BBC News will refuse applications for the Headline Box from sites that fall into any one or more of the categories listed below. A site will be deemed to fall within one of the following categories where there is a material and prominent section of the site that falls within such category.
- Sites that do not conform with the BBC's basic requirements relating to "Taste and Decency" (see Section 6 of the BBC Producers' Guidelines and Section 3 of the BBC's Online Guidelines). The Headline Box will not be syndicated to sites that contain material that the BBC would not itself broadcast or put on online on grounds of taste and decency
- Sites that incite hatred whether based on race, religion, gender, sexuality or otherwise, or promote encourage or facilitate anti-social behaviour
- Sites that promote, encourage or facilitate violence
- Sites that promote, encourage or facilitate terrorism or other activities that risk UK national security
- Sites that discriminate against any specific social group or otherwise exploit vulnerable sections of society
- Sites that promote, facilitate or encourage illegal activity
- Sites which regularly contain material which is defamatory (e.g. certain gossip sites) or that contain illegal, or otherwise actionable content under UK law
- Sites which unacceptably infringe individual privacy (based on the parameters laid down in the "Privacy" chapter of the BBC's Producers Guidelines)
- Sites where the presence of the Headline box might be perceived as damaging the BBC's reputation for accuracy
- Sites where the presence of the Headline box might be perceived as damaging the BBC's impartiality (see Sites Requiring Special Caution below)
- Religious sites, where the BBC would not give a platform to the religious group concerned in its religious output (see Sites Requiring Special Caution below)
- Sites that are not primarily targeted at a UK audience or that are not open access
- Sites that do not meet reasonable standards of design and functionality. All sites should be adequately resourced to implement and maintain syndicated content appearing on their website, to a standard reasonably required by the BBC
- Sites that display content or offer services or links that may damage the BBC brand and/or reputation by any association (e.g. pyramid selling, junk bond schemes)
- Sites for any political party which is not represented at Westminster, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies or as part of the UK representation of the European Parliament
- Sites for tobacco manufacturers or retailers; suppliers of pornography; marriage or escort agencies; gun clubs or manufacturers or retailers of guns or armaments
- Sites for betting and gambling are not generally acceptable. However the BBC may allow syndication to sites for football pools, lotteries (permitted under the 1976 and 1993 Acts) bingo and bookmakers provided they conform to all the other criteria set out in these guidelines
- Sites which feature the Occult
Sites Requiring Special Caution
Special care must be taken in evaluating sites which are campaigning, religious or are targeted at or concerned with children.
The following categories of site must be referred to the Editor, News Interactive, who may decide to exclude them if the appearance of the News Headline Box on them would undermine the BBC's reputation for impartiality:
- Sites operated by local authorities, government departments, national and regional assemblies, Parliament and supra- national government organisations
- Sites that lobby or campaign on current political or public policy issues
The BBC's Head of Religion and Ethics must be consulted about any proposal to syndicate the box to religious sites. The BBC will only consider syndicating the Headlines box to sites operated by religious groups that it would be prepared to give a platform to in its religious output.
Sites targeted at or likely to be viewed by a significant proportion of children under the age of 11 will only be authorised to carry BBC News Headlines designed for children.
Each application will be assessed on a case by case basis, to assess if there are instances where there are extenuating circumstances.
Editor, News Interactive, BBC News Online, should be consulted on any issue concerning these criteria and has approval for syndication to any site. Editor, News Interactive may consult Editorial Policy in cases of difficulty.
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Excluded Websites
