Matthew McMillan Fact Sheet Unit 1

Regulatory Bodies

The regulatory body is an organisation that sets, monitors and makes standards for the
ruling for companies.

IPSO
IPSO stands for Independent Press
Standards Organisation which means
they are an independent regulator for
newspapers and magazines in the UK.
IPSO holds newspapers and magazines
to account for their actions, they protect people's individual rights, uphold a high standard of
journalism and they help maintain freedom of expression for the press. IPSO is financed by
the regulatory funding company (RFC) but it is funded by member publishers. IPSO and the
regulatory funding company have agreed a 5 year budget with the RFC, which will give them
certainty over their income and it also guarantees their freedom from control or influence.
IPSO was established on September 8th 2014 after they took over the Press Complaints
Company (PCC) which was the main industry regulator of the press in the UK since 1990.

https://www.ipso.co.uk/

How they do it
IPSO monitors the rules by making sure that member newspapers and magazines follow the
Editor’s Code because it is important that they keep to the magazines company guidelines
and they need to stick to the code so they can be successful and not go into a situation
where people put complaints in about them. IPSO investigates any type of complaint about
printed material and online material for a magazine and they check if that complaint is in
breach of the editors code. They can also investigate serious standards failing and if this
happens then IPSO can fine publishers up to £1 million in cases. IPSO is also helpful as
they offer a 24 hour anti-harassment advice line as well as providing training and guidance
for journalists so they can uphold a high standard and also provide a whistleblowing hotline
for journalists who feel they are being pressured to act in a certain way that is not in line with
the editors code.

Editor’s Code
The Editors Code of practice is where they set out the rules that magazines and newspapers
that are regulated by IPSO have agreed to follow the rules such as accuracy, privacy,
harassment, intrusion into grief or shock, reporting suicide, children, children in sex cases,
hospitals, reporting of crime, clandestine devices of subterfuge, victims of sexual assult,
discrimination, financial journalism, confidential sources, witness payments to criminal trials
and payment to criminals. It is the responsibility of editors and publishers to apply the code
to editorial material in both online and printed versions of their publications. Editors and
publishers should make sure that they take care of their printed and online material to
ensure that it is observed rigorously by all editorial staff and external-contributors such as
non-journalists.
Accuracy
The accuracy clause is
where the press must take
serious care not to publish
inaccurate, misleading or
publish distorted
information and images.
This also includes
headlines not supported by
text.

This clause applies to

Empire magazine because
the publishers of the
magazine would not be able to publish any false statements that have misleading
information or images about an actor as that could potentially damage that actor's reputation.

Privacy
The privacy clause is where you
cannot take photographs of
individuals without their consent
as everyone is entitled to having
their private life, home life,
physical and mental health not
shared to the public.

This applies to my magazine

because the publishers of
Empire are not allowed to use
images or release information about actors that they do not consent to as they are also
entitled to have their private life private and not released to the public.

Harassment
The harassment clause is where
journalists must not engage in
intimidation, harassment or persistent
pursuit of a person for information.
This clause makes sure that they
cannot persist in questioning,
telephoning, pursuing or
photographing individuals when they
have said no.
This applies to Empire magazine because journalists must not question, telephone, pursue
or photograph a celebrity when they have asked not to be. If a journalist was to do this for
Total Film then if requested by the person they must tell them their name and what company
they represent and this could be bad as it would ruin that brand's reputation as well as his
personal reputation.

Judgement

In this judgement the person has complained about clause one which is the accuracy clause
as the girl (Chloe Bilgorri) thought that clause one had been breached of the Editors Code of
Practice in an article headlined “find your hydropower” which was published in 2015. The
complaint was about that the magazine stated that many bottled water brands use plastic
bottles that contain BPA when all single-use bottled water in the UK was packaged in PET
plastic and not BPA. he consequences of them breaching the accuracy clause was that the
magazine had to publish the following words in their newest edition. “The feature "Find Your
Hydro Power", which appeared in our April 2015 edition, contained the sentence "unlike
many plastic-packaged brands the latest sports bottles are free from BPA". The Natural
Hydration Council has since assured us that all single-use mineral water bottles
manufactured in the UK have been made from BPA-free plastic since the late 1970s.” This
could be relevant to Empire magazine because the publishers of the magazine company
could state that an advertisement is something that it is not and this is breaching the Editor’s
Code. It could also damage the brand's reputation if the inaccuracy is harmful.
ASA
ASA stands for Advertising
Standards Authority which
means they are a company that
are responsible for making sure
that advertisements across the
UK stick to the advertising rules
(advertising codes). ASA makes
sure that the advertisements
are good for people to see,
good for the society and also good for the advertisers. If ASA gets a complaint by a person
or a concern then they will take action to ban the advertisements which are harmful,
misleading, offensive or irresponsible for the public to see. ASA also monitors
advertisements to check that they are following the rules of the code.
https://www.asa.org.uk/

