Following the first fines meted out under the Data Protection Act the BBC has announced it will no longer use any personal names for anyone either working for - or appearing on - the BBC.
The BBC has often been in the firing line for the flagrant disregard for the privacy of members of the general public. Last year, a local news item about litter in Dorset hedgerows featured anti-litter campaigner Hermione Chubbwater. Chubbwater’s life became ‘rubbish – a living hell’ following the report’s broadcast. She was forced to change her name to Sheila Prattle and now lives in Exeter.
‘We do not want to take any chances’, said the BBC’s Legal Officer, John Smith. ‘We use public funds to provide a service for that same public and they don’t expect us to grass them up.’
Anyone featuring in a news report will be referred simply as A, B, C, or, if they prefer, Mr. or Mrs. Smith. This will apply to presenters throughout the BBC’s media with sport and televised football posing a particular challenge. ‘We intend to keep player’s names confidential. This will result in one team being referred to as 1 to 11 and the other, A to K.’ said BBC’s Director of Sport, John Smith. The practice of using cover names is, however, not new. John smith explained, ‘We have been using pseudonyms – albeit very obvious ones – for many years in horse racing to protect the horse. You may have guessed Red Rum was not that horse’s real name.’
Other suggestions for aliases include job related names. The weather, for example, would be presented by Bob Cloud rather than Peter Cockcroft.
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