The BBC’s new linking guidelines

The BBC’s new linking guidelines suggest that including links in stories is “essential” to online journalism.

The BBC sent an e-mail to staff about the company’s link policy, Online Journalism Blog reports, excerpted below:

What we used to do…

        -Lists of archive news stories
        -Homepages only on external websites
        -No inline linking in news stories

What we do now – think adding value…

        -Avoid news stories and link to useful stuff — analysis, explainers, Q&As, pic galleries etc
        -On external websites look beyond homepage to pages of specific relevance
        -Inline linking in news stories is OK when it’s to a primary source

Other tips from the e-mail, reported by UK’s Guardian (which also embeds the full letter). 

-Links are “essential to online journalism”

-BBC aims to double the number of outbound links from 10m to 10m a month by 2013

-Inline linking, previously banned, is now allowed when it’s to a primary source (one or two per story)

-Avoid linking to news stories and link to “useful stuff – analysis, explainers, Q&As, pic galleries etc)

-Look beyond homepage of websites for pages of “specific relevance”

-Inline linking in features doesn’t have to be to primary sources, as long as it’s of “direct editorial relevance”

The e-mail instructions also emphasizes “deep linking” and the importance of linking to other news sites.

It also included an updated policy on linking to science journals, following a public debate on the topic: “In news stories inline links must go to primary sources only– eg scientific journal article or policy report (1 or 2 per story; avoid intro)”