the tennis star said he hadn't had a covid vaccine because he didn't have enough information about it, but after that interview was aired, bbc health correspondents also appeared, saying that claims of a lack of information about the vaccine were dubious at best. novak djokovic says he doesn't have enough information - about the vaccine and what it might do to his body, - but there's already a mountain of evidence available. - european regulators have i approved five different covid vaccines using three - very different technologies. they were developed in record time, but went through all - the usual trial stages involving tens of- thousands of volunteers. many viewers got in touch with us to complain about the coverage, with matt rowbotham suggesting the views of a non—scientist on covid had received too much prominence.

and alison munro had this to say... well, we also heard from another viewer who got in touch with us, kris pierce. this is what she had to say. i was really disappointed with the bbc this week and somewhat angry for the amount of publicity and airtime they gave to novak djokovic and his views on the covid vaccine. cameras all over the place... novak djokovic�*s views just go against everything we're trying to promote, and the bbc, in showing him and highlighting his views, is just giving so much publicity to this.

and for him to be a role model for anti—vaxxers. and your interviewer didn't question him strongly enough on this. he seemed to be almost fawning over him. you're better than this, bbc, and i really expect more from you. joining us now is chris gibson, the editor of the culture at team at bbc news. thank you so much for coming on newswatch. there have been a lot of concerns. can we start with the issue about just what was it really an exclusive? what did we learn that was so revelatory? we already knew he wasn't taking the vaccine. well, firstly, thank you for having me and for engaging me with this issue. and i know that some people have concerns about the prominence of this interview. i think it's worth just discussing the context of novak djokovic and why we thought this was such an important interview. so, in the lead—up to the australian open, the saga around novak djokovic's detention led news bulletins across the world,

and indeed across the bbc, day in, day out. but we never heard from the man himself. and so this was genuinely an exclusive, it was a news interview that he hadn't done before — and he's a public figure in a debate with huge public interest. this story performed exceptionally strongly with the audience for the whole week. but a lot of the public feel this gave huge succour in a way to an anti—vax view and that he wasn't challenged enough on that. so, you know, obviously his views, we know that his views are very sensitive, and we know this is a very emotive topic for many people. so we spent a lot of time and care and consideration in preparation for the interview and also what went round the interview. so, on the issue of him being robustly challenged, amol asked him very pointedly on a number of times to spell out what his vaccination status was, whether or not he felt

he was above the rules, also the events leading up to the australian open. many people felt that it was convenient that the only way he was able to play at the australian open was if he had covid, and amol definitely challenged him on that. so i do think that there was robust challenge, but i also think it was really crucial with this interview... we've heard from fergus already. ..that we put our medical editor to act as a rebuttal to what he had to say because novak djokovic's views are definitely in the minority and definitely run counter to the scientific community. so, you know, we're really keen that any viewer, listener or reader was exposed to fergus' analysis to show that actually what novak djokovic says is disputed. but he got half an hour, and the medical correspondents got a few minutes. so, obviously we've done huge amounts on the vaccine

and its safety for a number of years now. but i also think there would be a danger if that interview was cut too short. you know, on the flip side of this issue around prominence is if you reduce what he had to say to a few minutes, then you're not exploring the issue enough, and then crucially you're not challenging him enough. and i think that you have to let interviews like that run for a bit of time so the audience can hear the ins and outs of what happened. this is a very complicated story in terms of what he says and what the austrian government says, but also then to hear him being challenged point by point, particularly about, you know, the status and the people he met in serbia in the lead—up to the australian open. a lot was made of this as a big exclusive. a lot of viewers are wondering, were you both just a bit starstruck? i wasn't starstruck. i think i was more genuinely interested

in what he had to say. i think it's also right and is kind of an interesting discussion point for this programme about the bbc and promoting our own journalism. and my view of someone at the coal face is that this was a genuine world exclusive. i think any news organisation around the world would have promoted this very prominently, and the bbc is not any different. and i think this did add to the sum of knowledge about that event. chris gibson, thank you so much for coming on newswatch. thank you. on monday, bbc news carried a report from lucy manning about caroline flack, who took her own life two years ago this week. two months before the tv presenter killed herself, she had been charged with assaulting her boyfriend. two years on, her mother still doesn't have the answers about the way the police treated her. but what followed in that report, a still photograph of caroline flack, caught the attention of a number of viewers, including jo, who recorded this video.

