BBC Writing Style Guidelines

mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk BBC Writing Style Guidelines Contents Introduction BBC style points BBC typefaces BBC brands BBC divisions and departments BBC programme titles Writing tips General style Plain English Reference sources A–Z of general style points Abbreviations Acronyms Ampersand (&) Apostrophe Brackets Bullet points Capital letters Contact details Dates Eg and ie Ellipsis (...) page 2 3 3 4 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 9 10 11 12 12 12 12 Emphasis Exclamation mark Hyphens Italics Miscellaneous Money Newspapers and magazines Numbers Postal addresses Punctuation Quotations Spelling Telephone numbers Time Websites page 13 13 13 13 14 14 14 15 15 16 17 17 17 17 18 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 Making publications accessible to the widest possible audience BBC Diversity Centre Welsh Disability Discrimination Act 1995 People who are partially sighted or blind People who are deaf or hard of hearing People with a learning disability BBC Writing Style Guidelines January 2006 Introduction These guidelines set out BBC-specific style points and other more general style and grammatical points for all types of printed or electronic materials, from information for external audiences to internal reports. The guidelines are designed to bring consistency to everything that is produced across all BBC divisions, but also to allow some freedom of style for differing formats and diverse audiences. Sometimes they may not be relevant, for example for materials with very small amounts of text such as display advertising and posters. If you have any queries not covered in these guidelines, please contact BBC Design & Publications on ext (02) 82034. Other guidelines Other guidelines (branding and logos, designing annual reports and reviews, etc) are available from the Marketing, Communications & Audiences (MC&A) site on Gateway: • http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding/ BBC Writing Style Guidelines 2 January 2006 BBC style points BBC typefaces The BBC corporate typeface, which should be used for most print materials, is Gill Sans. It can be used in three weights: light, regular and bold. It must not be condensed or expanded. All body copy should be set in Gill Sans. Headings should normally be in Gill Sans, although an alternative font may be used to create a distinctive style for individual projects. Specific brand guidelines may require a particular font for headings. For example, the CBBC font is Melt. Some channels have guidelines which specify the typeface to be used for promotional materials. Press releases Arial is used for press releases. The point size for press release text is 11. Correspondence, internal documents, etc Arial can be used when Gill Sans is not available, for example for correspondence, internal documents, files to be downloaded, etc. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 3 January 2006 BBC brands The BBC logo is for branding only and must not appear embedded in text. Full guidelines are on the MC&A site on Gateway: • http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding/ Brands BBC Television and BBC Radio should be written with a capital T and R only when being referred to as brands. BBC should be included in all radio station names. However, where a station is mentioned a number of times in a document, it is acceptable to leave out BBC (or BBC Radio from BBC Radio Five Live) after the first mention. Exceptions are BBC 7 and local radio stations that do not have Radio in their name, eg BBC London, BBC GMR, BBC WM – these must always include BBC. BBC Learning Zone should always include BBC. When used with the channel on which it is broadcast (BBC Two), it can be referred to as BBC Two’s Learning Zone. BBCi is the interactive TV service. The BBC website is bbc.co.uk. It is always written all in lower case, even at the start of a sentence. See page 19 for more on URLs. For full guidelines on bbc.co.uk, see the MC&A site on Gateway: • http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding/ (Guidelines, logos & assets) Upper or lower case See the notes below, and the full list on the following page. Text and picture captions • In large areas of text (eg text-heavy leaflets, booklets, the Annual Report) and in picture captions, BBC brands are written in upper and lower case, except CBBC which is all capitals. • Television channels are written in words rather than numbers, except BBC News 24. • Network radio stations are written in