coming up — swift mania hits the news again, some viewers say. has the bbc gone over the top with taylor? and if that's not news, is this? she imitates seagull first — more than 6000 people have crossed the english channel this year in small boats, hoping to seek asylum in the uk. just a few hours after parliament passed the government's rwanda bill designed to deter such journeys. a bbc news team was on a beach near calais. the police are trying to stop a small boat from leaving the shore. it turns violent, and the police are failing. the boat is dangerously overloaded.

it looks like the migrants who did get onto that boat are in trouble. but as we watch, we have no idea that people on board are dying, including a seven—year—old girl. andrew harding there. but did the bbc team have any impact on what happened on that beach on tuesday morning? andrew smith thought so. meanwhile, linda draycott had... well, some insight into those questions was given by another reporter who was also on a beach in northern france on tuesday morning — tom symonds. he spoke to newscast later that day. this is a 70—kilometer coastline here. it's very hard to know where these

boats are going from. and we just got lucky. so the boats did come and people ran across and jumped into it and the police seemed to come at us and say, "you knew that this was going to happen." and they took our ids and they were quite angry, really. and so i think they were thinking that somehow we'd done a deal with the migrants to film them leaving. we absolutely didn't. and we wouldn't do that. we wanted to discuss those issues further with one of the reporters on the spot there, or an editor in charge, but no one was available for interview. instead, we were given this statement...

monday's edition of panorama, along with shorter reports on that day's bbc one bulletins showed how the technology behind england's so—called "smart motorways" regularly malfunctions with potential consequences for the safety of drivers and passengers. we found that on a regular basis, much of the safety equipment just doesn't work — either no power or the kit itself is broken — so no vehicle detection, no cameras. it means the motorway is not smart anymore and you're on your own. 0n the plus side, we received this telephone message about that report. i was just watching your 6:00 news this evening. instead of criticising what you do, i'd like to congratulate you on highlighting the failings of the smart motorways. but there was criticism, too, with lindsay weston making this point.

regular viewers of newswatch will know this is a complaint that has been made several times before about pieces to camera in moving cars. we put this latest complaint to bbc news and they told us... now the news media have never been shy of covering the career of american singer—songwriter taylor swift, but they have gone particularly big over the past week or two, peaking with last friday's much—anticipated release of her new album.

new music from taylor swift. fans thought they were getting 16 tracks, and then, in the small hours of the morning — a surprise. they scream. two hours after it was released, taylor added 15 extra songs. some media organizations have appointed taylor swift correspondents, and while the bbc hasn't gone that far, it certainly devoted significant airtime and online space to her in recent days. stories have included a report on how the london pub, the black dog, has been overwhelmed after being named in the title of a track on the album. fans�* reaction to the apparent leaking of the album online, the return of her songs to tik tok after a dispute with the app and an analysis of how the singer fits into the tradition of the poets of ancient greece. last saturday, she was even the subject of thought for the day on radio four�*s today programme. sonia haines contacted us

after watching last friday's report on the news at six. how is the fact that a pop singer is bringing out two new albums is national news when it really isn't? this is the sort of item that you would expect to see on a magazine programme. it's not the sort of thing that you are actually going to be watching on a main news channel. another viewer who got in touch with us this week was claire maclennan, and we can speak to her now. thank you so much for getting in touch with newswatch, claire. what was it that got you to contact us this week? well, i had several news programmes over several days talking well, i heard several news programmes over several days talking about taylor swift. and ijust thought, i'm not sure i've ever heard this before for any other musician or artist. it seemed a major item on the news coverage on bbc one tv at several times a day for several days.

and yeah, it wasjust, "not again," you know. i suppose one counterargument might be that it's notjust that she has a lot of fans. she is a huge figure, both financially and culturally in the music industry. does that notjustify the proportion of airtime given to her when she put out a new album? it is... it's a fact to me, but ijust couldn't believe the level of coverage. it made me wonder, you know, really, the bbc should have been paid for marketing it. are they desperately trying to get young people to watch or what is it that's suddenly making this a news event? because there are very big names in the music industry who have not, as i've noticed, had that kind of coverage. claire, as you just hinted, there is a question there, but how do you think the bbc can find a balance between pleasing viewers

like yourself who feel the story could have been done in a couple of minutes, and the huge younger audience that the bbc is really keen to try to draw in for whom taylor swift is a very important figure? how do they find the balance? ithink... i can see that's a challenge. i don't have answers for you on that one. well, i can only say from my point of view. i mean, i have been young. i have lived through being really keen on pop music and screaming at different bands in my time. but it never got that kind of news attention unless something happened at that event or whatever. i can only speak from my perspective and it seems way out of line. claire mclennan, thank you so much. 0k, thank you. well, we asked bbc news if there was someone we could talk to on this programme

about its extensive coverage of taylor swift, but no one was available. instead, they told us... finally, the news — although not all of you think that's the right word — that a nine—year—old boy from derbyshire named cooper has won the european gull screeching competition. his impression of a seagull, as reported on breakfast, radiotime�*s jeremy vine show, newscast, the news at six and other bbc outlets sounded like this. three, two, one. he imitates seagull

he's a champion seagull impersonator. as an intrigued crowd of belgian seagull enthusiasts watch on from outside, thejudges give nine—year—old cooper nearly top marks. after that report from danny savage ran on the news channel on tuesday evening, maryam moshiri tried to provide cooper with some competition. i can feel that you really want me to do an impression of a seagull, so i'm going to give it a go. she imitates seagull. is that 0k? i'm hearing in my ear that i've been sacked. oh, well. c'est la vie, as they say. she wasn't sacked, but it's fair to say ann turner, amongst others, was not impressed with the item, writing...

but stephen bonaventure thought... 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, formerly known as twitter, at newswatch bbc. you can call us on 03700106676. and do you have a look at previous interviews on our website bbc.co. uk/newswatch. that's all from us for now. thank you forjoining us. do think about getting in touch and perhaps even coming on the program. coming on the programme. we'll be back to hear more of your thoughts about how the bbc covers the news next week. goodbye.

this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines of the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. orchestra tuning. she rehearses. intercom: ladies and gentlemen, this is your call to take _ places for the programme. places please. places. 0k, they're ready for you. good luck. thank you.

heartbeats. your heart is racing. the adrenaline is flowing. this is your moment. it's time to conquer your nerves, face the crowd and let all that practice pay off. # sweeter than roses. . . # some say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. and forjosephine shaw, this performance is part of thatjourney, as she blows our socks off with a rendition of sweeter than roses to a very unusual audience. she does lip trills. i've always loved singing. my parents say i was a bit of an annoying child growing up.

i was making lots of weird noises and apparently would hum myself to sleep. so eventually they were like, "let's, let's put this into something useful," and got me some singing lessons. talk to me about nerves. do you get them and how do you get over them? yeah, i get nerves all the time getting over them. it's always a tricky balance. sometimes the adrenaline helps you, but also you don't want the nerves to affect your singing or your technique if you're getting all tense. researchers here at the royal college of music in london say that practising and then performing is very different to practising performing. and so while it's difficult to get regular access to the real theatres and venues, they can simulate the experience here in their performance labouratory. and that simulation begins before they step out into the lights. one of the things we've learned from our research is that our bodies' stress response

to performance can be as if not more powerful backstage than it is on stage.