Author: Simon Nunn

As our programme is aimed at being on BBC Radio 4 this means we will need to strictly follow and abide by the BBC’s Guidelines, which covers a huge amount of content such as diversity requirements and balancing etc.

Within this document are the BBC’s values, which are what drives the BBC’s Guidelines as a whole, the BBC’s values are as follows:

Trust- Must be trusted by the audience, and maintain impartiality and avoid misleading audiences.

Truth-  Must report the truth of what has happened and be accurate in its representation.

Impartiality- The BBC is independent of outside interests and this shouldn’t be undermined e.g political influences and should treat everything equally and fairly.

Harm and Offence – Reflect the world as it is including the human experience and the natural world

Serving the Public Interest-  Rigorous in establishing the truth of a story and well informed when explaining it.

Fairness- Our output will be based on fairness, openness, honesty and straight dealing. Contributors and audiences will be treated with respect

Privacy- We will respect Privacy and won’t infringe upon it without good reasoning.

Children- We will always safeguard children and young people who feature in our content.

Transparency- We will be transparent about the nature of the content we offer and identify who it created it.

Accountability- We are accountable to our audiences and will deal fairly and openly with them.

(BBC, 2017, 3-5)

This is just an overview of the BBC’s Value’s which in turn from its guidelines as to what should and shouldn’t be done to make sure that these values are achieved within any piece of content that is created for any of its platforms be it online, TV or in our case radio. It is, however, crucial that we follow these values and that the work that we create doesn’t break them.

There are three sections within the BBC’s guidelines that most heavily relate to us and the type of content that is being created within this project (comedy). The first set of guidelines is about the general usage of the guidelines as a whole, such as referring issues and who is ultimately responsible.

Section 2 – General Guidelines

What this section outlines is that any content that is created for the BBC regardless of where, how and who created it must be compliant with the editorial guidelines and that everyone who works with or for the BBC is expected to have read them and that editorial responsibility ultimately rests with the management of a programme, and that we would be expected to discuss issues with those in the BBC by referring issues to the relevant editor. This section also outlines how the previous sections work in the sense that each area has practices and principles, the practices must be followed and the principles state how these are made. Furthermore, we would also be expected to hand a compliance form that is cleared by the relevant director to make sure that programme is suitable.  Finally, this section states how we would go about issues if there was a brand mentioned on the programme.

Ultimately this section is considered for outlining the basic principles of the BBC’s Editorial guidelines and how we would be expected to deal with any issues that may become apparent in the production process such as referrals and how we deal with problems in the unlikely circumstance that an editorial guideline was broken. This section did contain a lot more information about the guidelines however they were not referenced within this blog due to the fact that they are not applicable to our project.

Section 3- Accuracy

This section outlines how the BBC aims to achieve ‘due’ accuracy in what is said, the term due means that the accuracy must adequate and appropriate to the output, accounting for the subject, nature of the content, audience expectation and signposting that may influence that expectation.  ’The due accuracy required of, for example, drama, entertainment and comedy, will not usually be the same as for factual content.

The BBC outlines strict methods that should be taken to ensure accuracy: Gather material first hand, cross reference facts, validate the authenticity of the document and corroborate claims and allegations made by contributors. The principles for this reinstate this by outlining that things should be based on evidence and that the BBC shouldn’t mislead its audience and that the BBC should acknowledge when something is incorrect.In terms of the practices that are relevant to us first is the material that is used within the programme, this mainly applies to news, in the sense that information should be gathered first hand and that everything that is said should be fact-checked. In the case of the programme we would need to make sure that the content that we make use of such as ‘headlines’ are actually correct or if they weren’t and were just a false claim we would need to state this.

Second is contributors which has more relevance for us, the first rule regarding them is that we should be checking they are legitimate and not hoaxes, secondly, we shouldn’t be using use third-party  platforms e.g posting on Facebook groups to find contributors unless it was for audience members and this wording would come under strict review from the commisioning editor. This restricts how we should be going about finding contributors for our programme as we should only be going about this through direct communication. However given the current state we are in, we aren’t  in the easiest position to go and ask potential highbrow contributors if they would be able to be involved as we cant guarantee promotional time or money. We are also in a difficult situation with how we approach people locally as we know a few people who would be willing to be involved in the project, but we will most likely have to post on relevant Facebook groups to attract people due to our small knowledge of the comedy scene. The next relevant practice for the project is the topic of not misleading audiences, to do this we should double check peoples credentials etc. In our case, this means that we only use clips from reputable news organisations such as ITV and Channel 4. The final guideline that is of importance is checking programmes, this means that if a programme was recorded weeks before its air date that it is still relevant and hasn’t been surpassed by events.  This is easy comply with for us as if something was to have happened in the time period we would then clip this part out and replace it with another part as we intend to have more than enough content. Ultimately this area is to make sure that everything we say within our programme is factually correct and that nothing we say within our programme is incorrect as if this was the case it could lead to serious issues.