numbers, except BBC Radio Five Live and Five Live Sports Extra. Display materials In display adverts and posters, BBC brands (except CBeebies, BBCi and bbc.co.uk) should appear in capitals. Press releases In press releases, television channels should appear in capitals, eg BBC ONE, but all other services should be in upper and lower case, eg BBC News. BBC Nations & Regions brands These brands should always be written in upper and lower case, even in display materials. In display materials, the channel in Nations brands can be written in capitals: • BBC ONE Wales, BBC TWO Scotland, etc Otherwise, use upper and lower case: • BBC One Wales, BBC Two Scotland, etc BBC Writing Style Guidelines 4 January 2006 BBC brands Text and picture captions Television BBC Television BBC One BBC Two BBC Three BBC Four CBBC CBeebies BBC News 24 BBC Parliament BBC News BBC Sport BBC Learning Zone BBC World BBCi Ceefax Radio BBC Radio BBC Radio 1 BBC 1Xtra BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio Five Live BBC Five Live Sports Extra BBC 6 Music BBC 7 BBC Asian Network BBC Radio Kent, BBC WM, etc BBC World Service Online bbc.co.uk Nations & Regions BBC Cymru Wales BBC Northern Ireland BBC Scotland BBC English Regions BBC One Wales BBC Two Scotland BBC Cymru Wales BBC Northern Ireland BBC Scotland BBC English Regions BBC ONE Wales BBC TWO Scotland bbc.co.uk BBC RADIO BBC RADIO 1 BBC 1XTRA BBC RADIO 2 BBC RADIO 3 BBC RADIO 4 BBC RADIO FIVE LIVE BBC FIVE LIVE SPORTS EXTRA BBC 6 MUSIC BBC 7 BBC ASIAN NETWORK BBC RADIO KENT, BBC WM, etc BBC WORLD SERVICE BBC TELEVISION BBC ONE BBC TWO BBC THREE BBC FOUR CBBC CBeebies BBC NEWS 24 BBC PARLIAMENT BBC NEWS BBC SPORT BBC LEARNING ZONE BBC WORLD BBCi CEEFAX Display materials BBC Writing Style Guidelines 5 January 2006 BBC divisions and departments BBC divisions and departments should always appear in upper and lower case, and the ampersand (&) should always be used for ‘and’: • BBC Factual & Learning • BBC Information & Archives • BBC Marketing, Communications & Audiences • BBC Nations & Regions In internal documents it is unnecessary to put BBC in front of everything – Factual & Learning or Marketing, Communications & Audiences is enough. BBC programme titles Programme titles should appear highlighted in main text in italics, eg EastEnders, Newsnight. Where the text is already italicised (eg in a picture caption) the title should appear in roman. The exception to this rule is in press releases which use bold for the programme title that is the subject of the release, and italics for any other programmes mentioned in the release. Programme titles generally use a mix of upper and lower case, eg The League of Gentlemen, Sports Review of the Year. If in doubt, check how the title appears on screen or in published press material. Research shows that audiences are not always aware that what they are watching, listening to or buying is a BBC product, and it is therefore essential that BBC is prominent throughout materials in order to bring credit back to the BBC. In promotional materials, BBC should always be included the first time the programme is mentioned, and again in new chapters or sections. Exceptions to this rule are when the context is explicitly BBC (eg press releases, press packs, the Annual Report, heavily branded foyer boards, posters, etc) or where the programme forms part of a list of BBC programmes. In this case it must be clear from the surrounding text that the programmes are all BBC. We recommend, though, that each piece of material is considered individually, taking into account the space, the design, the prominence of the brand on the material and the audience. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 6 January 2006 Writing tips General style You should aim to make your text clear and accessible, eg: • use several short sentences rather than one long one • use active verbs rather than passive ones • use short words rather than long ones Avoid any suggestion of sexism, racism and prejudice against disabled people. Don’t use ‘man’ where it is not accurate or relevant, eg police officer, not policeman/woman; firefighter, not fireman; working hours, not man-hours. Don’t use ‘he’ where the meaning is ‘he or she’. Either use ‘they’ or reword the text. The same applies to ‘his or her’ – use ‘their’ or reword the text. When describing disability, make sure you use the currently acceptable terms as advised by the main national organisations, eg blind people, deaf and hard of hearing people, disabled people. Ideas about what is acceptable can change and