All Sections

View and post jobs in journalism
  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Comment/Analysis
  • Editor's Pick
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Broadcast Journalism
    • Digital Journalism
    • Magazines
    • Media Law
    • National Newspapers
    • People
      • Appointments
      • Obituaries
    • Regional Newspapers
  • Press Gazette Podcast
  • British Journalism Awards
  • Press Gazette Email Newsletter

In the news

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
  • Editorial standards
  • About/Contacts
  • Advertise/Partnerships
  • Privacy Policy
Close
[mashshare]
Skip to content
  • Editorial standards
  • About/Contacts
  • Advertise/Partnerships
  • Privacy Policy
All sections

Search

Search pressgazette.co.uk

Close

Press Gazette

Subscribe to our email newsletter Journalism email newsletter
  • News
  • Comment
  • Data
  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Marketing
  • Awards
  • Jobs
  • Partners

Menu

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • National Newspapers
  • Regional Newspapers
  • Digital Journalism
  • Broadcast Journalism
  • Media Law
  • Magazines
  • Wires and Agencies
  • Obituaries
  • News
  • Comment/Analysis
  • Jobs
  • British Journalism Awards

In the news

  • Platforms
  • Publishers
  • Interviews
  • Marketing
Close
Veteran Reuters photographer Andrew Winning who 'had so much to offer journalism' dies aged 49
City AM delays print return as commuter audience slow to get back into office
September 3, 2020
  • Broadcast Journalism
  •    
  • Digital Journalism
  •    
  • News
  •    
  • Social media
  •    

New BBC director-general tells staff to work elsewhere if they want to share opinions online or in columns

By Charlotte Tobitt Twitter

Share this

  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • Reddit
Comments
1
BBC Social media guidelines

The BBC’s new director-general has made renewing its commitment to impartiality one of its four priorities as he warned staff over their social media use.

Tim Davie, the former chief executive of commercial arm BBC Studios, told staff in a maiden speech that they must urgently “champion and recommit” to impartiality.

Timeline

  • February 24, 2021

    Journalist John Ware wins first stage of £50,000 libel fight over Press Gang editor Paddy French's 'rogue journalism' claim

  • February 22, 2021

    BBC Trusted News Initiative on how publishers can fight disinformation

  • February 3, 2021

    BBC eyes subscription solution to tackle Global News funding shortfall

He said research indicated “too many” people view the BBC’s output as being shaped by a particular perspective.

Davie said: “To be clear, this is not about abandoning democratic values such as championing fair debate or an abhorrence of racism. But it is about being free from political bias, guided by the pursuit of truth, not a particular agenda.

“If you want to be an opinionated columnist or a partisan campaigner on social media then that is a valid choice, but you should not be working at the BBC.”

The BBC has commissioned its former director of global news Richard Sambrook to carry out a review of its social media use and how it can maintain impartiality.

Davie told staff to expect new guidance on how best to abide by impartiality guidelines, new “rigorously enforced” social media rules, and “clearer direction on the declaration of external interests”.

There will also be training “to explore the tough, but interesting dilemmas that the modern world presents” while Davie said staff should spend more time outside the BBC hearing what people think.

Part of the reason for the drive, Davie said, is that despite huge audiences during the Covid-19 pandemic there is “significant risk” that “if current trends continue we will not feel indispensable enough to all our audience”.

“We must evolve to protect what we cherish.”

Former head of BBC Westminster Sir Robbie Gibb warned earlier this year social media “terribly distorts the way supposedly impartial journalists operate”.

Will Lewis, the former boss of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, and ex-Financial Times editor Lionel Barber have also both spoken out about journalists’ “unbecoming” use of social media to share their opinions and exclusive content.

Davie’s three other priorities in the short term are a focus on “unique, high-impact content” instead of spreading resources too thinly, doing more online, and building commercial income.

Davie said: “Of course, this will happen alongside our investment in providing trusted news globally via the matchless World Service and World News channel.

“We will continue to invest in these services but our ambition is to go further, and with the support of government, to reach a billion people globally over the next decade, further building the reputation of the UK and the BBC.”

Davie, who began his new role on Tuesday, also confirmed he will not push for a subscription BBC service “that serves the few”.

Paul Siegert, national broadcasting organiser for the National Union of Journalists, welcomed most of Davie’s words but said he can’t see how plans to cut journalist jobs, including 600 across the four nations and 520 in BBC News, “will help the BBC maintain its position as the UK’s most respected source of news or make the output world-beating and utterly distinctive”.

He went on: “If Tim Davie is making the case for further cuts down the line, then I cannot see how his vision for a more diverse BBC and one which provides a service for all its viewers across the nations and regions will be possible if  grassroots programming and journalism is further eroded.

“It’s the staff who make all this possible and they should be at the heart for any plans for the future and not have to face more cuts.”

Picture: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

SIGN UP HERE FOR

MEDIA MONITOR

Press Gazette's weekly email providing strategic insight into the future of the media

Subscribe

Related Stories

  • The best journalism of 2020 revealed: British Journalism Awards shortlist
  • New BBC director-general threatens to suspend staff Twitter accounts if not impartial enough
  • The accused: At least 64 UK journalists arrested and/or charged since April 2011
  • BBC: The key facts and contacts

Explore these topics

  • BBC
Browse, search and add journalism jobs
Comments

1 thought on “New BBC director-general tells staff to work elsewhere if they want to share opinions online or in columns”

  1. Paul Scott says:
    September 4, 2020 at 11:44 am

    Boris is a failure anyway. He has not organised Brexit and is a minion
    to the New World Order. He will watch UK continue is slide into a diverse hell hole of diversity, London is gone.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More content

Post a job on Press Gazette

Most Popular

  1. GB News briefing: Channel will be 'free, fair and impartial' says news chief John McAndrew as political editor named
  2. Interview: Guido Fawkes and MessageSpace owner Paul Staines on how political ads bounced back despite Covid-19
  3. most popular newspapers UK National press ABCs: Impact of latest UK lockdown on circulation
  4. Andrew Neil sets out anti 'woke' vision for GB News as channel faces campaign for advertising boycott
  5. The News 50: Tech giants dwarf Rupert Murdoch to become the biggest news media companies in the English-speaking world

Latest Jobs

  • Environment Impact Producer, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
  • Global Health Impact Producer, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
  • Director, Ethical Journalism Network
City AM delays print return as commuter audience slow to get back into office

© copyright 2021 Press Gazette Ltd. Made in Taiwan.