Legal acts

Understanding the ethical and legal considerations when working in the creative media sector

Why is legal considerations important?
Legal considerations is important because it stops the media industries from selling and producing products on the streets and selling them to the public, which will get the media industries into trouble as they may be disturbing to watch, or they could be illegal to watch. Also it stops the media industries from telling lies about people which aren't true or even saying horrible stuff about them. Which could get the company sued or even shutdown from the stuff they have been producing.

Privacy law

Privacy law is a regulation that protects a persons right to be left alone.

• People are allowed to lead their lives without public scrutiny
• 'The right to privacy'
• 'The right to be left alone'- harassment and data protection

For example News of the world phone hacking scandal

Privacy law refers to the laws that deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals, which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private organizations and it's storage and use. Privacy laws are considered in the context of an individuals privacy rights or reasonable expectation of privacy.

Classification of privacy law

• General privacy laws that have an overall bearing on the personal information of individuals and affect the policies that govern many different areas of information.
• Specific privacy laws that are designed to regulate specific types of information. Some examples include:
  • Communication privacy laws
  • Financial privacy laws
  • Health privacy laws
  • Information privacy laws
  • Online privacy laws
  • Privacy in one's home

Privacy law example:Data protection act 1998

The Data Protection Act 1998  is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland which defines UK law on the processing of data on identifiable living people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK. Although the Act itself does not mention privacy, it was enacted to bring British law into line with the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive, which required member states to protect people's fundamental rights and freedoms and in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data. In practice it provides a way for individuals to control information about themselves. Most of the Act does not apply to domestic use, for example keeping a personal address book. Anyone holding personal data for other purposes is legally obliged to comply with this Act, subject to some exemptions. The Act defines eight data protection principles. It also requires companies and individuals to keep personal information to themselves.


Prince of Wales vs Associated newspapers Ltd
The prince of Wales was trying to win the case against Associated newspaper Ltd which is an English legal case brought about when the mail on Sunday published extracts of a dispatched by Charles, the prince of Wales, the heir to the British throne. The extracts published from the dispatch; titled ''The great Chinese takeaway'', wee personally embarrassing to the prince. The dispatch had been written on the flight back from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom from the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China, and had been handed out to friends.

Copyright and intellectual property law
Intellectual property is something that is unique to you if physically created i.e. an idea is not your intellectual property but the words you write are.

Copyright is a type of intellectual law that protects your work.

By knowing your rights and having the right type of protection you can stop people stealing or copying:

• The names of your products or brands
• Your inventions
•  The design or look of your products
• Things you write, make or produce

For example Hangover part 2 'tattoo'/ Avatar and William Roger Dean

Libel law
 Libel law is a method of defamation expressed by print, writing, pictures, signs, effigies, or any communication embodied in physical form that is injurious to a person's reputation, exposes a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or injures a person in his/her business or profession.

British libel laws were already complicated enough before the internet came along. Their aim is to balance the right of free speech against protection for the reputation of an individual from unjustified attack.
In law, a person is defamed if statements in a publication expose him to hatred or ridicule, cause him to be shunned, lower him in the estimation in the minds of "right-thinking" members of society or disparage him in his work.
Juries are told that the measuring stick of a libel being committed is whether any of this would affect how a "reasonable man" views the complainant.
There are defences in law for libel. The publisher could prove the statement to be true, it could be fair comment - so long as the opinion is based on true facts, is genuinely held and not influenced by malice - or it could be protected by privilege (reporting of comments made in parliament, courts and other official arenas are, generally speaking, protected from libel actions).
Here is an example of Cameron Diaz sued the newspaper ''The Sun'' company for defamation. The reason she sued the company was because they thought she was having an affair with a friend called Shane Nickerson.

Obscene Publications Act 1959
The Obscene Publications Act 1959 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament that significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and Wales. Prior to the passage of the Act, the law on publishing obscene materials was governed by the common law case of R v Hicklin, which had no exceptions for artistic merit or the public good. During the 1950s, the Society of Authors formed a committee to recommend reform of the existing law, submitting a draft bill to the Home Office in February 1955. After several failed attempts to push a bill through Parliament, a committee finally succeeded in creating a viable bill, which was introduced to Parliament by Roy Jenkins and given the Royal Assent on 29 July 1959, coming into force on 29 August 1959 as the Obscene Publications Act 1959. With the committee consisting of both censors and reformers, the actual reform of the law was limited, with several extensions to police powers included in the final version.

