09/02/2018 Newswatch

And now it's time for Newswatch.

This week, we examine the changes to

the BBC weather forecasts.

Hello and welcome to Newswatch

with me, Samira Ahmed.

On the show...

How wise was it for a BBC reporter

to be following this

woman down a dark street?

And the BBC's weather

forecasts have had a makeover

but are they clearer or have

they made the picture more murky?

Tuesday marked 100 years since some

women receive the right to vote

and Breakfast marked the occasion

with an all-female line-up,

from the two main presenters

to sports and weather presenters

and a roster of women guests.

Some members of the

audience approved...

Thank you for a show presented

exclusively by women.

Well done.

But, she went on, what happened

to the usual black and minority

ethnic presenters that

are on the show?

And Iryna questioned the whole idea.

In doing this, the BBC is demeaning

women because it shows that

according to the BBC,

women get exposure because of their

gender, not ability.

Across BBC News that day,

the anniversary was recognised.

Kevin Jones applauded

the coverage as a whole but had

one major reservation.

Wednesday evening's

bulletins included a report

from Michael Buchanan about an NHS

Trust in Liverpool where according

to a report seen by BBC News,

patients had suffered unnecessary

harm because a senior leadership

team was out of its depth.

The chief executive at the time,

Bernie Cuthel, was tracked

down on the News at Six.

We tried to get

an interview with her.

Excuse me.

Bernie Cuthel.

BBC News.

We would like to talk to you about

Liverpool community health.

We just want to ask

you a couple of questions.

Are you a bully, Ms Cuthel?

Are you a bully, Ms Cuthel?

And as you can see,

Bernie Cuthel did not

want to answer any questions.

A later version of that report

for the News at Ten made it clear

that Bernie Cuthel had not responded

to two previous requests

for an interview.

But some viewers of the News at Six

were clearly unhappy

at what they had seen,

with Michelle Smith explaining why

in this video she recorded for us.

I was absolutely appalled

to see that the reporter

who wanted a comment

from her was chasing her down a dark

street, as she was walking alone,

shouting at her and running

after her, to get a quote,

asking her questions

like, are you a bully?

Well, in my opinion,

BBC, your reporter was

the bully in this case.

And it was absolutely unnecessary.

Well, we put that objection to BBC

News and they told us...

Please do let us know your thoughts

on anything we are covering

in the programme or on any aspect

of BBC News.

Details on how to contact us coming

up at the end of the programme.

Now, since its first radio

weather bulletin in 1922,

the data used for BBC forecasts has

been provided by the Met office.

But no longer.

Although the Met Office

will still work with the BBC

on severe weather warnings,

BBC now has a new weather

service provider.

Although the presenters

are the same, there is also

a new look seen online

on the weather app and from last

Tuesday, on television.

For that day's News at One,

Sarah Keith Lucas talked

through some of the changes.

Let's zoom into northern England

and in this example,

you can see quite clearly

the showers falling as rain but also

as snow over the higher ground.

And it is not only on the small

scale that things are changing.

But also on the global scale.

We can now look at satellite data

from right around the world,

we can also add on pressure fields

and frontal systems.

Well, some members of

the audience have responded

with enthusiasm like Adam.

But Paul Smith complained

of a lack of clarity.

Apart from the change from a brown

to green background,

some viewers detected a change

in the shape of the map,

with the new, longer,

thinner version giving more

space to Scotland.

Others objected to the increased

text shown on screen,

with Dennis Franklin writing...

Well, to answer that

question and others I'm

joined by Liz Howell,

the

head of BBC weather.

Thank you for coming on Newswatch.

People are saying it

wasn't broke, why did you

change the weather?

Well, under EU laws

we had to run a regulated

procurement process when our

previous contract ran out.

And quite simply,

Meteo Group was the best

fit.

In every respect.

And so that's why they were

awarded the contract.

So what are some of

the specific changes you've

made that will notice?

We're really excited

about some of these.

So we have realistic mapping,

so we can put roads

on their and urban areas

on there so we can show where

weather is affecting travel.

We have on the app

and on the website 14

days now of forecast data

for each hour of the day.

We have a feels like temperature,

which really tells

people what it's going to be

like when they step out the door.

We have a percentage chance of rain.

Alongside that now the forecasters

and presenters have far more

forecasting models available to them

than they ever had before.

Are they more accurate?

Well, we have, yes, we have more

high-resolution data.

And we have more

models to choose from.

The accuracy should go up.

People have got used to more

realistic mapping and that's what

we've introduced.

We've got a green map and we've

got a green earth in

the UK.

We got a flat map now which gives

a better proportion to the UK,

a more realistic proportion.

And people needed a more modern

and contemporary look,

actually they had got,

through audience research, they

had got slightly bored

with the brown map.

It looks like a reversion

to a flat earth.

Well, there are many

projections of the Earth.

Previously we had a tilted one

and of course some people

weren't happy with that.

But this is a projection people

are really comfortable with

in the sense they are used to it,

it's one you see on the news, it's

used in many other organisations.

Why are they saying

it's more skinny?

They've noticed it's different.

Well, it's just proportional.

It's more proportional

to the actual landmass of the UK.

We do get viewers

complaining about the

change of colour and the mapping

detail and that actually it looks

less clear, they would say.

Obviously we've only

launched a few days ago.

We've done a lot of audience

testing with this work.

We'll be listening

to audience feedback.

You might tweak it?

There are definitely

going to be tweaks to

this overtime.

Definitely.

Good, good, good.

A related point.

The size of the place names.

Tom Holt, who also happens

to be a lecturer in

glaciology, e-mailed us.

The label for Birmingham stretches

almost entirely across the Cambrian

Mountains.

He can't see the weather

for a huge stretch of Wales.

It's hardly a user-friendly.

People have different

opinions about labels and

towns and cities on the map so we've

had comments they are too small,

comments there are too many,

comments there are too few.

We've had comments

we shouldn't have any

town names on the map at all.

Maybe fewer.

Exactly.

That's one of the many options

people are writing into

us about.

Over the years News watch viewers

have often complained about

too much detail for whole parts

of the country they don't care about

because they don't live there.

How do you approach

that whole kind of

competing demand situation, giving

a national picture in the time you

have and give you enough local

detail for it to be useful?

We tend to go for the

bigger impact weather

and start there and make sure

people, where they are going to get

storms or snow, or whatever,

understand the impact and the

relevance of that for them.

We try to give something

for every nation

so somebody goes

away with something.

BBC weather is a catalogue

of services, so you have

the network service that

will give you the UK picture.

You can have a regional TV

service which will give

you a much more detailed picture.

Then the app which really

we've improved so much now.

We'll give you a very, very local

forecast for your postcode

each hour of the day.

Liz Howell, thank you very much.

Finally, we woke up

on Monday morning to some

big sports news.

Big enough at least to lead sports

bulletins and be the

lead story on the BBC sport website.

Yes, the Philadelphia Eagles had won

the Super Bowl for the first time by

beating the New England Patriot.

If that leaves you cold, or even

mystified, others, too, wonders why

an American sporting event had

achieved such prominence on British

television.

Here is David Gibbs.

I am a little perplexed

by the BBC's continuing

high profile interest

in

American football.

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...

E-mail Newswatch...

You can find us on twitter...

Do have a look at our website.

The address for that is...

That's all from us.

We'll be back to hear your

thoughts about BBC news

coverage again next week.

Goodbye.