can vary among different groups. Plain English Plain English Campaign awards Crystal Marks for clarify in public information. For further information and tips, contact them or visit their website: • Plain English Campaign PO Box 3 New Mills High Peak SK22 4QP Tel: 01663 744409 Fax: 01663 747038 Email: info@plainenglish.co.uk Website: www.plainenglish.co.uk Reference sources The BBC has subscriptions to many databases and reference sources, including the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford Reference Online (over 120 reference books) and Encyclopaedia Britannica. • research.gateway.bbc.co.uk BBC Writing Style Guidelines 7 January 2006 A–Z of general style points Abbreviations No punctuation should be used in abbreviations. Keep it simple, eg: • USA • UK • BBC, ITV • A S Byatt • Rev • eg, ie, etc • Mr, Mrs However, no. (short for number) must be followed by a full stop. A space is not required between no. and the numeral, eg no.2. Unless it is a well-known example such as BBC, always spell out an abbreviation in full at first, followed by the abbreviation in brackets, and then use the abbreviated form from then on, eg: • The Central Religious Advisory Committee (CRAC) advises the BBC on religious broadcasting policy and programmes. You can write to the CRAC with your views. Weights, measures and science units Be careful to use the correct mix of upper and lower case in abbreviations, eg: • mm, cm, m, km (millimetre, centimetre, metre, kilometre) • g, kg (gram, kilogram) • MHz (megahertz), MB (megabyte), GB (gigabyte) Acronyms Abbreviations forming a word that is usually pronounced as a word rather than the initials take an initial capital only: • Aids • Nato Ampersand (&) Use an ampersand only when it is a BBC department or division or part of a trade name, eg: • BBC Radio & Music • BBC Marketing, Communications & Audiences • Marks & Spencer • Tate & Lyle The ampersand should not be used elsewhere as shorthand for ‘and’. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 8 January 2006 Apostrophe This is used to denote possession. The placing of the apostrophe depends on whether the noun is singular or plural, eg: • the MP’s salary (singular) • MPs’ salaries (plural) After a plural name or a name ending in ‘s’, you can use either an apostrophe only or ‘s, depending on what you think sounds right, eg Dickens’s or Dickens’. The important thing is to be consistent. An apostrophe is also used to show where a letter is omitted: • It’s cold outside (= It is cold outside) It’s and its It’s is an abbreviation of ‘it is’: • It’s a shame we don’t work a three-day week. Its denotes possession: • The cat licked its paws. Who’s and whose Who’s is an abbreviation of ‘who is’, whereas whose is a possessive pronoun or adjective: • Who’s the most popular presenter on BBC Radio 4? • Jennifer Saunders, whose credits include BBC Absolutely Fabulous, is now... Apostrophes should not be used to create plurals, even after numbers or abbreviations: • 1980s • CDs Brackets Round brackets (parentheses) are used to set off an interruption to a sentence or an ‘aside’ from the writer to the reader: • BBC Casualty is not (despite speculation in the press) going to four episodes a week. Square brackets [ ] are used for words added to a direct quotation to clarify what is being said: • “It [Titanic] was the best moment of my career,” said Kate Winslett. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 9 January 2006 Bullet points It is best to keep bullet points short. Make sure they are consistent and that they all follow grammatically from what comes before them. Most bullet points follow a colon and not a full stop, therefore capital letters not required, eg: These pages summarise the many activities we have undertaken over the year under the following headings: • accounting to Government, Parliaments and Assemblies • listening to audiences • formal public consultations You do not need to put a full stop at the end of the bullet point unless it has several sentences. In this case, to be consistent, all the bullet points should have full stops at the end. Where there is no colon before the bullet points, capital letters should be used at the start of each bullet point, eg: BBC objectives for 2004/2005 • Strengthen BBC One, as well as core TV and radio services, with a focus on offering a richer mix of content • Deliver greater value for money Full stops are not required unless the bullet points are sentences. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 10 January 2006 Capital letters Capital letters should be used sparingly and should not be used for emphasis in text. However, it depends on the type of document you are working on and the main rule is to be consistent. Headings Avoid writing headings all in upper case. Use initial capitals as sparingly as possible for headings, titles, page headings and subheads, eg: • Review of the year • Performance against objectives Names and job titles We recommend using initial capitals for job titles, etc: • Michael Grade, Chairman • Mark Thompson, Director-General (hyphenated and capitalised) • Board of Governors • Executive Committee However, it depends on the style of the publication. Ariel always use lower case whereas the Annual Report uses capitals. Again, consistency is the key. Places Countries, counties, towns and recognised geographical and political divisions always take capital letters, eg the North East, South-East Asia. More general geographical areas do not, eg southern England. Programme titles Programme titles generally use a mix of upper and lower case, eg The League of Gentlemen, Sports Review of the Year. If in any doubt, check how the title appeared on screen or in published press material. Time periods Months, days of the week and special occasions (eg New Year’s Day) take capital letters. Seasons do not take capitals and nor do centuries, eg 21st century. Historical periods and events usually take capitals, eg the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the First World War. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 11 January 2006 Contact details When including contact information, give all the details available if there is space. If not, give the name, postal address, telephone number and website (if there is one). Check the recommended way to set out postal addresses (page 15), telephone numbers (page 17) and website URLs (page 18). The following is a recommended order for listing contact details: Name Postal address Telephone Fax Textphone (note: not Minicom which is a brand name) Email Website Dates • Use the style: 1 June 2005. • Always write the year in full: 2005 not ‘05. • Months, days of the week and special occasions (eg New Year’s Day) take capital letters. Seasons do not take capitals and nor do centuries. • Historical periods and events usually take capitals: the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the First World War. • Write centuries in words up to the tenth, but in numerals after that, eg second century, 15th century. • Where used, AD comes before a date, BC after a date, with a space in between, eg AD 410, • 44 BC • When writing a period of time, use ‘from’ and ‘to’, ‘between’ and ‘and’, or a dash (en rule), not a mixture, eg: • from 18 to 21 April, between 18 and 21 April, 18–21 April • from June to September, between June and September, June–September Eg and ie Use eg (‘for example’) when giving examples, and ie (‘that is to say’) when giving an explanation or definition: There are many BBC websites specifically about programmes, eg EastEnders, Gardeners’ World. How to be a Gardener is an online learning journey, ie a course you can follow on a computer. Ellipsis (...) This symbol indicates omitted words within or at the end of a sentence or quote, eg: He talked about his work... and the influence of the professor You know what they say – the grass is always greener... It can also make a sentence trail off suggestively, eg: They never had any trouble with the neighbours – until now... Put spaces before and after when using an ellipsis within a sentence, but not when using it at the end of a sentence. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 12 January 2006 Emphasis Avoid using a type style for emphasis. The construction of a sentence normally makes it clear that a particular word is being emphasised. If you do need to emphasise a word, use italics for preference. Bold may also be used depending on what the document is and how italics and bold are used elsewhere within it. The rule is to select one style and stick to it. Exclamation mark Exclamation marks should not be used for emphasis or to ‘strengthen’ jokes – they are meaningless. If you do want to use an exclamation mark, then one will do. Hyphens Avoid using hyphens within words where possible: • reinvent, reinforce, restructuring, coordinate Sometimes the use of a hyphen changes the meaning of the word: • recreation, re-creation Do not use a hyphen if words are used as a noun: • Strictly Come Dancing will be broadcast during peak time. • The programme is aimed at 15 year olds. Use a hyphen if two words