speak up for gender equality, inclusive societies. theresa may demands the eu breaks the impasse in brexit talks — and vows to defend the referendum result. the health service could save hundreds of millions of pounds every year, after two drug firms failed in their legal efforts, to block the use a cancer treatment for an eye condition. more than 130 people have died after a ferry carrying hundreds capsized on lake victoria in tanzania — many are still missing. now it's time for newswatch. this week samira ahmed looks at the bbc‘s brexit coverage. hello and welcome to newswatch. bbc news tries to answer viewers questions about brexit, but is that

mission impossible? and with panorama invited inside number 10, was it doing too much pr for the pm? over the past few days bbc news has set about the challenging task of answering in a clear and objective way some of the many questions people have about the process of leaving the europe european. on tv, on radio, and online. how will trade work after brexit? what will brexit mean? will it happen? why haven't we left yet. all we'll journalists trod happen? why haven't we left yet. all we'lljournalists trod a delicate path through the economic, but our are tick constitutional and political implication of brexit but some members of the audience thought that approach was fundamentally flawed. here is michaeljordan. the news these last couple of days seemed to be on an all out crusade to convince the population that leaving next march will open up the heavens and all kinds of

abominations will happen to us. and this caller to our telephone line agreed. yesterday morning was the same thing, we have had for two—and—a—half years now, people expressing their opinions, on brussels and brexit, and what is going to happen, and what might happen, doom and gloom, it went on and on. it is people's fears and hopes that mainly fears, most depressing of all, please try to get away until there is facts on what the arrangements are or aren't. before her terrific to salz tray gave details of her day—to—day routine for panorama. —— tray. —— theresa may. the deadline is looming.

theresa may has gotjust weeks left to secure a brexit deal with the eu and to get it through parliament. for the last fortnight we have been filming with her behind the scenes. morning nick. morning prime minister. thank you for the lift. ra re access minister. thank you for the lift. rare access to prime minister buzz we there an ethical cost to that? some viewer thought so, describing the programme as on seek without and a puff piece for theresa may. one thought it was a blatant and failed attempt to humanise her. well, i am joined by nick robin so in other westminster studio. thank you. you spent a bit of time with the prime minister, we saw you travelling with her in her car, you eavesdropped on meetings, we saw her and her husband watching a quiz show, what deal did you do to get that access? it is no different from any other interview, we say we want an interview, they

say we are prepared to be an interviewed on this date and in these circumstances but in this case, we said could we have some access case, we said could we have some a ccess as case, we said could we have some access as well, some behind the scenes access, and we got more than you would normally get but we were explicit in the script. i was explicit in the script. i was explicit in the script. i was explicit in writing when i wrote about this and have talked about it, that access is is really what they wa nt to that access is is really what they want to give you, and indeed we showed in the panorama at one stage how we were filming the beginning of a cabinet meeting on no deal preparation and we were thrown out and the door was closed so my feeling always is access is fine to do on television, providing you are explicit with the audience about what you are seeing and what you are not. presumably the director of communications would have played a pa rt communications would have played a part in ing this, he used to run bbc westminster. some viewer are uncomfortable about this, they felt you were doing the prime minister's r for her? i think frankly it is an absurd criticism. any politician who comes to give an interview is doing

us comes to give an interview is doing us because they have a purpose. they wa nt to us because they have a purpose. they want to communicate a message, they are doing it at the time of their choosing because if they didn't want to do it they wouldn't a degree to be interviewed, they are doing it to get a message across, any arrangement is partly on the terms of the politician and their spin—doctor, director of communication, call them what you will, what we as journalists have to decide is is there an interest for the viewer, listener, is there an interest for people who want to see the prime minister questioned in doing that particular interview? i think to see the prime minister questioned on the criticisms of the chequers deal she had, criticisms coming from remainers and lever, criticisms from within her own party that might deny her a majority, those are questions worth putting andi those are questions worth putting and i did put them and therefore i felt it was a programme worth doing. it was interesting this week seeing

you and other journalists it was interesting this week seeing you and otherjournalists directly answering viewer questions on brexit, what was the thinking behind that? the thinking was where ever you go round, if you do my sort of job, thejob of senior you go round, if you do my sort of job, the job of senior editors at the bbc, people will stop it was interesting this week seeing you and other journalists interesting this week seeing you and otherjournalists directly interesting this week seeing you and other journalists directly answering viewer questions on brexit, what was the thinking behind that? the thinking was where ever you go round, if you do my sort ofjob, the job of senior editors at the bbc, people will stop you on street and say "we don't really understand this" and this particular set of items came from a conversation i had ina shop, items came from a conversation i had in a shop, i was buying a cheap plug in maplin when it was about to close down and a guy that? the thinking was where ever you go round, if you do my sort ofjob, the job was where ever you go round, if you do my sort ofjob, thejob of was where ever you go round, if you do my sort ofjob, the job of senior editors at the bbc, people will stop you on street and say "we don't really understand this" and this particular set of items came from a conversation i had in a shop, i was buying a cheap plug in maplin when it was about to close down and a guy came up and said "why haven't we left yet? i don't understand it", i found myself explaining and enjoying the process street and say "we don't really understand this" and this particular set of items came from a conversation i had in a shop, i was buying a cheap plug in maplin when it was about to close down and a guy