Obscene publication example would be the film ''The human centipede'' and ''The Persian film''. The reason that these films are obscene publication is because these films contain very disturbing scenes in The human centipede it has a scene with people's mouth's sewn to people's rear end which put people off as it is a disturbing film and in the other film The Persian film was very disturbing as it had a scene off a man raping a baby as it was just born. This was an illegal film to be sold on the streets as it caused many problems and got the director arrested for an obscene and inappropriate film to watch.


Official Secrets Act 1989


The Official Secrets Act 1989  is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911, thereby removing the public interest defence created by that section.
Lord Bingham said that the white paper "Reform of Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911". June 1988 was the immediate precursor of this Act and that its recommendations bear directly on the interpretation of this Act.

The Official Secrets Act 1989 makes it a criminal offence to obtain or publish any information from a serving or former member of the security and intelligence services or from certain categories of civil servants or public contractors where that disclosure would be damaging. There is no public interest defence. If it is anticipated that a project will stray into this complex area of law, referral to your commissioning editor and programme lawyer should be made immediately.

Here is an example of an official secrets act 1989. The Metropolitan police are seeking a court order under the Official Secrets Act to make Guardian reporters disclose their confidential sources about the phone-hacking scandal.

Health and safety act
Health and safety act is important in the industry because it stops people who work in the media industry from getting hurt or even getting themselves killed. Which may get the company into trouble as the person who got injured could get a lot of money off the company and it could leave the company bankrupt.

Why is ethical considerations important?

Ethical considerations is important because it is to stop the media by being racist or offensive to people who are a different race, different gender, different religion or people who have problems so for example the media could take the mick out of people who are in wheel chairs, which would be offensive to people who can't walk and have to live in wheel chair for the rest of their lives. That's why it is important for ethical considerations to be in the media industries because it will stop them from paying a fine and also stopping them from getting shut down.

Social issues and sensitivities
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 accessibility standards.

Not causing harm or offence

The BBC apply generally accepted standards so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion of offensive and harmful material. The BBC use the 9pm television watershed to ensure material that might be unsuitable for children that are under the age limit. They must balance and have protection over the children and young people from unsuitable content with their rights of freedom of expression and freedom to receive information. This may include violence, strong language, sex, nudity, portrayal of alcohol, smoking, drugs etc.

Adhering to the professional body codes of practice, e.g. Broadcasters Code, BBC producers’ guidelines

W h a t i s a c o n s t r a i n t ? A c o n s t r a i n t i s a l i m i t a t i o n o r a r e s t r i c t i o n o n s o m e t h i n g t o p r e v e n t s o m e t h i n g e l s e f r o m h a p p e n i n g I n t h e M e d i a i n d u s t r y , t h e r e a r e m a n y l i m i t a t i o n s , l a w s a n d r e s t r i c t i o n s … S o m e r e g u l a t i o n s a r e n ‟ t l e g a l i n t h a t t h e y a r e n ‟ t p r o v i d e d b y l a w .

E m p l o y m e n t L e g i s l a t i o n T h i s l e g i s l a t i o n r e f e r s t o t h e l a w s i n w h i c h h e l p t o p r o t e c t e m p l o y e r s a n d e m p l o y e e s f r o m u n s a f e w o r k i n g c o n d i t i o n s a n d u n h e a l t h y s i t u a t i o n s . T h i s m e a n s t h a t a l l h e a l t h a n d s a f e t y r e g u l a t i o n s b e p r o p e r l y a s s e s s e d a n d c o n s i d e r e d a s w e l l e m p l o y e e ‟ s r i g h t s a n d e q u a l o p p o r t u n i t i e s

