one news programme in scotland gotjust 200 viewers. is that value for money? welcome to newswatch with me, samir ahmed. coming up, the scottish news show the seven was only created in 2019. we'll be discussing the challenge for bbc budgets. and did bbc news give as much coverage to south africa's genocide case in court last week as they did to israel's defense? and if not, why not? first, you may feel it's been going on for some time already, but this week the process of selecting who will be us president from next january properly started.

granted, we won't know the answer to that question until november the fifth, but on monday, iowa was the first state in which voters could choose who they thought should be the republican candidate. and their decision was pretty clear. like the cat that got the cream, or maybe the king regaining his crown. donald trump was practically inhaling the adoration. knowing he'd won support beyond his usual base, including women, college graduates and younger voters. but with a long time to go before we know who will be occupying the white house next. andy buck watched some of the extensive coverage this week and wondered...

and peter towers added... well, there will certainly be more coverage to come next tuesday, as that's when the second primary contest for the republican nomination takes place in the state of new hampshire. and next week, we'll be speaking to the north america editor for bbc news sarah smith. so if you've got any questions or comments you'd like to put to her, please let us know. now, in the wake of the attacks by hamas on october the seventh, has israel been guilty of genocide against the palestinians? that's the view of the government of south africa. and they've brought a case to that effect to the international court ofjustice, the top united nations court. lawyers present their argument at the icj in the netherlands on thursday of last week, and israel laid out its defense the following day. for the past 96 days, israel has subjected gaza

to what has been described as one of the heaviest conventional bombing campaigns in the history of modern warfare. the entirety of its case hinges on a deliberately curated, decontextualized and manipulative description of the reality of current hostilities. thousands of viewers contacted the bbc arguing that there was a disparity in the airtime given to those two sides of the argument, both as broadcast on the bbc news channel and in the live streams of the court proceedings provided on the iplayer. alexander whitlock, who got in touch with us.

and monika brettschneider asked... well, we asked the bbc for an interview on this subject, but no one was available. instead, they pointed us towards this statement.

almost five years ago, the bbc launched a new channel, bbc scotland, which had two dedicated news programmes as we covered on newswatch at the time, the nine running for an hour at 9:00 monday to thursday and the seven on four quarter of an hour earlier in the evening from friday to sunday. but now those programmes are themselves in the news. not in a good way. welcome to the nine. the times newspaper revealed that an addition of the nine last week attracted just 1700 viewers,

which it said was 0.1% of those watching television at the time in scotland. and there were even worse figures for the seven. one edition of the program was seen by only 200 viewers. given those audience numbers and given that bbc one in scotland already provides a dedicated daily news programme reporting scotland, some people wondered whether those two bulletins on the bbc scotland channel provided value for money. john ewing was clear in his view... our request for an interview on this was declined, but bbc scotland have said that taking viewing figures for one show at a certain time slot a certain period of the year doesn't represent the totality of the views. they added in a statement...

well, we can talk now to professor tim luckhurst, principal of south college durham university, and a former editor of news programs at bbc scotland. tim, the audience figures for i think particularly the nine and the seven seem extraordinarily low. were you surprised by how low? well, it was not a good time of the year to measure those audiences, so i suspect they were lower than they are usually. but the central point is that viewing for the bbc, scotland

channel's news programmes and indeed for the channel itself is well below expectation and illustrates the extent to which television in a digital world is a diminishing asset and one that the bbc needs to think very hard about investing in to the extent that it is invested in this separate new channel for scotland. so on the specific figures, the bbc points to the weekly reach, which they say is much higher. so that's people who tuned in for at least a couple of minutes and that's more like 106,000 for the nine. and they emphasise the importance of online views. does that make it better? i think that the figure of 6000 across the week would be regarded as extraordinarily small audience for a mainstream television program, and i regard that as very small reach. it is fewer copies than the scotsman used to sell when i was editor and fewer copies than the scotsman used to sell in scotland alone. ignoring our london edition now,

