16/02/2018 Newswatch

And we know the BBC has new graphics

for its weather service,

so why did viewers get this

retro last Saturday?

First, Wednesday brought a sense

of sickening familiarity with news

of a mass shooting at a high

school in Florida.

A couple of hours later,

Jon Sopel described the scene

for the News at Ten.

Yet again those terrifying pictures

of children running for their lives

as an active shooter

is on the school premises,

running as fast as they can

to try to get to safety.

We understand the shooter

himself is in custody.

He is believed to be an 18-year-old

former student of this school.

He is now under arrest.

Over the next few hours it emerged

17 people had been killed

and BBC News provided plenty more

detail and reaction.

Too much for some viewers.

Here is Stephanie Johnson.

"We all understand how tragic

this latest shooting is.

What we were shown this morning

was completely unnecessary.

We do not need to see those poor

children shaking with fear.

It is just too much."

And C Hancock echoing that

asked: do we really need

such excessive coverage

of the latest shooting atrocity?

Does the BBC not realise that

by providing such coverage

we are giving the perpetrator

the publicity he craves?

There has also been harrowing news

leading the six o'clock bulletin

earlier this evening

after Mujahid Arshid had been found

guilty of murdering his neice

Celine Dookhran last summer,

and the attempted murder

of a second woman.

Denise Morley thought

some of the description

provided was inappropriate

for an early evening broadcast.

"You have just given a graphic

description of a murder and rape,

filling in all the details including

a throat being cut.

This is a family time and it appears

it is totally appropriate

in the BBC's judgment for children

to get a detailed account

of a rape and murder.

Is it me?"

Also on Wednesday, the BBC's

economics editor Kamal Ahmed wrote

online about the economic

performance of the European Union,

pointing out that growth

in the region was at levels not

seen since 2007.

Initially, the article had

the headline, "UK no longer shackled

to a corpse," a reference

of Kamal Ahmed later

pointed out on Twitter,

to a comment once made

by the Eurosceptic MP

Douglas Carswell, that Britain's

membership of the EU came

at a significant financial cost.

The headline was later changed,

but not before several readers had

tweeted their objections.

"Scandalous", once said.

"We were never shackled

to a corpse as you well know,

so why use this misleading headline?

The only court in question

will be the UK economy

of Brexit goes ahead."

And others wondered why

the phrase didn't have

quotation marks around it.

Here is Andrew Mell.

"The headline implies that the UK

economy was at one point

shackled to a corpse.

Many more people will read

the headline than the whole article,

even with the quote marks.

Someone glancing at the headline

is likely to read it

as an endorsement of that position."

We put those points to BBC News

and they told us: The headline has

been taken out of context.

The article made clear that EU

growth was strong and any previous

criticisms that the EU

was economically underperforming

was no longer correct.

In 2012, the eurozone was in

recession which led to the criticism

that it was economically a corpse,

a basket case and a failure.

That is what the headline

was referring to.

It was changed the following day

as the surrounding material had been

taken of the business front page

online whereas the blog

was still available.

We needed to make it clearer

what the blog was referring to."

A couple of weeks ago

viewer Russell Moore

contacted us on his thoughts

on

a practice he and others have

observed on BBC News.

Here is the interview

he recorded for us.

I would like to share my frustration

at what I call suggestive reporting.

The increasingly used BBC technique

of shouting accusing questions

at politicians as they walk

in and out of meetings.

Are you still in control

of your party, Prime Minister?

Of course the person has no

intention of answering or maybe has

not heard the question but that

does not matter.

We see the pictures,

we heard the accusation

and that is what sticks.

And in itself becomes the news

and a new truth to be repeated.

Do you want to be the Chancellor,

Foreign Secretary?

At best this is cheap, lazy,

sensationalist and of the tabloids.

At best this is cheap, lazy,

sensationalist and worthy

only of the tabloids.

At worst it can feel

like a deliberate technique,

using suggestion to plant ideas

into our subconscious and to get

the public to think and believe

in a particular way.

Are you confident of

staying in government?

It is the BBC's job to report

news, not to create it

and to reflect opinion,

not to deliberately manipulate it.

So please, BBC News,

stop doing this.

At the end of last week it emerged

that two British men believed to be

part of an Islamic State group cell

had been captured

by Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Andy Moore reported

on the story for BBC News.

Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee

Elssheikh, the two Britons captured

by Kurdish forces last month and

questioned by the Americans.

Together with Aine Davis

and Mohammed Emwazi they they formed

the kidnap gang that became known

as the Beatles, because

they were usually masked

and their captors could hear

only their British accents.

The reference to the gang's nickname

the Beatles annoyed some viewers.