E m p l o y e e s R i g h t s E m p l o y e e s r i g h t s a t w o r k w i l l d e p e n d o n  S t a t u t o r y r i g h t s  C o n t r a c t o f e m p l o y m e n t S t a t u t o r y r i g h t s a r e l e g a l r i g h t s b a s e d o n l a w s p a s s e d b y P a r l i a m e n t . N e a r l y a l l w o r k e r s , r e g a r d l e s s o f t h e n u m b e r o f h o u r s p e r w e e k t h e y w o r k , h a v e c e r t a i n l e g a l r i g h t s . T h e r e a r e s o m e w o r k e r s w h o a r e n o t e n t i t l e d t o c e r t a i n s t a t u t o r y r i g h t s T h e C o n t r a c t o f e m p l o y m e n t i s t h e a g r e e m e n t m a d e b e t w e e n t h e e m p l o y e r a n d t h e e m p l o y e e . T h i s c o u l d b e i n t h e f o r m o f a w r i t t e n a g r e e m e n t o r w h a t h a s b e e n a g r e e d v e r b a l l y b e t w e e n t h e m . I n a d d i t i o n , t h e c o n t r a c t o f e m p l o y m e n t w i l l a l s o i n c l u d e „ c u s t o m a n d p r a c t i c e ‟ a g r e e m e n t s . T h e s e a r e h o w t h i n g s a r e u s u a l l y d o n e i n t h e w o r k p l a c e , f o r e x a m p l e , i f t h e e m p l o y e r a l w a y s g i v e s t h e e m p l o y e e s a d a y ‟ s h o l i d a y i n A u g u s t . E v e n t h o u g h t h i s i s n o t m e n t i o n e d i n t h e w r i t t e n c o n t r a c t t h i s w i l l f o r m p a r t o f t h e c o n t r a c t o f e m p l o y m e n t a s i t i s t h e u s u a l p r a c t i c e .

E m p l o y e r s L i a b i l i t y I n s u r a n c e E m p l o y e r s a r e r e s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e h e a l t h a n d s a f e t y o f t h e i r e m p l o y e e s d u r i n g w o r k h o u r s , t h i s a p p l i e s i n a n y w o r k p l a c e . E m p l o y e e s m a y b e i n j u r e d a t w o r k o r m a y b e c o m e i l l a s a r e s u l t o f t h e i r w o r k w h i l e i n d u r i n g e m p l o y m e n t . I f a n E m p l o y e e f e e l s t h a t t h e E m p l o y e r i s r e s p o n s i b l e t h e n t h e y m i g h t t r y t o c l a i m c o m p e n s a t i o n . T h e E m p l o y e r s ‟ L i a b i l i t y A c t 1 9 6 9 e n s u r e s t h a t y o u h a v e a t l e a s t a m i n i m u m l e v e l o f i n s u r a n c e c o v e r a g a i n s t a n y s u c h c l a i m s .

P u b l i c L i a b i l i t y P u b l i c l i a b i l i t y i n s u r a n c e i s i m p o r t a n t w h e n o u t f i l m i n g i n p u b l i c p r e m i s e s b e c a u s e i t w i l l p a y o u t i n t h e e v e n t t h a t a m i s t a k e i s m a d e w h i c h c a u s e s a n i n j u r y t o a m e m b e r o f t h e p u b l i c , o r w h i c h d a m a g e s t h e i r p r o p e r t y .

C o p y r i g h t a n d T r a d e m a r k s C o p y r i g h t a p p l i e s t o w o r k t h a t i s r e c o r d e d i n s o m e w a y ; r i g h t s e x i s t i n i t e m s s u c h a s l i t e r a r y , a r t i s t i c , m u s i c a l a n d d r a m a t i c w o r k a s w e l l a s f i l m s , s o u n d r e c o r d i n g s a n d t y p o g r a p h i c a l a r r a n g e m e n t s . I t g i v e s t h e a u t h o r s p e c i f i c r i g h t s i n r e l a t i o n t o t h e w o r k , p r o h i b i t s u n a u t h o r i s e d a c t i o n s , a n d a l l o w s t h e a u t h o r t o t a k e l e g a l a c t i o n a g a i n s t i n s t a n c e s o f i n f r i n g e m e n t o r p l a g i a r i s m . T r a d e m a r k s a r e r e g i s t e r e d a t a n a t i o n a l o r t e r r i t o r y l e v e l w i t h a n a p p o i n t e d g o v e r n m e n t b o d y a n d m a y t a k e a n y w h e r e b e t w e e n 6 a n d 1 8 m o n t h s t o b e p r o c e s s e d . R e g i s t e r e d t r a d e m a r k s m a y b e i d e n t i f i e d b y t h e a b b r e v i a t i o n T M , o r t h e ® s y m b o l .

