From the world athletics championships to last weekends boxing extravaganza in las vegas in which Floyd Mayweather beat conor mcgregor. That contest led some news bulletins on sunday morning, prompting viewer jackie downs to complain there is no doubting the news value of Hurricane Harvey which landed in texas a week ago and has continued to cause huge damage as a storm and tropical depression with floods now spreading across louisiana. James cook was on the spot for bbc news on saturday. Hurricane harvey smashed ashore just a short time ago. Not very far from here, about 30 miles east north east of where we are standing here in corpus christi. Rockport is where it came ashore. The winds were said to be at 130 miles an hour according to the National Hurricane centre. That makes it a category 4 hurricane and an extremely dangerous storm. Christian hudson was concerned about the danger, asking many more viewers had a different concern about the coverage of storm harvey. The floods had displaced thousands of americans and the death toll so far stands at around a0. It is clear this has been a major natural disaster. But a much greater one has been taking place in the indian subcontinent. Monsoon rain in india, bangladesh and nepal has affected no fewer than 16 million people, killing 1200 so far. Although bbc news has covered this asian disaster, the amount of airtime it has been given is far less than that given to the floods in the united states. Heres what some of the audience felt about that relative lack of reporting from south east asia. Id like to know how the bbc decide which to cover and why the floods in america, which are less fatal, have been covered more than the floods in the asian subcontinent. Is it because there are more reporters there . Is it because it is easier access . Or is it because they are poor people or that the asian people dont matter as much . While what Hurricane Harvey has unleashed is truly catastrophic and i feel for the huge loss of lives and property, i was surprised to find the disproportionately low and somewhat superficial coverage of, for instance, floods in south asia. These places do not have the kind of coping mechanisms available, for instance, in the american scenario. But the coverage doesnt seem to be anything like the type of continuous blow by blow account that we seem to get off the american experience. Blow by blow account that we seem to get of the american experience. And it does raise questions of western medias euro american bias. To be honest we expect better from the bbc. Ive hardly seen any coverage of the flooding in southern asia. It seems that 20 people have lost their lives in texas and that was a tragedy, but it also seems over 1200 people have lost their lives in asia. Are their lives somehow less important than those of texans . Is that why you are giving it less coverage . Well, to answer those questions, im joined by paul royal, editor of the bbcs news at six and news at ten. Thank you forjoining us. You dont deny that storm harvey has received much more coverage in your news programmes than the floods in south east asia. There has been a lot of coverage of storm harvey over the last four or five days and over the weekend. Probably, in totality, more than the south asia floods. But, what needs to be made clear and its really important, bbc news and Bbc Television news covered the south asia floods in the middle of august from about august 13th onwards. What was going on in nepal. And then the bbc south asia correspondent reported for Television News on august 20th on bbc one sunday tea time and sunday ten 0clock news. We were in country reporting that story. We are currently in india at the moment reporting there today and over the weekend on the latest stage in these floods. Nobody is denying that you are covering it but when you look rather crudely at the casualties, around a0 killed from storm harvey, we are talking at 1200 and counting in south east asia. You know, viewers say this is an immense disparity and want to know why and they have suspicions. You heard david say, is it because more reporters are in the us and have easier access . It is true all the American Networks are going live and you can pick up their coverage very easily and at very little cost. There are two points. It is a factor in terms of accessibility and where resources are and things like that. It is easier to report there are still challenges. But it is easier to report. And everybody speaks english. It is easier in a practical and technical sense to report from somewhere like houston than it is from countries where you might need a visa or where practical access and getting to places is difficult. And takes days. It is much harder and involves more time and effort to get there. Nicola davenport, who we heard from, said, do you think asian lives are less important and texan lives . That is clearly not the case. Bbc news is known around the world. The news is respected and revered for its global News Coverage. We have reported from bangladesh. We are reporting from india. The other big flood story of the summer was in sierra leone, the lead story on the six 0clock news on the day it happened. The bbc one six 0clock news. Was on those bulletins, the six and ten 0clock news four days out five that week with a correspondent in sierra leone all week. That is not a broadcaster that only looks in one direction when it comes to News Coverage. The bbc expects you not to follow the rest of the market and do far more. They say that is not the case and they do believe it leaves an unfortunate impression that anything that happens in the states, in the west, you give more importance to perhaps because you feel that your audiences are more interested in that. Of course our audiences are interested in stories that happen in the uk, and america, and in western countries. What has happened in houston, in texas this week, is a big story. It is a once in a lifetime storm. I totally accept there are questions around proportionality