House of Commons Administration Committee Television: Rules of Coverage Second Report of Session 2012–13 Report, together with formal minutes and evidence Ordered by the House of Commons to be published 21 May 2012 HC 14 (incorporating HC 1818–i of Session 2010–12) Published on 13 June 2012 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Administration Committee The Administration Committee is appointed to consider the services provided by and for the House of Commons. It also looks at services provided to the public by Parliament, including visitor facilities, the Parliament website and education services. Current membership Rt Hon. Sir Alan Haselhurst MP (Conservative, Saffron Walden) (Chair) Rosie Cooper MP (Labour, West Lancashire) Thomas Docherty MP (Labour, Dunfermline and West Fife) Graham Evans MP (Conservative, Weaver Vale) Rt Hon. Mark Francois MP (Conservative, Rayleigh and Wickford) Mark Hunter MP (Liberal Democrat, Cheadle) Mr Kevan Jones MP (Labour, North Durham) Simon Kirby MP (Conservative, Brighton Kemptown) Dr Phillip Lee MP (Conservative, Bracknell) Nigel Mills MP (Conservative, Amber Valley) Tessa Munt MP (Liberal Democrat, Wells) Sarah Newton MP (Conservative, Truro and Falmouth) Rt Hon. John Spellar MP (Labour, Warley) Mark Tami MP (Labour, Alyn and Deeside) Mr Dave Watts MP (Labour, St Helens North) Mike Weatherley MP (Conservative, Hove) The following members were also members of the committee during the inquiry: Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP (Conservative, The Cotswolds) Bob Russell MP (Liberal Democrat, Colchester) Angela Smith MP (Labour, Penistone and Stocksbridge) Mr Shailesh Vara MP (Conservative, North West Cambridgeshire) Powers The powers of the Committee are set out in House of Commons Standing Order No 139, which is available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/ac. The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some or all written evidence are available in a printed volume. Additional written evidence may be published on the internet only. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are David Weir (Clerk), Keith Neary (Second Clerk), Dawn Brown (Committee Assistant) and Liz Parratt (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Administration Committee, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 4151; the Committee’s email address is [email protected]. Television: Rules of Coverage 1 Contents Report Page Television: rules of coverage 3 Remit and inquiry 3 History of television broadcasting in the Commons 3 How the current system works 3 Purpose of the rules 4 Positioning of cameras 4 Types of shot 6 Public gallery 7 Division lobbies 8 Paying for television coverage of Parliament 9 Recommendations for changes to the rules 11 Annex 1: rules of coverage 13 Annex 2: amended rules of coverage 16 Conclusions and recommendations 18 Formal Minutes 20 Witnesses 21 List of written evidence 22 Television: Rules of Coverage 3 Television: rules of coverage Remit and inquiry 1. The Committee is required by its Standing Order to consider the services provided for and by the House. It was formed in 2005 by bringing together five previous Committees, one of which was the Broadcasting Committee. It has a standing instruction from the Commission to advise it on ‘the broadcasting of proceedings of the House and its Committees’. 2. This inquiry was prompted by requests from broadcasters including the BBC and ITV for a review of the rules of coverage. We set a simple term of reference: to consider the current rules of coverage for the Chamber, Westminster Hall and Committees, and whether any change was required. We visited the parliamentary television control room and took oral evidence from the Director of Parliamentary Broadcasting, John Angeli, and from representatives of the BBC, ITV and Sky. We received written submissions from broadcasters and members of the public, and we viewed test pictures demonstrating new camera angles within the Chamber. The Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly supplied information on the rules of coverage for the broadcasting of their proceedings, as did the Australian and Canadian Parliaments and the Greater London Assembly. 3. Our role in this matter is advisory: the recommendations we make are for the House of Commons Commission to consider. If it approves the changes we suggest in the rules of coverage, it may be necessary for a motion to be put to the House proposing their implementation. History of television broadcasting in the Commons 4. Television broadcasting of the House of Commons began on 21 November 1989. The House had previously been suspicious of it: the Commons rejected proposals to broadcast sittings on television in 1966, 1971, 1975 and 1985. Radio broadcasts of proceedings were allowed only from April 1978. The first broadcasts were billed as an experiment. It was judged a success and permanent arrangements were made for television broadcasting from 1990. 