Legal and ethical considerations assignment
Creative Commons
Creative commons is an organisation that does not gain any profits that's why its put up as a non-profit organisation. It specializes in providing ways to share peoples work with others so they can improve on it by getting help from others but also keeping it theirs so it cant be stolen or used by anyone else without permission. Creative commons' license does benefit quite well because you can decide on terms to share your work for others to work on and maybe improve it but you will still be credited for it so you can see it go in the way you would like. For example if you created a clip of something that everyone wants, under a creative commons license they can use the work but you will still benefit from it and they wont get sued.
Creative commons is an organisation that does not gain any profits that's why its put up as a non-profit organisation. It specializes in providing ways to share peoples work with others so they can improve on it by getting help from others but also keeping it theirs so it cant be stolen or used by anyone else without permission. Creative commons' license does benefit quite well because you can decide on terms to share your work for others to work on and maybe improve it but you will still be credited for it so you can see it go in the way you would like. For example if you created a clip of something that everyone wants, under a creative commons license they can use the work but you will still benefit from it and they wont get sued.
Libel Law
Libel law is a type of law that keeps the reputation of a person healthy and true. This law can be broken by broadcasting or publishing that isn't true and can ruin the reputation of a person, doing so can cause a lot of public disgrace and hatred to the person(s) affected by this broadcast or publishment. This can be quite a serious matter as some public might target the person and could potentially kill or harm the person. If the publishment is false, not 100% true, and can be proven that its not right by the accused person then the publisher can face some serious penalties.
The editor of a publisher has to be very careful with how the statement is represented because if it is taken in the wrong way it can be taken out of context and rumours could be spread on social networking sites such as facebook and twitter. If Libel law is not taken into consideration and its broken then you could face penalties such as jail time, loss of your job and anyone who was involved with the publishment, and most of the time a fine of a certain amount of money.
Libel law is a type of law that keeps the reputation of a person healthy and true. This law can be broken by broadcasting or publishing that isn't true and can ruin the reputation of a person, doing so can cause a lot of public disgrace and hatred to the person(s) affected by this broadcast or publishment. This can be quite a serious matter as some public might target the person and could potentially kill or harm the person. If the publishment is false, not 100% true, and can be proven that its not right by the accused person then the publisher can face some serious penalties.
The editor of a publisher has to be very careful with how the statement is represented because if it is taken in the wrong way it can be taken out of context and rumours could be spread on social networking sites such as facebook and twitter. If Libel law is not taken into consideration and its broken then you could face penalties such as jail time, loss of your job and anyone who was involved with the publishment, and most of the time a fine of a certain amount of money.
Privacy Law
The role of this law is to keep the confidentiality of a person to a full extent. This means that a person has a legal right to not get spied on and has the ability to keep things privately, the privacy law can vary from spying on someone to sharing details about them, if this person does not give conformation of being able to share things and wants it to be kept secret then that person has a right to.
This act kind of relates to the secrets act because they have a right to privacy and stuff being kept secret. If a producer leaked footage of say a celebrity with cheating on someone or with another person like a girlfriend etc. then that person has a right of privacy as you can not invade their personal life and leak it, you will be shut down as you do not want the same to happen to you.
The role of this law is to keep the confidentiality of a person to a full extent. This means that a person has a legal right to not get spied on and has the ability to keep things privately, the privacy law can vary from spying on someone to sharing details about them, if this person does not give conformation of being able to share things and wants it to be kept secret then that person has a right to.
This act kind of relates to the secrets act because they have a right to privacy and stuff being kept secret. If a producer leaked footage of say a celebrity with cheating on someone or with another person like a girlfriend etc. then that person has a right of privacy as you can not invade their personal life and leak it, you will be shut down as you do not want the same to happen to you.
Obscene Publications Act 1959
This law is an act that prevents people from publishing rude content that could corrupt viewers, these can vary from sexual abuse to torture. This act makes sure that none of this is released, the punishment for releasing content like this is similar to the other acts and laws. Jail time and fines. This act is the reason that we do not face concerned parents saying how their kids are learning and seeing rude things, objects, content that would or might offend or corrupt the childrens minds.
This act does have one kind of exception, in this case science. As science teaches us about the areas of the body and how everything, functions and other sorts of content. This act has made a main impact to the film industry and other media industries. Also most publishing industries as they release a variety of content on a daily basis which has a high risk of offending viewers, if rules and laws are not taken into mind properly.
This law is an act that prevents people from publishing rude content that could corrupt viewers, these can vary from sexual abuse to torture. This act makes sure that none of this is released, the punishment for releasing content like this is similar to the other acts and laws. Jail time and fines. This act is the reason that we do not face concerned parents saying how their kids are learning and seeing rude things, objects, content that would or might offend or corrupt the childrens minds.
