Dear all,
Thank you for your support in rolling out the editorial guidance on impartiality yesterday. This new guidance, and the rules around social media activity, are significant steps in renewing our commitment to impartiality and securing the trust our audience have in us.
There is one specific issue where I want to make sure that there is no room for misinterpretation, following inaccurate commentary and some feedback from staff — which is the ability to participate in Pride parades. There is no ban on attending Pride parades.
The guidance that we published yesterday made it very clear that staff outside of news and current affairs and factual journalism may attend marches, demonstrations and protests and private individuals. I have copied below the relevant extract of the guidance for reference.
There are different considerations for staff who work in news and current affairs and factual journalism (and senior leaders) but I want to be clear that there is no issue for these staff attending community events that are clearly celebratory or commemorative and do not compromise perceptions of their impartiality.
If news and current affairs staff are participating in such events they must be mindful of ensuring that they do not get involved in matters which could be deemed political or controversial. [My emphasis] There is no ban on these staff attending Pride events. Attending Pride parades is possible within the guidelines, but due care needs to be given to the guidance and staff need to ensure that they are not seen to be taking a stand on politicised or contested issues. [My emphasis]
Protecting the BBC's impartiality is core to everything we do. We must ensure that we avoid doing anything that endangers audience perceptions of the BBC's impartiality and to protect the ability of staff in news and current affairs to report fairly and impartially.
Do drop me a line if you have any questions about this, or speak to your manager.
Best wishes,
Tim
Please note that sections that are in bold in paragraph 5 are not emboldened in the screenshot that Scott Bryan shared on Twitter; this is my emphasis.
I would hope it is also clear that I do not own the copyright to this text, which is presumably © BBC 2020. The text is reproduced here without permission for the purpose of criticism and review under section 30(1) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.