch viewers, by relentlessly negative
0:03:46 > 0:03:49reporting on the part of much of the media,
0:03:49 > 0:03:50including the BBC.
0:03:50 > 0:03:52Here's Paul McTigue:
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Others detect what they feel is an obsession with reporting
0:04:09 > 0:04:12on President Trump, bordering on an addiction.
0:04:12 > 0:04:22For Tim Weston:
0:04:29 > 0:04:36And Gillian Jones agreed there was too much Trump trivia on air:
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Well, one person who has spent much of the past year
0:04:45 > 0:04:47following Donald Trump's presidency is Nick Bryant,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51based in New York but joining us today from Washington.
0:04:51 > 0:04:52Welcome to Newswatch, Nick.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Trump has been called the great disruptor
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and one wonders how much of a disrupter he's been to the way
0:04:58 > 0:05:01the BBC reports from America.
0:05:01 > 0:05:02Well, I don't know.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05I don't think we've ever had a president who has given
0:05:05 > 0:05:09such a volume of news at such a high velocity.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12It begins very early in the morning, as it did today
0:05:12 > 0:05:13with a presidential tweet,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15quite an extraordinary presidential tweet
0:05:15 > 0:05:17this time, attacking the leadership of the FBI
0:05:17 > 0:05:18and the justice department.
0:05:18 > 0:05:21And often, it ends the day with a midnight tweet
0:05:21 > 0:05:24which can be equally extraordinary, as was the case a few weeks ago
0:05:24 > 0:05:27when he announced that he wasn't going to be coming to London.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30Well, you've dived straight into one of the issues that viewers do bring
0:05:30 > 0:05:34up which is Trump's use of Twitter and, I must say, Newswatch viewers
0:05:34 > 0:05:38do regularly complain that the BBC, they feel, jumps to broadcast every
0:05:38 > 0:05:40tweet and that you should be far more judicious
0:05:40 > 0:05:42in what you choose to report.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Have they got a point?
0:05:44 > 0:05:46I promise you, we don't publish every single tweet
0:05:46 > 0:05:48and we don't react to every single tweet either.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51But, of course, Twitter has become a primary medium
0:05:51 > 0:05:53to communicate with the American people and, of course,
0:05:53 > 0:05:56a lot of his tweets are incredibly newsworthy.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59He has announced policy on Twitter, like the ban
0:05:59 > 0:06:01on transgender people in the US military.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04That took his defence chiefs by surprise.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07A lot of his diplomacy has been conducted on Twitter.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11So when a tweet is newsworthy, we report it and, obviously,
0:06:11 > 0:06:13some of his retweets are newsworthy as well,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16as was the case when he retweeted Britain First.
0:06:16 > 0:06:17Yes.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21One of the main criticisms we also get is that coverage is too focused
0:06:21 > 0:06:25on him personally and negatively and you mentioned
0:06:25 > 0:06:27his diplomacy via Twitter, well, the policy with North Korea
0:06:28 > 0:06:29arguably seems to be bearing fruit.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31You know, the economy is doing well
0:06:31 > 0:06:35and has the BBC been too negative?
0:06:35 > 0:06:37I think we've made the point in recent times
0:06:37 > 0:06:40that it does seem that that tough stance towards North Korea
0:06:40 > 0:06:41has borne fruit.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43You know, you've had the North Koreans taking part
0:06:43 > 0:06:47in the Winter Olympics, for instance.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51I think at the year anniversary, we stressed how well
0:06:51 > 0:06:53the economy is doing right now.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Look, I think it's really important to tell all of the story
0:06:56 > 0:06:59of the Trump administration and, often, you get a very different view
0:06:59 > 0:07:01in Washington, where I am today, from New York
0:07:01 > 0:07:02or elsewhere in the country.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06And there, there are an awful lot of people who think that what
0:07:06 > 0:07:07Donald Trump is doing is absolutely great
0:07:07 > 0:07:09and they sent him to Washington
0:07:09 > 0:07:12to disrupt Washington and he's doing just that and I think that's
0:07:12 > 0:07:13an important part of the story.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15From the point of view of British viewers, perhaps
0:07:15 > 0:07:17it's unfair to ask you, sometimes they feel that
0:07:18 > 0:07:19Trump and what he's doing
0:07:19 > 0:07:22or saying or what his supporters are saying and thinking gets
0:07:22 > 0:07:25an awful lot of airtime and I know that your job
0:07:25 > 0:07:28is to provide news and you don't make all the editorial decisions,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31but do you get a sense that Trump is maybe sort of taking over
0:07:31 > 0:07:34the news agenda more than he should because he is,
0:07:34 > 0:07:36dare I say it, entertaining?