and it is good that viewers and listeners have these concerns and raise these concerns. What i would say is this is not a broadcaster that only looks in one direction. Again, it is not a question of have you covered it, it is proportionality. Another aspect briefly in terms of the american coverage that some listeners and viewers have brought up, is the fact you seem preoccupied with how President Trump will handle it in terms of a pr sense, when what really matters now is what is happening on the ground. Are you slightly obsessed with President Trump and his tweets . I dont think so. Clearly the bulk of the reporting has been about what is happening to real people on the ground. There is a political story in terms of what happened with hurricane katrina, which was a very big and important story in modern americas history and whether President Trump would repeat some of the mistakes that were made in terms of dealing with that disaster. It is perfectly legitimate to cover that aspect of the story. It was one piece on the day that President Trump went to texas on tuesday. Finally, the last question. Clearly, the South East Asian crisis will continue though probably with a big Health Problem in bangladesh. Are you committed . We are committed. We are there right now and you will probably see Coverage Today and tomorrow on bbc news. Paul, thank you very much. Finally, i mentioned at the start of the programme that major news events do happen in august despite what some might think. One example is the death of Princess Diana which took place on the last day of that month in 1997. Thursdays 20th anniversary was marked by a number of tv programmes and news reports which were not appreciated by everyone. The bbcs obituaries editor described himself on social media this week as bored of the coverage, saying Brian Peacock was one of a number of viewers who seconded nicks sentiment. Thank you for all your comments this week and please keep them coming. If you do want to share your opinions on bbc news and Current Affairs or appear on the programme you can call us. Or email. You can find us on twitter do have a look at our website. That is all from me. Samir will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc News Coverage again next week. Goodbye. Hi there. Weve got some decent weather coming up to start the weekend. With High Pressure in charge, well have some sunshine to start the day on saturday. Mind you, some of you might have been woken in the night by the odd rumble of thunder. A few storms from lincolnshire, down through cambridgeshire, hertfordshire and essex, as well, all clearing out of away, and starting off then on saturday with relatively cool air in place. Temperatures 10 12 degrees in the towns and cities, but cooler than that out in the countryside, so certainly a chill in the air. Will be a fine start to the day, though, on saturday. I mentioned the High Pressure with us, that is going to bring some sunny spells. But the second half of the weekend will bring a change in the weather. Well have a bright start for many, but outbreaks of rain will work in from the west. Ok, here is saturdays weather forecast, and it should be a glorious start to the day, with clear blue skies for many of us first thing saturday morning. Into the early stage of the afternoon, there will be a little bit of cloud bubbling up, particularly across parts of southern and eastern scotland, eastern areas of england, and that cloud could bring one or two very isolated, light showers. But the vast majority will enjoy fine and dry weather. It will tend to cloud over, though, for western counties of Northern Ireland as we go through saturday afternoon, the breeze picking up here ahead of a weather front. But for england and wales, plenty of sunshine around, and in the sunshine, widely, well see temperatures climbing into the high teens to low 20s. The highest temperatures probably around london and the south east of england, at around 22 celsius, so very similar to what we had yesterday. It will feel pleasantly warm in that sunshine, but there are those isolated showers towards the coastline of essex and into parts of east anglia. Here is the charts from saturday into sunday. We lose this area of High Pressure. These weather fronts on the way. They will begin to show their hand as we go through the night time, with an area of rain working into Northern Ireland first, and then later in the night well start to see the cloud thicken, and outbreaks of rain arrive on strengthening winds across the south west, wales, the north west of england, and western parts of scotland, too. It will be a relatively mild night, though, as the clouds continue to work in, 12 to 15 degrees for saturday night. Here is the chart for sunday well, quite a different day. A bright start, yes, for eastern scotland and central and eastern england, but the brightness will not last. We will see the cloud thicken up, as this band of rain pushes its way east, with with one or two heavier bursts around. Even behind that rain, at will probably stay cloudy at times, before brighter spells come in. Temperatures between 15 and 19 celsius, so a cooler day. Monday will have a few spots of light rain and drizzle across western coasts and hills, and more persistent rain working into the north west. Despite the cloudy conditions, temperatures are not doing too badly, highs again about 22. Thats your weather. Welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. Im gavin grey. Our top stories celebrations in kenya, as the Supreme Court declares last months president ial election null and void. President kenyatta said he will abide by the decision. I personally disagree with the ruling thats been made today, but i respect it. A large fire is burning at a Chemical Plant in texas which flooded in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. The area has been evacuated. At least 1,400 people have now died after heavy monsoon rains across large parts of south asia. More than 500 people have died just