Understanding Creative Media Assignment 2

Understanding the ethical and legal considerations when working in the creative media sector

The college Media Mill is looking to produce an online information guide for prospective students who want to find out more about the creative media sector. To complete the task which has been given to me I need to produce the second chapter for the online information guide. The purpose of this assignment is to produce an online information guide for media students who are interested in pursuing a career in one of the creative media sectors. The chapter which I will be writing will be about ethical and legal considerations when working as a producer in the creative media sector.

There is a difference between something being ethically wrong and legally wrong, ethically wrong is something which isn't against the law but something which isn't being took in a considerate manner, whereas legally wrong is something which is against the law therefore you could possibly go to prison. 

Many producers need to understand the legal considerations when working in the creative sectors. Copyright is a huge issue the media industry faces. Legal protection is advised so that their original material can't be used in somebody else's name. However copyright can only be applied on the application of the idea, not the idea itself. It is also illegal and in my opinion can be ethically wrong to discriminate anyone on grades of race, sex and disability when recruiting in the workplace. National security is another legal issue filmmakers face. Filmmakers and producers must be aware of certain laws such as the official secrets act 1989 and the prevention of terrorism act, there was a man named ' Damian McBride ' he worked in HM Customs and Excise, he joined Her Majesty's Treasury while Gordon Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and after coming to the attention of Gordon Brown he then became the Head of Communications at the UK Treasury, remaining there until 2008. In 2009, he resigned after it became apparent that he was leaking information to other members of the labour party discussing private lives and their spouses of the Conservative Party.

There are many laws including the secret service act in the creative media sector, one of these is Libel Law, libel law is to publish something in print which is not true or may harm that persons reputation and may bring them hate towards them. It also must be a statement which claims to be a fact and is not clearly identified as an opinion. The link below shows Libel law in action, People who tweeted photos allegedly of child killer Jon Venables are being charged with contempt of court. It's the latest in a long line of cases that suggest that ordinary social media users need to have a grasp of media law. 

• 46% of 18- to 24-year-olds are unaware they can be sued for defamation if they tweet an unsubstantiated rumour about someone, according to research for law firm Wiggin
• That compares to 17% of over-65s
• ComRes interviewed 2,047 British adults online from 5 to 7 December 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20782257

Another law in the creative media sector is privacy, the privacy law is their to protect a persons right to be left alone, as they're allowed to lead their own lives without other people's scrutiny. An example of this was the BBC ' Sachsgate ' scandal - A prank call on The Russell Brand Show in 2008 involved a series of voice messages left by comedian Russell Brand and TV presenter Jonathon Ross on the answering machine of the actor Andrew Sachs. BBC Radio 2 decided it would be okay to allow it on an episode of The Russell Brand Show. In the episode, Brand and Ross called Sachs as a guest to interview on-air when Sachs failed to answer the phone, they're heard leaving a series of messages on his answering machine which included comments about Russell Brand's relationship with Andrew Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie. It then came out in the news reported from The Mail on Sunday on the 26th of October 2008, both Russell Brand and the controller of Radio 2 ( Lesley Douglas ) resigned from the BBC. Jonathon Ross was suspended without pay for 12 weeks on the 30th of October and the BBC was fined £150,000 by Ofcom. Both presenters were criticised by a number of members of Parliament, including the Prime Minister at the time being Gordon Brown. Ofcom also have a broadcasting code which is to do with protecting the under eighteens and these rules are not letting any material which seriously impair the physical, mental or more development of people under the age of eighteen, meaning this shouldn't have been allowed to be released to the public as it is technically about sexual content.

Next is the Copyright law - intellectual property is something that is unique to you if physically created, for example an idea that is not your intellectual property but your words are. Copyright is a type of intellectual law that protects your work. By knowing your rights and having the correct type of protection you can stop people stealing or copying :

• The names of your products or brands
• your inventions
• the design or look of your products
• things you write, produce or make.

An example of the copyright law is in the film ' The Hangover Part 2 ' the character Stu played by Ed Helms has a tattoo on his left side of his face, the exact same tattoo as Mike Tyson has, and as it says above ' things you write, produce or make ' is classed as copyright therefore the creator of the tattoo ' S. Victor Whitmill ' placed a copyright infringement case upon Warner Bros Studios, however in the end Whitmill decided to no longer go into the matter - http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/warner-bros-settles-hangover-ii-203377.

Another law which is not just in the creative media sectors but every kind of job nowadays is the health and safety act, to make sure nothing occurs it is best to follow all the health and safety laws, an important one is assess and manage risk and by doing this completing a risk assessment. For example, take the time to systematically look at your activities, decide what hazards they present, assess the risk of people being exposed to those hazards and find ways to eliminate them or reduce them. Finally, make sure you define responsibilities so everyone knows what they're supposed to be doing. 

Finally the last law to look at in the creative media sectors is the obscene publications act, the next paragraph is from https://www.iwf.org.uk/hotline/the-laws/criminally-obscene-adult-content/obscene-publications-act-1959-and-1964 

The law makes it an offence to publish, whether for gain or not, any content whose effect will tend to "deprave and corrupt" those likely to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it. This could include images of extreme sexual activity such as bestiality, necrophilia, rape or torture.  

  

Obscene Publications Act 1959An Act to amend the law relating to the publication of obscene matter; to provide for the  protection of literature; and to strengthen the law concerning pornography.

There are several different media ethics which have been published, one of these is a game called Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 where a campaign mission tells you to go into an airport and start shooting civilians with a gun. This can be classed as a media ethic as it is causing harm to innocent people and therefore can represent a stereotype on the person killing the civilians. Another example of a media ethic is the film Argo, the film is based on an undercover CIA agent who launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S hostage crisis in Iran in 1980. This film is banned in Iran due to its negative portrayal of Iran ( offending ). Finally another example of a media ethic is in Kenya, Wolf Of Wall Street was banned due to its sexual scenes, nudity, alcohol and drugs. Kenya may have banned this as it is a bad representation towards drugs and alcohol due to Jordan Belfort ( Leonardo DiCaprio ) driving whilst on drugs and then crashing his car, therefore losing his daughter and making him fight to get her back, The Wolf Of Wall Street made $392 million in total whereas Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has made over $1 billion - After five days of sales, the game had earned revenue figures of $550 million worldwide. As of January 18, 2010, it has taken over $1 billion in sales. Activision also claims that Modern Warfare 2 had 8 million players online within the first five days, constituting the largest 'army' of players in the world.

It is very important for producers to understand why ethical considerations matter because if you're a director of a film and you are making it on computer hacking e.g. hacking bank details and therefore taking all your money, a lot of young teenagers may find this a great film as they know it is very unlikely to happen however the older generation who may watch this movie may feel distraught and not feel comfortable after it, if you don't consider this then you aren't going to get the best possible outcome in making money on Box Office releases. Make sure you also don't cause offence to anyone, e.g. if it's a comedy TV series and there is a scene where it's portrayed to be about sexism, many people will find this offensive, an example of this is in the office as shown in a video below.

Finally it is advised that you follow guides such as Ofcom or BBFC, as these are very big companies who have the last word on your TV show / film, as they get to say if it goes on air or is released to the public or not as well as the time it is allowed to go out to the public e.g. if it's adult based it will be after 9PM, and for BBFC they get to decide what rating the film is, if it's allowed to be released at all and if there needs to be any certain cuts in it.

Conclusion - I believe that with the help of this blog post I now have helped the college media mill about an information guide for prospective students who want to find out more about the creative media sector and I also think that I have included both ethical and legal considerations when working in the creative media sectors as well as examples for all of them.