now on bbc news, it's time for newswatch. we'll have mormon news at the top of the hour. —— more news. hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed. a week of questions about how the refurbishment of borisjohnson�*s flat was paid for, but are viewers as interested as bbc news thinks they are? and was a downing street press briefing on covid the right place to ask about those redecorations? for several weeks, allegations of improper conduct on the part of borisjohnson and his government have been swirling around the media, and this week, three such stories all related to the prime minister's integrity dominated bbc news. most prominent was the question of who paid what and when toward the redecoration of mrjohnson�*s downing street flat. in an interview on saturday on the news channel, martine croxall suggested to the former labour party director of communications, alastair campbell, that many people might not be that bothered about the details of the case. do voters really care? doesn't this just look like the rough—a

thank you for coming on newswatch.'s start with the issue of different vaccines, differing regulatory authorities around the world and then changing reports of possible risks. how do you decide what to report and when? i've been reporting risk for a long time now. and it's a tricky area. i've always made it clear that no medicine, whether it's aspirin or vaccines have they all carry a certain level of risk. we have to balance that against the benefit. and when stories began to emerge both in the uk and in europe, in particular about the astrazeneca, the oxford astrazeneca vaccine and when they are reputable reports based on the safety data, the safety monitoring data we have a duty to report that. but also to set it into context. i really think the viewers and listeners and readers don't expect our reporting to simply be black and white. there are shades there. and it's about presenting the balance of the risk against the benefits. are you worried at all that some viewers feel that the bbc might be feeding vaccine hesi

hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed.ut bbc coverage of the duke of edinburgh's death? and was it appropriate to focus on the relationship between prince william and prince harry before and after the duke's funeral? in the past two weeks, much has been written and said, notjust about prince philip but also about the way the bbc handled his death, its aftermath and his funeral. it all began like this. we have just received a statement from buckingham palace, confirming that the duke of edinburgh has died. the statement says "it is with deep sorrow that her majesty the queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, his royal highness, the prince philip, duke of edinburgh". the bbc cleared its schedules for the rest of the day and some of the weekend, showing identical output, including tribute programmes, across bbc one, bbc two and the news channel. they also took bbc four off the air. the result was a significant drop in audience figures for the two main channels and the largest number of complaints made in broadca

as well as those 110,000 people, hundreds contacted newswatch direct, too. and i will be speaking to two of those viewers in a moment. we also wanted to discuss the coverage with someone from bbc television, scheduling or news, but no one was available. instead, we were pointed towards the statement they put out last week. we decided to wait until after the funeral to have this discussion on newswatch. so, let's talk now to fiona gill and barbara norris. thank you both for coming on newswatch. barbara, first, why did you complain? i complained because i thought the coverage was absolutely excessive and not really on the grounds of schedule changes. i know some viewers were upset by that, but i complained because of two things. firstly, i am a great supporter of the monarchy, i think they provide stability and leadership in times that are good and bad. however, i am also conscious that a lot of people are not avid supporters of the monarchy and some people are just indifferent. and i think as we consider we are the future of the monarchy lies, the annoyance t

.— hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed.ine? the bbc�*s medical editor fergus walsh, who spent most of the past year covering the pandemic, tells us how he approaches that challenge. we are back after our planned return to the airwaves last week was delayed by the special programming put in place following the death of the duke of edinburgh. as this weekend is prince phillips funeral we are going to discuss the audience reaction to the coverage on the programme next week. on this edition the subject is covid—i9. here's the bbc medical editor fergus walsh around the time he last came on newswatch in march 2020. it's increasingly likely that we will see outbreaks of the new coronavirus centred here in the uk. france and germany have seen their cases suddenly doubled. both have warned of impending epidemics. if that happens here, expect more school closures, the postponing of sporting events and other mass gatherings. fast forward 13 months to this week when the focus has been on the decision by us authorities to pause the use

now on bbc news its time for newswatch. hello and welcome to newswatch with me samira ahmed.e bbc�*s medical editor fergus walsh who spent most of the past year covering the pandemic tells us how he approaches that challenge. we are back after our planned return to the airwaves last week was delayed by the special programming put in place following the death of the duke of edinburgh. as this weekend is prince phillips funeral we are going to discuss the audience reaction to the coverage on the programme next week. on this edition the subject is covid—19. here's the bbc medical editor fergus walsh around the time he last came on newswatch in march 2020. it's increasingly likely that we will see outbreaks of the new coronavirus centred here in the uk. france and germany have seen their cases suddenly doubled. both have warned of impending epidemics. if that happens here, expect more school closures, the postponing of sporting events and other mass gatherings.

now, newswatch. hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed.ten and said, notjust about prince philip but also about the way the bbc handled his death, its aftermath and his funeral. it all began like this. we have just received a statement from buckingham palace confirming that the duke of edinburgh has died. the statement says, it is with deep sorrow that her majesty the queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, his royal highness, the prince philip, duke of edinburgh. the bbc cleared its schedules for the rest of the day and some of the weekend, showing identical output, including tribute programmes, across bbc one, bbc two and the news channel. they also took bbc four off the air. the result was a significant drop in audience figures for the two main channels and the largest number of complaints made in broadcasting history. most of them submitted via a dedicated online form set up for the purpose. as well as those 110,000 people, hundreds contacted newswatch direct, too.

now on bbc news, it's time for newswatch. they are? and was a downing street press briefing on covid the right place to ask about those redecorations?

thank you for coming on newswatch.reports based on the safety data, the safety monitoring data, we have a duty to report that. but also to set it into context. i really think the viewers and listeners and readers don't expect our reporting to simply be black and white. there are shades there, and it's about presenting the balance of the risk against the benefits. are you worried at all that some viewers feel that the bbc might be feeding vaccine hesitancy? well, i hope not. and i can remember i think it was a couple of weeks ago — it was on the six and ten o'clock news — when the sort of definitive or the latest raft of reports came out about the link between clots and between the vaccine, and the vaccine advisory group ,thejcvi in the uk, suggested that people under 30 here get an alternative jab. and there — it was important to present any risk within context. so i knew that that report what was coming out and that morning, i contacted a professor at the winton group in cambridge, who is an absolute world expert on c

time now for this week's newswatch. hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed. has announced the death of her beloved husband, his royal highness, the prince philip, duke of edinburgh". the bbc cleared its schedules for the rest of the day and some of the weekend, showing identical output, including tribute programmes, across bbc one, bbc two and the news channel. they also took bbc four off air. the result was a significant drop in audience figures for the two main channels and the largest number of complaints made in broadcasting history, most of them submitted via a dedicated online form set up for the purpose. as well as those 110,000 people, hundreds contacted newswatch direct, too, and i will be speaking to two of those viewers in a moment. we also wanted to discuss the coverage with someone from bbc television, scheduling or news, but no—one was available. instead, we were pointed towards the statement they put out last week. we decided to wait till after the funeral to have this discussion on newswatch, so let's talk now to fiona gill and barbara norris.