"Why does the BBC insist

on glorifying the story

regarding the Islamic State

fighters, highlighting their infamy

as the Beatles gang just cements

them as gang members that young

troubled men may connect with.

They have been caught

and will spend a long time behind

bars when convicted, end of story."

And Clive Shaw agreed.

"This totally misrepresents a cell

of evil murderers and gives

the impression as a group of dashing

heroes while denigrating

of one of our most famous

and loved bands."

Over the past two years,

reports of sexual exploitation

and abuse by those in powerful

positions have hit institutions such

as parliament, the church,

the film industry, the world

of sport and the BBC.

On Saturday, the headlines

in the Times newspaper focused

on the charity sector.

Their investigation found that

in 2011, four members of staff

at Oxfam had been sacked and three

others resigned over charges

of using local women,

some underage for sex,

after the earthquake in Haiti.

Further revelations followed

and the BBC has been following up

the story with Angus Crawford

reporting on Sunday evening.

The government is now demanding

every charity receiving taxpayers

money disclose all past and current

cases of sexual misconduct.

A scandal affecting one

charity is now threatening

to engulf the entire sector.

The government has always

defended its budget by saying look,

we are spending it better,

we are making less fraud, less

waste, all those kind of things.

I think it is harder

for the government to make that

argument we have some Oxfam worker

spending taxpayers' money

on Caligula style orgies

with young prostitutes.

James Landale in the studio there.

Some viewers took exception

to the way the story was covered,

with one viewer, who preferred

to remain anonymous writing:

the fact that Oxfam dealt

with the case at the time was not

portrayed clearly at all by the BBC,

which also conveyed the message

about the 87 allegations of sexual

assault at Oxfam itself reported

in its annual report,

out of context.

It did not make clear that

because Oxfam has transparency

and safeguarding policy in place,

it voluntarily

published this figure.

Instead, it conveyed it

as if the media discovered

these allegations.

Anzac Rose made this point.

"A tiny number of Oxfam staff

behaved inappropriately in the past.

From this minuscule molehill,

and Everest has been made

by the populist press.

It is disappointing that the BBC has

joined the witchhunt.

A more balanced approach would have

pointed out the outstanding work

done by thousands of Oxfam

staff and volunteers."

And Grace Dalton echoed that in this

telephone message she left us.

I really feel that the BBC was not

anywhere careful enough to make

clear that this scandal relates

to a small number of people who no

longer work for Oxfam.

The report that was aired last night

said this one scandal

was threatening to engulf

the whole sector.

It is only threatening to engulf

the whole sector because the way

that media outlets like yourself

are reporting it.

I would not mind at all

of the government would stop

giving money to Oxfam,

but if people give less

to all foreign aid charities,

because the BBC makes it seem

as though foreign aid

is now to be associated

with sex scandals like this,

people will die.

Less aid money will be given

and people will die.

There was no one available from BBC

News to discuss those concerns,

but instead they gave us this

statement in response.

"This is a significant story

with disturbing revelations

about one of the most recognised aid

organisations in the world.

Oxfam International's executive

director has herself called

for those affected to come forward

to a new independent commission

and said the charity needs

to atone for the past.

Our coverage has reflected

the seriousness of the allegations

and examined the likely extent

of the problem in

and examined the likely

extent of the

problem in a responsible manner."

Finally, we discussed

on Maastricht's programme,

Finally, we discussed

on last week's programme,

the changes introduced to the BBC

television weather forecast.

Ahead of the BBC whether

the sophisticated new

graphics in operation.

So it was something of a surprise

for those watching BBC One

on Saturday evening seeing this

following the end

of the news bulletin.

Now we are going to take a look

at the weekend's weather.

There will be some heavy rain.

It will move eastwards this evening

bringing snow to northern hills.

After the rain clears

there will be strong winds

which will sweep in from the West,

bringing wintry showers.

And so it continued,

leaving Julie Juniper to ask,

where is the weather?

Just a picture of the UK

and a woman's voice for a minute.

Sian Evans was confused.

"Just watched the new BBC weather

forecast or was it a joke?

No presenter or map.

Better to listen to the radio."

And Sarah Horsley wondered

has somebody broken

the new BBC graphics already?

Was this decidedly low-tech approach

to deliver deliberate reversion

a 50-year-old style.

The BBC Press tam tweeted

this explanation.

This was simply a case of human

error due to the earlier

than normal BBC News.

Nothing to do with the new graphics

or any forecasting issues.

Thank you for your

comments this week.

We always welcome your

comments on BBC News.

If you would like them to be heard

or even to appear yourself,

you can telephone us or send

us an e-mail.

You can also post your

thoughts on Twitter.

Do have a look at our website

where you can watch previous

interviews and discussions

we have recorded.

That is all from us.

We will be back to hear

your thoughts next week.