BBC could restrict journalists’ use of Twitter
Executive said to be considering
move after rows during election campaign
The BBC is considering restricting
its journalists’ use of Twitter. If the plan is approved, top
correspondents will be told to move away from using online platforms to break
stories or offer instant analysis.
The proposal follows criticism of online
comments made by staff during the election campaign. Political editor Laura Kuenssberg was attacked by some
Jeremy Corbyn supporters for repeating, along with other pundits, a false
allegation that a Tory minister’s aide had been punched by a Labour activist.
North America editor Jon Sopel has meanwhile been accused of tweets that reveal
a critical stance on Donald Trump.
Now Fran Unsworth, the director of
news and current affairs, is believed to be keen to persuade journalists to end
the practice of frequently posting on politics and current affairs.
“She said that it was likely she
would meet some resistance, but that she wants to start a debate and was now
contemplating asking correspondents to come off Twitter,” said a BBC
journalist. Unsworth is thought to have outlined her plans at a party held in
the BBC Council Chamber in old Broadcasting
House.
This weekend, those close to
Unsworth say she would only have joked about banning Twitter use altogether,
but that she is believed to be serious about at least applying the BBC’s social
media guidance more stringently. Speaking to the Guardian last
weekend Unsworth acknowledged the journalistic effectiveness of
Twitter and said: “We just need to reinforce our social media
rules. But I don’t think it’s viable to say take a step back.”
Last
week, Channel 4 reportedly banned non-political staff from tweeting about
current affairs.
Phil Harding, the BBC’s former
controller of editorial policy, welcomed the possibility of a review of
Twitter’s place in BBC news coverage. “They need to take two steps back and
make sure what they are saying is impartial and true, because we need that
impartial service badly at the moment,” he told the Observer.
Harding, who also edited the Radio
4 Today programme
during his years at the BBC, added that a review of coverage priorities was
standard after any election. “The most important thing is that they hang on to
the trust, which has fallen away a little. They have to consider whether they
need to be in among the first reactors to an event. It is a difficult
conversation, but they have to get the balance right,” Harding said.
Kuenssberg signed off from Twitter
for Christmas on Thursday with apparent relish, writing “see you on the other
side (follow @BBCPolitics and @BBCNews if you want to keep up, or sit on your
sofa and eat Quality Street and come back in 2020)”.
The
journalist, who has 1.13 million Twitter followers, has been subjected to a
torrent of online abuse over the past month. Her festive good wishes were met
by several suggestions her own break should be haunted by the ghosts of the
Labour election victory that might have been.
Last Monday, Andy McDonald, a member
of the shadow cabinet, claimed the BBC had played a part in Labour’s defeat.
Similar attacks on BBC impartiality
led Huw Edwards, the election night anchor, to write an unprecedented defence
of the standards of licence-fee-funded reporting: “Providing a fair and
balanced account of a complex election campaign – with feelings running high on
all sides – is difficult enough. Trying to do so while dealing with
relentlessly vitriolic attacks is doubly challenging.”
Edwards warned that “toxic cynicism”
about BBC output could undermine the broadcaster as it faces renewed threats
from a strengthened Conservative government. Downing Street has promised to
consider decriminalising the non-payment of the TV licence fee,
making it equivalent to failure to pay any other utility bill, rather than a
criminal offence.
Edwards also tweeted: “We are very
far from being perfect at @BBCNews – but the bilge about ‘bias’ needs a
response.” Channel 4’s decision follows mistakes, including an online
subtitling error on tweeted video footage that wrongly suggested that Johnson
had questioned whether “people of colour”, rather than “people of talent”,
should be allowed into the country under Conservative immigration policy.
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