this week, samira ahmed asks whether coverage of the royal family is too sycophantic, or too rude. hello and welcome to newswatch. mean—spirited and rude? was some of the bbc reporting of princess eugenie‘s wedding a bit off—colour? what is the bbc royal coverage sycophantic what is the bbc royal coverage sycopha ntic and excessive? what is the bbc royal coverage sycophantic and excessive? first, the b—word has again dominated the news this week with much discussion about the likelihood of leaving the european union without a deal in place to have it was one of two possible outcomes laid out recently by the bbc assistant political editor norman smith. one, another referendum on brexit itself or two, crashing out of the eu without any deal. a number of viewers have taken

exception to the phrase used at the end there with in frost asking... it has been a right royal week with a number of monarchy related news reports on bbc television. it started last friday with the wedding of princess eugenie, the queen's granddaughter and jack brooksbank at st george's chapel in windsor castle. the bbc had apparently turned down the pitch and 80 to broadcast it in bringing but there was still plenty of live coverage on the news channel and reports on the bulletins and online. too much for one person who wrote... but when royal correspondent

nicholas witchell reported on the wedding, that prompted objections from a different direction... hold onto your hats, it's another royal wedding. though this one, not quite in the premier league, despite the sharp ambitions of the bride's father and mother. the duchess of cornwall evidently had a pressing engagement and couldn't make it. and then stand by for the arrival of the mother of the bride, sarah ferguson, also known as the duchess of york. she's not been an entirely welcome figure within royal circles for a good many years. she's had an u nfortu nate good many years. she's had an unfortunate habit of embarrassing them. and then as man and wife together, a carriage ride, it's been seen as together, a carriage ride, it's been seen as an together, a carriage ride, it's been seen as an attempt to emulate the ride is taken by harry and meghan after their wedding and concerns have been expressed about the cost

of providing security. a number of viewers took exception to the tone of that report, including this one, who recorded this video for cook his comments were fairly sarcastic and at times quite mean—spirited. comments were fairly sarcastic and at times quite mean-spirited. he made some comments about the sharp ambitions of the bride's father and mother in an obvious dig at prince andrew and sarah ferguson. we all know that sarah ferguson has had a stormy relationship with the royal family over the years, but really, i thought it was a bit low of nicholas witchell to have a dig on eugenie's wedding day. there was also a comment about how this wedding was not in the premier league as well as the insinuation that eugenie and jack's carriage ride was copying meghan and harry's. i expect a higher quality ofjournalism from the bbc. be that as it may, that wedding news was trumped in the eyes of some by an announcement on monday. the secret is out, the uke

and duchess of sussex confirmed they are expecting their first child as they arrive in australia for a 16 day tour. again there were complaints about what some viewers saw as excessive coverage complaints about what some viewers saw as excessive coverage of that happy news... and that wasn't the end of the royal bonanza, as well as further reports from the australian tour of the duke and duchess of sussex, there was more baby news on tuesday, with the birth of a son to the duchess of cambridge's sister pippa middleton and her husband james matthews. 0ne viewer told us... clearly, this is one of those topics

where it is impossible for the bbc to please all of the people all of the time. but has the past week's royal coverage ended up annoying just about everyone? to answer that, i'm joined by the deputy news editor of bbc news. thank you for coming on newswatch. let's start with the last issue, a charge often laid against the bbc that when it comes to the royal family, using to throw editorial values out of the window? i would reject that. but i expect that you would expect me to say that. i think royal stories find their place in news bulletins, so to ta ke their place in news bulletins, so to take one of the criticisms there, specifically had on, about the news of the pregnancy with the duke and

duchess of sussex, yes, it was the lead story on the one o'clock television news, it was also the most widely read story on the news website that stay. if you look at the other stories that were necessarily competing for the top of that bulletin at one o'clock, our audience is quite different to six o'clock and ten o'clock. i think it was still the right story, it was a story that broke over the morning, it developed and you have reaction through the day. it didn't develop in the sense that it was pregnant and everyone knew it can go and we have reaction and everybody responded to what actually was a rather happy news story. at that point of the day, on brexit bridgend that being the lead story on the later bulletins, by that point, the prime minister haven't actually spoken, she had not gone to brussels and there had not been any development in that story. so i would say that the royal stories find their place in news bulletins. it is all about the amount of time, to be fair. for minutes on a pregnancy in a half—hour bulletin at one o'clock, who there's a another

story which did not get a full report as a result? are not going to go through the exact running order but i would say that we covered that story as we would do any other breaking news story, a news story that has a significance on that day. the wedding of the duke and duchess of sussex was the most watched television programme on the bbc this year. they are a hugely popular story for us online and on other outlets. and i think there is often a criticism of bbc news and the bbc and actually news in general, that people are absolutely sick of the diet of grim news, i've spoken to people, i'm sure you have, who say that they no longer engage, they no longer listen or consume news because it is all too grim. so actually the great news of a pregnancy of this couple, especially with a story around harry and his

