Joining us. Thank you very much. This is bbc news the headlines there are reports that not enough republican members of the house support the new bill that would replace obamacare. The westminster Attacker Police make two more arrests as they try to find out if Khalid Masood was working alone. A £50 billion bill for the uk to leave the eu the head of the European Commission puts a price tag on brexit. Now its time for newswatch, with samira ahmed. Under the spotlight this week, coverage of the attack in westminster. Hello and welcome. Two big issues on the programme this week. Bbc news Programmes Decamp To Westminster near the site of wednesdays attack, was this the scale and response that the attacker might have hoped for . Did coverage of martin mcguinnesss death focus too much on his role as a peacemaker and not enough on his ira past . From early wednesday afternoon millions have watched what unfolded in westminster with a sense of shock and revulsion, and for some there was also concern about whether there was also concern about whether the huge Media Attention paid into the huge Media Attention paid into the hands of those who would support this outrage. Played. We are going to update you on an ongoing incident going on at the palace of westminster. We were treated to nothing more than an often repeated sequence of 3 4 events that happened, interspersed with speculation, and then the event repeated and then more speculation. Bbc, you can do better than this, repeating things over and over again, highlighting the terrorism, isnt that exactly what the terrorists want . I rather suspect it is. His views were echoed by many other viewers, and of course a degree of repetition and speculation is inevitable in the initial reporting of an event of this kind, but other viewers objected to the choice made by bbc news to broadcast extensively since the attack not from its usual studios, but from the streets of westminster near the scene of the crime. The news at ten, on wednesday, the thursday news and Victoria Derbyshire that day and much of the channels out but also mounted outside broadcast, which some felt could have disrupted the police work and was also different to the carry on approach which was encouraged by the Prime Minister. Why did the anchor s have to run the programme from an empty street, reading from a makeshift prompt . Why we re reading from a makeshift prompt . Why were their repeated visits to reporters outside hospitals . Who had nothing to report. All of this served to dramatise the situation adding nothing to the quality of the coverage. But giving maximum exposure for the terrorist. Apart from reporting facts and showing respect for victims, the day after an attack like this should be handled like any other day. If the programme had been run from the studio, with some time allocated to other news, the bbc would have shown that normality had not been disrupted by the incident. Instead you chose to show the terrorist, and what a big impact they can have. To discuss how bbc news has covered the attacks and joined by gavin allen, the bbc controller of news programmes. It was a terrible attack, and viewers are say, what was to be gained by all of these outside broadcasts, given there were no further developments. There were further developments on the morning after, for instance, and it remained after, for instance, and it remained a situation which was unfolding and there was a minutes silence about to happen and mps were coming back for a special statement by the Prime Minister later that morning. It is partly about the nature of news, and to be ata partly about the nature of news, and to be at a location, where something has happened, you do get a better understanding as a journalist, rather than when you are sitting at a desk, and it conveys to the audience that this is a major event and this will have a huge impact on the uk. There is a concern about co pycats. The uk. There is a concern about copycats. I dont think responsibly reporting what has happened is encouraging people to repeat it. We are very aware of the responsibilities we have but we are also aware that there are millions of people out there, who want to know what actually happened, not just what is being speculated on and what they think might have happened or the rumours. They come to the bbc to understand what is actually a curving and that is ourjob. Lets be realistic, this was a huge event and there is going to be publicity for the terrorists in this case, because everywhere, social media, every news organisation, is going to cover it, and the responsibility for the bbc is to make sure that the way we cover it and the precision with which we cover it is absolutely accurate so you get the information you need without overly sensationalising it. There were many images of the dead and dying and injured and many people thought this was intrusive. I would quibble with that. There were images across this week in the newsroom and in newspapers, and on air, but we take great care to think what ill be conveying with this image and there are images which we did not show what are we conveying. In terms of conveying and try to understand for the audiences site what has happened and the severity of what has happened, but not to overflow into insensitivity and imaging on the dignity of the injured and the dying and sadly in the case of the dead, theirfamily, dying and sadly in the case of the dead, their family, that dying and sadly in the case of the dead, theirfamily, that is important. Pc keith palmer died and people will take that as an example of intrusive coverage. We were very careful not to show many of those images, but we tried to show the scene and a more general generic sense of people gathered around him trying to save him. Again it is the balance, this is an event which has happened. People said they saw the bodies of people who were severely injured or possibly dead. The fact they did not necessarily see their faces does not make it accept will. It makes a difference, and if you see a crowd of people around someone who was injured, that is different from seeing the person who is injured and the injury, and that is a big difference, but in fairness it isa a big difference, but in fairness it is a precise line. You have got to make a judgment and that is why devon broadcasters and different organisations have come to different judgments. Different