What to ask China?

Last Modified: 08 May 2008
By: Newsroom blogger

Inside the morning meeting...

Perhaps inevitably, Burma leads the discussion on a busy news day which already has a host of UK and international stories jostling for space in the programme.

The most likely angles on the cyclone-hit country - at least at this stage of the day - will be more on-the-ground reporting (despite the problems of not being allowed to report from the country), the aid effort, plus the background - what is the government's role? When was it warned about the cyclone, and how is it now responding to aid?

"We'll work out how to divide it as we go on but there's going to be a lot today," says the programme editor.

We're also set to interview China's ambassador to London - the highest person in the administration we've had access to so far - during the first half of the programme. But how to lead into the interview?

There are many pressing lines of enquiry we're keen to put to the country, but we need to make sure that viewers are also kept up to date on the stories behind them.

With China the government closest to the Burma, one option is to go straight from the Burma reports into the interview. But it's unclear how much a London representative would know about the situation and there are also other pressing questions to put to China - not least the Olympics.

Today we have great pictures of the Olympic torch - or rather, a version of the main torch - reaching the top of Everest. "It'd be a shame to waste them."

The interview must take place in the top half of the programme - so if we do want to report on the Olympics before going to the live guest, timings could get tricky.

The Bank of England will announce its latest decision on interest rates at lunchtime -it's expected to hold the base rate, but our economics team reckon a "no change" could still merit coverage given the current credit-crunch state of the economy.

And a report out today by MPs criticises the government's chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, for lacking leadership last year when chaos hit an NHS training system for junior doctors.

Our social affairs correspondent Victoria Macdonald reported exclusively on the story last year, but unfortunately is tied to another report today.

"A lot of people in the media were saying it wasn't a story - this is a vindication," says an editor.

On a lighter note, our science correspondent Tom Clarke has a piece on people going into space. "Can I get in the immortal line, 'Can you hear me Major Tom?'", wonders a presenter. It almost seems too good a chance to pass up.