hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed. it was box office tv for westminster—watchers, but did the bbc give too much airtime and credence to the words of dominic cummings? and is bbc news showing us too much of him, too? no doubt who the person of the week was, at least from the media's point of view. dominic cummings�* appearance on wednesday in front of a joint health and science parliamentary committee had been much anticipated. and for most people in and around westminster, at least, it didn't disappoint, with a startling series of revelations, claims, accusations and insults. but not everyone was persuaded of the value of his seven hours of testimony, with elisabeth blandon wondering...

and glenn thirlby similarly asked... but yadwiga billewicz disagreed... one part of the session which caught the attention of bbc—watchers was when the prime minister's former chief adviser described how, over the course of last year, he largely stopped speaking to journalists — with one exception. the main person, really, though, that i spoke to in the whole of 2020 was laura kuenssberg of the bbc, because the bbc has a special position in the country, obviously, during the crisis. and because i was in the room for certain crucial things, i could give guidance

to her on certain very big stories. the use of anonymous sources in political reporting has long been a concern among some newswatch viewers, and that "outing" of himself by dominic cummings as one of those sources led valerie ching—dolling, among others, to question how reliable and credible he was. she wrote... and someone tweeting as murf�*s mum posted this... but graham king had a different perspective...

we asked bbc news about this, and they told us... matt hancock came in for a particular tongue—lashing from dominic cummings, so it was no surprise that when the health secretary appeared the next day at the downing street briefing, laura kuenssberg put one of mr cummings�* allegations to him. can you still stand there today

and say it's true that you protected care homes from the start? and did you or did you not tell downing street that people leaving care homes would be tested before...? sorry, people leaving hospitals would be tested before the health secretary's answer clearly didn't satisfy laura kuenssberg, as she tried to get in with a follow—up question, but it seemed her microphone was swiftly muted and the press conference moved on to another question. thanks very much, laura. next question— thanks very much, laura. next question positive from itv. the reaction from an m lloyd? as we saw on last week's newswatch, the recent hostilities in israel and gaza have been accompanied by a passionate debate about how fairly the media, including the bbc, have reported the conflict. that debate was reignited last

weekend, when a series of tweets emerged written by tala halawa, a journalist working for bbc monitoring. they were posted in 2014 when she was working for a palestinian radio station, and one made offensive comments about israel and hitler. jane habib wrote that she was... well, last autumn, the bbc issued new guidance for staff on their use of social media, and we wanted to talk to someone about this case in that context. they told us that wasn't possible, as there was an investigation ongoing, and gave us this statement...

we are sometimes asked now, we're sometimes asked what dictates which items make it onto television news bulletins, while others — apparently equally important — don't. one of our viewers, richard spooner, contacted us recently about this and recorded this video with his thoughts. recently, bbc news has headlined tragic events with substantial loss of life — the jewish festival and the mexico city metro disaster, for example. over the same period, civilian deaths of the same magnitude have occurred in the caucasus, burkina faso and the death of the chadean president. none of these get any further than the news website. so death is news, but not always. a similar approach appears to pertain to uk murders. some cases catch the imagination of the news editors whilst the majority don't apparently merit a mention, so what is the difference? it's probably the availability of validated video. television news seems to demand

obligatory video footage, plus a correspondent, often superfluous. lost lives have the same value, so if it's newsworthy, they should have equal footing and not be squeezed by the schedule, geographic location or the availability. geographic location or video availability. news is ephemeral, but its consequences can be long—lasting. do let us know your thoughts on what we're covering in this programme, or on any aspect of bbc news. details of how to contact us at the end of the programme. now, for some of your other comments this week. prince harry featured on bbc news again on friday — just the latest of many recent stories on the bbc about an increasingly divisive figure. the next episode of prince harry's new mental health series has been released on apple tv. the latest instalment, called the me you can't see: a path forward, sees prince henry

and oprah winfrey reunited with celebrity guests and experts as they continue their conversations in his written statement last night, prince harry said the media's culture of exploitation and unethical practices had ultimately killed his mother. harry continues to be open about his own mental health, issues which have their roots in the events of the '905. backin back in the states, on a podcast, he has again— back in the states, on a podcast, he has again made _ back in the states, on a podcast, he has again made his _ back in the states, on a podcast, he has again made his own— back in the states, on a podcast, he has again made his own tracks. - back in the states, on a podcast, he. has again made his own tracks. iili�*hen has again made his own tracks. when it comes to parenting, _ has again made his own tracks. when it comes to parenting, if— has again made his own tracks. when it comes to parenting, if i've - it comes to parenting, if i've expressed some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering perhaps my father or parents had suffered, i'm here to make sure that i break that cycle so that i do not pass it on, basically. moira merryweather spoke for a number of viewers when she recorded these thoughts for us. every time he opened his mouth to vilify his family, i can almost hear the collective groan from the british public. please, prince harry, stop your horrific outbursts.

