Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Issues in Factual Television
Issues in Factual Television
Television
Lewis Knight
Filming In Public
Clearances and
Permissions
When you are creating a film, everything that is
used must be cleared and agreed.
In terms of legal issues; Clearances that need to
be addressed are: The script, music used,
locations, contributors, products and company
logos. So if any of these are used then it must be
cleared in advance: e.g. the local council should
be contacted for use of locations and same with
the companys of the logos used.
In terms of ethical issues; if locals dont want to be
on film and dont want to sign a release form then
their feelings must be respected.
Requirements of the
Broadcasting Act 1994
The broadcasting act had a number of requirements
that had to be adhered by all broadcasting
companies. Some of these requirements were:
All ITV franchises put up for sale and awarded on
financial grounds,
new ITV regional franchises gave 25% of their
production to independent producers
Channel 5 was final conventional terrestrial TV
channel to be set up.
The broadcasting act therefore opened up the market
in TV and allowed more channels and independent
producers to be set up rather than just ITV franchises.
BBC Producers
Guidelines and Ofcom
The BBC producers guidelines is used to
encourage journalists and programme creators to
take risks but these risks must be within the
limitations that protects the BBCs global
reputation.
Audiences rightly expect the highest editorial
and ethical standards from the BBC. The BBCs
producers guidelines are a public statement of
those values and standards and how we expect
our programme-makers to achieve them. - BBC
Terminology
Accuracy
Accuracy is important within the world of news
because it effects the way in which stories are
viewed. It is the factor that effects the
trustworthiness of your news platform.
The BBC defined accuracy as: not simply a
matter of getting facts right. If an issue is
controversial, relevant opinions as well as facts
may need to be considered. When necessary, all
the relevant facts and information should also be
weighed to get at the truth.
An Example
An example of accuracy in use in within big
corporate news platforms such as BBC. When we
are told information by a representative of this
big corporate organisation we believe it is true.
BBC have said that: In news and current affairs
content, achieving due accuracy is more
important than speed.
Balance
Balance is important within news because it is a
way of interpreting both sides of a story. It is a
process in order to achieve fairness and accuracy.
Although it is considered that a lot of stories are
ones that promote only a one sided view. Or by
including views of those extremes on either end
of the spectrum.
An Example
An example of balance within the news industry
would be during the Brexit talks .
The BBC incorporated the reasons for and against
Brexit and the facts about what could possibly
happen if we were to vote either way.
This created a more balanced and trustworthy
view and aimed at a larger demographic which
helps viewers to understand both sides of the
story.
Impartiality
Impartiality is a way of delivering facts to the
viewers, yet not stating their own personal view
and allow the audience to make their own
judgements and draw their own conclusion.
An Example
An example of impartiality in news is:
During Brexit the BBC told viewers all the needto-know facts about either side of the argument
and leaves the viewers to decide for themselves.
This is achieved by using rhetorical questions that
encourage the viewers to make their own
decisions.
Objectivity
Objectivity is where you are not influenced by
your own opinion in a certain situation.
Alternatively you consider other points of views
and opinions.
An Example
An example of objectivity in factual television
would be what happened during the Brexit
discussion period. The majority of news mediums
would give the facts to the viewers without a
biased opinionated view, with some exceptions.
This is important because it is a large decision for
the country and if a large organisation, such as
the BBC, portrayed their view in stories then it
could effect the results and opinions of the views.
Subjectivity
Subjectivity is the opposite to objectivity in that
the purpose is to make a judgement by only
considering your own opinion. By this it means
that we do not depend on any real facts.
This therefore means that factual television
programmes use the platform to influence the
audience to agree with their beliefs.
An Example
An example of subjectivity is Channel 4
programme called Benefits street. Benefits
street is a programme that is used to show
families on benefits that dont really need it.
The way that this is subjective is because it
implies to the audience that anyone that has
benefits doesnt need it at all. It is an
exaggerated view because there are some
families that do need benefits, yet the
programme tries to make the audience believe
that everybody on benefits is a scam.
Representation
Representation is a way in which something is
portrayed to a viewer. A representation could be
in a positive or negative way. A popular
representation in factual television is the idea of
sympathy and the image of a victim.
An Example
An example of how corporations have used
representations is with Cliff Richard, which has
been in the news recently.
Cliff Richard had child sex allegations put against
him and has since been subject of abuse from the
public. It went as far as having his house burgled.
The charges were later dropped.
Cliff Richard has filed a 1.5 million law suit
against the BBC for false allegations which
caused negative representations of him.
http://www.britishfilmcommission.org.uk/crew-facili
ties/locations/filming-in-public-spaces
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https://
media3.bournemouth.ac.uk/profstudies/3medialaw
/02acts.html
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://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1715_repo
rters/page2.shtml