Understanding the ethical and legal constraints within the media sectorCOPYRIGHT LAWCopyright is the legal right created

by the law to control how theyre used and

given out by the original finder. This may be a video, music, software, or a book.
This is important because it gives the publisher the legal rights of ownership to
their own work, and others cannot publish it as their own. This is very necessary
for them to make a living from their creativity and efforts. Within journalism;
copyright is shown by using materials without permission or payments. It is a
territorial right, and some companies have the protection of copyright abroad
and foreign works to be protected in the UK. The Copyright Designs and Patents
act 1988 is the regulation served to implement an EU director which has helped
many people over the privacy of their work. This is important in my chosen
industry because without the law, people would take other producers work, and
ideas to make out it was theirs. This could have a big impact on the original
writer because they may lose out on opportunities to write other concepts as
they havent been recognised.

If this law is broken, it could be on either extremes. It could be a polite letter

from the producer asking to remove the materials and stop using the work, to a
demanding notice to remove it or will be removed without consent- or the high
extreme of facing penalties of more than 100,000 for each infringed work that
is taken, and if that is not paid it could lead to facing prison. The case of

copyright is very serious, and isnt looked over by the producers as they would
want to keep their work to themselves and get credit for their story lines and
ideas.
Examples of copyright cases-

This are an example of copyright because all of them have had their unpublished
or published work taken from them and described to be someone elses. This
goes against the fair usage of free speech and the copyright law and therefore
was taking to court. This isnt a new coming event, it has been happening for
years in newspapers and over forms of journalism. Pointing out The Nation

Magazine, they published excerpts from Gerald Fords unpublished memoirs, this
had a big impact of the nation magazine because it damaged their marketability
and profitability.

IMPORTANCE OF ETHICAL ISSUES

This is defined as a person or company having the decide the best option from
being right (ethical) or wrong (unethical) and the impact that has on them.
Within Journalism this may be publishing the wrong text, or storyline which could
hurt, confuse or shock the public. For example, things which are unethical

Publishing drunk driver

Naming Victims of Sex Crimes
Offensive Images
Cooperating with the Government
Using this process to craft a Policy.
This could be offensive to the public, and in some newspapers turned
away to hide the world from the awful stories that are happening in real
life. Depending on what sort of newspaper/article that is written, the
language would either be informal (sort of relaxed, no difficult wording,
understood by all public) or formal (standard English, no slang, no swear
words, straight to the facts, only interest to some) This is because the
audience want to feel respected whilst getting involved in the news, and
having slang in this maybe seen badly.

This is an example of informal language used. Not to say this is seen as

unethical, but it more about celebrities and what is happening in their life,
rather than troubles happening in the world.

This is an example of a formal newspaper as it has daily world news, and

key information rather than gossip.
-Equal opportunities act, is something that came around in 2010. It is
shown that anyone has the same ability to someone else to produce the
same job, and not employed on the factors of age, disability, gender, race,
religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. This would be ethical based on
the fact that it is the right thing to do, and not discriminate against
someone for things they are unable to change. Promoting diversity is
defined as valuing the human rights of others. Giving everyone the
opportunity to get to their potential level. The diversity in journalism
reflects the differences in opinion and culture, and how to respect others
for what they have to say.
-Encouraging diversity is to push people to the best standard of work they
can produce regardless of characteristics such as race, gender or social
background. The aim is to have an open mind to be able to develop and
retain the high performance of people within a company business. By
tracking the progress, they are able to measure how companies treat their
workers and make them feel as though they can continuously produce
good work. An example of this would be in a newspaper of any sort such
as the sun, allowing the workers to freely write what they want (in context)
and feel as though their opinions and thoughts are brought across, without
being completely biased.

-The ethic that should be considered while deciding to be a photojournalist

are
How they should act while taking the photos
What he/she can actually photograph, if the person it is of gives consent
Whether the image inaccurately represents the subject
Misleading for the viewer?
Unable to exploit violent or sexual imagery
A big example would be should a photographer shooting war situation put
his camera down to help a cry child or continue his work until finished?
With photojournalism it all depends on what situation he or she is in and
whether or not it is the right thing to do.
(http://web.mit.edu/drb/Public/PhotoThesis/)

