Huw Edwards protests BBC’s social media guidelines with stream of Welsh dragons

Broadcaster Huw Edwards has protested the BBC’s new rules on using social media by unleashing a cascade of Welsh flags.

The new BBC social media rules discourage journalists from using emojis because they could “undercut” an otherwise impartial post and indicate bias.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 The BBC’s new social media guidance says that the “use of emojis can – accidentally, or deliberately – undercut an otherwise impartial post” 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

— Huw Edwards (@huwbbc) October 29, 2020

The other new social media rules adopted by the BBC include banning their journalists from criticising fellow BBC journalists on Twitter, “virtue signalling” that indicates a personal view, and bio disclaimers which say ‘my views not the BBC’s”.

The guidelines also include a ban on journalists revealing how they voted or putting their “personal brand” on Twitter ahead of the BBC’s reputation.

 

Audience

The rules include:

• Do always treat others with respect, even in the face of abuse. People who work for the BBC should set an example for civilised public debate.
• Do think about what your likes, shares, retweets, use of hashtags and who you follow say about you, your personal prejudices and opinions.
• Do not be drawn into ill-tempered exchanges, or exchanges that will reflect badly on you, or the BBC.
• Do not break news on a personal account; if you have a story to break, the BBC platforms are your priority, even if it takes slightly longer.
• Do not be seduced by the informality of tone and language on social media. Your posts about news events and issues require careful thought and editorial discipline.
• Do not mistake social media networks as accurate reflections of public opinion; your audience is overwhelmingly elsewhere.