broadcasters. You did have a lot of repetition after the attack with not much in the way of facts and some viewers feel that this kind of coverage is adding to a sense of panic unnecessarily. I dont think it does, people come to the news channel to find out what is the latest news, how long they stay for it is up to them but it varies, but if you come in you want the news insta ntly, if you come in you want the news instantly, so there will be repetition, and at any minute there could be an update, and what we tried to do is to make sure that every bit of that information was conveyed clearly and accurately and not to speculate and i think we achieved that fairly well. Thank you. We will talk about the next issue. That was not the only big controversy, martin the business, a former ira leader who played a significant role in the Northern Ireland Peace Process, becoming Deputy First Minister after that martin mcguinness. But for many viewers the bbc focus too much on the latter part of his life and not enough on the former. We have this phone message. It is unbelievable what the bbc have done, with praise, praise, praise, for a butcher, an absolute butcher of a person. Other viewers objected to the scale and the tone of the Coverage Including Des Murphy who sent this e mail. Gavin is still in the studio. The main charges at the bbc glossed over his serious past as a senior ira commander and that was not a cce pta ble commander and that was not acceptable if you were trying to be balanced. It would have been not a cce pta ble balanced. It would have been not acceptable if we had glossed over that part of his life, but we didnt. It was very clear in the interviews we did and the packages we ran that we were conveying someone we ran that we were conveying someone who yes, in the second half of their life was a senior politician and a negotiator for the Peace Process, but in the early half was absolutely clearly involved with the ira and was responsible directly or indirectly for a number of deaths and we could not have glossed over that. We had hundreds of complaints and they said it was not given enough attention, the terrorist past, and the interviews with Tony Blairand past, and the interviews with tony blair and bill clinton were paying tribute to the Peace Process and complaints to and criticisms were further down the order. Complaints to and criticisms were further down the orderlj complaints to and criticisms were further down the order. I can think of many examples when we had the voices of relatives of victims, and people such as norman tebbit, who we re people such as norman tebbit, who were clear in their utter condemnation and loathing of someone they described as a cow would. And they described as a cow would. And the world is a sweeter place, and we we re the world is a sweeter place, and we were clear there was an utter hatred of martin mcguinness, but there was also a reverence for him by others and we had to make sure that this is and we had to make sure that this is a very complex person, hated on one side and laughed on another and we have got to convey that is who he was. The bbc can be accused of being too reverential when it comes to an Obituary Forfear of too reverential when it comes to an obituary for fear of causing offence. That is a danger of all obituaries, not just the offence. That is a danger of all obituaries, notjust the bbc, you tend to accentuate the positive when people have died, but we tried to be as balance as we could be here, but in principle, it is incredibly important that you convey a persons life with an obituary, notjust a sensitivity towards relatives and the moment that hes died. We had hundreds of complaints from people who are very angry and who said the bbc did not give enough attention to martin mcguinnesss terrorist past. What i would say to them, one of the images of this week that stays with me about martin mcguinness, the first minister, arlene foster, going to the funeral yesterday, as a member of the dup party, at the funeral of a former ira commander, and that is a pretty extraordinary juxtaposition of someone who should Bea Juxtaposition of someone who should be a sworn enemy but recognises this is quite complex and i dont underplay in anyway the fact that as i say people hated this man. But it is thejob at i say people hated this man. But it is the job at the bbc to represent the totality of somebody and the views across the board of that person. Gavin allen, thanks for joining us. Thank you for your comments this week. Please share your opinions on bbc news by calling us or your opinions on bbc news by calling us or e mailing us. We also on twitter. Have a look at the website for previous discussions. That is all from us and we will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc News Coverage next week. Goodbye. The weather is the king great this week in, these guys will be clearing pretty much everywhere through the course of the evening and overnight is course of the evening and overnight is looking great. It will be a chilly night. This is the High Pressure that will stick around through the whole of the weekend. In the centre of the high it is without any wind, and there will probably be some starry skies and some mist and fog, like in the vale of york. Outside of town, first thing saturday morning, it could be as low asli saturday morning, it could be as low as 4 degrees, but for most saturday has a beautiful start, with some sunshine, and then we are in for a cracking day with plenty of sunshine, and still a bit of a breeze around the south east. Feeling chilly closer to the coast, but some areas will warm up inland to around 16 celsius. Sunday fairly similar, Western Areas the best of sunshine, further east, variable amounts of cloud, but not bad. This is bbc news. Im martine croxall. The headlines at 8 00 the westminster Attacker Police make two more arrests, as they try to find out if Khalid Masood was working alone. Four people are still being questioned, while seven have been released, one on police bail. In the us, President Trump is battling to get his new healthca re bill through congress. And sportsmen and women join Industry Insiders in ten minutes, for a bbc debate on the state of british sport. Theres confusion in washington tonight, after Republican Party leaders in congress postponed a vote on President Trumps
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