Representation of gender
Journalism is an occupation shared by both males and females. But this
didnt also use to be the case, journalism used to be exclusively a male
profession just less than 40 years ago. Currently women within this sector
work towards equal rights, even though for todays society men and
women share the same rights, in journalism it is still slightly seen as a job
women are unable to complete. In the past this job would have been
seen as too dangerous for them to be put in situations that could be
harmful or they would be unable to react well within it. There is now a
group called The International Federation of Journalists, which work and
push for womens rights to be able to work in sectors such as journalism
instead of histories steotypical statement that women should only cook,
clean and look after the kids. The trend of more females working in this
sector was taking by a study across 26 countries in 1993 that over 70% of
students were studying for media productions (journalism and mass
media). Much progress has been made in recent years and a number of
media organizations have adapted to these programmes to prevent the
distance between men and women journalists.
Women are seen as the weaker sex, and unable to perform at the same
level as men. Women still have to face a lot of the same issues that the
women back in the early 1900s had to face. It just makes the women
stronger and more willing to push for what they believe in. By having to
show off their skills and making it very clear that they are not the weaker
sex that has been said. An example of this would be a women called
Elizabeth Jane Cochran. She became a great leader in the world of
journalism for her daring and courageous efforts to show everyone that
men are not the best in the business, and that women can do it just as
well.
Within media, religion communities have a representation problem,
usually the reference towards religion are based on crisis, or misguided
fanatic promoting conflict or violence. There is a need for journalists to
open their minds to different peoples opinions, and strengthen their
knowledge and sensitivity. Companies would have to make sure/encourage
journalists to be thoughtful in their words and sources when reporting
religion because it would unethical to send hate on something the
reporters may not completely understand. This would then benefit
everybody. An example of this would be IPCC, which is the regulations that
journalists have to follow. There is the code of conduct which is the 12
rules to go by to continue to be a journalist.

Thi
s would be relating to the religious side because it states that the words
written is unable to be harmful (like it states on number 3) or offensive to
the public, and as 84% of the worlds population is religiously affiliated, it
could affect a mass of people. A recent example of this would be in The
Sun Newspaper. It falsely stated one in five British Muslims had sympathy
with those who have left to fight for Islamic state in Syria. This report did
not explain which warring group the young Muslims might have been
joining in the civil war, and gives a biased point of view about the Islamic
religion. This could see as very disheartening, and offensive to the religion.
Since the Paris attacks, hate crimes have greatly increased by 300%!! This
is completely unfair upon the religion to make out that everyone is the
same as the ones committing the crime just based on the fact they state
to hold the same religion?
(http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/26/mps-demand-meetingwith-sun-editor-over-british-muslim-survey-story)

Women are claimed to be very much misrepresented and

underrepresented in the media mass. Saying that men can perform a
better job than women can. This should not be the case! Women have the
same ability to find out the same information, and give off a good piece
just as much as men can, given the same chances. What is said about
women within newspapers is also a lot freer, and can be seen as very
sexiest. Taking the mail online for example, they involve a section on the
side that completely slates women, whether it is because they look too
thin, too fat, or if they have too much Botox or not enough, it belittles
women as a whole which shouldnt happen. Newspapers should follow the
rules and regulations held to them by not having a different view on
women and men.
Within newspapers, they write stories in which can make the public think a
certain way about a group of people. Take teenagers, the media have
reported all teenagers to be anti-social youths that all drink, smoke and

laze about all day every day. This is true for certain teenagers, they dont
spot out the ones trying really hard to get an education, and not getting in
trouble at all, maybe this is because it doesnt get seen as an interesting
story but because the public suddenly become brainwashed to listen to
everything that is posted in front of them. So by showing a story on a
drunken fight or, date rape it grabs the attention of the public and get that
particular newspaper a higher viewing rate. So in my opinion, newspaper
do not treat people all fairly, and jump on a certain group of people to
make them become light to the public eye and agree with their opinion.
2- Explain what the following bodies do and why they are important
OfcomThis is the communication regulation in the UK. It is to make sure that
people in the UK get the best out of their communication services and are
protected from this that may be harmful, upsetting, or misleading to them.
To enforce regulatory rules for the sectors they have responsibility in.
Ofcom is funded by fees from industry for regulating broadcasting and
other networks. The corporation reduce their carbon footprint and
maintain environmental practices to make sure the business continues to
run well.
ASAASA stands for The Advertising Standards Authority. The main idea for
this organisation is to change the way advertising is presented for the
public, by making advertisement responsible and that is not harmful,
offensive or misleading. This act came in in 1955. An example of this
would be-

This is an example because the ASA banned it because of its inappropriate

features and because it would cause offence to women, and possibly
young children. A picture of a women could be seen as wrong within a
newspaper that could be read by all the public.
British Interactive Multimedia AssociationBIMA exists to support the British digital industry and to encourage the
next generation. This is not only located in the UK but can have
memberships abroad also, to access the market data through links with
government departments.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.1999.tb00331.x/full

This would be an example

because it is showing that journalism is supported by this company, and it
is saying how the interactive association helped them within this sector.
IPSOIpso stands for "Independent Press Standards Organisation". This is a
company joined together to handle complaints about breaches of the
editors code of practice. The organisation is charged with enforcing codes,
which had been agreed between newspaper, magazines, and online news
publishers. This is the code of practices that has to be followed.

