BBC refreshes guidelines on UGC content

The BBC has revisited its guidelines on making payments to members of the public who send in pictures and videos from mobile phones or cameras.

The corporation says it has not change its policy on paying members of the public for their submissions, but had decided to make the guidelines clearer based on the increasing amount of content it now receives.

Such payments would only apply for content that is "particularly editorially important or unique" and that "audiences should not be encouraged to think that payment is the norm, or in any way encouraged to take risks, put themselves in danger or break any laws in order to secure what they perceive to be material of high monetary value."

The BBC is reported to receive more than 10,000 emails and images a day from viewers, and though most are not fit for use, it is keen to use user-generated content. It received over 20,000 emails after the July 7 London bombings, and more than 5,000 responses to the Buncefield oil depot fire in Hertfordshire last December.

The guidelines also pointed to the accuracy of such submissions: "Our starting point is that we should aim to apply the same approach to pictures, audio and video supplied by members of the public, as we do to any other material we handle as journalists."

Channel Five has also recently said it would pay up to £100 for contributions from viewers that were used on air.