BBC Producer Guidelines published

In 1988 the BBC's impartiality and independence were questioned repeatedly. The play Tumbledown, the broadcast of the Nelson Mandela Birthday Concert, and the introduction of the government's ban on the direct broadcast of voices from certain organisations in Northern Ireland all proved controversial.

Against this background the BBC Producer Guidelines were published for the first time on 1 March 1989. They served to provide a clear public statement of the editorial principles by which the BBC operated, although their primary purpose was to be a useful guide for programme makers.

Editorial guidelines were not new for the BBC, circulated internally in memos and in documents such as the 1948 Variety Programmes Policy Guide. A glance at this document - which prohibited suggestive references to underwear such as "winter draws on" – shows how concerns over taste changed over the decades. The 1989 Producer Guidelines provided the latest advice and subsequent editions were published in ring-binder form so they could be easily updated.

Today, more than ever, the BBC has to be able to justify every editorial decision. To this end the Corporation's Editorial Values are now freely available online, set out in the Editorial Guidelines, covering everything from the depiction of sex to product placement and the handling of politically sensitive situations.