it does take time to change, but the feeling here as we approach sunday's academy awards is, for the oscars, that time really is up. will gompertz, bbc news, los angeles. now on bbc news, it's time for newswatch. hello and welcome to newswatch, with me, samira ahmed. tonight, we are leaving the european union. borisjohnson addresses the nation via social media on the night we finally leave the eu. why didn't the bbc broadcast his speech? and why did the bbc turn its new studio blue and yellow for brexit night? last friday was the night we left the european union and the bbc had an extended news programme at 10pm, to mark the occasion.

viewers got in touch to say they couldn't understand why the bbc news studio had turned blue and yellow, the colours of the eu. simon lee e—mailed. .. other viewers got in touch to say they were unhappy with the coverage of the event in parliament square, where nigel farage and other leave campaigners were celebrating. just after the 11pm exit, the national anthem was played and sung by the crowds, here's how the bbc marked it. singing, chanting, renditions of god save the queen, rule britannia and, in the final moments before we left the european union, nigel farage, the person many credit with putting pressure on the conservative party and making sure that brexit happened. tonight, as he addressed the crowds here, he said, some people said this wasn't to be celebrated. he says it was. it was a victory, he says, for democracy. he said, "we beat the establishment,

who didn't want the referendum, they didn't want this to happen." but he also said that this wasn't the end, that there would be battles ahead and he would be standing by to make sure that boris johnson did deliver. tim dorsett e—mailed to say... the main complaint about friday's coverage of brexit night was to do with the prime minister's statement and the bbc‘s decision not to broadcast the footage. usually in these kind of situations, national broadcaster, a national broadcaster, either the bbc, itn, or sky news, would be invited into downing street, to record the prime minister's words. instead, the statement was recorded by borisjohnson‘s team and distributed via facebook and twitter. the bbc decided not to broadcast it. instead, using a graphic with a quote spoken by the presenter. many viewers complained about this

decision and so did the former chairman of the bbc, lord grade, who voiced his concerns on the today programme on thursday. i'm very critical of the bbc not defending decisions it makes editorially. the most recent one, not running the prime minister's brexit speech. fine, that's a... decision the director—general or the head of news and current affairs should be up front, defending that decision. or not, as the case may be. the bbc hides, when it's under criticism, it hides. and i'm very critical of the bbc for that. and that's completely wrong, because they expect everybody else to come on and be accountable to the bbc‘s journalists when they are enquiring. well, we asked the bbc for an interview to explain the decision did not broadcast the statement. but they refused, instead, giving us this explanation.

well, i'm joined now by nigel bonson, who is one of the viewers who contacted us about this and he is in our sheffield studio. nigel, why were you unhappy with the bbc‘s decision not to broadcast the video? well, i was up waiting for it, as many people were i'm sure. i waited for the interview to be broadcast and it's to be broadcast and itjust didn't happen. i didn't see any apology or any explanation until later. what you just mentioned about that explanation might involve internal politics between the normal process of the bbc and others going into number ten, but as far as the public‘s concerned, and as far as i was concerned, itjust didn't matter. i don't think the public care how

it's done, they wanted to hear the prime minister's address. so, the bbc might say they did report what he said, including reporting in advance all day what he was going to say and that audiences did get informed on the news content. well, i certainly wasn't informed. but as far as i'm concerned what they reported in short, snappy bits during the day is irrelevant. i, and i'm sure others, wanted to hear the prime minister at 10pm, as had been widely suggested. itn didn't put the footage out either, which is interesting. and you'll be aware that number ten increasingly seem be using social media instead of speaking to national broadcasters, which is usual practice on recording a statement like this. i suppose the bbc and some viewers might feel that there is a potentially dangerous precedent. do you have any concerns about that at all? i don't. what itn chose to do isn't relevant.

the bbc, as a national broadcaster, should broadcast these things. and, the average member of the public wouldn't be aware of how it's done. to be honest, i think it's rather petty and to do with internal politics, rather than meeting the needs of the nation. just to be clear, you'd feel the same, whoever was prime minister, if this was how they chose to release their statements? absolutely, and that's central to my argument and i hope that's not being missed. journalists are definitely concerned that there is an attempt to control the press, to limit how his message is got across, which might, ultimately, i suppose broadcasters would say, be to the detriment of the public and public service to hold the government to acount on behalf of voters. do you think at any stage there might be a point of principle

around the prime minister's use of social media as his main way of getting out his message? well, i think social media, nowadays, is just as important as national tv. i would clearly be concerned, as i'm sure with others, if that was being managed too much. my view is that had the bbc got into number ten to record it, there wouldn't have been any questions and answers anyway, so it wouldn't have held the prime minister to account. so if you had a message to give to bbc executives, given that they made this decision, what would you say they should do? i would say that the public and the viewers first and, as would normally happen, if the prime minister wants to address the nation, he should be able to. i would just draw the analogy of a general election after two months campaign, a decision that affects the next five years of the country, that would have been covered. yet this has been a four year campaign and something that will affect the nation for perhaps generations and yet the prime minister wasn't heard on the night. nigel bonson, thank you so much.