5. Detailed rules of coverage were drawn up during the original experiment to maintain parliamentary control of what pictures could be shown. In essence, the central principle is that the camera remain on the person speaking, except for cutaways to other Members mentioned in speeches, or long shots of the Chamber during the hiatus between speeches or during divisions or procedural events, such as presentation of Bills. The full rules, as amended in 2006, are set out in annex 1. Our proposals for changes to those rules are set out in annex 2 and are discussed in detail below. How the current system works 6. Eight remotely controlled cameras provide pictures from the Chamber, and the shots to be transmitted are selected by a director in the control room at 7 Millbank according to the rules of coverage. The directors, and the other staff who operate the system, are employed 4 Television: Rules of Coverage by Bow Tie Television, which Parliament has contracted to provide the pictures. The contract is re-let every five years. Bow Tie is under the instruction of a parliamentary official, the Director of Parliamentary Broadcasting. The choice of shot to be broadcast therefore lies not with the broadcasters but with the House itself. The BBC, ITV and others use the shot provided to them. Bow Tie also operates five cameras in the House of Lords, four in the second Commons Chamber, Westminster Hall, and others, including digital cameras for webcast, in Committee Rooms in the Palace of Westminster and in Portcullis House. 7. BBC Parliament, a digital channel, carries coverage from the House of Commons live, time-shifted coverage of the House of Lords, and unedited coverage of about 10 committees a week. On rare occasions, live coverage of the Lords may supersede coverage of the Commons—for example, a Friday morning debate on Defence in the Lords has been given higher priority than private Members’ Bills in the Commons. Live webcasting of proceedings in the two Houses and in some select committees began in January 2002.1 Purpose of the rules 8. The rules of coverage were devised to ensure that the House retained control over how it was portrayed on television. They are essentially guidelines for the camera operators and the television director setting out which shots may and may not be used, and what may and may not be shown. They provide guidelines for picture direction and instructions on how specific events, such as disorder, are to be treated. 9. The requirement to focus principally on the Member who has the floor has two broad justifications: a feed covering the totality of a Member’s speech provides a record for the broadcast archive, and news organisations which wish to use a speech would be unhappy if the clip they wanted was not available because the camera had been pointed elsewhere to add variety to the pictures. The needs of broadcasters and the House differ here: for us, the integrity of the broadcast record is more important than the diversity of the image broadcast. The maintenance of a proper record of proceedings is a primary objective of parliamentary broadcasting. The central principle guiding parliamentary broadcast must remain that the Member speaking is wholly or largely the focus of any broadcast. Positioning of cameras 10. The eight cameras are hung from the galleries above the Chamber and controlled remotely from Millbank. The director at Millbank therefore has a choice at any moment of eight shots, covering both sides of the Chamber and the central table and Speaker’s chair, and will select the shot that best fits the rules. The height of the cameras can mean, however, that while those seated on the higher benches are shot from a straight-on angle, those seated nearer the Floor of the Chamber are largely shot from above. This includes Ministers and their shadows at the Despatch Box, including the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition during Prime Minister’s Question Time. 11. Peter Knowles, the controller of BBC Parliament, told us these angles are “incredibly unflattering”, and that “Front Benchers are seen mainly from the top of their foreheads and 1 Robert Rogers and Rhodri Walters, How Parliament Works, 6th edn, 2006, p. 180 Television: Rules of Coverage 5 top of their heads”.2 ITV said that the existing shot “mitigates against being able to convey the intimacy of the Chamber, and in particular disadvantages those speaking from the front bench”.3 Esme Wren, a Sky Executive Producer, concurred in relation to Prime Minister’s Questions or front-bench statements: “It is quite hard to be drawn in for some time when you are looking down on somebody.