Media Regulation Laws Affecting the Media Sector

Laws and regulations are in place to protect a variety of people. Overseen by regulators and professional bodies, laws are used to protect audiences from indecent material, ensure growth and financial stability for independents and professionals releasing material and ensure privacy of those appearing in the media is protected.

Laws Affecting Media The Broadcasting Act 1990 (and as amended)

Key Issues and Relevance to the Media The Broadcasting Act was introduced in 1990 and revised in 1996. The Act included the range of competition within the media market, licensing and the setup of independent commissions and authorities (Independent Television Commission and Broadcasting Standards Council). Ofcom now has the responsibilities of the ITC. Ofcom bases its work around the Communications Act 2003, crossing into the media sector when dealing with broadcasters and the content. Ofcom reviews the licenses of broadcasters, the complaints made against broadcast media and their content. The broadcasting code incorporates many of the below acts and laws including privacy and protection of minors. The practice of one code for all broadcasters makes the rules and regulations clear to all who want to broadcast to the consumer.

Example(s) In 2007 Big Brother was embroiled in a race scandal. While the programme was on a 24 hour live stream viewers were able to see the row between Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty. Ofcom ruled that Channel 4 had failed on 3 occasions by transmitting inappropriate scenes of bullying. Ofcom received over 45,000 consumer complaints regarding the broadcasts. Ofcom is a regulator of the laws and media. The consumer requires an independent body, separate to the broadcaster in order for a complaint to be valid and followed up.

The Obscene Publication Act

This relates to taste and decency, it is about how somethings can be shown as obscene. This depends on the content also relates to the Video Recordings Act 1984 due to the warnings that will have to be given before watching. They also use warnings by adding age restrictions. They can only been seen after the watershed as only some channels

The BBC discover if younger ages (under 18s) are able to buy a book with explicit sex scenes Erotic fiction that is within the book, Fifty shades of grey The books have UK laws, such as the Obscene Publications Acts and the Protection of Children Act 1978. The laws are affecting hatred, racial, religious and sexual orientation

2 Sophie Stacey & Ricky Thompson can chose to show this channel. The content that is known as obscene is depicting the violent mutilation, torture, death and cannibalism of those involved has been found to have a tendency to deprave and corrupt. Such scenes that are explicit and/or lingering can indicate to the viewer approval All of this will need a viewer approval and will have to be shown late at certain times, and only for some audiences. This is so they can protect younger audiences from seeing the content obscene content. Films Act 1985 The Film act 1985, relates to the financial sectors of film making, it changes for benefits of the British public. Jobs in film become better and more common as more jobs are available, with different races and religion etc. This was supported as the Civil Rights Reconstruction Acts in 1981, 1983, and 1985 were enacted post-slavery to advance the goals of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. In 1984 age restricted viewing was placed on films. This prevented anyone deemed underage from seeing acts of violence; This is done by adding age restrictions on different media like CDs and DVDs from different restrictions of 12, 15, and 18. This is to stop Substance abuse or sex (This includes gore and the use of curse words.). The Equalities Act main focus in on discrimination that happens across all social groups, it makes sure you have protection from discrimination, have privacy and grounds.

In the past (1960s) Penguin books had the same problem as the publisher has released an unexpurgated version of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover The publisher was able to release her book by using her freedom of expression from the Obscene Publication Act. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazi ne-19395813

BBC news: film critics are saying that the British films are not all British, this links to the film act in 1985 as they let more of other nations jobs in the UKs film industry. Taxpayers do not want to fund British films, as they are not actual British films, they are some times made in different countrys in studios, so they are not 100% British.

Video Recordings Act 1984

In year 2000, the regulations of vide recordings still use the guidelines from 1984, as they want to censer sex tapes so it will not cause devastating harm to more than a minority of children and young people". This is aimed at "extremely explicit" videos they are now passed R18, allowing their distribution through licensed only in sex shops.

Equalities Act (Race Relations Act)

The newspaper headlines read "Christian couple barred from fostering children because of their views on homosexuality" and the "B&B owners punished for being

have freedom of expression. The Equality act can give you right that can stop you from being treated unfairly, this could happen for many different reasons such as: Age Sex Marriage or civil partnership Pregnancy or maternity Race or belief Sexual orientation Change gender Discrimination is when someone is treating you worse than other people as think they are higher up or part of a group, using the equality act can stop this and the rights you have, can be stronger as you will also have some new rights.

faithful to Christian teaching".

