coming up, we look back at the violent protests that spread around the country a month ago. did bbc news help to fan the flames of the riots? since we were last with you, it's been a busy summer of news, both at home and abroad. in this programme, we're going to focus on the alarming sequence of events sparked by a knife attack in southport at the end ofjuly in which three young girls were killed. judith moritz spoke at the time to eight—year—old poppy, a friend of one of the victims. i literally knew that alice was definitely in there, so my fingers were crossed that she wasn't injured or anything because i knew she was in there. but then when i found out that she was in the hospital, i was like, "oh, i'm

crossing my fingers all week". that's what we've done for all of them, haven't we? you're crossing your fingers all week? i yep, all week. and then you said she's died from the incident. holly fitzgerald was one of a number of viewers who contacted us about that interview, writing... "the bbc�*s coverage of the appalling incident in southport has been excellent, and judith moritz is one of my favourite reporters, but i was deeply uncomfortable with this interview. "it felt inappropriate and insensitive to be asking a child about this terrible event, even if her mother was with her. maggie gabbe added... soon after the attack, an article started spreading widely on social media that included a false name for the alleged assailant, and wrongly suggested he was an asylum seeker who arrived in the uk by boat last year.

that rumour seems to have been a factor in the violence that followed, and it was only three days after the killings that a court ruling allowed media organisations to broadcast the name of the actual suspect. axel rudakubana, seen here in old photos, was born in cardiff but grew up in southport and went to local schools. it's understood he has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and has at times refused to leave the house. for the last seven years, he'd been living in this close in the village of banks, just outside southport, with his parents, who were originally from rwanda. but the inclusion of that last detail on bbc tv and online reports annoyed viewers such as helen pink. this person was a british citizen from cardiff. why, therefore, was it relevant to mention that this person's parents came from rwanda? it was nothing to do with the crime, which was a non—racially motivated crime.

all it did was it ignited deep—rooted anger against immigrants across the country. and the bbc must take some blame and responsibility for the riots that followed. whatever the causes, and they were much debated, disturbances broke out over several cities and towns in england and northern ireland in the days following the killings. a police car in a side street vandalised. around the next corner, a taxi overturned and set alight. about 400—500 protesters here in the centre of sunderland. we've got a police helicopter overhead. you can probably see the riot squads just getting out of their van. we've had police on horseback charging through the crowd to disperse them. the terminology used in reports like that came in for some criticism, with an m wheal asking..

others objected to what they saw as the excessive and inappropriate use of the phrase far—right. here's dennis white. well, let's discuss those points raised by news watch viewers with richard burgess, who's director of news content for bbc news. thank you for coming on newswatch. let's start with the language of the reporting. did you give them the veil of respectability by calling them protesters rather than rioters? i think the way we described the incidents actually changed over the course of the days because at first there was some element of legitimate protest

there around issues. but i think as time went on, it became increasingly clear that anybody who was out on the streets involved in these type of activities was involved in violence and rioting, and that's the type of language we increasingly used. what about the term far—right? was that a mistake? no. i mean, we were careful about our use of that. we tried to talk about, um, the events being arranged and led by far right elements, and certainly the evidence of our reporting and our reporters suggested as much. and i think the police and the government backed that up as well. so there were undoubtedly far right elements within this trouble, but i don't think it would be right to label everybody there as far—right. that interview with the eight—year—old girl in southport...

a lot of people are uncomfortable with it, it was about the killing of herfriend. even with her mother sitting right there next to her, wasn't that a bad judgment? well, we do think really carefully about interviews like that. and the welfare of children is absolutely paramount. and judith moritz is a really experienced reporter, and we put a lot of checks and balances in place, yes, including the consent of the parent, but also in terms of how long the interview lasted, that they were able to stop the interview if there were ever any concerns. ultimately, we thought that because this was a crime, a horrific crime that affected children and affected their friends in school, the issue of how children would react to it and how parents could speak to them was a really important one. so we felt, on balance that it was worth doing the interview. 0k.

confusion around the identity of the teenager arrested for the stabbings fuelled racial tensions, as you'll know. when you did correctly name the suspect, why did daniel sandford say that the parents were immigrants from rwanda? you must have known that would add to the tensions. we felt that actually, it was important that we gave as much information as we could about the identity of the attacker

it's always a challenge with this kind of disturbance, and i can remember back to the 2011 riots across english cities. did you worry that showing all that coverage, all that footage of street disturbances, might encourage and maybe did encourage copycat rioting? i think whenever you're covering incidents of violence and trouble on the streets, you do need to have that in mind. "are you amplifying something that really is an isolated incident, and are you encouraging it by giving it airtime"? but i don't think that was the case on this occasion. these were significant riots. and, you know, that's really clear by the police response, the government response and the response we've seen more recently in the courts. so, yes, we're careful. yes, we're careful not to use hyperbole or hype them up. but at the same time, this was an important new story that i think it was right that bbc news properly covered.

