APPENDIX 1
RULES OF COVERAGE
The following is a consolidated version of the rules
of coverage, incorporating both the original recommendations of
the Select Committee on Televising of Proceedings of the House[42]
and the modifications subsequently approved by the Committee.[43]
1. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES
The director should seek,
in close collaboration with the Supervisor of Broadcasting, to
give a full, balanced, fair and accurate account of proceedings,
with the aim of informing viewers about the work of the House.
{Note: In carrying out this task, the director should
have regard to the dignity of the House and to its function as
a working body rather than a place of entertainment.}
2. SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR PICTURE DIRECTION
(a) Restriction of Filming
Certain Parts of Chamber, etc.
(i) The press and
public galleries, the officials' and visitors' boxes, and the
area behind the Speaker's Chair, not being directly related to
proceedings, should not be shown, other than unavoidably as part
of wide-angle or other authorised shots of the Chamber.
(ii) Great care should be exercised in showing
the occupant of the Chair. Shots designed to show the Speaker
receiving advice from a Clerk at the Table should not be used.
Officers of the House and Doorkeepers attending in the Chamber
should not normally be shown, unless they are taking an active
part in the proceedings.
(iii) During Divisions, a wide-angle shot
of the Chamber may be used. In addition, the following events
relating to Divisions may be shown using the standard format described
in sub-paragraph II (b)(i): the putting of the Question, both
initially and after the two minute interval; the announcement
of the names of the Tellers; any points of order which may arise,
together with any response by the Chair; and the announcement
by the Tellers and the Chair of the voting figures.
(iv) In no circumstances should close-up shots
of Members' or Officers' papers be taken.
(b) Style and Presentation
(i) The standard format
for depicting the Member who has the floor should be a head and
shoulders shot, not a close-up.
(ii) Subject to sub-paragraphs (iii) to (vii)
below, the camera should normally remain on the Member speaking
until he or she has finished.
(iii) Wide-angle shots of the Chamber may
be used from time to time: for example, while the director
is seeking a closer shot of a Member who has just been called,
at times when no single Member has the floor, and to establish
the geography of the House for the benefit of viewers.[44]
(iv) As a matter of general practice, the
director should switch to a picture of the occupant of the Chair
whenever he or she rises; this principle should be applied all
the more strictly during incidents of disorder or altercations
between Chair and other Members.[45]
(v) Occasional cut-away shots to illustrate
individual reactions are allowed, but only to show a Member who
has been referred to by the Member speaking.[46]
(vi) Medium-angle shots, including over-the-shoulder
shots, are permissible where the director wishes to show both
the Member who has the floor and another Member intervening or
seeking to do so.[47]
(vii) Occasional group shots — mid-way
between the standard head and shoulders shot and the wide-angle
shot — are permitted; such shots may be used either
for the purposes of showing the reaction of a group of Members,
or in order to establish the geography of a particular part of
the Chamber.
(c) Special Camera Techniques
(i) In no circumstances
are split-screen shots to be used.
(ii) Panning shots along the benches should
not normally be used.
(iii) Occasional zoom shots are permitted.
3. TREATMENT OF DISORDER
(a) Disorder in the
Galleries
(i) Neither interruptions
from, nor demonstrations in, the galleries are "Proceedings",
and as such they should in no circumstances be televised.
(ii) If an incident of the sort described in
sub-paragraph (i) above occurs in such a way as to interfere with
an otherwise permissible shot, the director should cut either
to a wide-angle shot of the Chamber which does not show the offending
incident, or to the occupant of the Chair.
(b) Disorder on the Floor of the House
Televising may continue during incidents of grave
disorder or unparliamentary behaviour for as long as the sitting
continues, but only subject to the following guidelines:
(i) On occasions
of grave disorder, the director should normally focus on the occupant
of the Chair for as long as proceedings continue, or until order
has been restored. (By "grave disorder" is meant incidents
of individual, but more likely collective, misconduct of such
a serious disruptive nature as to place in jeopardy the continuation
of the sitting.)
(ii) In cases of unparliamentary behaviour,
the director should normally focus on the occupant of the Chair,
and should certainly do so if he or she rises, but occasional
wide-angle shots of the Chamber are acceptable. (The phrase "unparliamentary
behaviour" is intended to signify any conduct which amounts
to defiance of the Chair but which falls short of grave disorder.)
42 First Report, HC (1988-89) 141-I, paras 35-49. Back
43
Written Answer, Official Report, 31 January 1990, cols.
184-85W. Back
44
A second feed, showing a continuous single wide-angle shot from
the end of the Chamber, is made available. This feed may be used
only for editing purposes: it may not be used for separate
live transmission, nor for mixing electronically with the main
feed for live transmission. The second feed is time-coded, and
extracts from it may only be employed in their correct chronological
sequence within the proceedings of the House. During incidents
of disorder when the director is required to focus on the Chair,
the second feed is withdrawn. Back
45
See guidelines regarding the treatment of disorder. Back
46
It is not necessary for the Member's constituency or, in the case
of a Minister his office, to be specifically mentioned. So long
as it is clear to the director which Member is being referred
to, a reaction shot is permitted.. Back
47
Sub-paragraphs (v) and (vi) do not apply to Question Time
(nor to Private Notice Question and Ministerial Statements and
any questioning arising from them). Back
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