 

Section 4- Impartiality

 

Impartiality is crucial for the BBC with it being a public service broadcaster and impartiality is key to making sure that the BBC is at the heart of its commitments to the audience it serves.  Similar to that of due accuracy the BBC makes use of due impartiality, this more complex than simply balancing opposing views.Alongside this, it also means that absolute neutrality on every issue or detachment from democratic principles isn’t required.  The principles outline the rules around the following topics : controversial subjects must be treated with due impartiality, provide a broad range of subject matter and reflect a wide range of opinions.

The practices outline how we are supposed to achieve them, first of all, we should reflect a breadth and diversity of opinion, this means that in our case we will need to use a wide range of contributors for the project from a wide variety of backgrounds and political opinions. This is also important for us as it makes sure that our content sounds more interesting.  Due to the BBC representing the UK we must make sure that the content we use in the programme is from varied locations within the UK so that we can comply with the BBC’s obligation to represent the UK. In terms of controversial content we intend to avoid discussing this entirely and as result we will not need to worry about this. In terms of comedy the BBC is committed to allowing people their opinions, this means we do not necessarily need to worry about our programme leaning to one political ideology as long as we try to keep it balanced. The final practice that is relevant to ourselves is that the BBC allows individuals to offer a personal opinion again meaning that as long as it is balanced we will fall within the guidelines.

Ultimately this section on impartiality will most likely be one of the hardest things we have to achieve within our project due to it being a political programme. However if we manage to balance our contributors out in terms of their political opinions and James acts fairly as a mediator this should be achievable. Furthermore it also means that we  use balance in terms of what content we talk about so for example if the conservative part had a scandal

 

Section 5-  Harm and Offence

The BBC try’s to reflect the world as it is however the BBC has to be sensitive to the fact that the audience may take offence to what is said. The context of a programme will, however, be what impacts what can and cant be said, these are things that must be considered : the editorial material, the service where the content is, the time at which its available, other programmes that are available around the programme or content concerned, the size of the audience and their expectation, the harm caused by the inclusion of the particular content.  To achieve this the BBC adopts the following principles in terms of its radio content:  Provide adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion of offensive and harmful material,  the BBC shall not broadcast material that can impair children’s development, balance the responsibility of protecting young people from unsuitable content with their right to freedom of expression and information respected, make sure people are protected, particularly children, ensure audiences have clear information to be able to judge content themselves, strong language should be editorially justified.

In terms of the practices that we should be following not all of them apply to the radio format so i shall only be discussing ones that do.  The first is that we should be managing the audience expectations in relation to the time and day on which our programme airs. In our circumstances we are aiming at an ad hoc commision either for a late night piece or a Saturday afternoon slot, this means that we would have to take into account who would be listening, if the programme was at a later slot it means we could take more risks with what is said.  The second is content information which means that we clearly label stuff when something is risky of breaking one of the above principles, however  the likelihood of our content being risky is slim. The next important element is that Radio doesn’t make use of scheduling like that of TV meaning that radio is not regulated by a watershed, this means that if the programme was on air we would most likely need a small announcement about the programme to signpost it so that listeners are warned before listening.  The way language is used within the piece is also key as it must be editorially justified and signposted to ensure that it meets audience expectations, the use of strong language is again key as it should be editorial justified especially whenever the following may occur:

Sexual swearwords

Racist or ethnic abuse

Sexual and sexist abuse

Provocative terms on disabilities

Derogatory use of holy names/religion

The key thing to determine if the use of strong language is justified is the way that the language was used, i.e was it directed at someone and why was it said. The other consideration is what tone it was said in as if it was aggressive this different to if it was said in a funny manner.  These are the key points that I have taken from section 5 of the guidelines about strong language, ultimately I cannot see us having any real problems due to us outright banning explicit language due to it causing too many problems and the possibility of our programme not being aired, and the fact that I personally believe that we can and will be able to create funny content without the use of strong language.

The final area that is relevant will be talked about in much less depth due to the fact that only one area is relevant and this about how we treat our contributors, as we will need to apply basic courtesy when dealing with them. for example by keeping them informed and making sure that they have given us consent before something is done, either by verbal or written agreement (in our case they will have to sign a document).  The guidelines also state that we should have informed contributors where content will appear and the nature of their involvement. This section is just to make sure that our contributors are protected and so far when I have approached people I have been clear in the nature of where the programme will be aired and why it is being made.