I n t e l l e c t u a l P r o p e r t y I n t e l l e c t u a l p r o p e r t y r e f e r s t o c r e a t i o n s o f t h e m i n d : i n v e n t i o n s , l i t e r a r y a n d a r t i s t i c w o r k s , a n d s y m b o l s , n a m e s , i m a g e s , a n d d e s i g n s u s e d i n c o m m e r c e . I P i s d i v i d e d i n t o t w o c a t e g o r i e s : I n d u s t r i a l p r o p e r t y , w h i c h i n c l u d e s i n v e n t i o n s ( p a t e n t s ) , t r a d e m a r k s , i n d u s t r i a l d e s i g n s , a n d g e o g r a p h i c i n d i c a t i o n s o f s o u r c e C o p y r i g h t , w h i c h i n c l u d e s l i t e r a r y a n d a r t i s t i c w o r k s s u c h a s n o v e l s , p o e m s a n d p l a y s , f i l m s , m u s i c a l w o r k s , a r t i s t i c w o r k s s u c h a s d r a w i n g s , p a i n t i n g s , p h o t o g r a p h s a n d s c u l p t u r e s , a n d a r c h i t e c t u r a l d e s i g n s . R i g h t s r e l a t e d t o c o p y r i g h t i n c l u d e t h o s e o f p e r f o r m i n g a r t i s t s i n t h e i r p e r f o r m a n c e s , p r o d u c e r s o f p h o n o g r a m s i n t h e i r r e c o r d i n g s , a n d t h o s e o f b r o a d c a s t e r s i n t h e i r r a d i o a n d t e l e v i s i o n p r o g r a m s .

e x c l u s i v i t y & c o n f i d e n t i a l i t y A n o n - d i s c l o s u r e a g r e e m e n t , i s a l e g a l c o n t r a c t b e t w e e n a t l e a s t t w o p a r t i e s t h a t o u t l i n e s c o n f i d e n t i a l m a t e r i a l , k n o w l e d g e , o r i n f o r m a t i o n t h a t t h e p a r t i e s w i s h t o s h a r e w i t h o n e a n o t h e r f o r c e r t a i n p u r p o s e s , b u t w i s h t o r e s t r i c t a c c e s s t o o r b y t h i r d p a r t i e s . A n o n - d i s c l o s u r e a g r e e m e n t c r e a t e s a c o n f i d e n t i a l r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t h e p a r t i e s t o p r o t e c t a n y t y p e o f c o n f i d e n t i a l a n d p r o p r i e t a r y i n f o r m a t i o n o r s e c r e t s o f p r o d u c t i o n . A n o n - d i s c l o s u r e a g r e e m e n t i n a c o n t r a c t m a y a l s o i n c l u d e e x c l u s i v i t y b e t w e e n t h e p a r t i e s i n v o l v e d , m o r e l i k e l y t h e p e r s o n s i g n i n g t h e c o n t r a c t t o a c o m p a n y m a k e s t h a t p e r s o n l i m i t e d a n d e x c l u s i v e t o w o r k i n g f o r t h e p r o d u c t i o n c o m p a n y , t h e p r o d u c t i o n o r a n y o t h e r d e t a i l s t h e c o n t r a c t s t a t e s .

E t h i c a l C o n s t r a i n t s E t h i c s a r e t h e M o r a l P r i n c i p l e s t h a t d e f i n e h o w a p e r s o n o r g r o u p a c t s . T h e r e a r e e t h i c a l i s s u e s t h a t T V p r o d u c e r s a r e e f f e c t e d b y i n c l u d i n g :  T r u s t  L i a b i l i t y  T r u t h  P r i v a c y  S e r v i n g t h e P u b l i c s i n t e r e s t a n d m a n y m o r e …

E d i t o r i a l S t a n d a r d s C o m m i t t e e T h e C o m m i t t e e w i l l c o n s i d e r a p p e a l s c o n c e r n i n g c o m p l a i n t s w h i c h a l l e g e t h a t :  T h e C o m p l a i n a n t h a s s u f f e r e d u n f a i r t r e a t m e n t e i t h e r i n a t r a n s m i t t e d p r o g r a m m e o r i t e m , o r i n t h e p r o c e s s o f m a k i n g t h e p r o g r a m m e o r i t e m .  T h e C o m p l a i n a n t ‟ s p r i v a c y h a s b e e n u n j u s t i f i a b i l i t y i n f r i n g e d , e i t h e r i n a t r a n s m i t t e d p r o g r a m m e o r i t e m , o r i n t h e p r o c e s s o f m a k i n g t h e p r o g r a m m e o r i t e m .  T h e h a s b e e n a f a i l u r e t o o b s e r v e r e q u i r e d e d i t o r i a l s t a n d a r d s .

