Legal and Ethical

issues
Throughout media there are multiple rules and regulations, as well as different ethical issues, these
things heavily impact what a newspaper can publish or what topics can be discussed on a radio.
Here are the legal and ethical issues that can impact the production of our radio news broadcast.
Ofcom and IPSO are the two major regulation boards
within the UK for media; they regulate media based
on their respective guidelines, The Ofcom Broadcasting
Code and IPSOs Regulations.
Ofcom regulates TV, radio, mobiles, postal services and
multiple others; IPSO only regulates newspapers and
magazines.

By Alan Ostrowski

Copyright
Copyright is most likely one of the most important rules of news production as it can be easily broken, it is
vital to gain permission for any copyrighted content that we use. This may involve a payment for the
adequate Licence Fees, luckily the only thing we really need to be concerned when facing this legal issue is
music. Most other things that will appear in our broadcast wont fall under this category.

Normal copyright protection lasts the entire life of the author plus 50 years after his death, although there
are certain exceptions.
Film and cinematographic work:
50 years from the making of the work, or if made available to the public within the 50 years, (i.e. by
publication or performance), 50 years from the date the author first makes the work available to the public.
Anonymous works:
50 years from the date made available to the public.
Artistic works, such as photographs and applied art:
At least 25 years from creation.
It is possible for additional protection to be placed upon works; the most a work is protected in the UK is the
life of the author plus 70 years. There are also exceptions allowed for countries bound by the Rome Act.

There are exemptions to copyright for example the Fair Use law. This law allows people to use copyrighted
material under certain conditions, one of the most essential parts of the fair use law is that your work has to
be transformative and provide commentary on the topic, our radio broadcast may only provide commentary
on the topic meaning we dont reach the conditions required.
It will be a lot safer for our group to rely on copyright free materials; there are multiple websites that provide
copyright free soundtracks. The only problem with this is that the quality could be low or it will take far
longer to find a good source, these obstacles arent anything too big to handle.

Defamation of Character
Defamation of Character is when a false statement is made about an individual that
could negatively affect the persons reputation. If the statement is proven to fall under
Defamation of Character then the offender will be required to pay a fee in damages
(this could be any value within reason to the subject).

There are two types of defamation:

1. Libel
2. Slander.

Libel means defamation in permanent form whereas Slander is defamation in nonpermanent form.
Most commonly Libel tends to be written, broadcast or published online and Slander
tends to be the spoken word, Libel applies to our broadcast unlike Slander.
This law causes our group to refine our stories so they are as accurate and as nondiscriminatory as possible, to not infringe on anyones public reputation.
This is one of the most important legal/ethical issues for celebrities as their career is
heavily reliant on their public image, so tarnishing it can be incredibly impactful. It can
also be just as damaging to an ordinary person as it can harm their chances at
receiving a job or education that they desire.

Discrimination
Discrimination forbids the media from discriminating anyone based on their
Age
Gender
Sexual orientation
Ethnicity
Religion
Disability
These rules are in place so that everybody shares a fair viewpoint on each
other.
This law forbids us from judging individuals depending on these things, this
doesnt mean that our broadcast will be void off any opinion; we simply have
to be cautious to what we say about Individuals or groups of people, our
broadcast is a news broadcast meaning there will be very little opinion
anyway.
Stereotypes in media also can be discriminatory to a certain group of people,
this is already noticeable in current years. For example the Muslim religion is
stereotyped as a very bloody and violent religion by many western people,
even thought its far more similar to any western religion.

Data protection act 1998

Data protection act 1998 forbids the media from publishing specific personal data
without the individuals permission, everyone responsible for using the data has to
follow these strict rules referred to as data protection principles.

used fairly and lawfully

used for limited, specifically stated purposes
used in a way that is adequate, relevant and not excessive
accurate
kept for no longer than is absolutely necessary
handled according to peoples data protection rights
kept safe and secure
not transferred outside the European Economic Area without adequate protection

There is stronger legal protection for more sensitive information, such as:
ethnic background
political opinions
religious beliefs
health
sexual health
This law causes our group to refine our stories so they do not infringe on anyones
personal data, that isnt released without their permission.

Final Legal and Ethical issues

Ethics its important to not discuss and discriminate stories that relate to
specific ethical matters, certain stories (discussing terror attacks, discussing
sexuality) do contain ethical matters that cant be avoided. The news is
obliged to explore these different ethical matters from different viewpoints
within their broadcast, ethics usually are based off peoples religion and can
change depending on it.
Confidentiality
Contempt of court
This in its simplest term is
when a newspaper reports a
story which could alter an
outcome of a court case; this
is usually done by naming
individual or reporting
information that is classified
as confidential. This can
include pictures or text.

This is identifies in three areas:

1. State secrets this affects
certain types of investigative
journalism, and reporting
communities with links to the
armed forces (Official Secrets Act)
2. Commercial secrets
Investigative reporting, and
specialist reporting, health for
example (Common Law
Confidentiality)
3. Privacy This simply protects an
individual persons information
(Privacy Law, Human Rights Act)

Sources

https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents
https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act
http://www.slatergordon.co.uk/media-libel-and-privacy/faqs/
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes
/broadcast-code/
https://www.ipso.co.uk/assets/1/REGULATIONS__PDF_.PDF
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/guidelines/