richard burgess, thank you very much. thank you. just time to mention a couple of other topics that have been exercising you recently. first — coverage of the dramatic sinking of a superyacht off the coast of sicily last month, which killed seven people on board, including the tech entrepreneur mike lynch. this tragedy received lots of airtime across the media and drew the attention of large audiences. but frances robinson, among others, had her reservations. all the news programmes that i saw from the day of the sinking for at least three or four days, there was at least five minutes and sometimes up to ten minutes of coverage, usually as the main headline item. whilst the sinking of the yacht and the loss of the seven lives is a tragedy, this extensive coverage over multiple days is not given when ordinary lives are lost at sea or refugees drown

in the english channel as we have seen this week. it is very sad that the bbc seems to have chosen to provide this extensive coverage based on the wealth and presumed importance of those on the bayesian yacht. finally, if you've been consuming the news at all over the past couple of weeks, you mayjust have noticed the reforming of a certain band and a row over ticket sales of their forthcoming concerts. micky d did...

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, email newswatch at bbc.co.uk. or you can find us on x at newswatch bbc. you can call us on 0370?0106676, and do have a look at previous interviews on our website — bbc.co.uk slash newswatch. that's all from us for now. thank you forjoining us. do think about getting in touch and perhaps even coming on the programme. we shall be back to hear more of your thoughts about how the bbc covers the news next week. goodbye. you're watching bbc news — i'm nicky schiller. let's get more now on the severe overcrowding in prisons.

almost 1,400 people have been arrested so far for their part in the riots earlier this summer. the large numbers being sent to jail has added yet more pressure on the prison population in england and wales — which reached record levels yet again today. the latest figures show there are now more than 88,500 inmates. that's a rise of almost 1,200 in five weeks. around half of those are cases linked to this summer's riots. in a few days' time, the government's temporary early release scheme will begin, and some offenders will be able to leave jail at an earlier point in their sentences. the prime minister, sir keir starmer, says he's been shocked by the state of the prison system — he's been speaking to our home editor, mark easton. duty of government to make sure we have enough prison places for those who have been sentenced by our courts to go to prison. we've inherited a situation where the last government didn't build the prisons we need and has now got to a position

where our prisons are overfull and they haven't managed the situation. we will have to turn that around. it was very difficult during the disorder, i won't hide from that, every day we were having to look at how many prison places that we had in order to arrest people who needed to be arrested. no prime ministers should be in the position of having to concern him or herself with "are there enough prison places? so we are doing what is necessary. we will turn it around, we will make sure the prisons we need are built, but i've been truly shocked by what i've found in relation to the state of our prisons. butjust on the early release thing next week, can you be absolutely confident that victims will not end up at risk because of people that you are releasing from prison early? well, we have to release people early because otherwise we will have an absolute crisis in our prisons. of course, we've got risk assessments, high—risk prisoners will not be released. that is very, very important. i don't want to be in a position of releasing people who should be

in prison, but we've reached crisis point because of the failure of the last government that i now have to deal with. but we have put a threshold and un—risk, very much bearing in mind the victims in this. the co—leader of the green party of england and wales has accused labour of " knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing'. addressing the party's annual conference in manchester, adrian ramsay attacked the government's approach on taxation, housing, the nhs, and water pollution. ramsay took to the conference stage alone as his co—leader carla denyer is unwell. the green party enjoyed its most successful election ever injuly, winning four seats. here's our political correspondent hannah miller. ? full of hope and promising change. this is a green party with more power and influence than ever, and its message is clear. because in so many areas, ones that matter deeply to so many of us, labour is getting it wrong.

like denying winter fuel payments to millions of pensioners, giving the green light to new climate destroying airport expansion, and to sticking with the cruelty of the two—child benefit cap. the green party has plenty of reasons to cheer, with more mps, councillors and members than ever before. their core message is about pushing labour to do more. labour would say that they are taking tough decisions that reflect the reality of the public finances. what difficult decisions are you making? we've set out a bold vision for how we can put in more funding, and we've shown we can do that by asking the very richest in society, the millionaires, multimillionaires and billionaires to pay modestly more in tax. but one of adrian ramsay's first interventions as an mp was to call for a pause on new pylons in his constituency that would carry green energy to people's homes. can you accept that to some people, it looks like your party says one

thing and does another?