Ethical and Legal constraints within the media Sector

Ethical:

social issues and sensitivities, eg representation of gender, representation of religious beliefs, linguistic usages, accessibility; professional body codes of practice, eg BBC producers’ guidelines, Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) accessibility standards

Legal:

 Broadcasting Act 1990 (and later amendments),

The broadcasting act is a series of laws passed through government on what you can and cannot broadcast on UK Television. An example of breaking this act wuld be to Broadcast something Obscene or Vulgar without persmission.

 Official Secrets Act 1989,

A law stating that it is illegal to disclose information regardeing national security. An examplwe of this would be if a british newspaper Dsiclosed the Location of an important military base or Secret bunker or the location of an important person like a member of the royal  family

 Obscene Publications Act 1959

Laws relating to obscene mataerial being published,

Films Act 1985,

Laws concering Film finance and defining british films

 Video Recordings Act 1984,

laws stating that all videos that are sold or available for rent are classified by the bbfc

 Race Relations Act 1976

laws stating that no one on Television is to be discriminated over their race

Human Rights Act 1998,

rights that are believed to belong justifiably to every person


Licensing Act 2003

Licensed buildings must have a specific license to play certain music or broadcast certain TV channels

privacy law

Privacy is the right to be left alone

 copyright

Copyright is the law stating that anything copyrighted is the property of the person or company that created it and cannot be used by another company etc

 intellectual property law

Intellectual property reffers to things that are created in the mind such as designs, art work, music, images, symbols etc used in commerce, I.P can be owned, bought, or sold

 libel law

Libel Laws are about slander/defamation stating that no publications or broadcasters are allowed to say or write anything that shows an individual or Group in a negative way


Codes of practice
A code of practice is a set of guidelines that you must follow in a work environment, Each career has its own unique Codes of practice which relate to how you behave, dress and specialist things to do with the career itself. Breaking the rules of a code of practice can end up in you being fired.

This is the newspaper and periodical industry’s Code of Practice. It is framed and revised by the Editors’ Code Committee made up of independent editors of national,

regional and local newspapers and magazines. The Press Complaints Commission, which has a majority of lay members, is charged with enforcing the Code, using it to

adjudicate complaints. It was ratified by the PCC in September 2009. Clauses marked* are covered by exceptions relating to the public interest.

 

All members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards.

The Code, which includes this preamble and the public interest exceptions below,

sets the benchmark for those ethical standards, protecting both the rights of the

individual and the public's right to know. It is the cornerstone of the system of selfregulation

to which the industry has made a binding commitment.

It is essential that an agreed code be honoured not only to the letter but in the full spirit. It should not

be interpreted so narrowly as to compromise its commitment to respect the rights of the individual,

nor so broadly that it constitutes an unnecessary interference with freedom of expression or prevents

publication in the public interest.
News international Phone hacking Scandal

One of the most Recent Famous cases in media which Clearly breaks more than 1 of these Laws is the News international Phone hacking scandal. The cases of phones being hacked were being looked into from 2005-2007 but in July 2011 it was revealed that the phones of murdered school girl milly dowler, Relatives of Deceased souldiers and survivors of the 7/7 bombings in london were acessed also, this caused public outrage against news international it was a clear Breech of Privacy and is also rather disgusting. This eventually lead to the news of the world newpspaper being closed down and Rupert murdoch had to withdraw his bid from Buying BskyB. Phone hacking is an obvious breach of human rights and Privacy laws stating that everyone has the right to a private life and to be left alone, it can be scary knowing that there is always people prying into your life through your phone.