Please use this updated style guide immediately. Please place the previous style guide in the shredder, if there is room.
New words
Savilate – the licking of lips as a 70s presenter sees a teenage girl.
Annus Horribilis Savilis – the next year at the BBC.
Useful words
Alleged – legal convention allows you preface an entertainer’s unsavoury act with the words ‘alleged’ up until they are found guilty – amazingly this still works when they are caught on video.
Sub judice – another useful legal concept that allows you to avoid commenting on an inconvenient matter until the earlier of the end of the trial, or the day Kate Middleton gives birth.
Words to avoid
Glitter – use ‘sparkly stuff’ instead.
Liable – instead refer to ‘statute of limitations’
Recommended phrases
No record found on file or the file cannot be found – our default position on any internal investigation.
Sorry – use this if the previous phrases were unsuccessful
BBC logo
Until further notice we are replacing the logo with a picture of a cute kitten.
George Entwistle, Director-General, BBC
29 October 2012