given the competition, that really does suggest that bbc scotland's news programmes on television are not reaching an audience which justifies the investment that they cost in licence fees. right. well, the argument was that scottish viewers should have a channel of their own with its own focused news programmes, even if they attract small audiences. do you think that principle is wrong for the uk's public service broadcaster? i don't think it's wrong at all. but bbc people in scotland do have a dedicated channel. it's called bbc radio scotland and having been in charge of that excellent radio stations, news programmes, i know that audiences for its radio shows in morning, lunchtime and in the afternoon reach very substantial audiences and are very highly valued by people in scotland. the bbc faces intense competition on television. if it's going to spend money on its television output, i believe it should focus it entirely

on reporting scotland, the main national television news bulletin one and recognise that the separate bbc scotland channel is really a very expensive white elephant. should they be closing down these programmes? i should they be closing down these programmes?— should they be closing down these programmes? i would've closed the month only — programmes? i would've closed the month only sa _ programmes? i would've closed the month only sa but _ programmes? i would've closed the month only sa but last _ programmes? i would've closed the month only sa but last year. - programmes? i would've closed the month only sa but last year. they l month only sa but last year. they were in idea which was never realise the objectives for what it was set. and that is, it is in a way a great condemnation of those who've allowed them to go on for so long. the licence fee is under enormous pressure. the bbc has been under unprecedented political pressure in recent years to spend large sums of the licence payers money on shows which are really not achieving in any way respectable viewing

figures and certainly not impressive viewing figures. it's truly a way of squandering not only money but public regard. that is something the bbc cannot afford to do, and i would expect it to be ruthless in closing down these shows because they they have no justification. professor tim luckhurst, thank you so much. thank you forjoining us. do you think about getting in touch and perhaps even coming on the program? we'll be back to hear more of your thoughts about how the bbc covers the news. next week, goodbye. if you want to share your opinions about what you see or hear on bbc news, on tv, radio, online and social media email newswatch at bbc.co. uk or you can find us on ecs, formerly known as twitter at newswatch bbc. you can call us on 0370106676.

hey, i'm zof with the catch up. thousands of people will lose theirjobs after tata steel confirmed plans to close a coal fired blast furnaces at its steelworks in port talbot. jobs will go across the uk, but mainly in wales. one union says the plans will be devastating for the town. there's not many people, they're not connected to it. you get people just the worry of losing theirjobs or not being able to fend for their family, losing the houses, losing everything. the company says it will install an electric arc furnace which produces less carbon dioxide, but this needs fewer staff. it could cut uk emissions by 1.5%, but critics say it will mean bringing steel from more polluting countries. the government's going to help pay for the new furnace.

rishi sunak says the alternative was closing everything. there's loads more on this story on the bbc news website. some other stories now stealing cats and dogs is set to become a crime in england and northern ireland. plans to create an offence of pet abduction have had initial approval from mps. it would mean anyone convicted could face a fine up to five years in prison. this is exciting — japan has landed on the moon. scientists are in touch with the robot craft but say its solar generators aren't working. they're racing to fix it before the batteries run out. the landing makes japan only the fifth country to land softly on the moon, though. time now to leave you with 10 seconds of dik—dik. yep. that is a tiny baby antelope, by the way, and nothing else. that's at paignton zoo in devon. the current dik—dik is the fourth calf born there. that is absolutely adorable, though, don't you think? it fully looks like bambi. you're all caught up now. see you later.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour straight after this programme. hello. welcome to las vegas. sin city, home to big casinos, big hotels and big entertainment. and everyjanuary, it's

also home to big tech because this is where ces happens. the consumer electronics show now takes place across the city in hotels like this and also in the massive las vegas convention center. this is where we get a taste of the tech trends to come for the new year. and over the years we have seen it all here. autonomous cars going up and down the strip, even a flying one on the sidewalk. so what's going to be big this year? it is time to find out. the self—proclaimed most powerful tech show on earth truly is global, with companies from around the world battling for attention and some splashing out to make a real spectacle. there's even a mini theme park in one of the halls this year with a hydrogen powered train that goes all of a few meters. so lovely of them, to name it after me, too.

i think that's a different desk. okay.