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All in positive territory tonight. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:00 | |
Now it's time for Newswatch,
with Samira Ahmed. | 0:00:00 | 0:00:02 | |
This week, BBC coverage
of child abuse in Telford | 0:00:02 | 0:00:04 | |
is under the spotlight. | 0:00:04 | 0:00:06 | |
Hello, and welcome to Newswatch
with me, Samira Ahmed. | 0:00:10 | 0:00:13 | |
Was the BBC too slow to report
claims that up to 1,000 children | 0:00:13 | 0:00:19 | |
in Telford may have been victims
of abuse by grooming gangs | 0:00:19 | 0:00:23 | |
of mainly Pakistani heritage? | 0:00:23 | 0:00:26 | |
And, as calls are made
for the Kremlin-backed TV station | 0:00:26 | 0:00:28 | |
Russia Today to be taken off the air
in Britain, should Question Time | 0:00:28 | 0:00:31 | |
have chosen one of its
presenters as a guest? | 0:00:31 | 0:00:34 | |
First, the nerve agent attack
on Sergei Skripal and his daughter | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
Yulia continued to dominate the news
agenda this week, raising many | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
questions for BBC News. | 0:00:44 | 0:00:48 | |
One was the extent to
which Theresa May's unequivocal | 0:00:48 | 0:00:52 | |
statement that Russia was culpable
for the attack should be taken | 0:00:52 | 0:00:55 | |
on trust or challenged. | 0:00:55 | 0:01:00 | |
Some members of the audience felt
the BBC had erred too much | 0:01:00 | 0:01:06 | |
in the former direction,
with Derek Culson writing... | 0:01:06 | 0:01:09 | |
And George Skinner agreed. | 0:01:14 | 0:01:17 | |
The Prime Minister announced
on Wednesday a number of measures | 0:01:24 | 0:01:27 | |
to be taken against Russia,
but not one that had been widely | 0:01:27 | 0:01:37 | |
to be taken against Russia -
but not one that had been widely | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
mooted, taking the television
station Russia Today | 0:01:45 | 0:01:47 | |
off the air in the UK. | 0:01:47 | 0:01:48 | |
The broadcaster is widely regarded
as a mouthpiece for the Kremlin, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
which made the choice of one
of the panellists on BBC | 0:01:52 | 0:01:54 | |
One's Question Time
a surprise to some people. | 0:01:54 | 0:01:56 | |
A broadcaster with the
Russian-funded TV channel RT, | 0:01:56 | 0:01:58 | |
and presenter of a weekly current
affairs programme on that | 0:01:58 | 0:02:01 | |
channel, Afshin Rattansi. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:02 | |
That guest booking was already
causing concern before the programme | 0:02:02 | 0:02:06 | |
went out on Thursday,
with Matthew Holbert tweeting... | 0:02:06 | 0:02:09 | |
And Dan watched the
programme and wondered... | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
It's not the first time journalists
from Russia Today have | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
appeared on BBC News,
and we asked the BBC whether it was | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
appropriate for them to do so. | 0:02:30 | 0:02:32 | |
They told us... | 0:02:32 | 0:02:34 | |
The Russian theme continued that
evening, as Newsnight on BBC Two ran | 0:02:53 | 0:03:00 | |
an item which irked some viewers,
not so much for its content | 0:03:00 | 0:03:03 | |
as for the studio background. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
Did Jeremy Corbyn misread the mood
of his party in the Commons | 0:03:05 | 0:03:08 | |
yesterday when he refused to point
the finger at Russia? | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
Last night, a group of Labour
backbenchers said it unequivocally. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:20 | |
They accept the Russian state's
culpability for the spy poisoning. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:25 | |
Some people felt the photograph
of Jeremy Corbyn in a Russian-style | 0:03:25 | 0:03:27 | |
hat surrounded by a red picture
of the Kremlin portrayed | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
the Labour leader as
a collaborator with Moscow. | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
Susan was one of them,
and recorded this video for us. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
I felt compelled to contact
you regarding the Newsnight | 0:03:34 | 0:03:36 | |
programme last night. | 0:03:36 | 0:03:38 | |
And the portrayal of
Jeremy Corbyn in some | 0:03:38 | 0:03:40 | |
