From the editors' desktops

With top man Pete Clifton away at a creative 'retreat', he's asked five of the website's editors to step up to the plate and write about what's been happening this week in their own areas.

Click here to read a selection of your comments

GARY DUFFY - UK NEWS

Before joining this department, I was a radio and television correspondent for the BBC, and I was Ireland correspondent from 1990 to 1993. My introduction to the news website came in 1998 when its then editor, Mike Smartt, asked me to cover the Good Friday Agreement.

It was, I believe, the first time that the BBC had sent a correspondent purely to cover a story for its internet news service. As a former newspaper reporter, I was not surprised to find how much I enjoyed the freedom to write again at some length - particularly when the issues are as complicated as they are in Ireland!

As an editor I no longer get those urgent phone calls asking me to go to the scene of some awful atrocity, or to appear live on air to explain some sudden political development. Instead it's part of my role to ask others to do this for the website.

Sadly this week with the outbreak of some of the worst violence in recent years there was a need to send someone to Belfast to support our hard-working team there. Dominic Casciani produced some telling reports on the background to the unrest.

He also used this Q&A to explain why the issue of marches - even when it comes down to just 100 yards - is so contentious.

BBC Ireland correspondent Kevin Connolly's analysis was a reminder that despite recent progress, what he called "the poisonous reservoirs of hatred and mutual resentment" still run deep.

It is true that the nature of the conflict in Northern Ireland has changed a lot in recent years, and the violence of this week is thankfully no longer a regular feature of life. However it remains a challenging and complicated story, and I think it is right that we should continue to devote time and effort to explain the issues.

I hope one day that the only reason that I have to send someone to my home country is to report on how violence has become a thing of the past.

ADAM CURTIS - WORLD NEWS

Reporting international news from our base in west London, we often feel far removed from the people we are writing about. But we try to narrow the gap from time to time by shifting the focus away from the bombs and the bullets, the politics and the propaganda to try to reflect the lives of people who are normally well away from the media spotlight.

This week, we tried something completely new. It was part of a project called One Day in Afghanistan which involved a wide cross-section of people in that country talking about their daily lives and hopes for the future

The idea involved sending our man Soutik Biswas to the village of Asad Khyl, armed only with his laptop, a satellite dish and a few miles of cable. He picked out six of the locals and persuaded them to answer questions e-mailed from all over the world by our readers.

It was a long hot day for Soutik and his friends - but an extraordinary feeling for the rest of us as this lively dialogue developed. They could answer only a small proportion of the hundreds of questions that came in of course, but it was enough to provide a fascinating insight into a world that is far outside the normal boundaries of journalism.

Life for those villagers is harder than most of us can imagine, but that did not prevent them serving up a sumptuous feast in Soutik's honour - a reminder that generosity is often in inverse proportion to prosperity.

A message perhaps for all those delegates trying to end world poverty at the UN summit?

VICKY TAYLOR - INTERACTIVITY

One of the things about looking after interactivity is how constantly you are surprised by the public and by just how much they will open their lives to share with others. This week we've heard from all sides of the debate on the petrol protests; from drivers who needed their cars for vital trips such as hospital visits, to the garage owner who suddenly has to close up shop when his fuel runs out.

One of the less uplifting things in the interactivity stable is the "bidding" race to get someone in power to answer questions from members of the public.

Our weekly interactive programme Talking Point aims to have the key figures of the week on the spot to answer questions by phone or e-mail. Too often this bidding process is an unattractive race within the BBC itself to secure the top interviewee for their programme alone.

This week with 160 leaders gathering in New York for the United Nations meeting, you would imagine there would be enough to go round and we would have had no bother lining up someone in authority.

We could do with some inspiration. Who would you like put a question to this week? Let us know using this form.

The reasons we want to have "a big name" (which in our book means premier league people like a Clinton, a Bush, Annan, or Blair, though in reality means lower division ministerial or former office holder rank) is that we are working with our World Service colleagues on a season of programmes called Who Runs Your World.

It's an interesting concept and open to all sorts of answers, as you can see from the responses so far. Revealing too how many people put their partners and children as their "rulers", proving politics isn't just local, it's homespun.

CATHY GRIEVE - INTAKE

My team have been very busy this week. We've had the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the One Day in Afghanistan project, as well as the daily chasing of BBC correspondents, convincing them to write pieces for the website.

Katrina posed numerous logistical problems. It is my team who are tasked with deploying our reporters to stories, making arrangements to get them there and back, booking hotels and sorting flights, ensuring their safety and keeping in constant touch with them.

I hope you'll agree Matthew Davis and Richard Greene have done a good job from New Orleans at capturing the human side of this terrible storm. They have filed strong first-hand pieces - emotive, descriptive and powerful. Matt's piece Venice From Hell, Richard's Hurricane diary and his piece on a mother's search for her son are well worth a read.

Richard is home again now, glad to be back, and Matt has moved on to Houston to talk to those still stranded.

I will worry about them both in coming weeks - worry that the sights and smells of death that they encountered will trouble them. I hope to be the one they will turn to if they do have nightmares, and will ensure they get help to cope with it, if the need arises.

I know journalists are supposed to be objective, but coming face to face with tragedy does leave a mark and it is important that the BBC as an employer is aware of that and willing to support people when they need help.

We have also undertaken a project seeking differing viewpoints about what Hurricane Katrina has told us about American society. Two so far have looked at poverty, race and political leadership.

The blame game, Katrina could help the poor, and Katrina widens divisions have been published so far, with more to come next week.

And there's an opportunity for our US users to let us know what they think it tells us about their society. If you're an American then use the form on the end of any of the above stories to send us your thoughts. We'll publish a selection of these in coming days.

I went to my sisters' hen party at the weekend in Ireland and very good it was too. But I couldn't seem to escape thoughts of my current project, which is "VfM" or Value for Money - looking at what we do, how we do it and how we could possibly do things differently in the future and make savings.

I saw three shops all with big value for money signs outside. I think I'm right in saying we are the cheapest part of BBC News. I like to think we provide good value for money, and I hope you'll agree.

PAUL CLABBURN - INTERACTIVE TV AND BROADBAND

The world of "video on demand" took several lurches forward this week.

Most noticeable was the victory parade of the England cricket team which helped our colleagues at the BBC Sport website attract record numbers of users.

It also led to further thought on how to get around the trauma that is internet rights. The solution was to combine the unedited live footage of the event with the Radio 5 live commentary. It made for interesting and unrestricted coverage.

Then there was the start of Andrew Marr's new show, Sunday AM. Along with a new website went the ability to watch the programme live and on demand, in narrowband or broadband.

Finally, there was a report from one of the team that produces video on the web, looking at Apple's unveiling of its iPod phone. It was our most popular video of the day.

Why is that significant?

The team's remit is to add to the site the best BBC News coverage. We are beginning to understand more about what our audience wants and if mainstream programmes are not covering the story, we try to step in. This was a good example.

Which doesn't mean that all in the garden is rosy. I'm more than aware from your feedback of the frustrations, be it about video that doesn't load, doesn't play properly, isn't good enough quality, doesn't come in the right format, and won't play on the right machine.

Video on Demand is at the start of a journey and it would be daft to think we're going to solve it all in the short term. All I can say is that we read the feedback and try to address as many of the issues as resources and technology allow. But it will be a long road.

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Pete will be back next week. In the meantime you can send your comment using the form below.

Don't forget, though, that if you want to point out an error or have a complaint you want dealt with, the best place to go will normally be our Feedback page.

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