Radio Industry - Ethical and Legal Constraints (Article)

Legal constraints are legal laws that control the media sector and it's extremely important that you follow these laws or you could be fined and investigated by the police. Legal Constraints are laws that absolutely have to be followed and took into consideration or you can have some harsh consequences.

Ethical Constraints aren't necessary things that you could get arrested for but they are just as important. These constraints mean that you are working within accepted norms of society and you have to behave what is considered in the right way without offending anyone. This is covered by self regulating industry codes and it's up to the producer of whatever media production you're doing to make a proper judgment call.

 

 The laws regarding Legal Constraints are listed below with descriptions and examples of what it's all about.

When talking about restrictions in Radio, the presenters of the show must refrain themselves from saying anything that may be offensive. This of course depends on the show, if it is in the daytime then it is more likely for younger listeners to be in the audience, however later at night when listeners are more adult-based they may be allowed to use language more loosely.

 

 

 

 

 

This is also in concern to the music the radio stations will play. Some songs will have offensive terms and/or strong language in certain parts, meaning they must be bleeped out or replaced with a clean version or in extreme cases not played at all.

 

Starting next year, the new age requirements will be 18+ to attend Ultra Music Festival. An official announcement hasn’t been made yet, but recent flyers have advertised presale tickets with the new restrictions. The text next to the 18+ stamp reads: “The safety and security of our attendees, artists/performers, and personnel are our utmost priority and concern.”

 

Pirate radio can also link into this with freely using explicit language and revolving around a crude and/or sexual nature. Furthering the point made before about Ultra, many music festivals also have age restrictions due to general safety issues or in regards to the artists performing.

 

Another case in point being individuals can sue for damage to their reputation caused by material broadcast by a third party – you, the reporter or news reader, are that third party. They can sue you or the company you work for, and If you lose the case, the organisation you work for will incur a big fine. Contempt of court is area of law designed to balance the right to a fair trial with freedom of speech. It is to prevent journalists from publishing/broadcasting things which will get in the way of a fair justice system.

 

If you are found guilty of contempt of court you’re looking at a big fine and possibly prison – though this is unlikely.

 

 

 

The privacy law also applies to radio production, when interviewing people the producers must keep professional and if they are interested in the celebrity they are interviewing they must remain professional and not make them uncomfortable. The same goes for radio journalists, meaning that they must not take pictures of acts in dressing rooms or backstage corridor, at least without their permission. The same in regards to asking for autographs.

 

This act permitted for the launch of three Independent National Radio Stations, two of them on medium wave using frequencies formally used by the BBC, and the other on FM using frequencies formerly used by the emergency services. This began ideas for several additional local and regional commercial radio stations, using parts of the FM band which was not beforehand used for broadcasting. The plans for increasing community radio were only established in the 2000's. In the Parliament it produced a series of opposition from the majority of the Labour Party and a few members from the Conservative Party who thought this was illustrative of a decline in standards.

 

The Official Secrets Act 1989 is a legislation that helps guarantee the defence of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security. This doesn't have a major result on television and radio but if you chat about stuff that you are under severe orders not to converse then police could be brought in to examine.

Film Industry - Ethical and Legal Constraints (Article)

Ethical and Legal Constraints make a major barrier on what is appropriate in the media industry. For example, due to the Race Relations Act (1976) in Films and Radio, the producers will have to be extremely delicate in regards to what is considered a 'racial slur' and what people will find offensive.

 Lawsuits against movies and filmmakers often stem from copyright infringement, plagiarism, or inaccurate details surrounding true events.

 A well-known permissible case was took to the high court concerning Jamie Theakston v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd. Jamie Theakston tried to injunct the Sunday People from distributing a story about how he stayed in a brothel in Mayfair, London. Theakston claimed that the publication of the story broken his right to privacy under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights. He said that the events had taken place privately and thus it ought to be treated as personal and that the article had no public interest. The Sunday People then debated that the publication of the story was in the public interest given the apprehension of the BBC, to be sure that presenters of programmes designed for younger people conduct themselves suitably in public. The court were sceptical of Theakston's statement that he only become conscious he was in a brothel when other prostitutes came into the room. Theakston was unsuccessful at his endeavour to injuct the Sunday People.

Another example is in October 2011, a Michigan woman called Sarah Deming filed a lawsuit (PDF) against the Emagine Novi movie theatre and FilmDistrict Distribution for production of a misleading trailer for Drive, a movie starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, and Albert Brooks.

Deming stated that the film provider “promoted Drive as very similar to the Fast and Furious, or similar, series of movies.” Deming was distressed that Drive was a systematic art film that “bore very little similarity to a chase or race action… having little driving in the motion picture.” Deming included the movie theatre where she viewed the film for the reason that it violated Michigan's Consumer Protection Act, claiming that the film was anti-Semitic for depicting members of the Jewish faith in an inauspicious and clichéd light.

The race relations act 1976 was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race. Items that are covered include discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origins in the fields of employment, the provision of good and services, education and public functions. An example of a breach of this law would be if the BBC were to advertise a job and only accept applications from ethnic minority groups, this would discriminate against people not of an ethnic minority.

In regards to stereotypes and offensive terms, this will affect the age restrictions on the film. For example, if a film had extreme violence it would not be classed as a U film as it means it would not be suitable for young children.

The age restriction is decided by the BBFC insight. Independent, self-financing and not-for-profit media content regulator, the BBFC operates transparent, consistent and trusted co-regulatory and self-regulatory classification and labelling systems in the UK. They highlight the key issues in a film then expand on this giving examples of the sorts of things you will see or hear. This is mainly to protect the public and children from sensitive content. These may include, for example, violence, bad language, and sex references.

BBFCInsight also notes any other issues that might be important for parents, or those wishing to take younger viewers to see a film – for example themes of divorce or bereavement or use of discriminatory language or behaviour.

This will also affect the representation of the Media as a whole. Representation is where producers make ethical judgements on how aspects of the media are portrayed. For example, people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Things such as age and gender affect these decisions. An example of a negative representation is a place such as Moss side near Manchester. We see Moss side as dangerous place, we associate it with the black community and also with guns, crime and violence. We have this negative perspective on such a place because of how it is exampled in the media. On the news, it's likely to see gun crime that has took place in this certain area, although some things may not be true this is how it is perceived by us therefore, makes a negative representation of the people who live there and the area.