Ethical and Legal Constraints within the Media Sector

Ethical-
RepresentationRepresentation refers to the construction in any medium (especially the mass media) of aspects of ‘reality’ such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.






Legal-
Broadcasting Act 1990 -The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament. This act informs broadcasters what they can and cant put into their work. To breach this law an example would be using inappropriate language on a childrens programme. 

Officials Secrets Act 1989- This act was created by the parliament to make sure that if there was importanyt information about the government that can affect national security, non of this would be repeated to anyone that it shouldnt. An example of breaching this law would be when Prince Harry joined the army and a magazine publishing this so everyone found out

Obscene Publications Act- This act is an act of parliament reformed to make sure obscenity is not contained in magazines or newspapers and also what consitutes obscenity. An example of breaching this law a shop keeper putting rude magazines under the counter which means that children can see them.

Films Act - Legislation concerning film finance and defining 'British films'
Video Recordings Act -The Video Recordings Act 1984 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that was passed in 1984. It states that commercial video recordings offered for sale or for hire within the UK must carry a classification that has been agreed upon by an authority designated by the Home Office.

The Race Relations Act 1976 -was established by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race. An example of breaching this law would be if someone that worked for the BBC that only hired white people.

The Human Rights Act 1998 (c 42) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights. The Act makes available in UK courts a remedy for breach of a Convention right, without the need to go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. An example of breaching this law would be if a group of people wanted to meet up in a public place and someone tried stopping this.

Licensing Act 2003 - The Licensing Act of 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that applies only to England and Wales. The Act establishes a single integrated scheme for licensing premises which are used for the sale or supply of alcohol, to provide regulated entertainment, or to provide late night refreshment. Permission to carry on some or all of these licensable activities will now be contained in a single licence — the premises licence — replacing several different and complex schemes. An example of breaching this law would be showing premier league football from a different station thats illegal.

Privacy Law - Refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private organizations and its storage and use. An example of breaching this law would be if a newspaper hacked somebodies phone in order to gather news information.

Copyright Law -is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time. Generally, it is "the right to copy", but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the work, who may financially benefit from it, and other, related rights. It is an intellectual property form (like the patent, the trademark, and the trade secret) applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete. An example of breaching this law would be illegal downloading of music.

Libel Law - laws stating that no slander or detamation shall be aimed at one particular individual or group etc. An example of breaching this law would be saying bad things about people in the media without proof.


The News International phone-hacking scandal is an ongoing controversy involving mainly the News of the World but also other British tabloid newspapers published by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of publishing stories. Investigations conducted from 2005–2007 concluded that the paper's phone hacking activities were limited to celebrities, politicians and members of the British Royal Family. However, in July 2011, it was revealed that the phones of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, relatives of deceased British soldiers, and victims of the 7/7 London bombings were also accessed, resulting in a public outcry against News Corporation and owner Rupert Murdoch. Advertiser boycotts contributed to the closure of the News of the World on 10 July, ending 168 years of publication.

The British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-governmental body which has classified cinema films since it was set up in 1912 and videos/ DVDs since the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984. The BBFC make sure that evert video game, DVD, cinema film are classified.

Ofcom is the communications regulator. We regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms and mobiles, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.