02/09/2014 The Papers

tennis and the best of the day's reaction to the final football

transfers in Sportsday in 15 minutes after the Papers.

Hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing

us tomorrow. With me is the broadcaster Lynn Faulds Wood and the

president of YouGov, Peter Kellner. Tomorrow's front pages.

Many papers lead with the apparent murder of the American journalist

Steven Sotloff by Islamic State. Many papers lead with the apparent

murder of the American The Metro reports the militant's threat to

kill a British hostage next. The Daily Express calls it a

chilling new threat. The Daily Mail carries comments from

the Prime Minister who said the video is disgusting and despicable.

The Guardian notes the British accent of the jihadi on the footage

is the same as in the killing of James Foley.

The Independent pictures Steven Sotloff before his abduction last

year. As does the Scotsman, which also

features the criminal charges being dropped for Ashya's parents.

Another story leads the Financial Times. It says the prospect of a

close vote on Scottish independence is sending jitters through the City.

We must start with the story of Steven Sotloff, apparently a second

American journalist murdered in a video posted on the intranet. It is

interesting how the papers have decided to feature the story with

their cover photographs of `` Internat. The independent has a

photo of Mr Scott lost `` Independent `` Steven Sotloff. The

picture ranges from this nice photo to some horrible photos. It is

interesting to see the editorial decisions behind this. The Scotsman

shows him as the journalist, the man, and well done the Independent

for choosing to tell a horrible story in this way because some

images were so graphic you think they would appeal to the nasty side

of human nature. It plays into the recruiting element that this video

is fair to achieve. `` there to achieve. Most people don't go

looking at 6`8 papers so closely. I find it numbing. The horrible ones

or so horrible, they leave you gasping for understanding. In an odd

way, the front page of the Independent and the Scotsman is in

some ways more powerful because you see not a victim but a human being.

And, the life that has been lost. Not only have the Independent taken

a sensitive view, but actually, the front page I think has more in

packed than some of the more ostensibly gruesome images. I hope

so. These are a horrible people that are doing this, we know that, who

are asking the families for a enormous ransoms to spare the lives

of their children and they aren't these idealistic people who want

this Islamic State, they are thugs and we feed into their thuggery if

we show them brandishing knives and we give them the oxygen in

publicity. Let's bring up the Guardian front page if we can. The

BBC News channel has decided they won't show anything from the video

itself. Nothing more than a picture of Mr Sotloff himself. This is the

front page of the Guardian. Why do you think the Telegraph has used a

more graphic picture? I don't know. Maybe it sells papers. I don't want

to buy a paper with a man wielding a knife. I feel I am helping to...

There are hard judgements to make because we have both been

journalists for a number of years and I don't think on this situation

that editors and news editors take the decision which will send the

paper flying off the shelves tomorrow morning. They might on

other occasions but this time I think they are making... They are

wrestling with a difficult judgement as it were to get the full truth,

which is the horror and the knife, or finding another way to tell the

story that is less brutal and perhaps if you take the view of the

Independent, they don't want to play into the hands of the Islamist

agenda. I don't think there is a clear right or wrong I just refer

the Independent's approach. I am not sure the Telegraph are doing it to

sell copies. I think they have the view that I disagree with. It is a

powerful and legitimate front page. I think the jihadis use these videos

for recruitment. One paper has studied them carefully and think

these people have been killed on the same day at around the same time

because all of the backgrounds are the same, the filming is the same,

the editing is the same. It is quite likely that the British hostage is

also now dead and there are another 20 hostages there that... Western

hostages. The Times mentions about the British hostage who isn't being

named by British media at the request of family but has been

identified by the international press. As far as I can tell, they

named him in tomorrow's papers, the name is out there, it is no secret.

