Legal and Ethical
For this piece of work I was asked to look up and write about legal and ethical constraints within the media industry.
Privacy Law
Privacy Law
What is Privacy Law?
The earliest definition of privacy in England law was given by Judge Cooley who defined privacy as "the right to be left alone". In 1972 the Younger Committee, an inquiry into privacy stated that the term could not be defined satisfactory.
Again in 1990 the the Calcutta Committee concluded that. "nowhere have we found a wholly satisfactory statutory definition of privacy.
Examples of Privacy Law
The Data Protection Act
The data protection act was a law put forward to prevent people getting hold of information that should not otherwise be available to them, this means in places like hospital settings doctors can only ask for relevant information and by law, are not allowed to divulge this information with anyone else.
This kind of law also applies to the media industry, for example the manager of a video project may require the phone numbers and emergency contacts of all the cast and crew, this is so that they can get in contact with them if need be.
Privacy Act 1874 in the US which says "No agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication"
Some examples of broken privacy in media include:
Phone Hacking Scandal
Kate Middleton Topless Photos
Tulisa Sex Tape
Kate Middleston Hospital prank call
Prince Harry in Vegas Photos
Obscene Act 1959
The obscenity law is an act created to stop the publishing of obscene media, it was founded by Roy Kenkins in 1959 on 29th July and was later made legalised on 29th of august.
At the time of its creation it had two main defences, the first being innocent dissemination and secondly the defence of public good.
The act has been used in several high profile cases like The Penguins book for publishing, lady chatterley's lover, meant to be a children's book, it contained high level swear words multiple times and contained sexual scenes.
More recently Darryin Walker was found not guilty under the act for posting a story entitled, "Girls (scream) Aloud, this was an erotic fiction posted online containing the fictional account of the capture, rape and murder of the pop group, Girls Aloud.
Another case was in 2010 when Gavin Smith was charged after discussing his fantasies about spanking children. After the Crown Prosecution Service appealed the judge's original ruling that there was no case to answer, he was subsequently convicted in 2012.
Broadcasting Act 1990
The British Broadcasting Act was created to change the structure and the ownership of television and radio broadcasting, This meant that the TV and Radio companies became the broadcasting instead of the regulators.
Libel Law
Libel law is a law that stops reporters from publishing false articles about anyone without proof of it being true, for example, a reporter cannot publish something about a celebrity if it is not true, to prevent risk of damaging that celebrity's reputation.
For example, The BBC had to pay 185 thousand pounds in damages to Lord Mcalpine following the Newsnight broadcast show in November that wrongly accused him of child abuse.
Another example is when Frankie Boyle won £54,650 in damages after the Daily Mirror had described him as a racist.
Copyright and Intellectual Property Law
This law covers peoples ideas, also know as interlectual property, copyright also helps to proctec peoples branding.
A company or producer can get a legal copyright on a brand, an example of this is coca-cola, their corporate logo is protected under this law, preventing people from posing as them, or imbelishing their name.
Interlectual property law dosn't just cover a brand, but also covers ideas, for example, if someone came up with a design for a new kind of camera device, they could get this idea protected with a patent, preventing someone from taking this design and using it for their own gain.
Ethics
Ethics are a non legal set of rules that people go by, these are not usually writen down in words but if a company or orginisation breaks ethics it can often have bad reprecutions for them, though some ethics are also covered by laws, this is to protect the public and the company itself.
An example of bad ethics had come up in recent events, this was called the Leveson Inquiry, it was a phone hacking scandal that happened on the 13rd of July, in 2011.
It is called the Leveson Inquiry because Lord Leveson was apointed chairman of the Inquiry.
The first part of the inquiary was to examine the culture, practices and the ethics of the press, and in more specific, the relationship between the press and the public, police and politicians.
In inquiery was split into 4 modules, these were:
"
Module 1: The relationship between the press and the public and looks at phone-hacking and other potentially illegal behaviour.
Module 2: The relationships between the press and police and the extent to which that has operated in the public interest.
Module 3: The relationship between press and politicians.
Module 4: Recommendations for a more effective policy and regulation that supports the integrity and freedom of the press while encouraging the highest ethical standards."
Examples of Privacy Law
The Data Protection Act
The data protection act was a law put forward to prevent people getting hold of information that should not otherwise be available to them, this means in places like hospital settings doctors can only ask for relevant information and by law, are not allowed to divulge this information with anyone else.
This kind of law also applies to the media industry, for example the manager of a video project may require the phone numbers and emergency contacts of all the cast and crew, this is so that they can get in contact with them if need be.
Privacy Act 1874 in the US which says "No agency shall disclose any record which is contained in a system of records by any means of communication"
Some examples of broken privacy in media include:
Phone Hacking Scandal
Kate Middleton Topless Photos
Tulisa Sex Tape
Kate Middleston Hospital prank call
Prince Harry in Vegas Photos
Obscene Act 1959
The obscenity law is an act created to stop the publishing of obscene media, it was founded by Roy Kenkins in 1959 on 29th July and was later made legalised on 29th of august.
At the time of its creation it had two main defences, the first being innocent dissemination and secondly the defence of public good.
The act has been used in several high profile cases like The Penguins book for publishing, lady chatterley's lover, meant to be a children's book, it contained high level swear words multiple times and contained sexual scenes.
More recently Darryin Walker was found not guilty under the act for posting a story entitled, "Girls (scream) Aloud, this was an erotic fiction posted online containing the fictional account of the capture, rape and murder of the pop group, Girls Aloud.
Another case was in 2010 when Gavin Smith was charged after discussing his fantasies about spanking children. After the Crown Prosecution Service appealed the judge's original ruling that there was no case to answer, he was subsequently convicted in 2012.
Broadcasting Act 1990
The British Broadcasting Act was created to change the structure and the ownership of television and radio broadcasting, This meant that the TV and Radio companies became the broadcasting instead of the regulators.
Libel Law
Libel law is a law that stops reporters from publishing false articles about anyone without proof of it being true, for example, a reporter cannot publish something about a celebrity if it is not true, to prevent risk of damaging that celebrity's reputation.
For example, The BBC had to pay 185 thousand pounds in damages to Lord Mcalpine following the Newsnight broadcast show in November that wrongly accused him of child abuse.
Another example is when Frankie Boyle won £54,650 in damages after the Daily Mirror had described him as a racist.
Copyright and Intellectual Property Law
This law covers peoples ideas, also know as interlectual property, copyright also helps to proctec peoples branding.
A company or producer can get a legal copyright on a brand, an example of this is coca-cola, their corporate logo is protected under this law, preventing people from posing as them, or imbelishing their name.
Interlectual property law dosn't just cover a brand, but also covers ideas, for example, if someone came up with a design for a new kind of camera device, they could get this idea protected with a patent, preventing someone from taking this design and using it for their own gain.
Ethics
Ethics are a non legal set of rules that people go by, these are not usually writen down in words but if a company or orginisation breaks ethics it can often have bad reprecutions for them, though some ethics are also covered by laws, this is to protect the public and the company itself.
An example of bad ethics had come up in recent events, this was called the Leveson Inquiry, it was a phone hacking scandal that happened on the 13rd of July, in 2011.
It is called the Leveson Inquiry because Lord Leveson was apointed chairman of the Inquiry.
The first part of the inquiary was to examine the culture, practices and the ethics of the press, and in more specific, the relationship between the press and the public, police and politicians.
In inquiery was split into 4 modules, these were:
"
Source: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/
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