hello and welcome to news watch, with me samira ahmed. were those hours and days looking forward to sue gray's report to be published time well spent for journalists? and why is ofcom now investigating this bbc report on an alleged anti—semitic incident after a complaint was partially upheld? watching and waiting were the hallmarks of this week in news, as day after day, the publication of sue gray's report into lockdown gatherings in westminster failed to appear. the prime minister did appear in front of the cameras on monday but he didn't have much to say about the issue dominating the minds ofjournalists. can you guarantee that no more embarrassing allegations about alleged breaches of lockdown within downing street will come out before that report is published? what i can guarantee is that this government is focused 100% on dealing with the big problem is that we have. but on the sue gray report... do you think change is now inevitable in downing street after that report has come out, specifically on the sue gray report? i know that,

hello, and welcome to the first newswatch of 2022, with me, samira ahmed. conviction, did bbc news interview jeffrey epstein's former lawyer, who has himself been accused of abuse? and was it right after that guilty verdict to hear from ghislaine maxwell's brother, ian, who insists she is innocent? the trial of ghislaine maxwell on charges of helping the latejeffrey epstein to abuse girls was avidly followed in the media around the world. so when she was found guilty in a new york court last week, it was, of course, breaking news on the bbc news channel. a few minutes after the verdict came in, the channel interviewed this man. the government was very careful who it used as witnesses. it did use as a witness the woman who accused prince andrew, accused me, accused many other people, because the government didn't believe she was telling the truth. in fact, she, virginia giuffre, was mentioned in the trial as somebody who brought young people to epstein for him to abuse. although this was not made clear on air, alan dershowitz used to be a lawyer forjeffrey e

hello and welcome to newswatch, with me samira ahmed.king forward to sue gray's report to be published time well spent for journalists? and why is 0fcom now investigating this bbc report on an alleged anti—semitic incident after a complaint was partially upheld? watching and waiting were the hallmarks of this week in news, as day after day, the publication of sue gray's report into lockdown gatherings in westminster failed to appear. the prime minister did appear in front of the cameras on monday but he didn't have much to say about the issue dominating the minds ofjournalists. can you guarantee that no more embarrassing allegations about alleged breaches of lockdown within downing street will come out before that report is published? what i can guarantee is that this government is focused 100% on dealing with the big problem is that we have. but on the sue gray report... crosstalk. do you think change is now inevitable in downing street after that report has come out, specifically on the sue gray report? i know that, you know, i perfect

hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed. for the first time the bbc�*s political coverage comes under fire for an alleged lack of balance. we asked fran unsworth, soon to lead the corporation after four years after leaving its news division about impartiality, accountability and making the most of a shrinking budget. it's been a significant week for a bbc with monday's announcement from culture secretary nadine dorries that the licence fee would be frozen for the next two years. bbc�*s chairman richard sharp reacted like this. what it means for the bbc is with less money in real terms, we are going to have to address how we do what we do differently. and they will have to be changes and consequences. if you diminish capital resources there are going to be affects. now, bbc has already had ten years of real reduction by about 30%. the news department has not been exempt from those cuts with an £80 million savings target to be met by this year. and that's meantjob losses in areas such as political and business news. some viewe

hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed.ged lack of balance. we asked fran unsworth, soon to leave the corporation after four years after leaving its news division about impartiality, accountability and making the most of a shrinking budget. it's been a significant week for a bbc, with monday's announcement from culture secretary nadine dorries that the licence fee would be frozen for the next two years. bbc chairman richard sharp reacted like this. what it means for the bbc is with less money in real terms, we are going to have to address how we do what we do differently. and there will have to be changes and consequences. if you diminish capital resources there are going to be effects. now, the bbc has already had ten years of real reduction by about 30%. the news department has not been exempt from those cuts, with an £80 million savings target to be met by this year. and that's meantjob losses in areas such as political and business news. some viewers have been detecting an effect on the output over recent months. with h

hello and welcome to news watch, with me samira ahmed.d7 watching and waiting were the hallmarks of this week in news, as day after day, the publication of sue gray's report into lockdown gatherings in westminster failed to appear. the prime minister did appear in front of the cameras on monday but he didn't have much to say about the issue dominating the minds ofjournalists. can you guarantee that no more embarrassing allegations about alleged breaches of lockdown within downing street will come out before that report is published?

hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed.nt week for a bbc with monday's announcement from culture secretary nadine dorries that the licence fee would be frozen for the next two years. bbc�*s chairman richard sharp reacted like this. what it means for the bbc is with less money in real terms,

hello, and welcome to the first newswatch of 2022, with me, samira ahmed.sed to be a lawyer forjeffrey epstein and, as he mentioned there, he has, along with epstein, been accused of abuse by virginia giuffre, a charge he denies. many viewers expressed shock at the interview, with michael mcelfresh contacting us to say: and john moyes added: well, the following day, the bbc acknowledged that those criticisms had a point, putting out this statement. there has been no further word yet on that but, in the meantime, there have been more objections to another bbc interview about this case, and it took place on new year's eve on radio 4's today programme and clips of it were shown during the day on the news channel. the guest — ghislaine maxwell's brother, ian, who challenged the version of events set out in court by her accusers. i'm not saying that they are lying. i mean, they — you know, it may well be that they victims of jeffrey epstein. but i do not accept that they were victims of ghislaine. that's my position, and that's also her position. again, many lis

hello and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed.we do so much more output. so, when ijoined bbc news, it was just radio and television. and now, there is the website, there's social, the app, there is continuous news tv, radio continuous news, so there's a lot more of it. so, is that better or worse? it's better in that i think we are responding to what people want and how they live their lives and how they don't want to just kind of make an appointment to see news or to listen to news, they need it there, instantly so it's better in that respect. is the quality of what we do worse or better? i think the quality of what we do is actually incredibly good. you mentioned quality but, as you've heard, some people think there has been a loss of quality because of the cuts that you've had to make of the past few years. recently, the bbc admitted it had been a mistake to interview the lawyer alan dershowitz after ghislaine maxwell's conviction. do you accept that with fewer experienced journalists in the newsroom, mistakes like that are go

hello, and welcome to newswatch with me, samira ahmed., like the panic stories of omicron issues, current economic situation, housing the afghan refugees or even what vladimir putin is doing rather than whether or not there was a socially distanced get—together in the garden for those who are working extremely hard together in 2020 at a very stressful time and were invited to use a beautiful space to chat with each other and support each other. i'm sure that nurses and doctors also met in staff rooms that were not nearly as luxurious as the number 10 garden to unwind and unload but none of this is being covered by the press who are holding onto this story and making it much bigger than it needs to be. please can the bbc stop this witch—hunt and report on the stories that are relevant and will impact us now. some of the coverage took us away from westminster to hear from families of those bereaved by covid—19. here's mark easton on tuesday's news at six. the day of the downing street party, no family attended the funeral of this 75—year—ol

hello and welcome to newswatch, with me samira ahmed. got to wait for that to come out but what i will say, this government is focused on the stuff that i think people want us to focus on. magda walter was watching that and immediately got in touch with us to say... there were also strong feelings on the opposite side of the political divide following headlines like that night's news at ten. tonight at ten, downing street admits that staff gathered inside during the first lockdown to wish borisjohnson a happy birthday. in the cabinet room at number 10, it's claimed up to 30 people were present at a time when indoor gatherings of more than two people were banned. # happy birthday to you.# an s williams e—mailed. an anonymous caller to our phone line on wednesday was clear in her views. i am absolutely disgusted with the bbc news. all that could be happening with russia and ukraine and what do you put first in the headlines? all about boris johnson. parties, parties, parties, i'm sick of it. all the while, plenty of airtime was being spent