0:07:36 > 0:07:39Look, I think that's one of the great challenges of covering
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Donald Trump is that he does tend to set the agenda
0:07:41 > 0:07:43an awful lot with these early morning tweets.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45I do think there is, you know, legitimacy
0:07:45 > 0:07:48in the criticism that, you know, we can be a little bit
0:07:48 > 0:07:50to reactive to some of the tweets
0:07:50 > 0:07:54and that we should be setting our own agenda
0:07:54 > 0:07:55and following our own path.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57And we do try and do that.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00You know, one of the things that I've been keen to do recently
0:08:00 > 0:08:03is to show the effectiveness of the Trump administration in many ways.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06I mean, it has set about a very ambitious deregulatory programme
0:08:06 > 0:08:07and, in many ways, it has achieved that.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Trump has seemed to come across as more
0:08:09 > 0:08:11conciliatory in tone in recent weeks.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14You know, in Davos, the State of the Union address.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Is there a sense that the BBC might have failed to
0:08:16 > 0:08:18recognise that in its reporting of him?
0:08:18 > 0:08:20I don't think so.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Watching the coverage of the State of the Union address,
0:08:24 > 0:08:29I think that point was made, that Trump did make some
0:08:29 > 0:08:31conciliatory moves on immigration.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35But at the same time, I mean, that speech was a highly partisan speech.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38This is going to be a highly political and a highly partisan year
0:08:38 > 0:08:41because the mid-term elections are coming up in November
0:08:41 > 0:08:44when the make-up of Congress will be decided again.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48The politicisation of virtually everything is going to be
0:08:48 > 0:08:52a feature of this year.
0:08:52 > 0:08:54On the media, President Trump, it's very clear,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56has been very aggressive towards the news media, the ones
0:08:56 > 0:08:59that he doesn't like or appears not to like, including the BBC.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01How have you been dealing with that?
0:09:01 > 0:09:02Practically, how does it affect you?
0:09:02 > 0:09:05Well, Donald Trump almost declared war on the media
0:09:05 > 0:09:06from the very get-go.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09I mean, his initial sort of onslaught was about the media's
0:09:09 > 0:09:11reporting of that inauguration crowd.
0:09:11 > 0:09:13You probably remember that on the first full
0:09:13 > 0:09:14day of his presidency.
0:09:14 > 0:09:16He has described the media as enemies of the people,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20he keeps on saying that a lot of the media is fake news.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24You know, my view is that it's a mistake for the media
0:09:24 > 0:09:26to sort of declare war back.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29You know, I just think we should be doing our jobs and we should just be
0:09:29 > 0:09:32reporting on the facts and we shouldn't be drawn
0:09:32 > 0:09:35into that kind of combat and that kind of battle.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37We should just do what we have always done
0:09:37 > 0:09:40with presidents of the United States,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43whether they are Democrat or whether they are Republican.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Nick Bryant, thank you so much.
0:09:46 > 0:09:53Finally, on Thursday, LT Greenwood contacted us to ask:
0:09:59 > 0:10:02That question was prompted by a report from Nina Warhurst about
0:10:02 > 0:10:05former Chancellor George Osborne's call for more funding
0:10:05 > 0:10:08for the Northern Powerhouse project.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Six years old and the future mapped out.
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Children in Darlington do well at primary level, but come GCSEs
0:10:13 > 0:10:23and getting jobs, their life chances slide dramatically.
0:10:24 > 0:10:26If building a powerhouse means making the North
0:10:26 > 0:10:28a global economic force, something isn't quite adding up.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Today, this former Chancellor was hitting out
0:10:30 > 0:10:33at the current one.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37The Government says it has stepped up by
0:10:37 > 0:10:38increasing investment,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41but they're also pleading for
0:10:41 > 0:10:43increasing investment, but they're also pleading for patience.
0:10:43 > 0:10:44It's a complicated equation.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46More Government money plus more business
0:10:46 > 0:10:49investment could equal 850,000 new jobs in the north by 2050.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53But can the maths add up?
0:10:53 > 0:10:57LT Greenwood's email to us went on:
0:11:32 > 0:11:34Thanks for all your comments this week.
0:11:34 > 0:11:37If you want to share your opinions on BBC news and current affairs,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39or even appear on the programme, you can call us on
0:11:39 > 0:11:450370 010 6676 or email.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48You can find us on Twitter @newswatchbbc, and do have a look
0:11:48 > 0:11:49at our website.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54The address for that is bbc.co.uk/newswatch.
0:11:54 > 0:11:55That's all from us.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57We'll be back to hear your thoughts
0:11:57 > 0:11:58about BBC News coverage again next week.
0:11:58 > 0:12:08Goodbye.