One thing I had to be careful to follow during creating my radio documentary was the BBC Editorial Guidelines and the IPSO code.
Anonymity is a huge part of my documentary because of the nature of the topic, one of the interviewees wishes to remain anonymous.
As well as this, I had to remain accurate when reporting, which involved checking facts and checking spelling of names.
The BBC Editorial Guidelines state that:
When we promise anonymity, we should make sure that we are in a position to honour that promise.
Establish to whom the person wants to be anonymous: the general public or people they know well.
When disguising identities, be aware that some technical solutions can be reversed and that what may appear as tiny idiosyncrasies to you are huge reveals to those familiar with the person.
Care should be taken not to reveal several pieces of information that could compromise a person's anonymity when put together: so-called "jigsaw identification".
The IPSO (Editors Code of Practice) state that:
1. Accuracy
i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.
ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and — where appropriate — an apology published. In cases involving IPSO, due prominence should be as required by the regulator.
iii) A fair opportunity to reply to significant inaccuracies should be given, when reasonably called for.
iv) The Press, while free to editorialise and campaign, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.
v) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for defamation to which it has been a party, unless an agreed settlement states otherwise, or an agreed statement is published.
2. *Privacy
i) Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.
ii) Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent. In considering an individual's reasonable expectation of privacy, account will be taken of the complainant's own public disclosures of information and the extent to which the material complained about is already in the public domain or will become so.
iii) It is unacceptable to photograph individuals, without their consent, in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.
4. Intrusion into grief or shock
In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. These provisions should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.
11. Victims of sexual assault
The press must not identify or publish material likely to lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so.