Legal, Ethical and Representation!

Legal Issues
Defamation (libel and Slander)
Defamation of character is a false statement
made by one individual about another. This
statement attempts to discredit that persons
character or reputation. You may also hear this being
referred to as black-balling someone. There are two
forms of defamation which are called slander and
libel. Slander is when a statement is spoken, which
usually happens in public. Whereas, Libel is when
the statement is printed ot broadcast on television.
This can be with either words or images.

Contempt Of Court
Contempt of court means acting so as not to
prejudice the outcome of a trial by not naming
individuals, who might be protected by the law or
information about an event.

Contempt Of Court Continued

Contempt of court law shields the purity of the
legal process from eternal influence. There are
various types of possible reporting restrictions,
some of which apply naturally while others are at the
discretion of the court.

Active proceedings

Once proceedings are active, anything which creates

a substantial risk that the course of justice in these
proceedings will be seriously prejudiced or impeded will be a contempt of court. Proceedings become
active:
1. On the arrest of a suspect.
2. When a warrant for an arrest is given.
3. When a summons is given (could be well before a
person is charged).
4.When a suspect is charged.
Reference:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/article/
art20130702112133630

Legal Issues Cont.

Copyright

Copyright is part of intellectual property law.

Originators of material such as books, plays, songs,
photographs and so on, have automatic ownership of
that piece of work. As a result newspapers cant use
or copy this without explicit permission (sometimes
payment) from the originator.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act lays the
preparation for all Internet-related copyright law
and is the basis that a lot of court cases and online
activities are carried out on.

Discrimination Continued.

Positive Action is legal if someone with a protected

characteristic: are at a disadvantage, have particular needs, or are under-represented in an activity or
type of work.

Data Protection Act

This is where joournalists will gather a variety of

information (data) when writing and investigating
stories. This can be confidential information. For
example: a journalist may interview a celebrity but
some information that has been stated may be confidential and if this celebrity is protected by the Data
Protection Act then the journalist who conducted
the interview will not be able to publicise the information that was classed as classified. There is also
Discrimination
stronger legal protection for sensitive matters such
Where it is illegal to isolate someone on the grounds as: ethnic background, political opinions, religious
of their sex, age, disability or ethnic
origin
beliefs, health, sexual health, and criminal records.
when hiring or in the workplace. This links in
with issues related to ethics and representation.
Discrimination is part of the Equality Act. If you
want to do something about discrimination you can
and it is called positive action.

Ethical

What Does Ethics Mean?

Ethics means doing things the right way. Normally
this means doing right by someones morals and in
Media they do this by soing the right thing by their
readers morals as to not show offense to anyone and
so it gets them better publicity which leads to more
readers.

IPSO (Independant Press Standards

Organisation)
The main purpose of IPSO is to maintain proffesional standards and protect the rights of individuals. There was a call of stricter regulations after the
Leveson enquiry in 2011/2012. As a result of this,
the PCC were replaced by IPSO. All journalists are
expected to follow the 16 codes of the IPSO code of
conduct.

IPSO Codes Of Conduct

These codes of counduct iclude (but are not
limited to) accuracy, harrassment, discrimination,
and intrusion.
1. Accuracy
2. Privacy
3. Harrassment
4. Intrusion into grief or shock
5. Reporting Suicide
6. Children
7. Children in Sex Cases
8. Hospitals
9. Reporting of crime
10. Clandestine devices and subterfuge
11. Victims of sexual assault
12. Discrimination
13. Financial Journalism
14. Confidential Sources
15. Witness payments in criminal trials
16. Payment to Criminals.

Ethical
Privacy
According to IPSOs code of conduct this is where
everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private
and family life, home, health and correspondence
and this includes digital communications. Editors
are expected to explain any intrusions they may
make into someones private life. It is also unacceptable to take a photograph of someone without their
comsent whether it be in a public place or a private
place. I will ensure that I am not in breach of the
privacy issue by always askibng for consent if I feel
like there is a good photo opportunity of someone
that will go with any of my articles or covers. Also,
I will respect peoples privacy at any given time but
especially in time of sorrow or grievance.

Harrassment
IPSOs code of conduct (policies) states: Journalist
must not engage in intimidation, harrassment, or
persistent pursuit. They also may not be persistent in
trying to get an interview with someone or a statement from someone involved with a story whether
it be by: telephone, questioning or even photographing someone. They must introduce themselves if
questioned by the person theyre trying to question/
photograph. It is the editors responsibility to make
sure their employess stand by this policy and not
use unreliable information from other sources. I will
ensure I am not in breach of the harrassment issue
by ensuring that I do not persist someone constantly,
maybe Ill only ask them once in the best way I can
and then take the answer they have given to me as to
not harrass them. Also, if questioned I will state who
I work for and my name so they will feel comfortable with telling me the same information about them
selves.

