Unit 1 Fact Sheet Mo Miah

Regulatory Bodies

Regulatory bodies establish and enforce requirements, restrictions and conditions, setting standards in
relation to any activity, and securing compliance, or enforcement.
In the UK, there are two main regulatory bodies for magazines:
● Independent Press Standards Organizations (IPSO): This is the main regulator body for
magazines and newspapers in the UK.
● Advertising Standards Authority (ASA): This regulatory body oversees the advertising standards
in magazines, as well as other media forms.

IPSO

Independent Press Standards Organizations (IPSO) is a regulatory

body for the newspaper and magazine industry in the UK that was
founded on the 8th September 2014 after the end of the Press
Complaints Commission, which had been the main industry
regulator of the press in the United Kingdom since 1990. IPSO
also helps with protecting people's rights, uphold high standards
of journalism and help to maintain freedom of expression for the press.

The purpose of regulatory bodies like IPSO is to make sure newspapers and magazines follow the
Editors' Code, receive feedback from customers or businesses about concerns and complaints and to
take action against advertisements which are misleading, harmful, offensive and irresponsible.

Here is the link for the ISPO website: https://www.ipso.co.uk/

How They Do It
Independent Press Standards Organizations (IPSO) uses the Editors Code of Practice to regulate
magazines in the UK. The code sets out ethical guidelines for newspapers and magazines in areas such
as accuracy and privacy.
If a complaint is received, IPSO investigates and may require the magazine to publish a correction or
apology, or impose other sanctions. The complaints process includes investigation and appeals. This
system helps to maintain high ethical standards in the UK magazine industry.

Editor’s Code of Practice

Here is an image of the code below:
 Code Application
Privacy
Clause 2 (Privacy)*

i) Everyone is entitled to respect for their private and family life, home,
physical and mental health, and correspondence, including digital
communications.

ii) Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life
without consent. In considering an individual's reasonable expectation of
privacy, account will be taken of the complainant's own public disclosures of
information and the extent to which the material complained about is already
in the public domain or will become so.

iii) It is unacceptable to photograph individuals, without their consent, in

public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Privacy Application:
The Clause 2 Privacy Code covers how everyone deserves respect for their privacy, family, home,
physical and mental health. It states in the Privacy Clause that it is unacceptable to photograph
individuals without consent, in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of
privacy. The purpose of the code is to advise consumers about how they must respect people's privacy
like everybody else. The Privacy Code applies to magazine production as magazine publishers must ask
for permission to use a certain image or article from a person, magazine publishers must not go ahead
and publish an image or an article on a magazine without a person's consent as the magazine publisher
will face severe consequences. The Privacy Code applies to the magazine company Take a Break
because Take a Break uses multiple images and articles in the magazine that are personal stories and
Take a Break had to ask permission to use the images and articles and not reveal any private
information.

Harassment
Clause 3 (Harassment)*

i) Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent

pursuit.
ii) They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or
photographing individuals once asked to desist; nor remain on property when
asked to leave and must not follow them. If requested, they must identify
themselves and whom they represent.

iii) Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for
them and take care not to use non-compliant material from other sources.

Harassment Application:
The Clause 3 Harassment Code covers how journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or
persistent pursuit, they must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing
individuals once asked to stop; nor remain on property when asked to leave and must not follow them, if
requested, the harasser must identify themselves and who they work for. The purpose of the
Harassment Code is to stop journalists and paparazzi harassing people who just want to live a private
life. The Harassment Code applies to magazine production as journalists for magazines must not engage
in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit, this means that journalists should not try to frighten
them, touch them or carry on following them in order for them to get a couple of pictures. The
Harassment code applies to the magazine company, Take a Break, because Take a Break do not take
photos of people without permission nor do they engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent
pursuit towards anyone.