fist to be, i think people are really interested, they really like that story. equally as we heard in the viewer comments, that report by nicholas witchell about princess eugenie's wedding really startled people, he is an experienced royal correspondent and some people felt it was rude — what was going on there? this is this question again that we find ourselves in, we're being criticised about covering meghan and harry's pregnancy, within cover the wedding and there's nothing that i saw in that report by nick watt shall, as you say, our senior royal correspondent, it wasn't factually correct. there have been reports, royal biographies have spoken about the embarrassment felt by the royal family over sarah ferguson and what happened. she hasn't sat in the same room as her former father—in—law the duke of edinburgh. the queen is our head of state, she attended that wedding and therefore i feel all of those

elements that nick... but totally, and it changed later, some of the language about not in the premier league and stuff, it was altered, wasn't it? i think it was still very much the same time through the day. in the end and you have raised it to some extent, with brexit and universal credit and so much serious international news, things like yemen, viewers need and want analysis of these stories, does the bbc need to think how much time you can bbc need to think how much time you ca n d evote bbc need to think how much time you can devote to the royal family, even if it is welcome light news against all the darkness? think we simply can't win here and i think that there is obviously a discussion that we have to have take each and every news story relating to the royal family on its merits. we apply exactly the same news values to all of the stories that we have covered recently about the royal family. it is absolutely true to say and i would want the viewers to know this, that in our editorial meetings, we

do discuss these stories and we apply the real judgment that we would do to any other story. thank you so much. before we go, sometimes asa you so much. before we go, sometimes as a journalist you ask a question and your interviewee does not want to a nswer and your interviewee does not want to answer it, or even hear it. example came this week when spencer stokes, business and transport correspondent for bbc look north, raised with the ceo of building firm person on the subject of his £75 million bonus. obviously doing well this year, it did well last year, that was reflected in your bonus, do you have any regrets surrounding that? i... i think... you have any regrets surrounding that? i... ithink... sorry. 0bviously, that? i... ithink... sorry. obviously, i thought the two issues we re obviously, i thought the two issues were tight together, really. i'd

rather not talk about it, been well cove red, rather not talk about it, been well covered, actually, so... so you don't want to talk about that today? are there any lessons to be learned from that, it was the biggest bonus in the country? no. 0k.|j from that, it was the biggest bonus in the country? no. ok. ithink that's really unfortunate, actually, that's really unfortunate, actually, that you've done that. if mr fairburn wanted fewer people to know about his bonus, he'll be disappointed, as that clip has been retweeted half million times. as one person put it, social media is a game changer. thank you for all your comments this week and we welcome all your opinions on bbc news and current affa i rs opinions on bbc news and current affairs and volunteers to appear on the programme as well. to call us... we are on twitter... and have a look at our website. that is all from

hospital we will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage your thoughts about bbc news coverage once your thoughts about bbc news coverage once again next week. bye— bye. coverage once again next week. bye—bye. good evening. it turned out to be glorious in the sunshine across much of england and wales, nearly 18 degrees was reached in a few places but it did not start that way. this was east yorkshire this morning. temperatures were below freezing in southern parts as well. and this is how it turned out in the afternoon and it's going to be a repeat performance for many of us tomorrow. these weather fronts really quite weak in the north so even here we have had some sunshine through the day. you can see that the cloud is piling up further west. we will have further weak weather fronts pushing in this weekend as well. this evening and overnight we will keep the clear skies to the south, so, a recipe for some frost again, a little bit of frost

possibly in the east of scotland as well. underneath our week weather front we could have some patchy fog as well. notably chilly again in the south, temperatures below freezing in rural areas. tomorrow morning as we wa ke in rural areas. tomorrow morning as we wake up, these sort of scenes are quite likely not for saturday but the sunday morning. some quite thick fog could be around for yourjourney if you're heading out early. and at this time of year it does not clear early, either. it could be until lunchtime by the time the fog clears. but with light winds and the sunshine, the best of which initially will be around the coast, a lovely day. breeze picks up a bit more for scotland. and later in the night we have got this weather front coming in. east of the grampians, the eastern side of northern ireland, not that much rain at all and hopefully some brightness. we have got the high pressure starting to wea ke n have got the high pressure starting to weaken the weather fronts. we might squeeze a bit more rain out of them on sunday angela some fairly

brisk winds starting to push them southwards away from scotland and northern ireland. it looks as though the weather front will sink southwards across england and wales. not watch rain left on it if the far south and east potentially staying quite fine and sunny. a strong high pressure building in the beginning of next week, keeping those weather fronts at bay again for the north. and for many of us the fine weather will continue. probably frosty by night, not especially warm as we introduce some cold air and north—westerly winds. this is bbc news. the headlines at 8pm... 20 men are found guilty of being part of a grooming gang that abused girls as young as 11 in and around huddersfield. on one occasion, she came home and her neck was completely black with bites from one side to the other. a taxi had just pulled up outside and pushed her out. radical islamist preacher anjem choudary is released

from prison on licence and is now at a bail hostel. more than two weeks afterjournalist jamal khashoggi went missing, the former head of m15 says he has little doubt that the saudi regime ordered his killing. the former head of m16 says he has little doubt that the saudi regime ordered his killing. and barefoot on bondi. the duke and duchess of sussex visit the iconic beach in sydney as part of their tour of australia.