Complaint
In February 2021, Emily Maitlis retweeted on her personal Twitter account a tweet by Piers Morgan which read 鈥If failing to quarantine properly is punishable by 10yrs in prison, what is the punishment for failing to properly protect the country from a pandemic?鈥澛 A member of the public complained that this gave an impression of partiality in a controversial matter, and was inconsistent with the position on social media use set out by the Director-General.聽
Outcome
Under the Guidance on the use of social media which came into effect in October 2020, the personal social media accounts of a range of 麻豆官网首页入口 staff, including those working in news programmes, became subject to the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 editorial standards of impartiality in the same way as 麻豆官网首页入口 accounts.聽 In connection with retweets, the Guidance says:
Expressions of opinion on social media can take many forms 鈥 from straightforward tweets or updates, sharing or liking content, following particular accounts or using campaigning or political hashtags.
If for example a member of staff repeatedly likes or shares, without comment, content reflecting a particular point of view on a matter of public controversy it might create the impression that individual agrees with that view.
The ECU noted that the impression of agreeing with material one shares could be created without the element of repetition, and considered this to be a case in point.聽 The retweeted material was clearly controversial, implying sharp criticism of the Government, and there was nothing in the surrounding context to make clear that Ms Maitlis was not endorsing it or to draw attention to alternative views.聽 Ms Maitlis deleted the retweet from her account within 10 minutes of its appearance but, in the absence of a public acknowledgement that it had been out of keeping with the 麻豆官网首页入口鈥檚 editorial standards, this did not seem to the ECU sufficient to resolve the issue of complaint.
Upheld
Further action
The finding was reported to the Board of 麻豆官网首页入口 News and discussed with Ms Maitlis.