BBC may restrict journalists' tweets

The United Kingdom's state broadcaster, the BBC, may restrict its journalists' use of the microblogging and social networking service Twitter, according to British media reports.

Media analysts say the possible prohibition looks to be in response to journalists' tweets during the British general election campaign, many of which were criticized as being either biased or inaccurate.

The Guardian newspaper reports that the plan, if approved, would require top journalists to resist commenting on breaking stories or offering instant analysis on online platforms.

The paper quoted an unnamed BBC journalist as saying Fran Unsworth, the corporation's director of news and current affairs, was behind the idea.

"She said that it was likely she would meet some resistance, but that she wants to start a debate and was now contemplating asking correspondents to come off Twitter," the source said.

Unsworth reportedly explained the idea to a few colleagues at an event at Broadcasting House.

She has not yet confirmed or denied the report but told the newspaper a week earlier that journalists' use of social media had not always been effective.

"We just need to reinforce our social media rules," she said at the time. "But I don't think it's viable to say take a step back."

The debate around how the BBC's top correspondents use social media, such as the US-based Twitter, followed criticism of several posts during and after the election campaign from Labour Party politicians who said the BBC's coverage cost the party the election. The corporation's political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, was heavily criticized for repeating a false claim online that a Labour Party activist had punched a Conservative Party activist. It subsequently emerged in video footage that one person accidentally walked into the other. Jon Sopel, the BBC's North America editor, has also been criticized for tweets that supporters of US President Donald Trump say are biased.

The debate around journalists' use of Twitter follows the release of a recent YouGov survey that suggested Britons were losing trust in the BBC.

The survey of 1,660 British adults found that fewer than half believed the BBC to be honest and impartial.

The pollsters found that, in December, 28 percent of respondents did not have much trust in the broadcaster; 20 percent had none at all. Only 8 percent trusted it a great deal.

The results contrasted with a survey in October－prior to the election campaign－that found 51 percent trusted the BBC "a great deal" or "a fair amount".