This is a judgement of taste, decency and respect for the family

as much as anything. There is the question of the photos, the naming,

and anyone who says there is an absolute right or wrong way to do

this and some papers have it right and others don't, I am jolly glad I

am not having to decide the front page the night. Any suggestion of

other hostages being killed is speculation, we don't know. It does

look quite possible. Working in TV, if something looks the same in every

shot, it is likely it was done at the same time. The front page of the

Guardian, again, Spanish judge frees Ashya King's parents from jail after

a U`turn from prosecutors. This is an extraordinary saga. We reported

minutes ago with the hospital bringing out a statement. The story

isn't over. I have a feeling there are a feeling there are labourers to

the story that we don't know. What we do know is that the Crown

Prosecution Service went for the parents and they have now pulled

back. We also know that David Cameron and Nick Clegg and the

Guardian leans into this, say they shouldn't be prosecuted. In terms of

the substance, my sympathies are with David Cameron and Nick Clegg,

in terms of process, it worries me. I don't think politicians should

tangle themselves with legal decisions even if the politicians

are right and their lawyers are wrong. This is slippery slope

territory. Although I am glad the case has been pulled back, and I

support the sentiment expressed by the Prime Minister and his deputy, I

feel queasy about the way... (CROSSTALK) there has been criticism

of the hospital involved in Southampton. Bafflement. We don't

know what went on. Not understanding. Not until you read it

out. The hospital has released a statement making it clear it was

concerned for the well`being of this five`year`old for a number of

reasons, for instance, because a power cable for the nasal gastric

tube used to feed the five`year`old had been left behind. It can work on

a battery but only occasionally. The child still seems to be OK. Yes, but

if you are a hospital trust, will you take that chance? This is the

dilemma. They have known this for four or five days. It happened last

Thursday, was it? Why haven't we known any of this before now. Why

did they issue an arrest warrant, a terribly heavy pool to use to get

this family back. `` tool. Let's invert that. I don't know if we know

the truth. Supposing the hospital said, we disagree, but they are the

parents and supposing heavens above, he died, will we not be saying, why

were you so laid`back? I am not saying laid`back. Don't take a

sledgehammer. You and I have been through enough stories to know that

this kind of thing was probably a lot more to come out on both sides

and I am not going to... I don't want to rush to judgement. They now

say they are appealing for a second appealing `` opinion. There is no

right or wrong necessarily. They often have five options. With this

family... I have seen the data for Europe and Britain isn't great with

cancer. We have seen stories in the press about that. These parents

thought they could go elsewhere for a second opinion and better

treatment. The impression from the statement is that they were in the

middle of this discussion as to what the next course of treatment should

be and it seems according to the hospital that the conversation came

to an end. Why doesn't everybody stop talking about it? You parents

have suffered four or five days in prison, they have been handcuffed,

their trial has been without parents for several days, why do they stop

until the parents return to Britain, kept them together with

hospital and have someone sort out the truth. At the moment, we are

speculating. At the heart of it is a little boy. This information is

difficult to put in the public domain. Patient confidentiality. The

hospital felt it was backed into a corner and had to put this stuff out

there. It seems to be explaining the reasoning behind their actions. They

could have put some out. I think there have been mistakes made all

round and what the... The way they have resolved those mistakes was

heavy`handed. Let's move on to the Financial Times. Scots vote, fears

rattle City. I am sitting here, you are sitting there, we are looking at

this man, a man who can wipe billions of stock markets. With the

flick of a finger. I teased him about that earlier because I am

Scottish. But, I didn't mean it. Billions probably have been wiped.

It is the fact that the YouGov poll yesterday came out and suggested

that this rate is very tight indeed and YouGov has been Conservative

with the small seat in its predictions with the vote. Your

pollsters have changed things a little bit. The Scottish people have

changed it. We genuinely simply report what is happening. Since we

got figures yesterday morning, I have been speaking with people on

the ground, people with their ear to the ground who know what is going on

and everyone says, yes, on the ground, they can tell it is

tightening. They can see that in working`class areas, traditional

Labour voters, as the poll suggests, have been switching in large numbers

from No to Yes. Alex Salmond has broken through on the issue of being

run by Tory London, dangers to the NHS, real or fantasy, that argument

is beginning to get... And, winning voters as well. To a small extent.

There is still a big gender gap. Until one month ago, men were

divided evenly between Yes and No, women were two to one on Yes to

know. It is now on balance. There is still a quite wide gender gap. If

you tie it back to the first story in Syria and Iraq, there is a gender

gap. Well you have a risky option, sending weapons into Iraq or

Scottish independence, men tend to be more in favour. Where it is

cautious, security, we aren't sure about this... Sensible women tend to

be on that side of the argument. It was happening with Afghanistan and

Libya. You are a Scot, explain why you think it is time. I left

Scotland and awfully long time ago. If you ask what I am, the first

thing I say is Scottish. Scottish people are very proud of being

Scottish. You get English people... This article in the Financial Times

has some quotes in it that will make the Scots go and vote Yes. You can't

tell the Scots what to do especially if you are English and especially if

it sounds like you are patronising. This is it because a lot of British

people are looking at the debate and thinking, all of this stuff about

not having the sterling, not being part of the union, the economy going

down the tube, the North Sea oil running out, all the economic stuff

is trumped by the heart. Is that what you are saying? I was speaking

with an oil man on Sunday who said there was lots of oil and there is

lots of gas in the North Sea, I love the Scottish line that we have to

keep our oil, we needed for our trips. The Scots can take the

proverbial apple themselves. They are basically the proverbial out of

themselves. We have three polls between now and polling day and I

think there is now a battle between momentum, which is clearly with

Yes, and something that often happens in referendums around the

world, at the last minute, people draw back from change, looking over

the cliff edge, they think, I am not so sure about jumping off. I don't

know which of those impulses is going to win the day. There is a

rocky ride in the polls, possibly their financial markets, have a lot

of turbulence over the next few weeks. It started with the Scots

saying they thought they wouldn't get a fair deal. If they did some

horse trading, some earlier horse trading, it is too late now. They

would probably have said that it would do nicely. It has gone too

far. Put that on the table. That is one side of the debate. Probably

wasn't generous enough. It has been great having you in to look at the

stories behind the headlines. Many thanks. Stay with us on BBC News.

More at the top of the hour on the release of the video by Islamic

State militants claiming to show the killing of an American journalist

Steven Sotloff. Now, it is time for Sportsday.

Hello and welcome to Sportsday. I'm Nina Warhurst. Given a wildcard for

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