Discrimination
Clause 12 (Discrimination)

i) The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's

race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or to any physical
or mental illness or disability.

ii) Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, gender identity, sexual

orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless
genuinely relevant to the story.
Discrimination Application:
The Clause 12 Discrimination Code covers how the press must avoid being discriminative towards a
person's race, skin colour, religion, sex , gender identity, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental
illness or disability and in a article they must avoid details of a person’s race, skin colour, religion, sex ,
gender identity, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability unless it is genuinely
relevant to the story. The purpose of the Discrimination Code is to protect individuals from
discrimination and for journalists to stop and avoid discriminating in articles. The Clause 12
Discrimination Code applies to magazine production as press must avoid making discriminatory
comments to an individual's race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or to any
physical or mental illness or disability.
The Clause 12 Discrimination Code specifically applies to the magazine company, Take a Break, as Take
a Break avoids discriminating against anyone as this would ruin their reputation as the number 1
women’s weekly magazine. They must be careful in their written articles and images to avoid any
discriminatory content, especially as the stories are often other people’s stories and they may include
their opinion.

Judgement:
Take a Break was being accused of breaching the Clause 1 (Accuracy) Code, the woman who
complained was called Jill Sharp and she complained to Independent Press Standards Organisation
(IPSO) that Take a Break broke the Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors Code of Practice in an article
headlined “The SNAKE and the FAKE” published on the 21st November 2019. The article was entitled to
report the woman's account of her experience being harassed by the complaint and the article was
presented as a first person account, in her own words. This extended to the front of the page of the
magazine, where the headline was clearly presented as the woman's own claim. The woman had met the
first person accused of harassing her because of their shared support for a particular football team. The
woman recounted how once she began a new relationship, her friend’s behaviour changed.
 ASA

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is a

regulatory body, which was founded in 1962,
controls the advertising industry in the UK. Its main
purpose is to make sure that advertisements in the
UK are legal, safe, honest and truthful. ASA sets
advertising standards, investigates complaints,
provides guidance to advertisers, monitors compliance, educates the public and engages with people.
The company is completely independent of the government and is funded by a demand on the
advertising industry. ASA promotes responsible advertising practises and protects consumers from
misleading or harmful advertising. ASA covers 2 different types of code, Broadcast and Non-broadcast.
Broadcast Code applies to all advertisements, including teleshopping, content on self-promotional
channels, tv text and interactive advertisements.

Non-broadcast codes do not apply to all types of advertising, however the rules that cover
non-broadcasting advertising are print, online, sales promotion and direct marketing.

Here is a link for the ASA website: https://www.asa.org.uk/

How They Do It
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) runs a code of advertising practice , which sets out the rules that
advertisers must follow when creating advertising and marketing communications. ASA takes
complaints very seriously as they check the code first to see if the rule has been broken rather than
being biased. Once a complaint has indicated that an advertisement may have broken the rule, they will
contact the advertiser to tell them the rule has been breached thenASA will proceed to take action
against the advertiser.

ASA regulates most advertisements and promotions across media but they don't advertise all, if ASA
can not handle the complaint, they will try and suggest another regulator body.
The advertisements ASA covers are: Press advertisements, Radio and TV advertisements,
Advertisements on the internet, mobile phone and tablet, Advertisement claims on companies’ own
websites, Email and text messages, Posters/ billboards, Leaflets and brochures, Advertisements at the
cinema and direct mail.

Cap Code
Here is an image of the code below:
 Code Application

Misleading Advertising
Misleading Advertising

i) Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.

ii) Advertisements must not mislead consumers by omitting material

information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or
presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that consumers need in context to make
informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether
the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead
consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the
advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the
advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other
means.
Misleading Advertising Application:
The Misleading Advertising covers how advertisements must not mislead consumers or are likely to do
so. It states in the Misleading Advertising code that advertisements must not mislead customers by
omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in
an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner. The purpose of the Misleading Advertising
Code is to help and save people from being misled from advertisements so they don’t get scammed for
the product or service. This Misleading Advertising Code applies to magazine production as magazines
may allow companies to advertise their product in their magazine and they may be advertising a
product saying this certain product will help you look better. The Misleading Advertising Code applies to
Take a Break as Take a Break tends to advertise a lot of companies products on separate pages on their
magazine that may be misleading towards consumers. They will need to avoid publishing adverts in
their magazine that breach this code.

