09/03/2018 Newswatch

Now on BBC News, Samira Ahmed

presents this week's round-up

of audience reaction on Newswatch.

Hello and welcome to Newswatch,

with me, Samira Ahmed.

The attempted murder of a double

agent on British soil,

did BBC News report it

proportionately and fairly?

And was the Oscars ceremony

an excuse for trivial gushing over

celebrities or a welcomed

dose of glamour?

The week began with some news

that could have come

from a John le Carre novel,

described here at the top of

Monday's News at 10 by Fiona Bruce.

A former Russian spy is critical

in hospital after a suspected

poisoning in Salisbury.

Sergei Skripal, convicted of spying

on Russia for the UK,

has been living in Britain

for nearly eight years.

Police in protective clothing have

sealed the area after the Russian

and a young woman were found

unconscious on a bench.

We'll bring you the latest,

as police and doctors race

to establish if this is another

example of a Russian

being poisoned on UK soil.

That last suggestion of Russian

involvement was examined many

times during the week,

but without any conclusive

proof being put forward,

and that prompted one Twitter user

to complain that...

Evidence of Russian involvement

wasn't the only thing lacking.

Despite plenty of airtime

being devoted to the story,

actual news developments

were slow to emerge.

A viewer called John e-mailed...

Meanwhile, Mike Barnes had

a different point to make.

If some thought there should be

a presumption of innocence

for Russia over the nerve agent

attack, then for others the same

was true of Bradley Wiggins.

The Olympic gold medal winning

cyclist was found by a House

of Commons Select Committee

on Monday to have crossed an ethical

line in taking asthma drugs

to enhance his performance.

Richard Conway reported

on the story for the News at 6.

He is a sporting icon,

a Tour de France winner

and Britain's most decorated

Olympian, but a damning report has

accused Sir Bradley Wiggins of

unethical behaviour over his use

of drugs that MPs say were taken

to boost performance and not

just for medical need.

John Sheffield got in

touch with us to say...

Now, the main purpose of BBC News

is to inform its audience,

but is there such a thing

as too much information?

That was the charge that's been made

over the past week by viewers

of the BBC News Channel,

some of whom were watching

the Prime Minister's speech

about Brexit last Friday,

and found their eyes

drawn to the right side

of the screen, as we look at it.

We are clear that as we leave

the EU, free movement of people

will come to an end,

and we will control

the number of people who come

to live in our country.

But UK citizens will still want

to work and study in EU countries,

just as EU citizens will want to do

the same here.

There's quite a lot going

on on the screen there,

the breaking news banner

with the description

of what Theresa May is saying,

the scrolling ticker below that,

summarising other news stories,

tweets reacting to the speech,

oh, and the speech itself.

Susan Rowe was one of those

who found it all too much.

The live speech reaction panel

and the right-hand side

of the screen, with random comments

from journalists political

commentators rendered it almost

impossible to concentrate

on the contents of the speech.

There was already comment

at the bottom of the screen.

Please give the British public

the chance to listen and watch

without being constantly interrupted

by random comments from all

and sundry, which pretty much

repeat each other anyway.

The practice of splitting the screen

in this way is also used

during the live broadcast

of Prime Minister's Questions,

and last week James Turner objected

to the presence of this tweet

from Carrie Symonds,

who was the Conservative Party's

Director of Communications.

A fact not made clear on air.

And after this week's PMQs

Adrian David also thought...

Do let us know what you think

of those tweets appearing on screen,

added value or just a distraction?

If you think it's the latter,

you may like to know that

Prime Minister's Question Time

is shown not just on the news

channel, but also on BBC Two,

where it appears full frame,

without tweets running

along the side.

There will be details

of how to contact us

at the end of the programme.

Sunday night saw the big night

of the year for the film industry.

Some love watching

the Oscars for the glitz,

the outfits, the drama.

For others, as we will see,

the appeal is not so great.

For Breakfast on Monday morning,

Rebecca Jones is outside

the post-ceremony Vanity Fair

party collaring some of

the night's winners.

Yes, morning everyone

from Hollywood.

I have a great British

success story here,

and the headline reads for itself.

From Hollyoaks to Hollywood -

I've got the winners of the best

short film for The Silent Child,

Rachel Shenton, Chris

Overton, from Britain!

Show us your Oscars.

Yes.

And they've already got your name

is already engraved on them.

David Baker also felt the BBC's news

values were wrong on Monday morning.

And Rosemary Smith agreed.

On Tuesday, BBC News reported

on calls from public health

officials for Britain to go

on a diet.

Health editor Hugh Pym set up

the numbers for the 6

and 10 o'clock bulletins.

Here's the obesity problem.

A child's diet might include

breakfast with nearly 500 calories,

a packed lunch with more than 1000,

an after-school snack at around 250,

and pasta and a pudding for dinner,

with more than 800 calories.

But that's nearly 600

above the recommended limit

for children, which is like eating

an extra meal a day.

Most television reports on obesity

like this one show footage

of the bodies but not the faces

of overweight members of the public.

One news watch viewer,

a medical doctor who preferred

to remain anonymous,

e-mailed us recently with his

thoughts about that practice.

Hugh Pym was also on the air

on Thursday with some statistics

about what has become a familiar

story this winter,

about cancelled nonurgent surgery

in English hospitals.

Figures out today reveal the scale

of the cancellations.

In December, there were nearly

27,000 fewer routine operations

carried out in England than the same

month a year earlier.

In January, there was

a drop of nearly 14,500.

And for the most recent two week

period, bed occupancy

in hospitals at more than 95%

was the highest this winter.

Steve Gordon wrote to

us with his reaction.

Finally, Andy Cross is a keen

watcher of BBC News programmes

but has a frustration he shared

with us recently.

He recorded this video to explain.

Could you please explain the logic

of scheduling news programmes

at the same time on different

channels every night?

I watched the News at 10 on BBC One,

and then I'm invited

to either watch my local news

or turn over to Newsnight, starting

at the same time on BBC Two.

As someone who enjoys news

programmes, it's so frustrating

to have to either choose between two

programmes or record one for later,

especially as there's always

a taster of what's to come

on Newsnight given at

the end of the news.

Newsnight has testimonies

from the women at the centre.

If this is two competing channels,

I'd completely understand,

but they're both BBC.

To add insult to injury,

Question Time then competes

with Newsnight every

Thursday as well.

Don't BBC One and BBC Two

talk to each other?

And why only on the

later programming?

BBC Two offers an alternative

to the News at Six.

The later scheduling is a pain

to everyone, really.

If you like news programmes,

you can't watch them all,

and if you don't like news

programmes, you can't

get away from them.

It's very frustrating.

Thank you for that.

And to all of those who got

in touch with us this week.

We welcome all your opinions on BBC

News and current affairs

and broadcast as many as we can

whether sent in by e-mail,

telephone or video.

You can leave a message

on our phone line...

Or send us an e-mail...

You can also post your

views on twitter...

And do have a look at our website,

where you can watch any programmes

we've made over the past year.

That's all from us, we'll be back

to hear your thoughts about BBC News

coverage again next week.

Goodbye.