kind of a Russian hat
next | 0:03:40 | 0:03:42 | |
to a portrayal of the Kremlin. | 0:03:42 | 0:03:45 | |
I feel that this is a very biased
depiction of the man, | 0:03:45 | 0:03:49 | |
and those more gullible in society
will absolutely associate Jeremy | 0:03:49 | 0:03:51 | |
Corbyn with Russia and Russians. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:59 | |
I'm only interested in justice
and honesty, and I don't | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
see any of that here. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:02 | |
Very disappointed. | 0:04:02 | 0:04:06 | |
Now, last weekend, the Sunday Mirror
said it had uncovered written | 0:04:10 | 0:04:18 | |
Britain's worst ever
child grooming scandal, | 0:04:18 | 0:04:24 | |
with claims that up to 1,000 girls
had been abused since the 1980s. | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
Over the next two days,
other newspapers followed | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
that up extensively. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:30 | |
But there was only limited
mentions on BBC News. | 0:04:30 | 0:04:34 | |
Scores of people wondered why -
with one of them, David, | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
leaving us this phone message
on Tuesday morning. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:40 | |
Hi, I woke up this morning
to the horrific stories | 0:04:40 | 0:04:42 | |
about the child abuse in Telford,
so I thought I'd go | 0:04:42 | 0:04:45 | |
on to the BBC app, | 0:04:45 | 0:04:46 | |
which I use regularly. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:47 | |
And lo and behold, there
was nothing about it. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:49 | |
You've got five stories
in the website. | 0:04:49 | 0:04:51 | |
There's one about pork pies
and one about the danger | 0:04:51 | 0:04:53 | |
of Chinese takeaways. | 0:04:54 | 0:04:55 | |
Are you going to cover this scandal? | 0:04:55 | 0:04:56 | |
The BBC was accused in the press
of ignoring the story, | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
and Adam Paulson agreed, writing... | 0:04:59 | 0:05:02 | |
Andrew e-mailed... | 0:05:11 | 0:05:14 | |
Well, on Tuesday, the Victoria
Derbyshire Show interviewed a victim | 0:05:27 | 0:05:29 | |
of child exploitation in Telford. | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
But it wasn't until Wednesday that
BBC One bulletins ran | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
a report on the subject,
from Sima Kotecher. | 0:05:34 | 0:05:37 | |
Night-time in Telford. | 0:05:39 | 0:05:44 | |
Recent reports say up to 1,000
girls could have been | 0:05:44 | 0:05:46 | |
sexually abused in the town | 0:05:47 | 0:05:51 | |
over the last four decades. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:56 | |
The police here say
at the moment they are dealing | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
with less than 50 cases. | 0:05:59 | 0:06:00 | |
For many, the BBC's reaction
was to little, too late. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:03 | |
Trevor Bell thought... | 0:06:03 | 0:06:07 | |
And Robert tweeted this question... | 0:06:07 | 0:06:12 | |
Well, let's put that
to James Stevenson, | 0:06:17 | 0:06:21 | |
the BBC's News Editor, | 0:06:21 | 0:06:23 | |
who joins me now. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:26 | |
Can we start with... | 0:06:26 | 0:06:27 | |
The story broke
in the Sunday Mirror. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:33 | |
When did the BBC national news think
it was worth reporting? | 0:06:33 | 0:06:35 | |
So, immediately we could see
that it was a good and strong piece | 0:06:35 | 0:06:39 | |
of journalism by the Sunday Mirror. | 0:06:39 | 0:06:41 | |
And it was widely covered
in our paper review on the Sunday. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
And we saw it was a story
that we needed to follow up, | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
and we began to do that. | 0:06:47 | 0:06:50 | |
As early as Monday morning,
the Victoria Derbyshire Programme | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
was leading its output
on this story. | 0:06:52 | 0:06:59 | |
And later that day, The World at One
interviewed the leader | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
of Telford Council to challenge him
about | 0:07:02 | 0:07:03 | |
what was going on. | 0:07:03 | 0:07:04 | |
