How ‘The Detectives’ links in with the BBC Editorial guidelines

How ‘The Detectives’ links in with the BBC Editorial guidelines

Introduction: The detectives have their own set of editorial guidelines that have to be followed, and they are followed differently for the show itself.

1.2.5 Harm and Offence

“We aim to reflect the world as it is, including all aspects of the human experience and the realities of the natural world.  But we balance our right to broadcast innovative and challenging content with our responsibility to protect the vulnerable from harm and avoid unjustifiable offence.  We will be sensitive to, and keep in touch with, generally accepted standards as well as our audiences' expectations of our content, particularly in relation to the protection of children.”

In the detectives they are cautious about how this documentary can cause harm and offense. Especially if there are children around since it could cause confusion to them. It may also cause an offense or a disturbance towards adults or other rape victims because it can bring back memories and it would make them feel uncomfortable. It also would just cause a bit of discomfort in general so that’s why it is probably put on at a later time of the day.

Fairness

“Our output will be based on fairness, openness, honesty and straight dealing.  Contributors and audiences will be treated with respect.”

The documentary deals with fairness on both sides, meaning that with the police and the victims it is all honest and up-front and getting an open, honest and fair look on the two sides of the documentary. It also shows that the audiences would be given an honest look into this real life situation.

Privacy

“We will respect privacy and will not infringe it without good reason, wherever in the world we are operating.  Private behavior, information, correspondence and conversation will not be brought into the public domain unless there is a public interest that outweighs the expectation of privacy.”

‘The Detectives’ respect the privacy of the victims extremely well and would only show something uncomfortable to them if the victim themself gave consent. And the producers of the show only ask of that for purposes of getting viewers. So that means that all the private things, all the secrets, would be shown for an entertainment purpose but still with the consent of the victim.

In conclusion I believe that ‘The detectives’ do take the editorial guidelines into consideration and do follow them very well in order to give good programs.