They are related to two recent cases from a court under the 2006 Equality Act, Eunice and Owen Johns believe they were discriminated because of their beliefs in sexual orientation. The homosexual couple Stephen Preddy & Martyn Hall banned the Christian couple. Both couples ended up in court as they had different organizations supporting each side, the Christian campaign organisaion and the human rights commission which is founded by taxpayers In "The Report" Matthew Hill asks what really happened in these cases, and why they ended up in court. He talks to the key people involved - and the organisations supporting the different sides. They include a Christian campaign organisation, a Christian charity and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, funded by the taxpayer. Ofcom "The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status" This means that no matter who you are, you can still get in to the broadcasting as you won't be discriminated. They use this to show that everyone is even and should have equal rights. In the codes of Ofcom (Human rights Act), they follow the articles from rule to rule to make sure everyone has their own rights for example Article 9, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; and Article 14, the right to

Human Rights Act

The Humans rights act, makes the UK media more multicultural, this happens in all the media sectors as everyone has their own human right and do not have fear of discrimination. This gives everyone the freedom to have any job possible if they have the correct qualifications & skills.

4 Sophie Stacey & Ricky Thompson enjoyment of human rights without discrimination on grounds such as sex, race and religion Privacy Law Privacy laws are in place to protect those in the public eye and the people that surround them. The work of broadcasters and publishers is bound by privacy laws and the breach of said code could mean legal intervention. Privacy laws are allowed to be breached when the person in question poses a threat to others. This applies to high profile court cases although this is being questioned as innocent until proven guilty. When involved in a case the jury is not allowed access to the media because of the suggestion printed. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.- Article 12 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1. Everyone has the right to respect of his private and family life, his home and his correspondence. 2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights Max Mosley took News Group Newspapers to the High Court in 2008 after a controversial story was published about his personal life titled F1 Boss has Sick Nazi Orgy with Five Hookers. Max Mosleys claim was based on the unauthorised disclosure of personal information.

and freedom of others. - Article 8 European Convention on Human Rights

Copyright and Intellectual Property Law

There are four different types of IP, they protect different things, and some products will need all four. The four types of IP are: Patents - This protects things that make things work, an example of this is a special ingredient to make your cookies spicy. Trade marks- they are like logos/ words/names, something that means, distinguish goods and service in the market place. Designs- The design is what the product looks like such as the shapes and colours etc. Copyright- This is an fixed right that applies when something is written/ recorded

Find case/s, e.g. through newspaper reports or professional organisations website references, e.g. the Society of Photographers.

Copyright and Patents Act but also check out recent developments relating to intellectual property.

There is loads of copyright on many web sites, as they need protection, such as a photography society, they have IP of Copyright so people cannot copy their images. There is a warning at the bottom of the screen as a warning.
Copyright Notice Warning: This web site comprises and contains copyright materials. You may not distribute, copy, publish or use the images or any part of the images in any way whatsoever. You may not alter, manipulate, add to or delete an image or any part of an image. Copyright for all the images remains with the Royal Photographic Society and its contributors. A link to a nonSociety site does not imply endorsement.

Copyright protects many types of work, from music and lyrics to photographs and knitting patterns. Copyright is used in many different areas such as literary works, dramatic works, musical works, artist work, layouts, recordings and broadcasting.

There are also different music publishing associations where the music people publish becomes covered by copyright, this means the music its self and the lyrics/words too. The music/lyrics must be original itself (not copied) must be copies on to a tape/CD and finally must be a British citizen,
domiciled or a resident in the UK.

http://www.mpaonline.org.uk/lice nsing-music-copyrights

6 Sophie Stacey & Ricky Thompson http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy /c-about.htm http://www.rps.org/ Libel Law Libel Law is a law made to stop broadcasting/printing that could be found offensive by not telling or showing the truth. This could be become a court case as the information is wrong, that happens a lot with the press as they sometimes give out false information. Libel sometimes clashes with freedom of expression as they could just be giving an opinion. After the revelations regarding Jimmy Saville a which hunt began to find other culprits. After a list began to circulate on the social networking site Twitter, Lord McAlpine decided to take legal action against all of those who had branded him a paedophile. Using an unreliable source such as social networking sites can makes a company libel for legal action, as in the case of Lord McAlpine and the BBC and ITV. McAlpine decided to make an example of Sally Burco The Leveson report shows an example of this as it shows a selfregulation system gone wrong as the information in the papers was wrong, this was all taken to court Lord MacAlpine was going to sue TV programmes that, without evidence, suggested hed been involved in child abuse. George Galloways case.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk20539192

Although these laws are in place and enforced, the expansion of the media blurs where these laws are applicable. The case of Lord MacAlpine denotes the spreading of libel into social media rather than the convention forms of broadcasting. However, the laws in place ensure any bodies that breach a law face consequences for infringing the rights of the person(s) involved.