the nine. now it's time to join the newswatch team. hello and welcome back to news watch with me, samira ahmed. hello and welcome back to newswatch with me, samira ahmed. coming up in the programme, there is rising concern about energy prices but is bbc news contributing to the public�*s anxiety over the issue? on the bbc faces criticism again on the thorny issue of impartiality. broadcasters and journalists have often seen august as the time to recharge their batteries on holiday, safe in the knowledge that nothing much will happen. that wasn't the case in the summer when the news agenda was busy and questions continued to be raised about the bbc�*s role in reporting it. at the top of many bulletins where the cost of living in general and energy bills, in particular. the typical gas and electricity bill willjump to £3549 bill will jump to £3,519 per yearfrom october. and almost £60 more

if you are on a prepayment metre. this figure isn't the maximum you can be charged. and it's predicted that prices will rise even further next year. annual bills could exceed £5,000 from january 2023 and then more than £6,000 from april. worrying figures for many people but some felt the bbc was adding to that worry with the tone and extent of its reporting on what might happen but hasn't happened yet. stuart luck was one of them, writing: while i understand the need to cover rising energy bills, i am becoming very tired of the intensity of the coverage over the crisis. we all know we are in. tired of the intensity of the coverage over the crisis we all know we are in. it is frightening, very frightening and, at the moment, i feel that is all the bbc is achieving, frightening people. the coverage in my perception has reached an unhealthy balance. as we saw in that clip we played, the bbc has been reporting the future average cap on bills but some viewers think that's not the most useful measure to employ. sue clark made this request:

please can you report the energy cap prices using units, not the average house costs which does not meaningfully apply to you. i think it would be a much more accurate unless more accurate and less inflammatory way of reporting. that way each individual can work out their own circumstances, instead of potentially feeling scared and helpless by the relentless reporting of inflation. and peter coleman had this suggestion: why can't the bbc be far more objective unhelpful by reporting that prices are going to rise by x percent. then i would know what i'm likely to see. the ongoing debate about how the bbc should interpret and demonstrate impartiality flared up again last week when emily matliss, who recently left the organisation after 20 years, gave a lecture at the edinburgh television festival. she questioned the bbc�*s decision to apologise for comments she made on newsnight in 2020 about dominic cummings breaking lockdown rules during the pandemic which prompted a complaint from downing street.

why had the bbc immediately and publicly sought to confirm the government spokesman's opinion, spokesman without any kind of due process? without any kind of due process? it makes no sense for an organisation which is admirably, famously rigorous about procedure, unless it was perhaps sending a message of reassurance directly to westminster itself. put this in the context of the bbc board. of the bbc board, where another active agent of the conservative party, a former downing street spin doctor and former adviser to bbc rival gb news now sits, acting as the arbiter of bbc impartiality. it is thought that was a reference to sir robbie gibb, a former bbc editor who went to work as theresa may's director of communications and was appointed to the bbc board last year.

there was both criticism and approval of emily matliss�*s comments with a friend of sir robbie gibb telling news papers, he is committed to delivering change, to making impartiality the genuine priority. meanwhile, keith russell felt the speech didn't receive enough attention on bbc news. i note with interest your lack of interest in emily mate liz's of interest in emily matliss�*s comments about your bias. kind of proves her point. the bbc did put out a statement in response to the speech which reads like this: the bbc places the highest value on due impartiality and accuracy and we apply these principles to our reporting on all issues as we've made clear previously in relation to newsnight. we did not take action as a result of any pressure from number we did not take action as a result of any pressure from number 10 or government and to suggest otherwise was wrong. the bbc down the programme

breached its editorial standards and that decision still stands. the extent to which impartiality has become fraught issue for the bbc has reinforced this week by bbc ruling against radio two presenter and safe cycling advocate jeremy vine. an internal investigation found that he had reached impartiality rules, by expressing his support for low traffic neighbourhoods. a decision that had a mixed response. david harrington thought: it makes absolutely no sense to be allowed to express generic enthusiasm the cycling but not be allowed to express enthusiasm to something which makes it more enjoyable, easier or safer. time to scrap this fake impartiality nonsense, i think. but maria david disagrees. journalist are not meant to express their opinions while on the job. it's called code of practice. the bbc is a public service broadcaster and were right to pull up jeremy vine on reaching impartiality rules. well, we hoped to discuss the bbc�*s approach the bbc�*s approach to impartiality over the next four weeks with a bbc executive. unfortunately, no one

was available to do so this week. do let us know your thoughts on any of the issues we are covering in this programme or any aspect of bbc news. details on how to contact us are available at the end of the programme. but now some of your other concerns this week. wednesday's news at six led with a special investigation by ed thomas into a distressing subject. the months, the bbc has been hearing about people's experiences reporting crime. this is the story of mums in chorley, whose children have been attacked by a group of teenagers. what followed show children being beaten and bruised and though the images were blurred and a warning had been given beforehand, a viewer called julie thought the footage was too explicit for pre—watershed viewing. this is a first time i've ever complained but, as a public health professional, i was so shocked by the clips you showed of the violence of children abusing children on the six o'clock news. this is a time when children

could easily be present. it was so horrific, even for adults to see and hear. young children could be traumatised by seeing this. i was so shocked and couldn't understand how this had passed through the threshold. is there no such thing as the watershed any more? this would have been more appropriate for the ten o'clock news or newsnight. please could you be more aware and more sensitive over the clips you _ show and that they are age appropriate for the time of day. another viewer who wanted to remain anonymous had a different view, e—mailing: i want to express my thanks to you for showing horrific violence taking place out of sight involving young people. i was completely horrified and ashamed that i had to change channels for a few moments. the police cannot be allowed to brush this aside and i implore the bbc to do more to expose this borrowed behaviour.