came up and said "why haven't we left yet? i don't understand it", i found myself explaining and enjoying the process of saying to him, "you are not hearing this on air, are we not explaining it on air? " he said you have been clearer in this conversation than anything i have seen. i went to the ten o'clock news and said how about i make this conversation as a piece and it seems to me every so often we need to correct ourselves and say we are in too deep. pull back and explain it ina way too deep. pull back and explain it in a way people will follow more easily. with all these questions some viewers feel that the bbc‘s focussed too much on the potential problems and pitfalls and that can seem anti—brexit. and pitfalls and that can seem anti-brexit. well, there are certainly people who say that why do you follow this forecast or that warning or that projection? aren't you being sort of anti—brexit as a result? the answer to that is that is ourjob, it is ourjob to report on the warnings made by authorities, whether it is the imf or the bank of england, the warning that comes from the biggest companies in the land, for example jaguar land rover, again something i put to the prime minister and other people this week. it is ourjob to warn about it. clearly in the process, we have to also say to people, there is a different between a worry, a concern, a forecast and a fact. forecasts are not facts. that is not what they are. but i think to say

that we ought to be positive about brexit, to say we should be cheerleaders for brexit, to say we should be patriotic which sometimes people do, is to misunderstand the role of a journalist. it is not the role of a journalist. it is not the role of a journalist. it is not the role of a journalist to be on one tea m role of a journalist to be on one team or another. we don't wear the scarf, we don't sing the songs it is ourjob to report on the match. to do it fairly, and if you hear things you don't like, i am afraid that is nature of bbcjournalism, you will hear people you don't like saying thing rows don't agree with. the political pressure for another referendum is getting more and more airtime. can you referendum is getting more and more air time. can you see why some viewers feel that is it is supporting it. no i can't see that at all. i think that is again to misunderstand how reporting on something is advocating something. if we report there are calls for a second referendum, it is not the bbc taking a position on whether there should or should not be another vote of the public, it is reporting, that is what reporting is. now the truth is what reporting is. now the truth is there is now a highly organised campaignfor

is there is now a highly organised campaign for what they call a people's vote, there is evidence in the opinion polls of it picking up some support, there are prominent politicians juice teen greening coming out in support of it. it is ourjob to report on it. —— juice tyne. it is not ourjob to say for people who see this as undermining democracy we mustn't ereport it. what we ought to do is while reporting calls for a second referendum report the objections to it. we featured complaints about what was seen as the excess si emphasis given to the build up to hurricane florence when it downgraded to a topical storm hit the east coast chris buckler was in the eye of the storm. people might have been briefly relieved but the wind is

still strong enough to knock you over and it is going to be like that for some time. particularly concern about the rainfall and the #234r50ding as the storm surges continuement the hurricane isjust hovering over the area and will do so over the weekend and that means people need to by a wear of florence, and the damage she can do. in case you couldn't hear all that, the message was that the wind was strong enough to knock you over. which led some viewers to wonder, as newswatch viewers do every hurricane season whether the risks presented to chris and he crew were worth taking. bya to chris and he crew were worth taking. by a wear of florence, and the damage she can do. in case you couldn't hear all that, the message was that the wind was strong enough to knock you over. which led some viewers to wonder, as newswatch viewers do every hurricane season whether the risks presented to chris and he crew were worth taking. helen wrote "how utterly stupid and reckless to have chris buckler reporting on the news standing outside in the wind and rain, was that necessary? apart from the fact we could barely hear what

he was saying. rosemary called it sensationism, you are turning these tragic events into a soap opera at a time when authorities are telling people to evacuate. surely this compromises what they are trying to do. bbc news told us it is important to bring audiences updates from the heart of the story and that means sometimes rotting in adverse weather conditions, our —— reporting. our teams did not put themselves or others in danger. finally sometimes things even go wrong on newswatch. if you were watching last friday night, you will have seen me rudely interrupted while reading an e—mail. stop giving mrjohnson the oxygen of... get your gravitas back and report proper news. philip spotted that and tweeted. i was really rather hoping that invading extraterrestrial space aliens had interrupted the broadcast. regrettably instead it

was a woman taking a photograph of yourself reading the autocue. sorry to disappoint. and that wasn't me reading the autocue, just an unplanned shot of what was happening in the studio while the recording of the programme which isn't live was playing. let us hope you get the full version this week. thank you for 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. or e—mail us. you can find us on twitter, and do have a look at our website. that is all from us, we will be back to hear you thoughts about bbc news co—rang next week. goodbye. —— coverage. hello. in the wake of storm bronagh, it has been a showery kind of day today, bronagh itself working over

today, bronagh itself working over to scandinavia but cast an eye on this ribbon of cloud we are looking at this next pulse that will bring rain into the south. before we get there, further showers will continue to push in overnight, tonight, with more general rain probably at times for the far north. it will be quite a chilly night. temperatures getting down into single figures although double figures for london, cardiff and plymouth as well. saturday morning it will be a cool start to day. cloud, sunny spells but showers will continue to feed in on the brisk winds, quite windy conditions for northern scotland. late in the day cloud thickens an we will start to see rain arriving in parts of wales and south—west england before #13reding into the south—east. there could be more rain on the way for sunday in this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 8. theresa may comes out fighting, telling eu leaders they must treat the uk with "respect" — and stresses, she won't overturn the result of the referendum.

yesterday, donald tusk set our proposals would undermine the single market. he didn't explain how in any detail, or make any counterproposal. so we are at an impasse. the european council president, donald tusk, has tonight called theresa may's stance surprisingly tough and uncompromising, but he remains convinced a compromise is still possible. a landmark ruling against two leading drug companies could save nhs england, "hundreds of millions" a year, after the firms fail to block the use of a cancer treatment for an eye condition. more than 130 people have died after a ferry carrying hundreds