Ethical and Legal Constraints in the Media Sector

Video Recording Act

Video recorders were first introduced to the UK in 1978. Back then there was no legislation
on what type of video can be recorded. In 1982 public and political concerns had risen with
the release of disturbing films like Cannibal Holocaust, Snuff, The Driller Killer and more.
The BBFC responded to these concerns by introducing a voluntary scheme for rating video
recordings.
The Video Recording Act 1984 Before DVD and Blu-Ray videos can be sold in the UK they
have to be classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). It is against the law
to sell the videos rated BBFC 12 through to 18 to anyone under the age requirement.
Products which are mostly about music, sports, religion or education dont have to be
classified. Because of a public consultation the government made a new Video Recordings
Act so that products relating to music, sports, religion and education have to be classified by
the BBFC if they contain material that is unsuitable for young children.
If a film was shown on television it would have to be classified by the BBFC before it could
air on TV.
Copy Right Law
Nearly every country in the world the domestic law permits that if a work has been
copyrighted, it prevents the work from
being copied, broadcasted or
communicated without the creators
permission.
Copyright is important to the creators
because it provides them with a legal
right of ownership for the work that they
produce. This means that the creators of
the work can take all the credit for their
work and effort then be able to make a
living out of their work. Government
figures had estimated that in the UK there
are around 770,000 original content
creators that like the copyright protection
of their work. This includes software developers and musicians as well as writers and
publishers.
The purpose of the copyright law is not entirely to protect the interests of the authors or
creators but to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. To accomplish this the
copyright ownership encourages the creators in their efforts by giving them temporary
ownership of exclusive rights.
The copyright law protects the original works of creators from being taken, copied and sold
by other people that did not create the work. It allows the creators to take full credit for their
work
If you infringe on someones copyrighted work then you will receive a letter or email asking
you to stop using and distributed the copyrighted work. Penalties can be up to 100,000 for
each work you infringed. You could even go to jail depending on the extent of the
infringement.

An example of the copyright law being broken is that a pub landlord has to pay 65,000 for
breaching the Premier Leagues copyright by showing football matches by using a foreign
satellite card that was only authorised for private use.
The Television Act
The bill to create Independent Television Authority was first introduced to parliament on the
4th March 1954 and just over 4 months later it became part of the law. The television act sets
up corporations like the BBC so they can own and operate television transmitters. The
Independent Television Authority (ITA) is an agency that was
created by the 1954 Television Act so it can supervise the
creation of Independent Television (ITV) which was the first
commercial television network in the UK.
The Television Act helps the media and creative industries
whilst also protecting the interests of the public by supporting
the content producers in the British creative industries by
offering tax breaks for television producers, making sure Ofcom
has
the funding and power to regulate the communications and broadcasting industries. It also
helps by setting policies for public broadcasting.
Importance of Ethical Issues
There is no ban on the use of bad language in television however many people get offended
when it is used. This type of language is allowed on television as long as it is not before or
too soon after the watershed of 9pm. The same rules apply to sex, nudity and violence. Any
programme that is aimed at children shouldnt contain any bad language, sex, nudity or
violence.
The media is very powerful and can manipulate peoples views. If they produce and show a
programme on TV about a certain ethnic group and isnt portrayed in a positive way then this
could change the publics way they think about that ethnic group. This could be really bad
because they could take actions towards that group and can be really bad.
Diversity is defined as people coming together from different races, nationalities, religions
and sexes to form a community. There are around 60 million people in the UK and the
majority of them watch TV. By promoting diversity in TV it will build a bigger community
Representation of Gender
OnePoll polled 1000 young women aged 16-30 to get their views on how women are
represented in TV. Over half of those women said that women arent accurately represented
in TV&Film. 37% of those women believe that women arent portrayed positively.
67% of the women polled said that women in TV&Film do not promote a realistic body
image. This tells us that women arent represented well in television and film.
In TV they portray men as if they are shallow and are only after one thing and only care
about the looks in a woman. They portray women that their actions are irrelevant to their
attractiveness. If youre are attractive but have the worst personality youre still desirable to
others but if youre not beautiful but have the best personality youre nothing.

Religious Beliefs
Broadcasters have to have responsibility for the respect of the religious programmes. They
need to be aware that any religious programmes do not exploit them improperly.