Which is radio. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:06 | |
We quickly saw it was a story that
needed to be covered, | 0:07:06 | 0:07:08 | |
and that it needed our original
reporting effort to follow up, | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
and that's what we did. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:12 | |
We heard from a viewer who said
he used the news app. | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
I was wondering, when did
the story appear on the front | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
page of the website? | 0:07:18 | 0:07:19 | |
There was a story on
the website on Monday. | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
That was on the England index. | 0:07:21 | 0:07:22 | |
There were various developments
in the story as the week has gone | 0:07:22 | 0:07:25 | |
on, I'm sure you've seen
and the viewers have seen how | 0:07:25 | 0:07:28 | |
the story has developed. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:29 | |
So, the initial suggestion was that
possibly 1,000 victims. | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
That was based not on hard
information, but on an extrapolation | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
based on work with an academic. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:37 | |
So, we pursued it. | 0:07:37 | 0:07:38 | |
And we waited the story. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:39 | |
We look at it in depth. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:41 | |
It's probably worth saying,
to address your point directly, | 0:07:41 | 0:07:43 | |
that we're in the middle of this
huge spy drama and scandal, | 0:07:43 | 0:07:52 | |
the poisoning scandal in Salisbury,
and that's consumed a huge amount | 0:07:52 | 0:08:01 | |
of our airtime, as has
the death of Ken Dodd, | 0:08:01 | 0:08:04 | |
and then later in the week Stephen
Hawking. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:11 | |
Even in a busy news period,
this has been an exceptionally busy | 0:08:11 | 0:08:14 | |
news week, and we've tried to cover
the Telford story in the mix amongst | 0:08:14 | 0:08:17 | |
all of the other things
that we've been doing. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
Audiences would say,
a really busy news week, this | 0:08:20 | 0:08:22 | |
is a really important new story. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:23 | |
That's certainly true. | 0:08:23 | 0:08:24 | |
And I'd like to sort of challenge
an idea that I think probably | 0:08:24 | 0:08:27 | |
viewers might be left
with by the sequence | 0:08:27 | 0:08:29 | |
they've just seen. | 0:08:29 | 0:08:30 | |
This is a scandal that's been
unfolding in Telford over many | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
years, and we have been covering it
in great depth and with great | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
prominence during that time. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:37 | |
So, the Operation Chalice
brought to life the scale | 0:08:37 | 0:08:39 | |
of abusing in Telford. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:43 | |
There was then the criminal
prosecution, which saw seven men | 0:08:43 | 0:08:45 | |
being sent to prison
a few years ago. | 0:08:45 | 0:08:47 | |
So, we have consistently been
reporting this story as it's gone | 0:08:47 | 0:08:50 | |
along, and we've done
so again this week. | 0:08:50 | 0:08:58 | |
The TV bulletins are where millions
of people go expecting to be told | 0:08:58 | 0:09:02 | |
told what are the big,
important stories, and it wasn't | 0:09:02 | 0:09:05 | |
until Wednesday, three days later,
that there was a report | 0:09:05 | 0:09:07 | |
about Telford on the
national bulletins. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:08 | |
Why? | 0:09:08 | 0:09:10 | |
So, it was covered in brief
on the News at Ten on Tuesday night. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:17 | |
A 15-second read... | 0:09:17 | 0:09:19 | |
As I've explained, we've got a very
busy news period and there's | 0:09:19 | 0:09:24 | |
a limited number of
stories we can cover. | 0:09:24 | 0:09:28 | |
The reason it became a network TV
bulletin story on Wednesday was | 0:09:28 | 0:09:31 | |
because of partly our journalism. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:33 | |
So, we interviewed the police
in Telford, we interviewed | 0:09:33 | 0:09:35 | |
