From the editor's desktop

Pete Clifton, editor of the BBC News website, takes a frank look back at the headlines of the week, and some of the highlights and lowpoints of the coverage. You can use the form at the bottom to tell him what you make of it all.

BIG STORIES OF THE WEEK

We had a busy weekend, with Spain in the spotlight as the first country to hold a referendum on the European constitution. There was bags of coverage across the BBC, of course, and not surprisingly one of our Spanish stories was top of the page impressions statistics when they arrived on Monday morning.

Unfortunately for Europhiles, our top story on Sunday was the birth in Spain of the Beckhams' third son (Beckhams celebrate birth of Cruz), while our lead story on the Spanish referendum came in fourth (Spain voters approve EU charter).

One of the delights of working on the news site is getting the stats the next day. Quite sobering too - we can all be focused on the weighty stuff, and we suddenly get nutmegged by Beckham.

We can't base all our decisions on these stats, of course, or we'd be leading with cute animals, space rockets and "bad" weather every day. But they keep us in touch. We give a hint of these stats each day on the NewsWatch site, but I am planning to be much more up front about them later in the year. In the meantime, this column will keep you in the know.

FRANK OBSERVATIONS

An interesting pointer to how we might make our general election coverage more engaging, comes with the tour diary from George Bush's trip to Europe.

Provided by Washington correspondent Justin Webb, it avoids acres of analysis and instead gives an insight into what happens on such a grand tour. Frank observations about Brussels, "babyish" language from Bush, fine lunches, dancing girls, what's lacking in the New World, nothing seems off limits. (Tour diary: Bush in Europe, 24 February)

We can take our grander looks at the long-term implications of the tour, and how chummy everyone will really be as the year marches on, but in the meantime this is excellent stuff.

More of this for the election, I reckon. "Why don't we call it a Webb log," I suggested to our daily editorial meeting. Not a single laugh, maybe no-one was listening.

ROGUE GOODS

A healthy debate develops within the editorial team about whether we were alarmist to lead with the Sudan I story when it broke at the end of last week (Food recalled in cancer dye scare, 18 February).

Some were firmly in the camp for playing it down. I disagreed and moved it up our front page pecking order. The risk of actually getting cancer was slim, and we said as much prominently, but the fact remained they were still emptying supermarket shelves across the country and warning people not to eat the rogue goods.

I think we did a reasonable job on the basic story, and we offered a PDF of the foods to avoid - a document that was downloaded 111,000 times in the last six hours of Friday.

We might be a jolly big news site, but I think we can struggle a bit at weekends. Not so many people around in the newsroom because it is normally quieter, so it limits our ambitions a bit.

As a result, I don't think we looked into the background to Sudan I soon enough. How did it get into the food chain, when did anybody know, what checks are in place?

Anyhow, I think we got there, but maybe quicker next time.

Illegal dye: What is the health risk?
Deadline nears in food dye recall
Colour by numbers
How are rogue products tracked down?

TYING THE KNOT

More fun and games on the infamous Windsor wedding. This story has been a major hitter for us over the past week, and no doubt today will be no exception (Queen denies 'snub' over wedding, 23 February).

Last week we ran a vote on whether Charles and Camilla should be tying the knot. It's not exactly the most scientific vote on the planet, which we make clear when people vote, but the 156,000 votes suggested 62% in favour.

Our mistake, of course, was failing to include an option of "don't care" in the vote. The latest news about the Queen staying away from the wedding has allowed us to address this to some extent. Should the Queen attend? So far, 40,000 votes, and 56% don't care.

They may not care, but there were nearly 600,000 page impressions for various versions of the story on Wednesday.

YOUR WORDS AND PICTURES

User Generated Content... Everyone gets very excited about this - someone out there will always know more than we do, so why do we bother? There's a balance to be struck between the content we write, what people out there can write for us, what they know about stories, contact details they can have for us, pictures they can take, video they can send.

And it doesn't have to be on the massive stories. The weather has been a big story for us this week, with 500,000 page impressions for this report on it, well, being cold in winter... (Temperatures 'will keep on falling', 23 February.)

And there's no doubt our coverage has been greatly enhanced by some fantastic pictures sent in by readers. And it's a useful reminder to us that there's plenty of the white stuff stacking up around the UK even if the snowy abyss hasn't materialised in London. (Your pictures: Wrap up warm, 24 February.)

And the neat postscript came from other parts of the world, with readers sending words and pictures to point out that a centimetre of snow and temperatures hovering around zero is pretty low grade... (We'll tell you about snow, 24 February).

