Unit 7 - LO2

Bridie Cleaver

ETHICAL AND LEGAL

CONSTRAINTS WITHIN THE
MEDIA SECTOR
This report will go through the ethical and legal constraints in the
creative media sector, commenting on; the ethical issues impacting
upon the creative media sector and the legal issues impacting on
the creative media sector. This report with focus on ethical issues,
professional codes of practice and, the interpretation of the law as
related to the sector.
What is a constraint?
A constraint is a limitation or restriction on something to prevent
something else from happening.

Ethical Constraints
What are ethics?
Ethics are the Moral Principles that define how a person or group
acts. There are ethical issues that TV producers are affected by
including: Trust, Liability, Truth, Privacy and Servicing the Publics
Interest.
During this assignment, I learnt a lot about the Ethics and Legal
Constraints within the creative media sector for a variety of
industries, especially in the press. The press creates a wider
understanding on events that occur in the world and allow you to
have a close insight into whats happening. There is good press such
as this morning, what you see on TV and bad press such as
Paparazzi and Perez Hilton who do not care about the morals of
society or have any respect for an individual as they will go to any
length to get a good photo/good story however, they do keep the
celebrities in the lime light and inevitably, help their careers grow.
Another example of an industry with ethical and legal constraints
would be television. The first video to be aired on MTV was by The
Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star. This video was very limited,
and contained nothing more than the band playing instruments in
the video in simple clothing; this was aired in the day. Following this
a few years later, Michael Jackson released Thriller and an
extended version, which was supposedly that terrifying, it was
banned before a certain time. During the late 90s and early 00s, TV
got more controversial, showing more and more controversial
images such as Jeremy by Pearl Jam, which recreated a famous

Unit 7 - LO2

Bridie Cleaver

event in the 90s where a teen committed suicide in front of his

class. Another video was Stan by Eminem where, it showed a story
of a deranged fan of the rapper Eminem, who committed suicide
with his pregnant girlfriend.
Furthermore, recently music videos have received a backlash for
portraying female nudity in videos. Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball
showed a nude Miley swinging on a wrecking ball and licking a
sledgehammer suggestively. This is shown on daytime shows such
as MTV this caused a stir not only to the 19.3 million viewers the
video had on YouTube, but because of the huge amount of
complaints the video got for inappropriate footage of Miley
swinging on a wrecking ball naked. The video was then banned from
daytime viewing, in France only.
While law covers some areas, such as discrimination,, other ethical
issues are not so easy to define and producers need to be guided by
their industrys professional codes of practice. Failure to comply
with a professional code of practice can have serious implications
for a producer, ranging from legal action to being removed from
supplier tender invitation lists, loss of reputation and loss of
business. An example of a code of practice can be seen on the BBC
Website, it included the following:
-

Accuracy
Impartiality
Harm and Offence
Fairness, Contributors and Consent
Privacy
Reporting crime and anti-social behaviour
Children and young people as contributors
Politics, public policy and polls
War, Terror and emergencies
Religion
Re-use and reversioning
Integrity
Conflicts of interest
Interacting with audiences
The Law
Accountability

Legal Constraints
For any production, everyone involved needs to consider the
relevant legal issues and be aware of their responsibilities within the
law. This applies equally to producers, their employees and even to
learners and people on work experience. There are various different
acts of parliaments in the media sector such as TV and radio

Unit 7 - LO2

Bridie Cleaver

broadcasting that should be considered. There are many examples

that can be considered such as:
-

The
The
The
The

Broadcasting Act 1990

Human Rights Act 1998
Race Relations Act 1976
Obscene Publications Act

The Broadcasting Act 1990

This is a law that was created by the British Parliament and the aim
of this law was to reform the entire structure of British Broadcasting.
This act allowed the creation of the fifth channel to be distributed in
the UK that turned out to be Channel 5. The act also allowed for the
launch of three independent National Radio stations. In television,
the act allowed for the creation of a fifth analogue terrestrial
television channel in the UK, also known today, as Channel 5. It also
stated that the BBC was now obliged to source at least 25% of its
output from independent production companies.
An advantage of this act was that, the television and radio
companies were now the broadcaster, as opposed to the regulator.
The Human Rights Act 1998
This is another UK law which allows people to be able to defend
their rights in UK courts and public organisations such as the
Government, Police and Local Councils must treat everyone equally
with fairness, dignity and respect. Its aim was to incorporate into UK
law the rights contained in the European Convention on Human
Rights.
The Act makes it unlawful for any public body to act in a way, which
is incompatible with the Convention, unless the wording of any
other primary legislation provides no other choice. It also requires
the judiciary (including tribunals) to take account of any decisions,
judgment or opinion of the European Court of Human Rights, and to
interpret legislation, as far as possible, in a way, which is compatible
with Convention, rights.
The Race Relations Act 1976
This is another example, which is involved in television and radio.
This act is a legislation to make sure that we respect one another
and to prevent any discrimination against a type of race, colour,
nationality and religion, which is completely unacceptable. Some
Girls is an example of this which is a television programme aired by
the BBC which involves four schoolgirls who are different religions
and race. This shows the acceptance that the BBC has towards
different people.
The Race Relations Act of 1965 set up the Race Relations Board to
encourage racial harmony, prevent racial discrimination, and deal

Unit 7 - LO2

Bridie Cleaver

with complaints. It made racial discrimination illegal in a public

place. The Race Relations Act of 1968 increased the powers of the
Race Relations Board, who were now able to make their own
investigations this is where discrimination in housing and
employment were made illegal.
The Obscene Publications Act 1959
This is a legislation that makes sure to strengthen the law
concerning pornography. This can have an effect on radio, as they
cannot play pornographic sounds that may offend family viewers
especially with children. This is quite important as radio is aired live.
It could also have an effect on television as it stops the use of
pornographic behaviour before the watershed or any cautionary
signs must be showed to warn viewers about what they are about to
see. It is also important for adverts not to be too explicit. An
example of this would be the banned skittles advert that shows a
couple making love, which could be uncomfortable for family
viewers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Act_1998
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscene_Publications_Act_1959
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Relations_Act_1965
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Relations_Act_1968
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Relations_Act_1976
https://prezi.com/vpyq4s-435nz/ethics-of-music-videos/
http://www.slideshare.net/Mattwattsmedia/legal-ethical-andcontractual-constraints-in-the-media-industry-13456879