A team of people found out that most references to Islam in newspapers and television
portray Muslims as extremists, terrorists and radicals. This can lead to discrimination against
that religious group. If a television programme was shown stating that every Muslim is a
terrorist. This will lead to many people believing what has been said. This could lead to
people taking harsh actions against Muslims. For example people could refuse to shop in
any of their shop. People could even take it as far as to burn down mosques and Muslim
shops. This is why it is very important that the media does not make judgments towards a
race when it wasnt entirely that race.
Codes of Practice
This is a set of ethical standards that were adopted by the National Association of
Broadcasters for TV. This code prevented the use of many negative things like the use of
profanity, drunkness and addiction, presentation of cruelty and many more. The code
regulated how actors, actresses and performers to be within the bounds of decency.
Regulatory Bodies in Television
Ofcom is a communications regulator in the television sector as well as the radio sector,
fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services and also airwaves where wireless devices
operate.
BBC Trust is the governing body of the BBC and it exists to serve the public. Its objective is
to inform, educate and entertain.
The ASA is the UKS independent regulator of advertising across all media. They make sure
that all advertisements are suitable for television

British Board of Film Classification

The BBFC has been classifying films since 1912 when it was first set up. It is independent
and is not run by the government. When classifying films the examiners look at issues like
drugs, sex, nudity, horror etc. to help make their decisions. They also consider overall how
the audience feels and what impact it has on them.
This is important in television because if they want to show a film on TV they have to take
into consideration the BBFC Rating. The rating will tell them the time of day they should play
the film. For example if the BBFC Rating is a 12 or over then it cannot be shown before the
watershed which is 9pm. If it is shown before that time then they can be taken to court for
doing so. If the age rating was PG or around that then it wouldnt be shown after the
watershed because most children will be asleep before that time
www.bbfc.co.uk
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
BAFTA is a charity that is independent and it supports, develops and promotes the art of
moving images. They do this by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners
and benefiting the general public. BAFTA gets their income from memberships, donations,
trusts, foundations and corporate partnerships to support their work.
This is important in television because the people who work hard to produce material that
the public like to watch are rewarded for what they do. This motivates them to keep doing
what theyre doing and could inspire new people to aim to be like them.
www.bafta.org

Television, Radio and Telecommunications Office for Communication

Ofcom is the communications regulator in the UK. They regulate television sector. They
make sure that competition can thrive whilst communication services are protected from
scams. Their legal duties are to make sure the whole of Britain has a wide range of
electronic communication services, this is including high speed services for example
broadband. Also to make sure that a wide range of programmes are provided to the public.
This is important in television because they want to make sure that the public are protected
from harmful and offensive material. It stops people from having their privacy invaded and
from being treated unfairly.
www.ofcom.org.uk
Advertising Standards Authority
The ASA is an independent regulator that regulates adverts across all types of media. They
make sure that all the advertisements shown in media are suitable to be viewed. If any
advertisements arent suitable for television they tell the people who made the advert to
make changes to it or they will take the advert down.
This is important in television because they need to make sure that the adverts being put on
television arent unsuitable for the viewers watching. For example they wouldnt allow an
advert to go on television if there are high levels or nudity.
Consumer Choice
The consumer choice for the BBFC is good because their job is to rate films and put an age
limit on each film. This allows the consumers to have their own choice on what they want to
watch and if they have children, what you want them to watch. If there wasnt an age rating
on films then the consumers wouldnt know what is suitable for their children to watch or
what they would want to watch themselves. It would be difficult to be able to tell the
difference between a horror film and a comedy film. This is why the BBFC benefits consumer
choice.
The consumer choice for BAFTA is also good because with their wide variety of events and
ceremonies the customers can decide for themselves which ones they want to go to or if
they want to go to one. This widens customer choice because they dont just have one event
and do the same event every year because then it wouldnt be benefiting customer choice
because theyre only doing the event on the same things not many different events all about
different things.
The consumer choice for the ASA is good. This is because they get to say what advert is
allowed to be shown and what time it is allowed to be shown. This means that the
consumers have the choice of whether to watch those adverts by choosing what time they
watch television.
Freedom of Information
The BBFC is not subject to the Freedom of Speech Act 2000
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information that is held by
public authorities. Public authorities have to publish certain information about their activities
and members of the public are allowed to request information from those authorities.

Censorship
The film industry set up the British Board of Film Censors in 1912 after some local
authorities began to put their own censorship standards on films. They set up the BBFC to
put some uniformity on those standards. The BBFC made a set rule of judgements that
everyone agreed to. For them to have done this they had to earn the trust of the local
authorities, Parliament, the press and the public. It is independent so the film industry
doesnt influence its decisions.
Censorship for the ASA is important because they censor advertisements in all media
sectors. This means that they censor inappropriate adverts if necessary.
Taste and Decency
The BBFC have to uphold basic standards when it comes to taste and decency. They have
to have decency when deciding what age rating they put on a film.
Taste and decency is also important to the ASA when they are deciding whether an advert is
suitable for television. They cant be too harsh or too easy when deciding because they will
be more complaints when those adverts air on television.
For Ofcom, transmissions shouldnt include anything that will offend good taste and decency
or anything that is likely to lead to disorder or be offensive to public feeling.

Sources
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/ict/legal/2copyrightrev1.shtml
http://schools.cla.co.uk/how-copyright-affects-schools/why-copyright-is-important/
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/happens-someone-breaks-copyright-law-55834.html
http://www.mediaethicsmagazine.com/index.php/analysis-commentary/2923371-theethics-of-reality-television-producers
http://www.onepoll.com/the-portrayal-of-women-in-film-and-tv/
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MenAreStrongWomenArePretty
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/religion/