Privacy
Privacy

i) With limited exceptions, living persons must not be featured, caricatured or

referred to in advertisements without their permission.
ii) Advertisements that feature, allude or refer to a living person must not
interfere with that person's private or family life: legal advice is strongly
advisable and is required in cases of doubt. Advertisements that feature,
caricature or refer to a living person will be cleared on the basis that it is
recommended that that person's permission is sought. Even if an
advertisement contains nothing that is inconsistent with the position or views
of the person featured, broadcasters and advertisers should be aware that
those who do not want to be associated with the advertised product might
have a legal claim.

Privacy Application:
The Privacy Code covers how people should be protected from unwarranted infringements of privacy.
Writers/Photographers should respect an individual's right to his or her private and family life, home
and correspondence. Advertisements featuring an individual should not imply that that individual
endorses a product if he or she does not. The purpose of the Privacy Code is to stop publishers invading
people's private lives. The Privacy Code applies to magazine production as they must not break the
privacy code. In a magazine, adverts they advertise should not feature anyone’s private information
because the person may be stressed, anxious or scared as just with someone's phone number, a lot of
other private information can be found, for example: addresses , names and even bank details. Magazine
publishers avoid leaking personal information as this could ruin their reputation and they could lose a
lot of money and customers. This Privacy Code applies to Take a Break as Take a Break advertises a lot
of companies and they may leave some information in the advert that is not supposed to be there and
the advertiser could potentially get harassed and the advertiser could take legal action against Take a
Break. They will need to avoid publishing adverts in their magazine that breach this code.

Harm and Offence

Harm and Offence

i) Advertisements must contain nothing that could cause physical, mental,

moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18.

ii) Advertisements must not cause serious or widespread offence against

generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards.
Particular care must be taken to avoid causing offence on the grounds of: age;
disability; gender; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership;
pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation.

Harm and Offence Application:

The Harm and Offence Code covers how advertisements must contain nothing that could cause physical,
mental, moral or social harm to persons under the age of 18 and Advertisements must not cause serious
or widespread offence against generally accepted moral, social or cultural standards. Magazine
producers should not cause offence because of a persons: age; disability; gender; gender reassignment;
marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual
orientation. The purpose of the Harm and Offence Code is to stop people making adverts with offensive
remarks to people. This applies to magazine producers as if a magazine has an advert inside it which is
offensive, it can break the code and a person could complain about it and the advertiser can receive a
fine and lose their reputation, magazine producers avoid this by carefully checking adverts from
advertisers they are going to advertise on their magazine to see if it breaks the code or not. The Harm
and Offence Code applies to Take a Break as they tend to advertise a lot of companies in their magazine
on separate pages and before advertising them, they carefully inspect the advertisement to see if it
surpasses the code, if the advertisement is offensive and it is on the Take a Break magazine. They will
need to avoid publishing adverts in their magazine that breach this code.

Judgement
The magazine company, Boundless Magazine, was being accused of breaking the Misleading Advertised
Code. In the advert, they were promoting an inaccurate quote, “Your Saving £1000”, The readers felt
like they were being misled and could be substantiated. In the advertisements, it mentioned how the
prices for the travel was reduced but they were promoting and leaving the audience hopeless. The price
comparison they made was made for attention and to gain more customers. This complaint was upheld
and taken further with the magazine company and they had to make sure that the ad must not appear
again in the form complained about. ASA told RSD Travel to ensure that in future the basis of their
price comparisons were clearly presented and to ensure that the prices used as the basis of savings
claims were up to date. The advertisement breached cap code rules 3.1 , 3.3 (Misleading Advertising),
3.7 (Substantiation and 3.17 (Pricing).