on wednesday, bbc news ran a report about the introduction across the uk of universal credit — a new benefits system which has been criticised for the impact it has on claimants. social affairs correspondent michael buchanan met one woman who's still waiting for payment eight months after first claiming. what's been the worst part for you? not being able to see my son. i can't sit and watch this for much longer. it's horrific. it's come to a point where my own child doesn't even know who i am. and all she's asking for is £54 a week. derek hart was concerned that coverage of the implementation of universal credit gave what he called a biased picture. every week, we hear about certain

words and phrases used by bbc news presenters, which really seem to annoy some of you, and one example was identified by dr ian barnish in an email to us on monday. let's hope ian wasn't watching the news at ten the following evening, which began like this. tonight at ten, a special report on the record number of people dying from heroin and morphine addiction. good evening.

we start tonight with a special report on the surge in deaths from heroin addiction across the uk. this extended report by our special correspondent ed thomas does contain images and details of drug abuse from the start. the "special" report that followed traced the increase in deaths from heroin and morphine in hard—hitting detail, and heard the case for the decriminalisation of the personal use of those drugs. county durham, searching for the next hit. i haven't got time to look for a job. being a drug addict is a full—time job. every day, the same. by the time i do get sorted, it's time to start all over again. i'm not letting them in! what are you doing, then? getting something. and this is lisa's life. a mother ruled by heroin. i've put it before my children. do you need heroin more than your children? yeah, ido. there was praise on social media for that report from ed thomas, with sean mcpartlin calling it an... while philip erskine described himself as "very moved".

others, though, objected to this topic occupying the first ten minutes of the bbc‘s flagship news bulletin. tim sansom asked: and rosemary hutton agreed: a different complaint was raised about pictures of drug—taking, which, although we haven't repeated here on newswatch, were contained in the report. when a shorter version was shown the following day on the victoria derbyshire show, it was with an on—screen warning — but that didn't appear on the news at ten. here's a viewer called b hobson: and a twitter used called db echoed that:

well, with me now is paul royall, editor of the bbc‘s news at six and news at ten. which ran that special report. hard—hitting, lots of viewers agree, but ten minutes at the top of the bulletin? yes, it was a 7.5—minute report, and there was a live interview with ed thomas off the back. there are certain stories where there is perhaps more depth, analysis and explanation, and sort of a solution to the problem that we want to get into, so we felt this was one of these occasions where it justified a longer piece. we don't do it every week. we don't do it every month, we perhaps do it six or seven times a year, where we have those slightly longer, deeper, more analytical pieces. a lot of viewers would say, fine, but make it a proper panorama. because again and again, viewers tell newswatch, they turn on the news at ten because they want to find out what were the big news stories that day.

and that day there was harvey weinstein, catalonia, brexit, all pushed down the running order. and how many news stories are pushed off the running order by this? if, because we were doing seven or eight minutes on a very, very important and a good piece about heroin abuse, if that was going to relegate what we regard as really, really important other news stories that were only going to exist on that day, then we would find a different day to run the heroin piece. and so, we did do thejob losses at bae, we did do brexit, we did do catalonia, we did do the latest on harvey weinstein. there wasn't a story at the end of the day which we felt had missed out because of this piece. let's talk about the images. it was very close up on people preparing and in the act of injecting heroin. i think there were angles that meant we didn't see the needle going in, but many viewers felt it unnecessarily shocking and graphic. why did you need to show them? yeah, they are. i totally understand — they are shocking and graphic images. huw edwards put a warning in the introduction to the piece to say there would be images of drug abuse. but that applies to a lot

of news stories that we do, if we're covering war zones, famines. and obviously we took care to ensure that we could do a piece about heroin abuse and demonstrate what goes on without going so far in the piece that actually we were taking images too far. or showing people the abc on how to take heroin, which we didn't do. although some people thought that. what about the consent of the addicts? some people would've felt it was quite exploitative, and the question of legality, broadcasting them using? no guidelines were breached or overridden to make this piece. and everyone involved in the piece had fully consented and we had gone through the proper processes for that. seriously, i mean, talking about people who are so drug—addicted they say they value drugs more than their children, you're saying that there are no concerns about how informed that consent is? there are concerns, but this piece was a long time in the making. we worked with all the relevant

people and authorities to make sure that we had the duty of care and be as careful as we could be, and that process is going on after the report has gone out as well. and on the legality issue, they are doing something illegal on camera. how does that square with the guidelines? well, within the guidelines, we show crimes taking place sometimes, if we're doing court reports sometimes and things like that, the guidelines do allow for that. they were doing it in front of the cameras, kind of for the cameras. as long as it is editorially justified. they were not doing it for the cameras, that's their daily life, unfortunately. so it's editorially justified, is it? it is editoriallyjustified. there is a sense from our viewers that with reports like this, they feel that sometimes they are more aimed at impressing otherjournalists and other editors, and maybe winning awards. and that they don't consider what the audience want when they turn on the daily news bulletin and want a half—hour round—up of the world's events. yeah, well, this is something that's going on in cities up and down the uk every day, all the time.