are used as a compound adjective: • Strictly Come Dancing is a peak-time programme. Common examples of the use (or not) of hyphens: • multimedia • online • Director-General • programme makers • 24-hour news • website • email • worldwide • no one Italics Use italics for: • titles of TV and radio programmes, films, books, plays, operas, paintings, long poems • newspapers, magazines and journals, including ‘The’ appears on the masthead, eg The Times, The Independent • foreign words not commonly accepted as part of the English language, eg fait accompli, Zeitgeist There will always be examples where it is not obvious whether italics should be used. If you feel a word or title is clearly recognisable to your audience, you may want to use italics, eg Making it Happen. Ensure that, whatever you decide, you are consistent. If you wish to highlight something but feel italics are not appropriate, use roman with single quotes. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 13 January 2006 Miscellaneous • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • CD-Rom internet website, homepage; but web page, World Wide Web licence fee payer (previously licence payer) Parliament, Government and President, when used specifically; lower case when used more generally ext (extension) First/Second World War, World War One/Two, or abbreviate as WW1 or WW2 60s, 70s, 80s (no apostrophe), or Sixties, Seventies, Eighties among (not amongst); while (not whilst) freelance (not freelancer) artists (not artistes) judgment or judgement jail (not gaol) focus, focusing, focused set-top box professor (in full) for BBC divisions use Limited not Ltd, eg BBC Resources Limited underway is two words, eg: This year’s Children in Need appeal got under way... Money Use two digits after the currency symbol, or none if it is a round number, eg £1.50, £7. Million and billion should be written in full in lower case. There should be no space after the numerals, eg £15million. In documents that repeatedly mention sums in millions or billions, it is acceptable to abbreviate, eg £15m, £2bn. Newspapers and magazines Use italics for newspapers and magazines, including ‘The’ when it appears on the masthead: • The Times The Independent The Guardian The Sun • The Economist The Spectator The Big Issue Titles without ‘The’ in the masthead include: • the Daily Mail the Daily Mirror the News of the World New Statesman BBC Writing Style Guidelines 14 January 2006 Numbers • Write the numbers one to ten in words. However, use figures when the number is an exact measurement, when followed by million/billion, and for page references, eg 5 metres, 4 tonnes, 2 million, see page 6. • Use figures for numbers from 11 upwards and for all numbers that include a decimal point or a fraction. However, when a sentence begins with a number; the number should be written in words. In this case, numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine should be hyphenated. • Fractions should be written in words with a hyphen, eg one-third, two-fifths. • Always include commas in numbers over 1,000, eg 10,000, 1,000,000. • Percentages should always be expressed in figures and with the % sign rather than words, • eg 1%, 10%. • Money: use two digits after the currency symbol or none if it is a round number, eg £1.50, £7. • Million, billion: in text these should be written out in lower case. There should be a space between the number and million/billion, except in amounts of money, eg 15 million viewers, £15billion. • Abbreviations used with figures should follow immediately with no space, eg 11am, 35mm, 100mph. Postal addresses Post Office guidelines state that, ideally, each of the following should appear on a separate line on an envelope: Addressee’s name Company (where applicable) Building name (where applicable) Number and street name Town County (where applicable) Postcode When an address is given as part of continuous text, each line of the address should be separated by a comma, apart from before the postcode where no comma is needed, eg: • Carol Stanley, BBC Design & Publications, Media Centre, Media Village, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TQ. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 15 January 2006 Punctuation Aim for minimum punctuation where possible, eg no commas in addresses that are set out on separate lines, and no full stops after numbers in numbered lists. When punctuating a sentence, remember that you are aiming for clarity and readability. If you are struggling with a long sentence, it is best to break down the text into shorter sentences. Commas, semicolons, colons and dashes are all ways of dividing a sentence into units of meaning. They are roughly the equivalent of pausing when speaking, but not precisely the same. Punctuation marks have to follow certain conventions, whereas we are freer in speech to pause where we like. Comma In a list of items you only need a comma before the final ‘and’ if the meaning would be unclear without it, eg: • The comics featured were Monkhouse, Davidson and Enfield. • The comics featured were Monkhouse, Davidson, and Hale and Pace. Semicolon A semicolon indicates a more distinct break in a sentence than a comma. For instance, you can use semicolons to punctuate a list which might be confusing if you used commas: • Innovations included the ten-minute comedy series, Marion and Geoff, on BBC One; The Wire, a run of new plays on BBC Radio 3; and Jetset, a new format for the National Lottery. Colon This indicates that what follows is an elaboration or explanation, eg: • His choice was clear: to stay or go. Dash (en rule) Dashes are longer than hyphens and have the following uses: a single dash can introduce a list a single dash can introduce an explanation a pair of dashes take the place of parentheses (round brackets) or commas to cordon off information inside a sentence, eg: • The BBC’s no-smoking campaign – presented by Dale Winton – got more publicity than ITV’s. Dashes (not hyphens) should be used in the following instances (note the absence of spaces) in place of the word ‘to’ or ‘and’: • pages 16–23 • 18 September–27 November • 0900–0925 • London–Birmingham • Tyson–Lewis fight Full stop Full stops are not required with initials in names (J Smith) or in abbreviations, eg BBC, RSVP, USA, UK, eg, ie, PTO. Note the exception: no.1 as an abbreviation for number 1. When used with brackets, the full stop should only appear inside the brackets if the brackets contain a complete sentence. Where the brackets fall within a sentence, the full stop goes outside the brackets, eg: • GCSE Bitesize Revision programmes begin in March. (See page 6 for more information.) • GCSE Bitesize Revision programmes begin in March (see page 6 for more information). BBC Writing Style Guidelines 16 January 2006 Quotations Use double quotation marks for dialogue and quoted material. Use single quotation marks for reported speech within a quotation or for emphasis. Punctuation at the end of a sentence comes inside the quotation marks if the quote is a full sentence. • “I’ll be home later than I thought,” said Matt, “so don’t come till 8 o’clock.” • “No.” explained Sue. “What I said was ‘Go if you want to.’ It was her own choice.” • He was looking for a ‘light touch’. Spelling Use -ise spellings rather than -ize: • centralise, emphasise, organise, realise, summarise Don’t rely on spell-checkers which tend to use American spellings and meanings. Be careful with words which have different meanings/uses when the American spelling is used, eg in English spelling ‘licence’ is the noun and ‘license’ the verb, whereas in American spelling it is the opposite. Telephone numbers • • • • • • Don’t use brackets for dialling codes: 020 8008 2034. The dialling code should always be written in one block: 01222. For six-digit numbers after the dialling code, use blocks of three: 01222 222 333. For seven-digit numbers, use three then four: 01222 222 3333. For dialling codes beginning with 02, eg 020 for London, 028 for Northern Ireland, the correct grouping is the three-digit dialling code followed by the number in two blocks of four: 020 8008 2034. Time BBC World Service uses the 24-hour clock, but generally we recommend using the 12-hour clock in copy. There are times when using the 24-hour clock may be appropriate, eg in a list of programme times or opening times. In that case, use a full stop between the hour and minutes, eg 14.30. Don’t use 00 for times on the hour: 2am, 2pm. There are no full stops in am or pm, and no space between the number and am or pm. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 17 January 2006 Websites The BBC website is bbc.co.uk. It should always be written all in lower case, even at the beginning of a sentence. Extract from the bbc.co.uk brand guidelines Avoid using ‘online’ and ‘website’. In body copy, bbc.co.uk, bbc.co.uk/sitename or BBC Brand X are acceptable. Use of BBC with ‘online’ and ‘website’ (eg BBC News Online, BBC News website, BBC website, BBC Online) is not permitted and should be replaced by bbc.co.uk, bbc.co.uk/news or BBC News. An exception to this rule is when ‘online’ and ‘website’ are used without ‘BBC’ to refer to platforms, eg ‘on TV, on radio and online’ or ‘on AM, on digital TV and online’. For the full guidelines, go to the MC&A site on Gateway: • http://mcanda.gateway.bbc.co.uk/branding/index.html Titles of BBC websites should normally be written in roman, especially the generic sites. However, the titles of other sites may be written in roman or may be treated like programme titles and written in italics – in either case, make sure they are consistent. • BBC History BBC Science & Nature • BBC Action Network or BBC Action Network URLs Always check that a URL works by entering it in a web browser. For bbc.co.uk sites, URLs should include no more than one slash. Don’t put a slash at the end: • bbc.co.uk/history bbc.co.uk/football bbc.co.uk/cbeebies Give the shortest URL that works. It is usually not necessary to give the full path as it appears in the browser address box: • bbc.co.uk/ww2 browser shows: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/ • bbc.co.uk/bitesize browser shows: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revision/ Non-BBC sites may or may not include www in their URL. Follow the usage of the site owner. Don’t use the http:// prefix unless there is a risk that it may not be clear that it is a URL. As a general principle, give the main website URL rather than the URL of a page further inside the site. Websites often change their structure and the URL of a ‘deep’ page may change. Most URLs are written all in lower case. However, some URLs are case-sensitive so make sure you use the correct mix of upper and lower case. When giving a URL within a piece of text, use normal sentence punctuation after it, eg a full stop if the URL comes at the end of a sentence. BBC Writing Style Guidelines 18 January 2006 Making publications accessible to the widest possible audience Consider whether to produce your materials in other formats or languages in order to make them accessible to the widest possible audience. For example, you might produce versions in Welsh, in Braille, in large print, in simplified English, in audio form or as a British Sign Language video. BBC Diversity Centre There is a lot of useful information on the Diversity Centre site on Gateway: • http://diversity.gateway.bbc.co.uk Welsh The Welsh Language Act 1993 introduced specific provision for Welsh speakers. The BBC is committed to providing print aimed at licence fee payers in Wales in both English and Welsh. For advice on Welsh versions, in the first instance contact Prys Dafydd (Translator, Governance & Accountability) on (01) 23042. Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 introduced specific provisions to prohibit discrimination against disabled people. The Act’s provisions cover any printed material that the BBC makes available to the public. This means that, wherever reasonable, the BBC makes printed material available in alternative formats so that it can be accessed by people with particular disabilities. People who are partially sighted or blind The RNIB offers information and advice on making publications accessible on its website. It also publishes See it Right, a pack of 12 booklets with detailed practical advice. • RNIB (Head Office) 105 Judd Street London WC1H 9NE Tel: 020 7388 1266 Fax: 020 7388 2034 Website: www.rnib.org.uk People who are deaf or hard or hearing The RNID offers advice and factsheets on producing information for deaf and hard of hearing people, materials for deafblind people and the best language for writing about deaf people. • RNID (Head Office) 19–23 Featherstone Street London EC1Y 8SL Tel: 020 7296 8000 Textphone: 020 7296 8001 Fax: 020 7296 8199 Website: www.rnid.org.uk BBC Writing Style Guidelines 19 January 2006 People with a learning disability People with a learning disability face extra challenges in getting the information they need, and changing the way information is written and presented can make it easier for everyone to understand. Many people find reading difficult so information on audio tape might be best, but if you have to provide written material there are ways to make it easier to understand. Mencap provides advice on how information can be made more accessible in two publications, Am I making myself clear? and Making your website accessible for people with learning disabilities. You can download these from the Mencap website. • Mencap 123 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0RT Tel: 020 7454 0454 Fax: 020 7696 5540 Website: www.mencap.org.uk BBC Writing Style Guidelines 20 January 2006