now for some of your other thoughts on topics this week. remember, last week, we featured a mistake from bbc news when they showed a picture of lebron james instead of kobe bryant? surely two black people couldn't be confused for each other again on the bbc, could they? well, here's the parliament channel on monday. the bill does lack any legal guarantees to protect us against undermining food standards here, so... that was not dawn butler, it was in fact her fellow labour mp, marsha de cordova. dawn butler tweeted. .. the bbc parliament channel apologised, saying...

also on monday, bbc breakfast did an interview with former one direction band member louis tomlinson. he was publicising his new solo album. but the line of questioning from presenters louise minchin and dan walker prompted complaints. do you feel that, at some stage, i've put too much of myself in there or is that part of helping you in writing that way as well about the loss of your mum and your sister and other things? i think because of where i started my career, on the x factor and... you know, there's always been a camera on me, and i've always kind of given a lot of myself, it's kind of all i've known in my career, really. so i almost use that to my advantage. i'm brave enough to talk about these things and, yeah, it's worked out. i'm sure you get asked a lot about the potential of one direction getting back together at some stage.

you've ticked them all off now, you've gone trauma, zayn and now we're finally on this one, i like it. come on! erm, i'll give you the answer i give everyone else — it's inevitable. louis tomlinson tweeted after the programme... well, viewer, veronica e—mailed to say... well, the bbc gave us this reply... and, finally, a group of leading reporters from the national media decided not to attend a downing street briefing on monday, when other journalists, who hadn't been invited, were turned away. this prompted matthew dudley to get in touch. why has the bbc failed to report

the fact that all journalists walked out of the briefing yesterday, the brexit briefing, yesterday, because of a government attempt to select particularjournalists? one of the people walking out was apparently laura kuenssberg, your person there. and ifind it unfathomable why you have not made this headline news. well, the story hasn't featured on the main bbc tv news bulletins, but the bbc did give us this response... thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions about what you see here or on bbc news, including its social media and on my output, e—mail newswatch@bbc. co. uk or you can find us on twitter bbc. e—mail newswatch@bbc.co.uk or you can find us on @twitter bbc. you can call us on 0370 010 6676 and you can even

appear on the programme. have a look at our website, 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. hello, there. all week we've been talking about stormy week weather this weekend. let's look at how this weekend are shaping up. saturday will bring a good deal of dry weather for many, some sunny spells around first thing, but we will see heavy, persistent rain and gales spreading into the north—west later. that rain and strong winds will become quite widespread overnight into sunday and then sunday brings stormy weather. storm ciara moves in, brings severe gales widely across the uk, some heavy, persistent rain and potential big waves in coastal areas. we take a look at the pressure chart, here is what we can expect through the weekend. you see that initial band of rain going through and then storm ciara arriving into the early

hours through sunday. first of all through tonight, the calm of today is replaced by cloudy skies and outbreaks of rain. that rain heavy and persistent for a time, for parts of northern ireland, western scotland, quite breezy in the north and west, but the temperatures are not as cold as they have been of late. tomorrow starts with a good deal of sunshine, some sunny spells around first thing, the exception to that down in the south—east, where there will be a bit more cloud around first thing. could be a few showers in the north and west and the winds will strengthen through the day with gales in the north—west, heavy, persistent rain arriving later. that rain pushes its way east through the first—half of the night, and then into the early hours of sunday, we see storm ciara arriving from the west. let's look at sunday, heavy, persistent rain gradually pushing its way south through the day on sunday, following on behind in the north and west, we will see some blustery showers, heavy, persistent rain will be accompanied by strong winds. we are looking at severe gales

widely gusting around 60 to 70 mph inland, but locally gusts could reach around 80 mph, particularly on exposed coasts and hills, so there is the potential for some disruption, various met office warnings over the next few days. this one is for wind and it covers the uk. there is also an amber warning in place for wind on sunday, it covers the south—east. there is the potentialfor some disruption from the strong winds. doesn't look like we're out of the woods as we start next week. it will remain very windy with some showers which could be wintry over the high ground, particularly in the north. goodbye.

this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 8pm... british tourist alan steel — who was on his honeymoon — is one of 61 people now being treated for coronavirus onboard a quarantined cruiseliner in japan. things are happening literally every hour, something is changing. in china, the authorities get heavy handed — forcing people suspected of having the virus into quarantine. a gp from east london is given 3 life sentences for committing dozens of sexual offences against female patients. i was getting to the point where i did not like myself pretty much because i was not being honest with myself. the tv presenter, philip schofield, goes on live tv