a social worker in Telford,
it was raised at prime | 0:09:35 | 0:09:42 | |
a social worker in Telford,
it was raised at Prime Minister's | 0:09:42 | 0:09:50 | |
Minister's Questions,
and the Prime Minister | 0:09:50 | 0:09:51 | |
reacted to it. | 0:09:51 | 0:10:00 | |
Even, as I say, in this busy
period, that obviously | 0:10:00 | 0:10:02 | |
deserved the attention | 0:10:02 | 0:10:03 | |
it got in the main TV
bulletins that day. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
You will know what BBC viewers
are saying, and we've had hundreds | 0:10:05 | 0:10:08 | |
of complaints into the BBC,
it's that it looked like the BBC | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
felt awkward giving
this story prominence | 0:10:11 | 0:10:16 | |
because it was about white victims
and Pakistani-heritage abuses. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
I know that's a view
that some people hold, | 0:10:18 | 0:10:20 | |
I really don't think it's the case. | 0:10:20 | 0:10:24 | |
We've done a great deal of coverage
of this area of abuse and this | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
terrible story in Telford,
but also elsewhere in the country. | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
The BBC has just won
a Royal Television Society Wward | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
for the excellent documentary,
incredible documentary, | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
about abuse in the north-east
of England based around Newcastle. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
That was the second story in the TV
news three weeks ago. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:40 | |
So, we've done a great deal
of work on Rotherham, | 0:10:40 | 0:10:45 | |
on a lot of this stuff initially,
when this terrible situation came | 0:10:45 | 0:10:48 | |
more fully to light. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:49 | |
So, we've certainly committed
to covering what is a harrowing | 0:10:49 | 0:10:51 | |
and terrible story, and we've done
it consistently over time. | 0:10:51 | 0:10:53 | |
You will know, as Newswatch
has debated it before, | 0:10:53 | 0:10:56 | |
but coverage of the previous
grooming scandals with this racial | 0:10:56 | 0:10:58 | |
element, viewers every time
feel the BBC runs shy | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
of reporting stories prominently. | 0:11:00 | 0:11:04 | |
Do you think the BBC needs
to have a rethink about how it runs | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
and reports on these stories? | 0:11:07 | 0:11:08 | |
No, I think we are doing the right
thing and I think we are very | 0:11:08 | 0:11:12 | |
determined to get to these terrible
and dark and difficult | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
stories, not just this one,
but across the whole range. | 0:11:14 | 0:11:18 | |
What I do think is true
to say is that before | 0:11:18 | 0:11:19 | |
the full nature and scale
of what was going on in Bodrum | 0:11:19 | 0:11:24 | |
and Rochdale and Oxford
and other places came out, | 0:11:24 | 0:11:27 | |
there was not as great
an understanding of how, you know, | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
profound a problem
and how deep this ran. | 0:11:31 | 0:11:32 | |
So, if you go back a decade,
I think you can definitely say this | 0:11:32 | 0:11:36 | |
story or this issue didn't get
the attention it probably | 0:11:36 | 0:11:40 | |
deserved at that point,
that is something everyone | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
has had to reflect on. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:43 | |
James Stevenson, thank you. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:44 | |
Thanks for your comments this week. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:50 | |
If you want to share your opinions
on BBC News, current affairs, | 0:11:50 | 0:11:53 | |
or even appear on the programme,
you can call us. | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
Or you can e-mail Newswatch. | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
You can find us on Twitter,
@NewswatchBBC. | 0:11:58 | 0:11:59 | |
And do have a look at our website. | 0:12:00 | 0:12:02 | |
That's all from us. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:03 | |
We'll be back to hear your
thoughts about BBC News | 0:12:03 | 0:12:05 | |
coverage again next week. | 0:12:05 | 0:12:06 |