implore the bbc to do more to expose this abhorant behaviour. 0ne staple of news coverage in august is exam results day, whether it's gcses or a—levels. typically, tv reports on the subject start something like this: i've done it! she's done it! the tense wait over, so relieved. mum is going to be so proud of me and i've got to tell her. and notjust for the students. i needed three bs and i got three bs. distinction. 0h. fantastic. this is the passport to their adult lives. i got eight, b, b, and so...

i'm relieved. jamie thornton was watching that and had this question. do we need to see ten minutes of girlie grasping minutes of girlie gasping to tell us today, as every year, people have been missing their people have been receieving their a—level results? this is not news. it is a regular event which is probably boring in the extreme to most people. how many times do we need to see people opening their envelopes, the tears, the hysteria? and mike agreed. hold the front page. students get their exam results. should this really be top story on the news with war in europe, war threatened over taiwan, children shot dead in a safety of their own home? no. i don't think so. finally, most of us have been enjoying suffering some very hot weather this summer, confirmed this week to be the joint hottest record in england. and that's featured prominently in many news bulletins over the past few weeks. 0n bournemouth beach this weekend they are expecting 100,000 visitors with people here seeming unconcerned about the extreme heat

in the coming days. peter donaldson contacted us injuly with his response to the bbc�*s coverage of the heatwave. yes, we had a heatwave and i know it's a met office forecast of record—breaking temperatures in a few days�* time but why does that dominate the news? your newscast have crossed both radio across both radio and television leading the same news day after day. it is hot and it will get hotter. we all know this. we don't need endless vox pops of random people around the country saying how hot they are. and more pictures of hot people. this, before the record has been broken. then there is regularly repeated advice from the experts about the importance of staying in the shade, wearing sunscreen and drinking lots of water. there are important things happening around our world but hot weather has swept aside most of the news. i know as a nation, we are meant to be obsessed with the weather but this really

is out of proportion. thank you for all your comments. over the next few days, we'll see plenty of new starts, laura kuenssberg taking over bbc 0ne�*s sunday morning interview programme, followed on monday by the arrival of the new ceo of bbc news, deborah turness. oh, and our next prime minister starts on the job on tuesday. we are keen to hear your reactions to any of those new beginnings or anything you see or hear on the bbc news and we will do our best to get editors on to respond. you can e—mail newswatch at bbc.code.uk or you can find us on twitter at newswatch, bbc. you can call us on 0370 0106676 and do have a look at our website for previous interviews, bbc.co.uk/newswatch. we will be back to hear your thoughts about bbc news coverage again next week. goodbye. hello. the weather has been

changing during today. we've seen things starting to turn more unsettled — something of a pincer movement, really. we've seen these shower clouds down to the south starting to introduce some pretty hefty downpours into some southern areas. also a stripe of cloud working in from the west in association with this. this will be our weekend weather maker, an area of low pressure that will turn to the west of the uk, pressure that will churn to the west of the uk, throwing frontal systems in our direction. where you're close to the centre of the low, across western areas, that's where you'll see the lion's share of the rain, especially northern ireland and southwest scotland. this chart shows rainfall accumulations we're expecting through the weekend. the deep blue and green colours show that parts of northern ireland and southwest scotland could see 50 to maybe close to 100 mm of rain, which could cause some disruption. so, spells of heavy, thundery rain, always wettest in the west, and it will often be quite windy — dare i say it will feel quite autumnal. so, as we go through this evening and tonight, we'll see heavy rain developing across parts of northern ireland and southwest scotland,

this rain becoming quite persistent. some rain into west wales, southwest of england, the odd shower elsewhere. some dry weather, some clear spells, but it will be a pretty mild night — 13—16 degrees. then, into tomorrow, a soggy start for much of northern ireland, that rain getting into southwest scotland at times also perhaps into west wales and the far southwest of england. the odd sharp shower is likely to break out through northern england, parts of the midlands, east anglia, down to the southeast. could be some flashes of lightning, some rumbles of thunder contained within those hit—and—miss showers with spells of sunshine in between. highs of 2a for london, butjust 16 in belfast, stuck under the cloud with the outbreaks of rain. during saturday night, we're watching the southwest of england and wales. see the white lines, the isobars squeezing together a swathe of really strong winds here, particularly around some of the coasts. could be gusts of around 45—50 mph, so a windy start to sunday. outbreaks of rain continue to drift northeastwards, more wet weatherfor time in northern ireland, more especially the

southwest of scotland. drier for northeast scotland and southeast england, but blustery in the north and still quite windy down towards the southwest. but it will feel warm where you get some sunshine — highs of 25 degrees in norwich, more like 19 for glasgow and belfast.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. russia warns a key pipeline to europe is facing a new problem — nord stream one will remain closed for an indefinite period. it follows a decision by the g7 group of wealthy countries to put a cap on how much they pay for russian oil. the un's nuclear watchdog calls for immense caution — as they continue inspections at a ukrainian power plant caught up in the conflict. fears of food shortages in pakistan — the government says up to half voting closes to be the next conservative party leader and prime minister, succeeding borisjohnson. spectators gather for its annual gorilla naming ceremony.