BBC Practitioner cheat sheet

News values (Galtung & Ruge): impact, timeliness, proximity, prominence, novelty, conflict, human interest - stories scoring higher on more values get more coverage.

Inverted pyramid: lead answers who, what, when, where, why; then supporting detail in descending importance so copy can be cut from the bottom.

Attribution rule: every factual claim needs a named source or document; anonymous sourcing requires an editor's approval and an explanation of why anonymity was granted.

Objectivity vs impartiality: objectivity concerns method (evidence, verification), impartiality concerns balance of viewpoints; BBC editorial guidelines require due impartiality on matters of public controversy.

Corrections: significant errors are corrected promptly and prominently; the correction states what was wrong and what is right, not just the new version.

Legally sensitive terms: 'alleged' and 'accused' attach to the person, not the act; defamation risk rises when a claim is published as fact without privilege or verification.

Right of reply: a person facing serious criticism in a broadcast is normally offered a fair opportunity to respond before transmission.

Headline test: a headline must be supported by the story body; clickbait headlines that overstate the copy breach accuracy standards.

Match report structure: result and key moment in the lead, then decisive passages of play, then context (table position, injuries), then quotes.

Score notation: home team is listed first in UK convention; aggregate scores in two-legged ties are stated as 'first leg + second leg = aggregate'.

Offside (football): a player is offside if nearer the opponent's goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent when the ball is played, and is only penalised if involved in active play.

Tennis scoring: points progress 0 (love), 15, 30, 40, game; a tie-break is first to 7 points with a two-point margin.

Cricket: an over is six legal deliveries; a bowler's figures are written as overs–maidens–runs–wickets.

Olympic cycle: Summer and Winter Games alternate on a two-year offset within each four-year Olympiad.

Doping governance: WADA sets the World Anti-Doping Code; national anti-doping organisations and IFs enforce testing and sanctions.

Broadcast rights: live match footage is rights-restricted; news access is typically limited to short clips under agreed conditions.

Programme genres: scripted (drama, comedy), unscripted (factual, entertainment formats), and live (news, sport, events) each carry different compliance and rights rules.

Ratings currency in the UK is BARB; overnight figures cover live-plus-same-day viewing, consolidated figures add time-shifted viewing (typically 7 or 28 days).

Audience share = viewers of a programme ÷ total viewers watching TV at that time; reach = number of distinct people who watched at least a set threshold.

Scheduling: a 'strip' is a programme in the same slot each weekday; 'tent-poling' places a new show between two established hits.

Commissioning stages: brief, development, pilot, commission, production, delivery, transmission; rights are negotiated at commission, not after delivery.

Format rights: a licensed format covers the underlying rules and branding of a show; copying a format without a licence risks passing-off and breach of confidence claims.

Content labelling: pre-watershed content must be suitable for a general audience; stronger material moves post-watershed with appropriate signposting.

Streaming metrics differ from broadcast: 'hours viewed' and 'completed views' are not directly comparable with BARB averages.

Scientific method: observation, hypothesis, prediction, test, replication; a single study is provisional until independently replicated.

Correlation vs causation: an association can arise from confounding, reverse causation or chance; causal claims need controlled or natural-experiment evidence.

Statistical significance: p < 0.05 means a result this extreme would occur under the null hypothesis less than 5% of the time - it is not the probability the hypothesis is true.

Effect size and confidence intervals convey practical importance and precision; a 'significant' result with a tiny effect may be trivial.

Peer review screens for methodology and clarity, not fraud; retraction occurs when findings are unreliable, and retracted work should not be cited as valid.

Taxonomy: domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species; binomial names are italicised, genus capitalised, species lower case.

Climate distinction: weather is short-term atmospheric state; climate is the distribution of weather over decades; a cold snap does not refute a warming trend.

Risk communication: absolute risk ('3 in 1,000') is clearer than relative risk ('50% higher'), which can exaggerate small baseline effects.