Home | Impartiality | Accuracy | Fairness | Respect | Independence

	Introduction   Interviewing: Kelly Shephard   Dealing with contributors: Ben Sutherland   Upholding privacy: Beatriz Gomez   Zimbabwe: Joseph Winter   Uzbekistan: Pahlavon Turgunov   On Mr Milosevic: Geraldine Coughlan   Safeguarding children in Africa: Valerie Msoka   Reflecting the Afghan people: Asif Maroof   Covering 9/11: Stephen Cviic   Bugging and recording   Anonymity   Paedophiles and identification   Accessing untransmitted material		It is essential that the BBC operates within a framework which respects peoples' right to privacy. Private behaviour, correspondence and conversation should not be brought into the public domain unless there is a clear public interest. Upholding the right to privacy in the UK - by Beatriz Gomez, Producer, Spanish Americas section When I heard her voice I knew it was Fanny Alba. I had spent hours trying to get in touch with her. It was 12 June 2001 and the news had circulated around the world that her husband Guillermo Sobero, held hostage since 27 May, had been beheaded by the Filipino separatist guerrillas Abu Sayyaf. Talking to a woman in pain Finally I got Fanny on the line. "Please forgive us, we know this must be a really painful time for you and your family and we don't want to upset you further," I said. "But it's our duty to inform and you are the best person to speak to us. We would like to know if you have had official confirmation of your husband's death." She said she had not received confirmation either from the FBI or the State Department. The Filipino authorities were carrying out tests on her husbandÂ’s head, which had allegedly been found the day before. They wanted to confirm that it was his. "This must be very anxious time for you and your children?" "Yes, especially for me – I haven't told my children anything." "How old are they?" "Six, three and two." Respecting privacy To my surprise, Fanny then began to tell me intimate details about her marriage. She was talking of purely personal things which, in the journalistic sense, had no bearing or place in the interview. She had decided to, "speak out once and for all, to stop the press from speculating and publishing intimate details of my marriage." I felt her sorrow and it felt like stepping on holy ground. I just wanted to end the interview then and there. I have always been an advocate of the BBC's principle of respecting the privacy of an individual. Somehow I managed to say goodbye. When I told my editor what had happened, without a second thought he said: "We wonÂ’t broadcast that part." I felt proud and very privileged to be a part of an organisation which respects people's privacy. I edited the first part of the interview. The rest was never broadcast.

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