This is so that it limits the amount of complaints that are given on a

regular basis. Take number 14 as a example, it states that journalists
should protect the confidential sources of their information, this could
cause complaints if the facts were given by someone that did not give
permission to exploit their names, and could lead to law suits for going
against this. Complaints are usually made on the ethical situation, of what
is write for the public eye, and what could be damaging, or insensitive.
They handle the situation, by taking their own investigation upon the
story, and having the power to protect the public from these publications,
while still maintaining the freedom of expression within the media sector.
IPSO is financed by the regulatory funding committee. This arrangement
ensure secure support for IPSO to continue, and help the community and
the magazine industries.

This is
showing that the ISPO got complaints on the Daily Telegraph, for the leak
of government facts involving the first minister Nicola Sturgeon. This
would be an example because the codes sent for journalist to follow, was
not followed therefore the complaint taken up for ISPO meant the article
had to be removed, and had serious actions taken afterwards. It was seen
as the story published was very misleading, and that is one of the first
regulations that has to be followed to not do.
Consumers choice means the option to have different voices. The variety
of different stories to read by different reporters.
Ofcom would relate to this so that it is not just one voice being shown to
the public. Its good to get a range of opinions on a situation rather than
just feeding the viewers one idea. Take the parliament discussion over the
topic of Syria. If all the newspapers story lines covered the same opinion,
the public wouldnt be able to get an insight on different views, that is why
the government allows Ofcom so that it does not have the ability to be
owned by one news company, and have different ones sold.
ASA would relate to consumers choice as gives different range of what to
advertise, if something was targeted to a certain classification- to do it to
that group, but whilst including other adverts to hit a different target
audience also. If a newspaper only published one type of advert it
wouldnt be helpful for the company that is trying to sell their product, or
could mean the newspaper gets complaints from the viewers on the lack
of adverts to their group of audiences.
British Web Design and Marketing Association do not relate to this because
it is not a regulation but rather an operation that makes a website more
interesting and insightful, this is not done by consumers choice.
Same with British Interactive Multimedia Association.
IPSO has consumers choice because all materials have to written off for a
professional standard but in a way to still be able to express their opinions
freely. If this does not take place then it can be complained on by the
public. By not putting the choice of consumers first, it could be published
inaccurate, misleading, or distorted information.
Freedom of Information-

The freedom of information provides information for the public eye, by

allowing newspapers, magazines etc publish certain information about
their activities. This includes government local authority, but does not
cover all organisation that receives public money.
The act applies to Ofcom as Ofcom is a public authority. This is the cost of
reproducing any document containing the information if it comes to
doesnt attract to that publication scheme.

This is the scheme

that is chosen to follow over the freedom of information. This could file a
complaint if its not followed, as it could be not sharing globally stories
that are not allowed to be publicised but is needed to be heard, also if the
manner is not correct that could also form a complaint for the freedom on
information as it is not exploiting it in a formal manner, which would cause
problems.
ASA is not a subject to the Freedom of Information act 2000, but it is
included on the site because it carriers out an important public functions
which includes the regulation of newspaper and television advertising.
IPSO is not free to make decisions and act independently because its
founding regulation from the creator of the company. The job entitlement
for IPSO is to convince the public that its policies and procedures work, so

to be conscious of the need to protect the freedom of the press, and give
the information that the public want.
CensorshipCensorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other
information which could be potentially seen as harmful, sensitive, or
politically incorrect or inconvenient.
Ofcom play a big part of this as they have the ability to remove bad
language that is shown at an inappropriate time. In the guardian news,
there is a report of David Cameron had decided to give Ofcom stronger
power to prevent the broadcast of extremist messages.

This is the
report itself. It is stating the Ofcom should have more say in what is
published, and should be able to remove it without permission from a
higher source if it contains something harmful or misleading. Its about
having morals, and taking in the publics opinions and feelings rather than
just thinking about the reporters story going out. Ofcom also give the
support of the reporters message, and would have to take into account
what they are trying to exploit and help the public with.
ASA have held complaints to the business for targeting anti-gay adverts,
anti-environmentalist adverts, and Fathers4Justice adverts. A big
complaints that ASA about censorship was a weight loss advert featuring a

woman in a bikini, which can no longer be shown on the London

Underground.