OVER TO YOU

You can send me your thoughts on any of the matters I've mentioned above, or anything else about the BBC News website, by using the form at the bottom of the page.

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.

---

Your comments:

This provides an interesting but basic insight into the role of a news editor. The selection and "management" of news stories seems quite a complex and challenging process. This column gives a mere insight into the process of selection and consequently "self-censorship" of material on the part of the editor. It seems the news we receive is increasingly tailored to get the most hits or in BBC jargon to come "top of the page impressions statistics". In Britain we are lucky that we have a variety of information sources at our disposal (and that the BBC is a largely a credible one at that). However, we should always remember that whatever news story or article we read has been the subject of careful "management" and selection and representative news coverage is often difficult to achieve.
Robert Massam, Durham, England

More, please, of Justin Webb's political diary. Like Andrew Marr, he delivers incredibly accurate assessments in a cloak of slightly tongue-in-cheek irreverence.
Jamie, Wendover, UK

Do all the extra documents have to be in PDF? Not everybody has a reader, and they tend to be large. Not everybody has broadband. For something as simple as a list of 'rogue foods', could a simple .html page suffice? I noticed there was a single html list in the first place.
Jez, Notts, UK

The Ivan Noble diary that I'll never forget. It was so human and dignified Don, Morristown, NJ USA

First, I love this web site. I look at it every morning for my news fix. It's a good alternative from questionable US news. I think your look back at the week is a good idea. I liked the style of Bush tour diary very much, it was just the reporters observations and opinions of the event and Bush, without a political agenda. It seems very honest and balanced. Bush may use "babyish" words but there is no debate over what he said. I always like the photos of the week and enjoyed the recent snow galleries. In the business section I marvel at the number of stories on property prices, but find it interesting. I think I know more about UK property values and interest rates than I do of the US. And last, the Ivan Noble diary that I'll never forget. It was so human and dignified. You lost a good man there. Keep up the good work.
Don, Morristown, NJ USA

I would just like to say that I enjoy reading your site and it is extremely interesting to see a glimpse of the thought processes that go into creating the balance between light hearted and serious news that I enjoy in your site. The comments from readers are always interesting.
Caroline, Switzerland

This is a great insight into the workings of the BBC website and should be expanded. Why not a daily blog style section on the site?
Craig McGinty, Bergerac, France

In response to the option of "don't care" in your polls, I can see the point for including it on fairly light stories like the royal wedding but please don't be tempted to start including it on the heavy ones like ID cards or abuse of Iraqi prisoners as offering it as an option legitimises apathy. Otherwise, good stuff, keep it up!
Pat, London UK

I just ask that you not be confused or discouraged by those statistics that cross your desk Joe Miller, Hooney Brook, PA USA

I find coverage on the BBC News Website to be superb and you are doing an excellent job in directing the selection of stories. I just ask that you not be confused or discouraged by those statistics that cross your desk. I would like to say that I faithfully read only the important news items, like the coverage of the recent Spanish referendum on the European Constitution. But I don't, I do read these stories but not always. Sometimes I find that reading the "headlines" is sufficient. Other times, because of the gravity of the situation, I read the whole article because I know that it will be good for me, even if it is occasionally like a bracing dose of cod liver oil. But then there is dessert, those little pieces of candy, those guilty pleasures like "rock star bops fan in nose", "fan bops rock star in nose", "rock fans bop other rock fans in nose" and so forth.
Joe Miller, Hooney Brook, PA USA

This is very interesting feedback, thanks. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour diary and look forward to similar insights for the UK election.
Lesley Habibi, Limassol, Cyprus

I love the information about how many page impressions particular stories receive. It's very interesting to learn of the behind-the-scenes discussions at BBC News Online. Please do more of this kind of thing in the future.
Greg Jankunis, Tokyo, Japan

Mourinho blasts Fergie, Wenger blasts Mourinhou, Fergie blasts Mourinho and Wenger. Give me a job (on your sports desk). I can do that. (Everything else about your website is excellent by the way so keep up the good work).
Michael Cassidy, Nieul-sur-mer, France

More and more, your news seems 'customized' for the mass-market I'm sorry to say Bill Laurence, Soja, Japan

I find that, more and more, your news seems 'customized' for the mass-market I'm sorry to say. I really do not care about Britney Spears' spiritual evolvement or the trials of Michael Jackson spread across the front page. Why have Europeans who once ridiculed American banality begun to emulate it so thoroughly?
Bill Laurence, Soja, Japan

Terms & Conditions