Thread by @sundersays

The impartiality guidelines face a challenge in differentiating events
- Remembrance
- Pride
- A civic gathering after 7/7 or Manchester bombing (or on an anniversary)
- Centenary of female suffrage procession
- Applause for the NHS and key workers

It may be that the BBC is reporting on some events (NHS applause, Remembrance, national silences for eg Grenfell, Manchester) rather than participating in them, though the line can be blurred in some cases. Are these 'gatherings/demonstrations' or in another category?

I am glad that the 'Remember Together' message which we've championed has been adopted by BBC local radio. The BBC as a public service broadcaster is part of the glue of national events (Proms, Olympics Jubilee). But what is the philosophical difference of principle with Pride?

I wonder if a ban on enployees attending Pride events in a personal capacity (from an employer which has previously allowed/encouraged/championed them doing so), while committed to due impartiality in their job, could get the BBC into legal difficulty, eg with the EHRC. (??)

I would have thought sone events - Holocaust Memorial Day would be a clear example - could get a sensible "not controversial" designation.

That could work for Remembrance (very broad but obvs not uncontested). Arguably, Pride is also very broad but not uncontested (in 2020)

The impartiality guidelines have a lot of sensible content, but the devil is in the detail. The BBC might need a short list of topics on which an instititutional view is appropriate (media freedom is a potential example).

Again, these are sensible thoughts. But applying this approach to holocaust denial may be quite difficult. (Or the legalisation of the advocacy of paedophilia, or eg the advocacy of apartheid/forces repatriation on grounds of white supremacy/great replacement theory) .

Black Lives Matter (a political/civic movement) is a different proposition to Black History Month, for exanple. Though the guidelines could catch this if it were considered a civic 'campaign'

https://twitter.com/BBCWales/status/1321799473455091713?s=19

Philosophically, vetoing attendance at Pride ought to catch Remembrance. (Recipe for stumbling into one culture war conflict/or another.

Allow attendance at both (like Holocaust Memorial Day). With 'do not risk bringing employer into contentious arguments' advice when there

No problem if clearly celebratory or commemorative would appear to cover Remembrance, Pride, Holocaust Memorial Day and Black History Month events as not political or controversial

https://twitter.com/scottygb/status/1322133678684839936?s=19