Political activities on Social Networking sites
Editorial staff and staff in politically sensitive areas should never indicate a political allegiance on social networking sites, either through profile information or through joining political groups. This is particularly important for all staff in News and Current Affairs, Nations and Regions and factual programming and applies regardless of whether they indicate that they are employed by the BBC or not.
Any rare exception to this must be agreed in advance by a line manager. For instance, it may be appropriate to join Facebook groups related to political causes for reasons of political research. Where this is agreed we should be transparent and should consider how membership of the group can be balanced.
For example, if a Political Correspondent were to join the Facebook group “Labour History” it may also be appropriate also to join “Conservative History” and the equivalents for the Liberal Democrats and the Nationalists. In such circumstance, the specific post held at the BBC should be given in the work details on the Facebook profile.
Editorial staff and staff in politically sensitive areas should also be careful about joining campaigning groups. They should discuss this in advance with their line-manager.
Non-Editorial Staff are free to engage in political activity, in line with the BBC Conflicts of Interest Guidelines. However, on social networking sites, when they identify themselves as BBC staff members they must make clear that they are not a member of editorial staff. This can be achieved by stating the position (or type of position) they hold at the BBC in their work details. If non-Editorial Staff associate themselves with the BBC and do not make clear they have no editorial input then this could give rise to questions about the Corporation’s impartiality.