How they do it
With any complaints that ASA receives, their focus is on providing the person who is making
the complaint a fair process for them. ASA ensures that when a complaint is made that there
will be action taken upon if there appears to be a problem under the advertising rules. ASA
takes all complaints very seriously as they look whether the rules have been broken instead
of the company basing their decision on how many complaints that the advert has received.
Complaints received to ASA are assessed against their prioritisation principles to determine
the most appropriate course of action to take against the advertisement. These principles
include: they will consider what harm or detriment has occurred or might occur, balance the
risk of taking action versus inaction, consider the likely impact of their intervention and
consider what resources are proportionate to the problem being tackled.

CAP Code
The CAP code is responsible for the writing of the Advertising codes that we see on
non-broadcasting codes which is media such as magazines and newspapers. The cap code
provides a range of advice, guidance and training for non-broadcasting advertising and also
broadcast advertising. The CAP code is maintained by CAP themselves and it is
administered by the ASA who are responsible for the advertising codes in the UK. When the
CAP code was first introduced the website owners were given a 6 month grace period where
they had to ensure that their website and online marketing complied with the CAP code.
Compliance
The compliance code is where all marketing communications should be legal, decent,
honest and truthful as when media companies release an issue of a magazine or an
interview that they will have to make sure that what they put in there is following the rules of
the CAP code. However, with this code media owners can refuse space to marketing
communications that will break the code if they are also not obliged to publish every single
marketing communication that is offered to them. The broadcasters of these media
companies are responsible for ensuring that the advertisement does comply with both the
spirit of the code and also the letter of the code.

This would be relevant to my Empire magazine because they are responsible to ensure that
the advertisements are complying with the code and that it will be appropriate to publish to
the world.

Recognition of advertising
The recognition of advertisements code is where all media companies that are using
advertising material will have to ensure that it is clearly identifiable as if it is not it will be
against the rules of the non-broadcasting CAP code. The other sections of the code contain
an product-specific or an audience-specific ruling that is intended to protect the consumer
from misleading marketing communications
This code is relevant to my Empire magazine because with the target audience it will keep
them from the misleading communications that could be put out there from that magazine.

Misleading advertising
The misleading advertising code is an extensive section of the code where media companies
will use the word “free” to possibly mislead the audience. The code could mean that the ASA
may take the consumer protection from the unfair trading regulation of 2008 into account
when the complaints that ASA gets about advertisement is deemed as misleading.

This would be relevant to my Empire magazine because it would protect the consumer and
ASA make sure that they take in account the impression from specific claims.

Judgement
In this judgement someone has made a complaint about a magazine advertisement for
Conde Nast Traveller magazine which was seen in the Glamour magazine on the 22nd June
2017 which featured a model posed on the beach. The complaint by the person believed the
model looked unhealthily thin and challenged whether the advertisement was socially
irresponsible. The magazine company said that the advertisement was used to entice
readers to go online and interact with beautiful travel photography, interesting places to visit
and new places to stay. They also said that the model was naturally slim and they said the
clothes that were used in the photoshoot were not worn to inaccurate or hide the models
body and that the image reflected a joyful holiday moment which celebrated being on the
beach, by the sea and the sunshine. ASA did investigate it because they considered that
while the model appeared to be in proportion, the angle of the image drew the attention to
her slimness and particularly her slim legs. After the investigation, ASA decided to contact
Conde Nast publications limited and told them that in future their advertisements must be
responsible.