Copyright And Intellectual Property Law
Copyright is a legal right, it helps protect your work from being stolen or used without the permission of you or the owner of the original piece. If somebody does use your work anywhere without your permission it is against the law and classes as stealing, you get a choice, whether you want to take action and make them pay for what they have believably stole or ignore it and let them carry on using it. You will know if a product is copyright protected by a simple trademark. As told by Link: "A trademark can be a name , word, slogan, design, symbol or other unique device that identifies a product or organisation." If you register a trademark in a country like Japan, UK or US. The mark will only be protected in that country
Copyright is a legal right, it helps protect your work from being stolen or used without the permission of you or the owner of the original piece. If somebody does use your work anywhere without your permission it is against the law and classes as stealing, you get a choice, whether you want to take action and make them pay for what they have believably stole or ignore it and let them carry on using it. You will know if a product is copyright protected by a simple trademark. As told by Link: "A trademark can be a name , word, slogan, design, symbol or other unique device that identifies a product or organisation." If you register a trademark in a country like Japan, UK or US. The mark will only be protected in that country
Official Secrets Act 1989
The Official Secrets Act is an act that makes it so everyone is legally allowed to keep secrets, including higher ranking secrets such as government secrets. It also states that you can not publish these secrets, for example if someone published that the government had reasons for killing thousands in a certain areas, if this was published it would create a lot of fued throughout the world and could kill people in the process. If you break this law you will face consequences, consequences such as jail time for 5 years or more, depending how crucial the secret was.
If you were a producer your content would have to not be under the official secrets act or you will be shut down, information such as leaks of agencies, governments etc. This act originally replaced the Official Secrets act of 1911, this act is similar to the 1989 act but more confidential with what can be published or leaked to others without breaking the law.
The Official Secrets Act is an act that makes it so everyone is legally allowed to keep secrets, including higher ranking secrets such as government secrets. It also states that you can not publish these secrets, for example if someone published that the government had reasons for killing thousands in a certain areas, if this was published it would create a lot of fued throughout the world and could kill people in the process. If you break this law you will face consequences, consequences such as jail time for 5 years or more, depending how crucial the secret was.
Health And Safety Act
The health and safety act applies to all media industries based in the UK, the reason for this act is so it saves lives and kind of help the profit of a film. The reason I say film is because without health and safety a movie will have a 90% chance of crashing down from killing someone on set. Which is why productions need to take a risk assessment before doing any work, so they ensure the risks and how likely they are to happen and if they need to be contained.
This act makes sure that everything has been carried out carefully, and will not take lives or give injuries to people and equipment. Yes, the health and safety act ensures that equipment is to be kept in good condition. To make sure its handled and transported safely and has no risk of getting broken during a production.
Ethical
As a producer you have to take into consideration the of ethics of the public with what will and wont offend them.
Harm and Offence
When your a media producer and you publish content you have to make sure that the content does not harm or offend any of the public, including celebrities. If you do offend someone then you will face serious consequences. A good example would be Russell Brand and Sachsgate.
Brand and Jonathan Ross ended up having to resign from their positions at Radio 2, because of a telephone prank that got out of hand with Sachsgate. This caused serious problems to the comedian and TV presenter, but also Radio 2 because this was a prerecorded show and they still allowed it to air even though it had pranks and many offensive jokes on Andrew Sachsgate. Sometimes it will not only fire the presenters but you as a producer will get fired for airing it.
Channel 4 producers guidelines
Channel 4 is not the only organisation that has guidelines, the BBC is also the same they too have guidelines. They set out to achieve the same goal, make programme makers not break the boundaries of ethics; a specific handbook also helps this goal. According to Link(also where the handbook is) "Channel 4 is a public service commercial broadcaster the commissions all of its original programming and online content from independent production companies, this handbook aims to give helpful practical guidance to independent programme-makers and online producers making content for Channel 4." As you can see if you view the BBC producers' guidelines they set out to achieve the same goal, however Channel 4 is funded by the public, as is the BBC. According to Link "Channel 4 is a publicly owned, commercially-funded public servce broadcaster."
Language/violence/sex
In the Radio Industry as a producer you have to look into what can and cant be used throughout a show depending on the violence, sex, and language broadcast in it. Each of these three can be offensive on many levels to different audiences, the language used could be very prohibited and could offend the older generation, sex and violence especially can impact a childs life which is why after 9 all programmes with violence, and language are allowed to be used. Sex is not as much used in the UK however in the Netherlands its on at various times so it all depends on what country because the restrictions will be different.
Protecting under 18's
This links back to the Language, violence, and sex act because all these go against what an under 18 can watch, there however might be not as much restrictions to 16 year olds in certain countries. This act is so that no minor can be harmed, or offended in any way and see explicit content that they are not supposed to. If a producer goes against these rules and minors are harmed during the process then there will be consequences of a fine, losing your job, or doing time.
To avoid these consequences then dont publish content that has swearing, or just use a censor, do not publish things like sex scenes or rape scenes etc. And do not publish anything offensive to children.