ASA stated that this advert breaks harm and offence rules, and is
socially irresponsible to be published. Which could lead to more
complaints over adverts that concern body confidence. They take
censorship very seriously in ASA and have to act upon complaints quickly
so that the public do not get upset, or angry over the adverts they are
seeing, the news article they are reading, or even a scene in a TV show.
ASA is a self-appointed, and self-regulated committee, which is applied by
CAP the codes of advertising practice It is said by ASA that marketers
have a right to express their opinions freely so long as they do so in line
with the rules out in the CAP code meaning that opinions can be shared
across publicly if there arent any non-conventional views, which make up
the censorship. This advert did in fact become removed after a while
because of the complaints and reviews.
http://www.zoeharcombe.com/2014/11/the-asa-trolls-working-together-tocensor-progressive-thinking/
IPSO index on Censorship welcomes the establishment of the new press
regulator, even though it does meet all the requirements for an effective,
voluntary self-regulator. Having this within IPSO will push for a high
standard of corporate governance and Accountability. As it must have a
large remit to monitor and address issues of journalistic standards. Having
a straight forward, effective and fair approach for dealing with individual
complaints. It does call further work to be done to ensure it is both clearly
accountable and independent for the new set up for the censorship

requirements. Ipso investigated the Sunday Mirror regarding Newmark

sex text story, due to the innoproaite storyline.

This is an
example because it is exploiting a persons privacy, and could give the
public concern. The wording would have had to be very delicate, and
made sure that it did not involve anything harmful or offensive to give the
public a reason to complain.
Taste and decency
Taste and Decency includes many things that journalists are unable to
refer to. Including Violence, bad language, sex, explicit pictorial or video
images, bigotry, nudity or obscenity. Its about how the reporter decides
what is ethical to publish and what isnt. Being virtue of compassion.
Ofcom involve the taste and decency section in 2003, stating that it
should not include anything which offends against good taste or decency
or is likely to encourage crime, offensive towards the public feelings and
making them feel un-comfortable to what they are reading. The Section 1
of the ITC Programme Code, states in 1.5 fo9r bad language, saying that it
is not completely ban of the use; but the topic including expletives with
religious association. Bad language should be used in programmes
specially designed for children. (Including profanity). Similar
considerations apply for sex and nudity. Much greater fiction towards love
and passion could shock or disturb the public, and they could feel as
though it is very offensive to see such detailed images, which means that
Ofcom can remove these reports if so. Violence takes places everyday
globally, but it is important for television and newspapers to reflect this
action in a responsible way. Whether that is physical, verbally or
psychological, could lead to the audience feeling upset, scared or offended
by this.

ASA has to balance the advertisers freedom of expression with any

offence that could be caused towards the general public; someone may
object to a particular product or service but that doesnt make a sufficient
ground for the objection to the advert.

This is a copy from the ASA website which states what people find
offensive within adverts. This can happen within newspapers as it is
constructed for the target audience, whilst still taking into account race,
nationality, class, gender, lifestyle, age and sexuality. This means
reporters have to do careful research before publication with anything
before ASA can ban it.
Human rights actThe law passed in 1998. It means that you can defend your rights in the UK
courts and that public organisations, they must the public equally, with fairness,
dignity and respect
Ofcom- the right of freedom of expression, (article 10) encompasses the
audiences right to receive creative materials, information and ideas without
restrictions prescribed by law and necessary in this society. Another article (8)
regarding the right to a persons private life and family life. Which means that
anyone can have their personal life a secret if you want it to be, and its not up to
someone else to decide whether or not that can be the case. In article 14, the
right for enjoyment of human rights without discrimination on grounds such as
sex, race and religion.
ASASince the act came around in 1998, it raised concern that the ASA had to restrain
the freedom of political speech around democratic electrons and referendum.
IPSOTo check the stories that is published so that it is not misleading for the reader,
nor harming their human rights. Article 8 is one which should be respected by

the press by both the public and the writers themselves. The main points
include-

This is stating that everyone should have the opportunity to express their
opinions and feelings without being discriminated against. This is a good thing to
hold because without it, most stories would be cut and not published which is
defeating the purpose of an article. But it also states that it has to be written
within a formal way, and going within the laws and regulations.