Discrimination
According to the IPSO code of conduct (policies)
the press must avoid any reference that is counterproductive. This could be a reference to an individuals race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual
orientation, mental illness, or disability. These references must be avoided unless absolutely relevant to
the story. I will ensure that I am not in breach of this
issues by making sure that I do not use the references mentioned above for personal gain e.g reputation.
Furthermore, I will make sure I only use these references if it suits my article and it is absolutely necessary to the story.

Intrusion
This is just for cases including grief and shock. It
means that approaches must be made with the upmost sensitivity. These should not affect the right
to reportlegal proceedings. I will ensure that I do
not breach this issue by handling any case including
grief and/or shock with unlimited sensitivity.

The Public Interest

This includes but is not subjected to:

1. Exposing crime (or the threat of crime).
2. Protecting public health and/or safety.
3. Shielding the public from being misled by false
information by an individual or an organisation.
4. Acknowleding an organisation or individuals
failures or likely failure to agree with any obligation
they are subject to.
5. Recognising a miscarriage of justice.
6. Committing to a public debate which includes
unethical conduct towards the public.
7. Admitting to concealement or likely concealement
to any of the above mentioned factors.
8. Freedom of expression has a public of interest
within itself.
9. The editor has the responsibility of deciding to
what consent a piece of material is or will be in the
public domain.
10. These editors will have to demonstrate that they
do believe in the publication.
11. A public interest will need to be showcased for
those under the age of 16.

The Public Interest

I will ensure that I do not breach this issue by always keeping the public interest in mind. I will ensure to
put the publics needs and interests before my own as to make sure that I am not biased about anything that
I write. Also, I will admit to and recognise any miscarriages of justice so that I can ensure that no one in the
public eye is being wronged.

Representation

The media put together representation issues and are

sometimes are the cause of it as well as being responsible for creating the isssue itself.
As a society we are obsessed with our body images and what constitutes beauty. The way beauty is
represented now it has been decided that the definition of beauty is seens as white, thin, and perfectly
formed. The image of body image is represented
across a variety of media texts including: unrealistic
images of perfection for both men and women, the
imperfections in the bodies of celebrities are ridiculed in gossip magazines, documentaries raising
awareness of the issue, newspaper images of catwalk
models who are a size zero, media articles commenting on the concern of the issue that only thin is
beautiful, advertisements for products that make us
more beautiful such as: wrinkle cream.
Body image is represented in different kinds of ways
in the media but this depends on the audience. For
example: women are given an idealised version of
themselves to aspire to be.

There are limitations on what can and cannot be

published. Some are voluntary and some are statutory (established in Law).
Statutory Limitations:
The Official Secrets Act (only for the UK and western countries) - The provides for the protection of
state secrets and official information, which is mainly related to national security.
The Obscene Publications Act- This governs what
can be published in England and Wales. The classic
definition of criminal obscenity is if it tends to deprave and corrupt, stated in 1868 by John Coleridge,
1st Baron Coleridge.
The Contempt Of Court Act - An Act to amend the
law relating to contempt of court and related matters. Newspapers can be found guilty of this if breaking the temporary news blackout.
Voluntary Limitations:
Sometimes editors accept a temporary news blackout where reporting a serious crime might hinder a
police investigation, but this is only for the duration
of the sennsitive investigation time.
D-Notices: Requests from the Government not to
print certaain stories, often on a military nature.

I will ensure that I am not in breach of these prepresentational issues by including anyone in my magazine of every shape and size because I believe that
beauty is not just being skinny; everyone is beauty in
their own way. I will live by the quote: Beauty is in
the eye of the beholder because I believe this quote
to be true. I will also follow all of the limitations;
both statutory and voluntary to make sure that my
magazine is the greatest it can be and appeal correctly to the target audience. I will ensure that i differentiate my magazine from my competition (girl pop
magazines). Also, I will ensure that I will listen to
my audienes needs and wants and apply them to my
magazine to make sure that it attracts them as their
needs and wants will be met.

I will also ensure that I am not in breach of the legal

issues by making sure that I am not discriminating
anyone in terms of their race, gender, sexual orientation, disability etc. Finally, I will make sure that I
am not in breach of the Data Protection Act. i will
do this by keeping any information I am being given
in terms of intervies or investigations confidential if
asked to do so.

I will ensure that I am not in breach of the legal issues by not slandering anyone if I do not know that
certain facts are true. I will also ensure that I do not
involve myself in investigations with false information which will make sure I am in Contempt of
Court. I will not breach the copyright law because
everything that is written will be my own work and
so will the photographs that are taken.

resentation issues in media.

I have discussed in the above pages how I will ensure

that I am not in breach of the ethical issues which
includes: privacy, harrassment, discrimination, intrusion, and the public interest.
That is everything on the legal, ethical and rep-