UCAS/Progression Blog

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Legal and Ethical Restrictions

Legal and Ethical Restrictions

Legally there are laws that need to be followed in the media, just as there are in everyday life.

Criminal Law and Civil Law - What is the difference?

Criminal Law is the bodies of rules with the potential for severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply. It is distinctive in the fact it has uniquely serious potential consequences or sanctions if failure to abide by its rules occurs.

Civil Law is a legal system where the primary feature of which is the laws that are written into collection, codified and not determined by judges.

Health and Safety

Health and Safety checks before a photo-shoot:

1) Always check before a photo-shoot that any bags/coats/accessories are above ground, as these could easily be tripped over and not only damage equipment, but also anyone in the studio.

2) Make sure there is no food or drink anywhere to be seen before a photo-shoot, as there is alot of expensive equipment in the studio, food and drink must be kept in bags above the floor so to avoid mishaps.

3) Be very careful with any lighting, usually lights can heat up quite quickly to the point that if touched could burn someone, so lighting must be handled safely.

4) Ensure that cables and wires are out of the way as best as possible, as these are easily not seen and tripped over, and as with bags etc, could cause damage to people as well as equipment.

5) Make sure the backdrop is set up properly, if not it could easily fall down and potentially hurt any clients that you are shooting at that time.

Copyright

Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work.

The types of work which are eligible to be copyrighted include books, maps, charts, engravings, prints, musical compositions, photographs, sculptures, drawings, dramatic works as well as computer programmes, sound recordings, choreography, architectural works and motion pictures.

Libel Law

What is Defamation?

Defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a claim expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, product, group, business, government or nation a negative image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed.

What is Libel?

Libel is when a false of malicious statement is published in mainstream media, e.g on the news, in newspapers etc etc.

What is Slander?

Slander has the same meaning as Libel and is when a false or malicious statement is published in the mainstream media.

Data Protection Act

What is the Data Protection Act?

The Data Protection Act is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament which defines UK law on the processing of date on identifiable living people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK.

Ethics

1) Teenagers

Consistently in the media, teenagers are often shown as hooded "gangsters" only out to cause trouble, teenagers are stereotyped as people that are never up to any good, and that is how they are often portrayed in films or TV shows, and the newspapers and TV News outlets always report bad stories involving teenagers and add to the stereotype.

2) Older People

The general stereotype within the media and the general public seems to have the older generation as those who don’t do much and are generally quite quiet, while this may be the case with some, it seems the medai portrays it as a somewhat shocking thing if an person of an older age is doing something that’s seen as not “normal” for someone of there age, e.g going out for drinks, or having sex etc etc.

3) Racial Stereotypes

While genereal racial sterotyping is looked down upon, it still happens almost daily in newspapers, TV Shows, Movies etc etc, where certain races are stereotyped in a certain way which is most likely not a majority of that racial group acts, but because of the media and what is said and stories that are told, the stereotype is there, for example in alot of shows you see Italians being portrayed in a “ganster” type way etc, when in reality of it all most Italians aren’t like that, but because of one or two things heard, thats what the sterotype is.

Professional Codes Of Practice

Professional Codes Of Practice

The following organisations all help regulate various areas of the media industry - some of them are regulatory and impose regulations, others are self-regulatory where the industry imposes agreed regulations upon itself.

ASA

The ASA stands for the Advertising Standards Authority. They ensure that advertisements are legal, decent, honest and truthful by applying the advertising codes, the areas of the media they regulate are TV, Internet, sales promotion and direct marketing. The ASA are mainly self-regulatory.

Here are a few of the specific codes they put into practice:

BCAP Code – The BCAP code is a code that applies to all advertisements (including content on self-promotional television channels, television text, interactive television advertisements and teleshopping), it also includes programme sponsorship credits on radio and television services which are licensed by Ofcom. It is designed to inform advertisers and broadcasters of the standards expected in the content and scheduling of broadcast advertisements and to protect consumers.

CAP Code - The CAP code applies to magazines, mailings, brochures, leaflets, circulars, advertisements in newspapers, e-mails, text transmissions (including SMS and MMS), fax transmissions, catalogues, follow-up literature and other electronic or printed material.

NUJ

The NUJ stands for the National Union of Journalists also known as "the voice for Journalists and Journalism", they are an active campaigning organisation seeking to improve the pay and conditions for the members of there campaigning group.

Here are a few of the specific codes they put into practice:

PCC

The PCC stands for the Press Complaints Commission, and are an independent self-regulatory body which deals with complaints about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines(and their websites).

Here are a few of the specific codes they put into practice:

The Editors Code - This code sets the benchmark for the ethical standards in the PCC, and protects both the rights of the individual and the public's right to know. It is the cornerstone of the system of self-regulation to which industry has made a binding commitment too.

The Evolving Code - This code of practice was written by a committee of editors and ratified by the PCC, it is not a legal document and, as such, it can swiftly be amended to take account of necessary parliamentary comment, suggestions from the PCC, and editors and members of the public, as well as changes in technology

Workplace Codes

Here are some workplace codes that would be deemed appropriate in the media industry:

- Responsible behaviour at all times, in the media industry, specifically the magazine publishing industry; chances are that you may be surrounded by equipment that is expensive, and fragile, so responsible behaviour will mean less chances of equipment being broken etc.

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