Unit 7

Understanding Creative Media Sector

The creative media sector is made up of many different areas to pursue a career, such as radio, tv,
film, animation and advertising to entertain audiences and provide some excitement, laughs,
information etc. when unwinding.
The media industry is filled with many different areas for one to explore their creativity and use their
skills in the workplace, many areas in the media field differ from one another and while they all tie
into the spread of creative media, each offers a different experience to the viewer

Within the creative media sector, there are many avenues one could take when planning for their
future career. When one gets started in the media field, they can choose from 12 different areas of
creative media production, such as in Publishing for magazines, newspapers, comics, etc. this
industry relies on physical issues and digital formats to spread content and in the case of newspaper
publishing and magazine publishing, these areas are seen as key in the media field for the spread of
news and to keep the public informed. A newspaper company would be very official and an example
of a public service company as they are responsible for the distribution of information within local
areas, cities and country wide matters.
Magazine companies such as Vogue, Empire and Radio Times are all independent companies,
therefore the companies sales are very important for the continuation of the business. These
magazines pay reporters/journalists to gather the news for the magazine, such as Empire journalists
gathering information on new movies, actors preparing for rolls, future plans for scripts, director
interviews, etc. they also pay for photoshoots with upcoming movie’s actors, publishing, distribution
and much more to keep the production of new issues rolling out onto the shelves.

I personal would love to go into script writing/screenplay writing as I believe my creative interests
are more well suited to that task in film production, while I have a keen interest in other areas, such
as directing productions, brainstorming like a producer and editing videos in my style. However,
screenplay writing stands out to me as something I excel in, as ever since I was young, I’ve had a
major interest in world building and crafting familiar storylines in unique ways.
If I were to go into screenplay writing, I would fit perfectly in nerd culture and writing for shows and
movies such as Doctor Who, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. All set-in different time periods
and fiction/non-fiction, giving me inspiration for whatever kind of story I think of writing.

Ethics and Constraints

Within the creative media sector, there are many ethical issues to consider and
regulations to follow before creating a film or discussing something on the news, etc.
When you put something out to the public, there are many ways a viewer can interpret a film or
what they’ve heard on the news/read in a magazine, etc. and to protect the creators of the film,
producers of the news and stations/backers behind them, productions must follow a set of ethical
guidelines that help prevent something offensive being taken out of context (i.e. with disclaimers of
offensive content at the beginning of the show or maturity warning) or to prevent accusations on
the news being portrayed as defamation and slander, liable to the person suing the news station.
Things to Take Consideration of;

 When filming a media production, one needs to take into account how
others will react, if it’s a comedy with offensive jokes, the audience must be
made aware jokes could be considered inappropriate with a maturity rating
or warning during the production.
 Productions must be aware as to not spread hate with discrimination in
anyway, such as sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc.
being mindful of being disrespectful.
 News channels/reporting stations must be mindful of slander and not taking
spreading false accusations/insulting someone on TV of in the newspapers.
To not leave the channel/station liable to being sued, reporters and
journalists must state if something is fact or theory, and not insult or bring
personal opinion into the mix.
 Copyright is a serious thing in the media sector, copyright and intellectual
property laws are in place to help protect creators from having their work
being used without their permission. One must be mindful when using
assets that are not their own, to check that they are not trademarked or
copyrighted

Regulations of the Media

There are regulations to follow within the media sector, there are offices in place to
monitor and control the regulations of TV and radio stations within the UK. The BBFC (British Board
of Film Classification) are one of these offices and was established in 1912 to classify films and what
audiences they are appropriate for. The BBFC receive a copy of all films to be premiered in cinemas
and check to see if the film is suitable to premier and if it is, give it a rating out of many different age
ratings (U, PG 12A, 12, 15, 18 & R18) depending on the content within the film.
The BBFC have two principles when rating a film/programme and these principles dictate how a film
rating is conducted. These principles are, to protect children and vulnerable adults from potentially
unsuitable content and to assist families and children is discerning what films are appropriate to
watch and what films are not.

There are many other offices in place to regulate other forms of creative media, such as the
Advertising Standards Authority, set in place to regulate what adverts can and cannot put out to the
public, allowing the public to comment and report on adverts released for different reasons, such as
if the advert is misleading (the most commented reason for wrongful ads in 2017), offensive and
harmful to an audience viewing it on TV and before a film starts in the cinema.
The PCC (Press Complaints Commission) is one of these offices in place as well, and is an
independent body to regulate the codes and practices of journalists, and holds them accountable to
false information, theory and slander being spread within newspapers, magazines and other forms
of journalistic expression. It deals with complaints from the public against newspapers and
magazines in which something wrong was stated and breaches in the codes and practices of
journalists.