RULES OF COVERAGE
The following is a revised version of the rules of
coverage, showing the impact of the recommendations made in this
Report. Changes to the consolidated version of the rules reproduced
in our last report[28]
are shown in bold italics.
1. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES
The director should seek, in close collaboration
with the Director 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.[29]
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.[30]
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.[31]
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.
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
iv) Neither interruptions from, nor demonstrations
in, the galleries are "Proceedings", and as such they
should in no circumstances be televised.
v) 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.
d) 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.)
4. WESTMINSTER HALL
The rules of coverage for the Chamber shall
be applied.
5. SELECT COMMITTEES
The rules of coverage for the Chamber shall
be applied, except that:
i) Reaction shots should be limited to
Members to whom a clear reference has been made or who have asked
a question of a witness.
ii) Reaction of the public gallery should
not be shown.
iii) Committee staff, the press, and shorthand
writers should not be shown other than unavoidably as part of
another authorised shot.
iv) No close-up shots of Members' or officials'
papers should be taken.
6. STANDING COMMITTEES
The rules of coverage for the Chamber shall
be applied.
Officials attending Ministers should not be
shown.
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