Written Evidence Submitted by the BBC (BYC063) the BBC's Core

Written evidence submitted by the BBC (BYC063)

The BBC’s core mission is to enrich people's lives with programmes and services that inform, educate and entertain. The BBC does this by providing audiences with high quality, distinctive programmes and services that are available on television, radio, online and for mobile. All BBC programmes must adhere to the broadcaster’s Editorial Guidelines which set out the BBC values and standards by which content must be produced.

Reaching over 96% of the adult population each week, the BBC is uniquely placed to be able to reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of the UK. This includes accurately and authentically portraying the lives of people in the country today.

Through content production and journalistic resources, the BBC seeks to analyse and investigate social and cultural issues across multiple BBC services, providing audiences with information, questioning current attitudes and representing people’s thoughts and views.

Informing Audiences

One of the BBC’s public purposes is ‘to provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them’. BBC News has a responsibility to keep audiences up‐to‐date with accurate and balanced news.

In specific regard to ‘body image’, BBC News has published twelve stories relating to issues around body image in the past two months alone.1 For example, BBC News online produced an article headlined, ‘Couple's photo sparks body image debate’ (8 June 2017)2, as part of the BBC Trending strand – which looks at the stories gaining significant attention online. The piece examines the response a woman received online after posting images of herself with her partner on the beach, and the subsequent impact this had on her mental wellbeing.

BBC Newsbeat Documentaries, aimed at younger audiences and available on BBC iPlayer, has featured a selection of programmes specifically focusing on the issues of body image including; Addicted to Protein (June 2017), Me, My Spots and I (March 2017) and Anorexia: A Boy in a Girl's World (May 2016).

BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra provide an online resource for a broad range of personal and social matters aimed at informing youth audiences under the banner ‘BBC Advice’. Within the category ‘Your Body’, the webpage provides guidance on subjects including body image, acne, obesity and braces, amongst others.

Questioning Attitudes and Representing Diverse Communities

1 This does not include the broader health or education stories with subject crossover 2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs‐trending‐ 40194326?intlink_from_url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c4c938e9‐f85d‐4f14‐9756‐ d3d52658ca6d/body‐image&link_location=live‐reporting‐story BBC One is the BBC’s flagship service and is the UK’s most‐watched channel, including amongst younger audiences, with 72% of the UK population using the service each week. In 2016, Britain's Secrets with Anne Robinson – Body Image Secrets3 explored the pressure on younger generations to look good and queried society’s obsession with appearance.

As part of BBC Three’s Queer Britain (May 2017)4 series, YouTuber and journalist Riyadh Khalaf looks at body image pressures in the gay community. Riyadh sets out to explore the fundamentals of masculinity in a bid to understand the growing trend of gay men suffering from increased levels of body dysmorphic disorder, eating disorders and self‐harm. From the drag scene and femme‐shaming through to taking part in a cover shoot for a gay magazine, Riyadh explores where the pressure for masculine perfection is coming from.

As part of the 'My Mind and Me' – Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network's yearlong focus on Mental Health – Radio 1 will present a week of content and conversation about body image, confidence and self‐esteem in July 2017. Starting with a Surgery (Radio 1's phone‐in advice programme) on the connection between body confidence and mental well‐being, the discussion will continue throughout the week with listeners hearing conversations between presenters, artists and young people. The discussions will be a chance to highlight social media’s impact on body image and self‐ esteem.

Already in 2017, the Radio 1 weekly Surgery has featured programmes on diet and the impact of social media, body shaming, and the relationship between a healthy body and mind.

CBBC offers a distinctive mixed schedule for 6 to 12‐year‐olds both for broadcast and online. Strands such as Your Story, part of Lifebabble5, provide age‐appropriate advice and information in an accessible and engaging way. Lifebabble has body image themes running through the majority of episodes shown on the CBBC channel whilst dramas Millie Inbetween and So Awkward have tackled storylines relating to body confidence.

CBBC’s Newsround regularly tackles the issue of body image and body confidence. In February 2017, Newsround commissioned a survey from ComRes of 1001 children asking for their views on ‘selfies’. More than 4 out of 5 said that if they take a picture of themselves to put on social media, it was ‘important’ to look good.6 The CBBC channel also commissioned a documentary from Newsround specifically on this issue. Being Me – A Newsround Special was presented by a 15 year old girl and explored how pressures from traditional media and social media can lead children to think negatively about body image.7

Body image isn't a phrase used in relation to CBeebies content for the under‐6s, but the channel does aim to support happy, confident and resilient children. Footy Pups, for instance, encourages an active life and new series My World Kitchen will include points about appropriate portion sizes and alternatives to salt and sugar ‐ or at least using less of them.

3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b080byvs 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p050zvxs 5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/curations/lifebabble‐guide‐to‐feeling‐good 6 http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38841467 7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/32131619

CBeebies, and CBBC, also take steps to make sure that contributors onscreen display a diverse range of bodily ability – such as by featuring disabled presenting talent like Cerrie Burnell, following disabled children in documentary series Our Family, or by including wheelchair‐using children in the design of activities on pirate game‐show Swashbuckle.