Ofcom Broadcasting
Ofcom stands for Office of communications, It has its own broadcasting code. With sections, These sections being:
BBC producers' guidelines
The BBB's producers' guidelines are a public statement on how we, the audience, expect the programme makers to make content that is at our standards. When I say at our standards I mean, we expect say a radio piece or TV show to not have content in it that we find offenssive, a while back there was an issue with Sachsgate that made Ofcom fine the BBC for publishing content that was really offenssive to him/his family. It's the BBC's producers job to make sure that content like that is not actually published, hence the guidelines. According to: Link "The BBC's producers' guildelines provide guidance which programme makers at all levels need to be aware of and follow." This means that all programme makers who are going to publish any type of content need to go by the guidelines/rules that have been set, so a big problem like the Sachsgate issue does no happen again.
The health and safety act applies to all media industries based in the UK, the reason for this act is so it saves lives and kind of help the profit of a film. The reason I say film is because without health and safety a movie will have a 90% chance of crashing down from killing someone on set. Which is why productions need to take a risk assessment before doing any work, so they ensure the risks and how likely they are to happen and if they need to be contained.
This act makes sure that everything has been carried out carefully, and will not take lives or give injuries to people and equipment. Yes, the health and safety act ensures that equipment is to be kept in good condition. To make sure its handled and transported safely and has no risk of getting broken during a production.
Ethical
As a producer you have to take into consideration the of ethics of the public with what will and wont offend them.
Harm and Offence
When your a media producer and you publish content you have to make sure that the content does not harm or offend any of the public, including celebrities. If you do offend someone then you will face serious consequences. A good example would be Russell Brand and Sachsgate.
Brand and Jonathan Ross ended up having to resign from their positions at Radio 2, because of a telephone prank that got out of hand with Sachsgate. This caused serious problems to the comedian and TV presenter, but also Radio 2 because this was a prerecorded show and they still allowed it to air even though it had pranks and many offensive jokes on Andrew Sachsgate. Sometimes it will not only fire the presenters but you as a producer will get fired for airing it.
Channel 4 producers guidelines
Channel 4 is not the only organisation that has guidelines, the BBC is also the same they too have guidelines. They set out to achieve the same goal, make programme makers not break the boundaries of ethics; a specific handbook also helps this goal. According to Link(also where the handbook is) "Channel 4 is a public service commercial broadcaster the commissions all of its original programming and online content from independent production companies, this handbook aims to give helpful practical guidance to independent programme-makers and online producers making content for Channel 4." As you can see if you view the BBC producers' guidelines they set out to achieve the same goal, however Channel 4 is funded by the public, as is the BBC. According to Link "Channel 4 is a publicly owned, commercially-funded public servce broadcaster."
Language/violence/sex
In the Radio Industry as a producer you have to look into what can and cant be used throughout a show depending on the violence, sex, and language broadcast in it. Each of these three can be offensive on many levels to different audiences, the language used could be very prohibited and could offend the older generation, sex and violence especially can impact a childs life which is why after 9 all programmes with violence, and language are allowed to be used. Sex is not as much used in the UK however in the Netherlands its on at various times so it all depends on what country because the restrictions will be different.
Protecting under 18's
This links back to the Language, violence, and sex act because all these go against what an under 18 can watch, there however might be not as much restrictions to 16 year olds in certain countries. This act is so that no minor can be harmed, or offended in any way and see explicit content that they are not supposed to. If a producer goes against these rules and minors are harmed during the process then there will be consequences of a fine, losing your job, or doing time.
To avoid these consequences then dont publish content that has swearing, or just use a censor, do not publish things like sex scenes or rape scenes etc. And do not publish anything offensive to children.
Ofcom Broadcasting
Ofcom stands for Office of communications, It has its own broadcasting code. With sections, These sections being:
- Section one: Protecting the Under-Eighteens
- Section two: Harm and Offence
- Section three: Crime
- Section four: Religion
- Section five: Due Impartiality and Due Accuracy
- Section six: Elections and Referendums
- Section seven: Fairness
- Section eight: Privacy
- Section nine: Commercial References in TV Programming
- Section ten: Commercial Communications in Radio Programming
BBC producers' guidelines
The BBB's producers' guidelines are a public statement on how we, the audience, expect the programme makers to make content that is at our standards. When I say at our standards I mean, we expect say a radio piece or TV show to not have content in it that we find offenssive, a while back there was an issue with Sachsgate that made Ofcom fine the BBC for publishing content that was really offenssive to him/his family. It's the BBC's producers job to make sure that content like that is not actually published, hence the guidelines. According to: Link "The BBC's producers' guildelines provide guidance which programme makers at all levels need to be aware of and follow." This means that all programme makers who are going to publish any type of content need to go by the guidelines/rules that have been set, so a big problem like the Sachsgate issue does no happen again.
