The BBC has made a draft of its revised editorial guidelines available online as a PDF for public consultation.

This is first time the public have been consulted on the BBC guidelines, which are updated every five years.

In the 190 page document includes a short paragraph on the use of material from social media services, such as Facebook or Twitter. Section 7.4.8 in the chapter on privacy reads:

Although material, especially pictures and videos, on third party social media and other websites where the public have ready access may be considered to have been placed in the public domain, re-use by the BBC will usually bring it to a much wider audience. We should consider the impact of our re-use, particularly when in connection with tragic or distressing events. There are also copyright considerations.

As far I can tell, this is the first time the BBC has codified its approach to social media.  I couldn’t find this in the existing editorial guidelines.

The guidelines are in line with the advice issued last year to BBC journalists over the ethical use of social media material.