UK: BBC Prohibits Social Media Virtue Signalling for Woke TV Stars

[Rev.Cambeul]

Woke BBC stars Tweet their anger at social media rules banning employees from social media virtue signalling, campaigning and posting while drunk
 * The BBC has published its new set of rules and guidance, alongside new training
 * New director-general's impartiality crackdown implements stringent measures
 * The new measures introduced today include updated guidance on impartiality
 * Staff at the corporation have also been given new rules on use of social media

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8895743/Furious-BBC-stars-slam-new-DG-Tim-Davies-new-online-impartiality-rules.html

Excerpt: The corporation's director-general Tim Davie today published a radical shake-up in the wake of damning 'impartiality' criticisms that dogged his predecessor and cast doubt on the corporation's future.

Ten things staff should not do under the BBC's new social media rules

1. Always treat others with respect, even in the face of abuse

2. Assume anything you say or post will be viewed critically

3. If you know you've got something wrong, correct it quickly and openly

4. Remember that your personal brand on social media is always secondary to your responsibility to the BBC

5. Respect the confidentiality of internal meetings and discussion

6. Think about what your likes, shares, retweets, use of hashtags and who you follow say about you

7. Be open to, seek, and respect the widest range of opinion and reflect it

8. Use separate posts on public issues rather than join threads started by others

9. Be careful with rebuttals – they can feed conflict

10. Think how to signal that a post is a professional judgement, not a personal opinion 

However some of the broadcaster's biggest names have already taken to Twitter tonight to flout the newly announced social media rules, which dismissed tweeting in support of 'worthy causes' as 'virtue signalling'.

James Wong, who appears on Country File and Gardeners' Question Time tweeted: 'I am making a new series for BBC World News, so I guess these directives apply to me?

'To confirm, if they do, I won't be following them. "Virtue signalling" isn't an objective concept. It's a weird alt-right insult. Pandering to it deserves no place in public broadcasting.'

The updated impartiality guidelines now state: 'It is essential that those engaged in the production of news and current affairs and factual journalism in particular say nothing publicly which could be interpreted as bias on politics or public policy issues, or controversial issues.'

Staff are also set to undergo more training in the upcoming months. 

The training will cover, 'updates on the importance of impartiality generally and new social media training' and will be tailored to specific roles across the BBC.