the bbc established the record number of deaths that are now occurring — at a record high because of this. the amount of crime that is connected to it, which is carried out by people who are serious drug users, and the cost to the country, which is something around £15 billion. so on that basis, you would make the argument that this is a highly relevant, important story. it didn'tjust happen on that day. i accept that there wasn't a report out that day from the government, say, talking about drug abuse, but certain stories are happening every day, take longer to get together, and we feel it's right at certain times to have them on the programme. paul royall, thank you so much. finally, let's take you back to last saturday afternoon, when an incident near the natural history museum in london initially looked as if it might be a major news story of a horribly familiar kind. it is being reported on one news agency that police are saying it isn't a terrorism—related incident. what we know is that several people have been injured. amid reports that a car mounted

the pavement outside the museum in south kensington. fori.5 hours, the news channel focused exclusively on what turned out to be a "road traffic collision", leading edward brand to write: thanks for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions on bbc news and current affairs, or even appear on the programme, you can call us on 0370 010 6676 or e—mail newswatch@bbc. co. uk. you can find us on twitter @newswatch bbc, and do have a look at our website — the address for that is bbc.co.uk/newswatch. that's all from us. we'll be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news

coverage again next week. goodbye. hi there. we're going to look at the satellite picture, first of all, because we have quite a typical autumnal setup, really. cool north—westerly winds working across the atlantic meeting milder southerly winds, a weather front in between. what of course is not normal is this. hurricane ophelia, a category 2 hurricane, near the azores, with winds gusting to 120 miles an hour. that will be affecting our weather early next week. but for the time being, we have warm winds wafting their way across the british isles, dragging out that warm air for the time of year. so, over the next days, we could see temperatures go as high as 2a degrees, if we get some sunny spells. these temperatures, by the way, are pretty good, actually, for late july. except it's not late july, it's october. and those temperatures are really quite incredible for the time of year. now, it's a mild start to the day everywhere, with temperatures into double figures.

we've got some rain around in northern ireland, into north—west england, and south—west scotland, as well, seeing that wet weather. look at these temperatures. 16 degrees, as we start the day. that's where temperatures should peak at this time of year. as we go through the day, this band of rain will slowly push its way northwards, whilst easing. the cloud over england and wales, while quite low at times across wales and south—west england, with some hill fog patches in the morning, but the cloud will tend to shrink as we go on through the afternoon, to allow some bright spells through. in the best of the sunshine, i think temperatures could get to 22, maybe 23 degrees celsius towards eastern england during saturday afternoon. overnight, rain turns heavier for a time across northern ireland, but more especially in western scotland, where it will be a wet old night. another mild night, saturday night, these are the kind of minimum temperatures, 13, 14 degrees, something like that. now, for sunday, there is a better chance that we will see more in the way of cloud breaks across england and wales. you'll notice, though, the rain in northern scotland. when the rain sticks, it could do across western scotland, through the day, it will not feel especially warm. temperatures here into the teens.

but when we see the sunshine coming out, we could see highs of 23 or 2a degrees celsius. so it will be a very warm day for late october indeed. beyond that, we have to look again at the azores. this is hurricane ophelia. this is be working in a north—eastward direction. probably got another 2a hours as a hurricane before it turns into a normal area of low pressure. please bear in mind that the track of this low pressure could change, but nevertheless, you will notice that we've got some very strong winds coming our way through monday and tuesday as well. firmly in the firing line is ireland. northern ireland and scotland could also be impacted. the winds may well be damaging. but bear in mind the track could change, so the strong winds could affect other areas of uk, as well. and that's your weather. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is reged ahmad. our top stories: hollywood's sex scandal deepens — rose mcgowan is the latest actress to claim she was raped by film

producer harvey weinstein. hillary clinton says the allegations against the movie mogul — a prominent supporter of the democratic party — are heartbreaking. i was shocked and appalled because i've known him through politics, as many democrats have. in other news, president trump refuses to continue signing off the iran nuclear deal, condemning tehran as a "fanatical regime". we will deny the regime all paths to a nuclear weapon. and the worst wildfires in california's history leave at least 36 dead and hundreds missing, with the flames still spreading.