T h e B B C C h a r t e r a n d A g r e e m e n t T h e B B C f o l l o w s a C h a r t e r . T h e C h a r t e r s e t s o u t t h e p u b l i c p u r p o s e s o f t h e B B C , g u a r a n t e e s i t s i n d e p e n d e n c e , a n d o u t l i n e s t h e d u t i e s o f t h e B B C T r u s t a n d t h e B B C E x e c u t i v e B o a r d . T h e A g r e e m e n t s i t s a l o n g s i d e t h e B B C ‟ s R o y a l C h a r t e r . I t p r o v i d e s d e t a i l o n m a n y o f t h e t o p i c s o u t l i n e d i n t h e C h a r t e r a n d a l s o c o v e r s t h e B B C ' s f u n d i n g a n d i t s r e g u l a t o r y d u t i e s .

B B C E d i t o r i a l G u i d e l i n e s  T r u s t  T r u t h & A c c u r a c y  I m p a r t i a l i t y  H a r m a n d O f f e n c e  F a i r n e s s  P r i v a c y  C o n f l i c t s o f I n t e r e s t  A c c o u n t a b i l i t y

T r u s t “ T r u s t i s t h e f o u n d a t i o n o f t h e B B C : w e a r e i n d e p e n d e n t , i m p a r t i a l a n d h o n e s t . W e a r e c o m m i t t e d t o a c h i e v i n g t h e h i g h e s t s t a n d a r d s o f d u e a c c u r a c y a n d i m p a r t i a l i t y a n d s t r i v e t o a v o i d k n o w i n g l y a n d m a t e r i a l l y m i s l e a d i n g o u r a u d i e n c e s ” T h e t r u s t t h a t t h e B B C i m p l i e s h a s a b r o a d s e n s e o f m e a n i n g ; t h e w o r d “ t r u s t ” i s u s e d i n t h e n a m e o f t h e B B C T r u s t i n a c o l l o q u i a l s e n s e , t o s u g g e s t a b o d y w h i c h d i s c h a r g e s a p u b l i c t r u s t a s g u a r d i a n o f t h e p u b l i c i n t e r e s t . T h e w o r d i s n o t u s e d i n i t s t e c h n i c a l l e g a l s e n s e , a n d i t i s n o t i n t e n d e d t o i m p l y t h a t t h e m e m b e r s o f t h e T r u s t a r e t o b e t r e a t e d a s t r u s t e e s o f p r o p e r t y o r t o b e s u b j e c t t o t h e l a w r e l a t i n g t o t r u s t s o r t r u s t e e s .

T r u t h & A c c u r a c y “ W e s e e k t o e s t a b l i s h t h e t r u t h o f w h a t h a s h a p p e n e d a n d a r e c o m m i t t e d t o a c h i e v i n g d u e a c c u r a c y i n a l l o u r o u t p u t . A c c u r a c y i s n o t s i m p l y a m a t t e r o f g e t t i n g f a c t s r i g h t ; w h e n n e c e s s a r y , w e w i l l w e i g h r e l e v a n t f a c t s a n d i n f o r m a t i o n t o g e t a t t h e t r u t h . O u r o u t p u t , a s a p p r o p r i a t e t o i t s s u b j e c t a n d n a t u r e , w i l l b e w e l l s o u r c e d , b a s e d o n s o u n d e v i d e n c e , t h o r o u g h l y t e s t e d a n d p r e s e n t e d i n c l e a r , p r e c i s e l a n g u a g e . W e w i l l s t r i v e t o b e h o n e s t a n d o p e n a b o u t w h a t w e d o n ‟ t k n o w a n d a v o i d u n f o u n d e d s p e c u l a t i o n ” A l l B B C o u t p u t , a s a p p r o p r i a t e t o i t s s u b j e c t a n d n a t u r e , m u s t b e w e l l s o u r c e d , b a s e d o n s o u n d e v i d e n c e , t h o r o u g h l y t e s t e d a n d p r e s e n t e d i n c l e a r , p r e c i s e l a n g u a g e . T h e B B C s h o u l d b e h o n e s t a n d o p e n a b o u t w h a t t h e y d o n ' t k n o w a n d a v o i d u n f o u n d e d s p e c u l a t i o n . C l a i m s , a l l e g a t i o n s , m a t e r i a l f a c t s a n d o t h e r c o n t e n t t h a t c a n n o t b e c o r r o b o r a t e d s h o u l d n o r m a l l y b e a t t r i b u t e d . T o e n f o r c e A c c u r a c y , t h e B B C c a n e m p l o y d i f f e r e n t t a c t i c s , i n c l u d i n g N o t e T a k i n g , f i n d i n g C o n t r i b u t o r s , M a n d a t o r y R e f e r r a l s , e t c .