towards the end of the article, you should still image towards the end of the article, you showed a still image of caroline wearing a sparkly low—cut dress, but i noticed that you focused on her chest area before you moved up to show her face. now, i wondered why you'd done this, considering there's enough in the media about the objectification of women and girls, and you report on it fairly frequently yourselves. so itjust did seem a bit odd and rather disappointing actually. it seems to me that that kind of filming is part of the problem, and you're not actually blazing a trail towards equality for women. thank you. now, we reported last week that an edition of the new bbc one regional current affairs series we are england had been dropped from the schedules at the last—minute amid concerns about its accuracy. this week, there was more embarrassment when another edition of the series, which was broadcast last month, was removed from the iplayer amid further editorial concerns. the programme praised a dance school attended

by caroline flack for helping improve its students' mental health, but failed to mention a recent ofsted report which listed several criticisms of the school. as was the case last week, the bbc also removed a company website article. someone tweeting as devil food cake blamed... we wanted to talk to someone about the whether the budget cuts made in regional news might�*ve contributed to we are england's problems, but were told that wasn't possible. the bbc�*s head of midlands, stuart thomas, has now been draughted in to provide additional editorial support, and he's welcome to come and talk to us at any point. in the meantime, we were given this statement. wednesday brought some economic figures which bbc news

reported throughout the day, using headlines like this. the cost of living hits a new 30—year high as energy, food and fuel costs rocket. but did they really mean a high in the cost of living? david jones thought not. will somebody please explain to bbc news economics department the difference between a price rise and an increase in the inflation rate? several times this past week on your website and news bulletins, there have been headlines to the effect of "living costs hit record high". for as long as there is a positive inflation rate, prices will continuously be hitting record highs. prices still increase when the rate of inflation reduces as long as the rate of inflation remains positive. so of course living costs continue to rise. the cost of living, then, is almost always at a record high. nothing newsworthy there. the big news that day was inflation was at a 30—year high. the bbc news told us...

thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions about what you see, read or hear on bbc news on tv, radio, online or 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 previous interviews on 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. storm eunice turned out to be every bit as powerful and damaging as anticipated.

this storm swirled its way eastwards across the uk, with the strongest winds on its southern flank across the southern half of the uk. the strongest gust of all, at needles on the isle of wight, was 122 mph — provisionally the strongest wind gust ever recorded in england. but plenty of other places, including at gatwick and heathrow airports, a long way inland, had their strongest winds in around 15 or 20 years. and further north, winds were less of a feature but snow came down, turning parts of scotland into a winter wonderland. now, our storm system is sliding quickly away eastwards, but there is more unsettled weather on the way for the weekend. we will have more wet and windy weather, but nothing quite as stormy as we've seen over the last 2a hours or so. so, during saturday, outbreaks of rain pushing in from the west, snow over high ground in wales, the north midlands, northern england — potentially even to low levels. some snow for parts of northern ireland and southern scotland, as well. gales accompanying this weather feature across some southern and western coasts.

there will be some sunshine to be had, as well — temperatures north to south between four and 11 degrees. and then, during saturday night, well, this first area of rain clears away eastwards — still some residual rain and snow moving across scotland — and then a more active weather system moves in from the west. heavy rain and, once again, some strengthening winds. but with that cloud, with the outbreaks of rain, it will be turning really quite mild as we head into the first part of sunday morning. for sunday, we find ourselves between these two weather fronts in an area of windy, cloudy and, at times, wet weather, but mild weather — that could melt some of the snow that we've seen across parts of scotland, that could cause some flooding issues. and through the afternoon, we'll see cloud and rain continuing to affect parts of england and wales, especially around western hills. brighter skies with showers — some wintry — for northern ireland and scotland. gusty winds again — 40, 50, 60 mph or more in the most exposed spots. not as windy as it has been, but it could hamper any clear—up operations.

temperatures ten to 14 degrees, although i think northern areas will turn chillier as the day wears on. so the weekend summed up like this — more wet and windy weather, not as severe as it has been, but you can keep up to date with the latest weather warnings on our website.

this is bbc news. our top stories... president biden says he's convinced vladimir putin has made the decision to invade ukraine — with an attack on kyiv expected in the coming days. we're calling out russia's plans loudly and repeatedly not because we want a conflict but because we are doing everything in our power to remove any reason russia may give to justify invading ukraine and prevent them from moving. storm eunice continues moving eastward — after leaving a trail of destruction in the uk and northern europe. and brad pitt sues his ex—wife — angelina jolie — for selling her stake in the french vineyard where they got married.