With laura kuenssberg. When you see what hamas are prepared to do, you just realise the terrible, dreadful, inhuman people, frankly, that we are dealing with. And maybe its a moment, actually for the bbc to ask itself again, should we describe these people as terrorists . They are terrorists. If you kidnap grandmothers, you kidnap babies, you rape people, you shoot children in front of their parents what more do they need to do for the bbc to say, look, these are terrorists . They really are. Bbc news has instead used a formulation picked up on by a viewer named mark, from aylesbury, who asked. But kate prasher observed recently. Well, well be exploring that question in a moment but its not the only use of terminology in this area which has caused concern among newswatch viewers. The bbc regularly describes the conflict as the israel gaza war unlike other organisations such as sky news, who refer to it as the Israel Hamas War. Anthonyjones asked. Another use of language which has proved controversial is the frequent reference to the Hamas Run Health Ministry as a source of statistics quoted on the news. Jack berger wrote to us, saying. Well, lets discuss those questions with richard burgess, the director of news content for bbc news. Thank you, richard, for coming on the programme. Now, weve discussed the way the bbc describes hamas at the very start of this conflict. Can you see why people like the Foreign Secretary are thinking the bbc needs to think again now . Well, weve always understood that many people dont agree or necessarily understand this policy, but we think its an important one. Its in our editorial guidelines, and we think its an important point of principle, and let me explain why. Youll have heard hamas referred to as terrorists on many occasions on the bbc, but that we attribute that. We say, who is calling them terrorists . And the reason why we dont do it as the bbc labelling them is if we start to label one group and make a valuejudgment about them as terrorists, we would then have to do exactly the same for every armed group, every army, every government, every violent act across the world. And thats not a position that we, as an impartial broadcaster think we should be in, we dont think its an appropriate position to be in. So we think its an important principle. Ok, now, you always used to use the phrase designated a terrorist organisation by the Uk Government aome viewers are thinking that that phrase is often dropped now. What is the policy . There isnt a policy. I think its all about the right context for the programme. Its about trying to make the coverage as understandable for audiences as we possibly can. And so, yeah, we will still use that phrase when appropriate, but theres no policy that we have to always use it. The trouble, i suppose, with this approach is that it kind of pleases no one, saying the word terrorist but distancing yourself from the Uk Government either they are the terrorist group, or theyre not. I think what were doing is trying to use attribution and being as clear as we possibly can be about who is describing this organisation in the way that it is. I actually think the more important thing is our coverage of what happened on october 7th, and what has happened to hostages since. I dont think anybody could be in any doubt about what happened then, and what hamas has done and for me, that is the most important thing. Right, another piece of terminology viewers are concerned about is bbc news referring to the israel gaza war. Other broadcasters like sky say the Israel Hamas War would that not be better . Look, we made the decision that we think israel gaza war is a better description of the conflict, and i think its stood the test of time, because the war does go beyond just hamas as is clear when you see the destruction in gaza, the fact that many thousands of gazan civilians have been killed in the conflict. And of course, there are other armed groups beyond hamas in gaza, as well. So we think that israel gaza conflict, or israel gaza war is a better description and one that better encapsulates whats happening right now. The other phrase is referring to the Hamas Run Health Ministry when quoting Palestinian Civilian Casualty numbers. Why that phrase . Its the same thing, its about attributing, its about being as clear as we possibly can be to the audience about where were getting our information from. I mean, in previous gaza conflicts, weve had people on the ground whove been able to validate the figures that weve been getting from the health ministry. On this occasion, that has not been the case. And so, we think its best to be as clear with audiences as we possibly can be where the information is coming from. It does feel like the bbc� s under pressure afresh around this kind of terminology. Are you confident that youll hold your, position or do you think it might need to be reassessed . I think all the time, we think about, how can we make our coverage as clear as possible for audiences . And on this story, we well know that we will be heavily scrutinised and often criticised. Our aim is to provide as impartial coverage as we possibly can do and thats about listening to both sides, but ultimately taking what we think are the right decisions about having clear headed coverage. Richard burgess, thank you. Its fair to say the duke and duchess of sussex divide opinions and some strongly felt reaction towards them and towards the bbc� s coverage of them has been expressed over the past week. It started with an item on last fridays lunchtime news. Prince harry says its been great to be back in the uk at the end of a three day visit from america. The bbc has been given exclusive access to a Charity Event in Central London he attended and Daniela Relph was there. Its a side of prince harry weve not seen so much of lately, as he mucked in for a very special party. Every child in this room has lost a parent who served in the military. The programme went on to report live from nigeria, where prince harry had arrived to meet his wife, meghan and their trip there featured on News Bulletins through the weekend and into tuesday. Here are the reactions of two of the many viewers who contacted us. The Prince Of Wales is on official duty today. Nothing on the headlines about him, but covering the ridiculous meghan and harry continuing privacy tour, its absolutely ridiculous. Please stop using our money on covering this pair, thank you. He may be the son of the king, but they walked away. You dont feature Princess Anne when shes out working, or prince edward, duke and duchess of edinburgh. They are very rarely featured when theyre working. Why is it necessary to feature the duke and duchess of sussex . We asked bbc news for a response to those views, and they told us. Finally, Linda Robinson got in touch with us this week and recorded this video for us. I was trying to watch the evening news on 12 may. It was 6. 15pm in the evening, and it was very difficult. I had three video panels across the main part of the screen one featuring a lady who was being interviewed from tbilisi, about the problems there, another feed from tbilisi in the middle, and a third panel on the right showing the bafta awards advert. Citizens responded to this state sponsored terror with humour. Below that, there were two Breaking News Panels giving totally different information again. Really, this is totally unhelpful. You obviously dont know how much processing people can do at one time. Please, please, please, dont put quite so much information on the screen at once. Thank you. Let us know whether you agree with linda about that screen overload. And thanks to her and to everyone who contacted us 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 bbc. Co. Uk. Or you can find us on x formerly known as twitter at newswatchbbc. You can call us on 0370 010 6676, and do have a look at previous interviews on our website, bbc. Co. Uk newswatch. Thats all from us for now, thank you forjoining us. Do you think about getting in touch, and perhaps even coming on the programme . Im afraid i am away next week, but newswatch will be here to hear more of your thoughts about how the bbc covers the news, and i will definitely be back in a fortnight. Goodbye. Let me take you up. Up into the air. Up above the clouds, above the weather, above all the aircraft. This is the stratosphere a place yet to be conquered by humankind. Up here, the air is thin and calm. And it is here that youll find the zephyr. This is a strange beast and the fact that it flies this high is the least strange thing about it. See, it only travels at aomph, it only weighs 75kg. Its launched by hand, its completely solar powered