and please, bbc, stop giving him a platform for his unpleasant and ludicrous comments. others, of course, are more sympathetic to the duke of sussex, and one viewer picked up on a word used by royal correspondent sarah campbell in a discussion last friday about prince harry's tv series. kate, this documentary series was first mooted two years ago, this collaboration between him and oprah winfrey, so that was before megxit but perhaps an early sign that he wasn't happy, that he saw himself doing something outside of the royal confines. kate richardson was watching that at the end of last week and had this response... finally, another of our viewers has detected what he sees as a trend in the way bbc reporters

deliver their pieces to camera. take a look at this. questions will continue, though, whether any comments or at the department of health. especially run what happened in our care homes behind closed doors. keir starmer sa s a behind closed doors. keir starmer says a labour— behind closed doors. keir starmer says a labour government - behind closed doors. keir starmer says a labour government would l says a labour government would actively — says a labour government would actively support the economy. the in-service — actively support the economy. the in—service my point they have just spent _ in—service my point they have just spent almost £300 billion doing just that. spent almost £300 billion doing 'ust that. , ~ , , , spent almost £300 billion doing 'ust that. ,. ,, ., spent almost £300 billion doing 'ust that. ,. ,, . ,.,. that. this crisis is syncretism of a number of _ that. this crisis is syncretism of a number of scotland's _ that. this crisis is syncretism of a | number of scotland's institutions, from _ number of scotland's institutions, from the — number of scotland's institutions, from the government _ number of scotland's institutions, from the government to - number of scotland's institutions, from the government to civil- from the government to civil service _ from the government to civil service. , . . , nick delahaye was prompted to get in touch with us. here's his video. i've noticed recently that bbc political correspondents, when delivering their piece to camera, can often be seen nonchalantly leaning up against either a wall or a lamp post. and i was just wondering, why do they do this? and i'm also wondering whether we, the viewers, could gain any insight into their own political views by whether they lean to the left...

..or the right? i think we'll leave that question hanging in the air. thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions about what you see or hear on bbc news, on tv, radio, online and social media, e—mail newswatch@bbc.co.uk, or you can find us on twitter @newswatchbbc. you can call us on 0370 010 6676, and do 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. well, some of us probably looked at the sky today wondering where's all this fantastic weather we're promising. just a little while longer. it is going to improve. it was a temporary blip on friday. it is going to turn increasingly sunny and warmer as we go

through the bank holiday weekend into next week. but here's the cloud from friday, you can see a little hit and miss. there were some showers around. the best of the weather was across northern scotland and closer to the north sea coast, and that's because high pressure's building here. the weather fronts which are trying to get in are stopped by this area of high pressure — think of the high pressure as a mountain — and it stops the weather fronts coming off the atlantic. so, the weather front that's been here across the west is in the process of disintegrating, so it's raining itself out. the clouds are starting to break up, but it does mean that saturday morning is going to be pretty overcast, murky and even drizzly in some areas, so we will have to wait a little while longer. we'll call it a cloudy morning on saturday, but then brightening up as we go through the course of the afternoon. i think second half of the afternoon should be absolutely fine for most of us. so, here's the forecast for saturday. starts off a little grey, the best of the sunshine probably across eastern areas of the country. could be a few local brief

showers here and there. look at the temperatures — 21 in london, 19 in liverpool, we're expecting around 20 or so in glasgow. and high pressure is firmly in charge of our weather on sunday. light winds, strong sunshine, don't forget that. we've not been used to the sun so far this spring, so slap on the sunscreen if you're out for any lengthy period of time. temperatures up to 23 degrees around merseyside on sunday. after that, the high pressure really does become quite dominant across the northwest of europe, so notjust here in the uk but scandinavia, parts of central europe as well. the high pressure is a vortex in itself, so it's actually going to be drawing in warmth from the southern climes and spreading it across the uk and keeping the weather fronts at bay out in the atlantic. so, our temperatures on monday easily getting up into the low 20s throughout the country. that's it from me. enjoy the bank holiday weekend.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a string of failings by police, probation workers and mi5 contributed to the killing of two people by a convicted terrorist — an inquest finds. jack merritt and saskia jones were unlawfully killed' by usman khan in 2019. their families say the authorities let them down. the belarusian leader, alexander lukashenko accuses the west of trying to destabilise his country during talks with president putin. facing up to its colonial past. for the first time, germany formally recognises it committed genocide in namibia, and promises over a billion dollars in aid. and, the $6 trillion plan. president biden pushes the biggest spending programme since world war two to reboot the us economy and fend off

competition from china.