Valene Nazareth- head of the BBC lawyers.

We watched an interesting video of Valene Nazareth who is the head BBC lawyer that checks over all the journalists content for legal issues before it is published. She was telling journalism lecturers what she thinks is the best things to teach a journalist in order for them to be successful in the industry. Her main point was basically that journalists need to be able to spot potential law problems within their work before contacting one of the Lawyers for support.

She emphasised that we all need to have a good understanding of the aspects of libel such as publication, defamation and identification so that we can avoid this in our own work. Alongside this we need to know the defences of privilege, fair comment and the best defence which is justification.

We also need to understand the dangers that contempt of court can bring to journalists who can end up in jail if this is breached. There is no defence for contempt of court and usually occurs when someone states that an alleged offender is 'guilty' before it has been decided by the jury. An important case that best highlights this issue is the Woodgate and Boyle case. These two men are footballers and were in court for allegedly bottling Asian youths whilst being out one night. The crucial point was that the trial was still active meaning that a verdict had not yet been made. The Mirror had heard that it was likely they were going to be convicted and published an article stating that they were 'guilty'. This was an issue of serious contempt of court as they were still innocent until proven guilty however had been made out to be guilty to the public. Their defence lawyer immediately picked up on this story which lead to the case being dismissed and the men getting off. The Mail were also fined thousands of pounds which is lucky as it is likely that the journalist can be put in jail for attempting to manipulate the jury.

Similarly to this case is the important Joanna Yates case where her landlord Chris Jefferies was made out to be the murderer. These are called innuendos (something is implied) and have now been banned from journalism due to this case where it was implied Chris was the murderer due to his hobbies of reading poetry and playing chess.

A backgrounder is where the media construct interviews and get information from an alleged convict before it is proven he is guilty. This means that interviews with the persons family, school friends and even neighbours can take place however cannot be published or spoken about until or if the person is proven guilty. This allows the report to be fast, accurate and fair whilst containing top quality interviews that competitors may not have even thought of yet.

Section 8 under the Human Rights Act states that general views are a breach of privacy if the person is clearly identified. These are the most common types of cases according to Valene as peoples privacy has been invaded. This is why WINOL clearly try hard not to identify people when using a general view shot. Instead they focus on the feet and shoes of people when walking by which is just as effective.

Section 10 confidentially states under the Human Rights Act that people expect professionals such as doctors to keep absolute confidentiality. When interviewing or filming people it is best to get a release form signed as this means that you can film them without worrying about invading their privacy as you have explicit consent. Implied consent is when people are aware that they are on telly and make an effort to be in the camera. One point here is that drunk people are best if they are avoided as they don't have control over their actions and their consent is not valid.

The BBC cover all of their Ethics in the codes of conduct BBC Editorial Guidelines  that are available online. These are also presented to you to read through if you become part of the BBC team.