Ofcom (the office for communication) are the licensing authority that gives out licenses for people to be able to broadcast. Every broadcaster needs to have a license that entitles them to broadcast their channels. Ofcom are independent from the government. The PCC (press complaints commission) is currently still standing however is going to soon be abolished. They set out editorial guidelines for written publications to follow. On their website http://www.pcc.org.uk it still shows current disputes that they are working on so shows that they are still in use at this time.
In the news on the 5th March there was a debate between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage about whether to have an EU live debate on the TV. The way the press are managed is changing due to the phone hacking scandal which has put a focus on press ethics.
IPSO- independent press standards organisation was set up by the papers themselves. This may work in the future as a press regulator. The government wanted the Royal Charter statute regulation to be more prominent however the papers think that this contains too much state intervention for them to be able to run smoothly. This statute law has been passed however it still currently remains inactive.
The PCC remained silent throughout the phone hacking scandal and never had a word to say about what happened. They were supposed to stand up for the public however failed to do so. The newspapers are more of a self regulator as there has never been any real sanctions or fines on them for hacking etc.
Trust is a big driver of behaving properly as a journalist- if you treat people properly then they will talk to you and you will gain a good reputation. BBC Peter Fincham resigned after an investigation into his footage that misrepresented the Queen.
There was also the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone prank scandal that aired live on TV on the BBC. The BBC were fined £150,000 by Ofcom and it ended Jonathan Ross's series on the BBC. Ofcom does regulate parts of the BBC if the BBC make a large editorial error as mentioned in the story above. There is also the NUJ code of conduct that regulates. The BBC have their own Royal Charter and agreement with parliament that is regulated by the BBC Trust and BBC governing body as well as their own editorial guidelines and the BBC complaints commission unit which is similar to those of Ofcom.
The codes guide us through ethical issues and help us with how far we can go to get a story. One of these guidelines is to respect the privacy of the bereaved. The test is to decide whether the story is in the public interest. Undercover investigation and secret filming can be justified by public interest based on prima-facie evidence.
The purpose of the law is specific and limited. The codes provide a benchmark for behaviour and reassure the audiences that they can build trust. Broadcasting is more intrusive as it contains moving image, sounds and can imitate experiences more vividly than photos or text.
The Ofcom code March 2013: states harm and offence- section 2- swearing on TV and the 9pm watershed where talks about sex, nudity, violence and death have to be regulated these before 9pm due to children watching. Suicide and self harm must not be shown unless justified editorially.
Section 3 states that crime should not be glamorised and the details should be kept hidden as they could enable commission of crime and people could copy it. Section 7 discusses 'fairness' and to avoid unfair treatment to others/ organisations.
The Lee Rigby footage that was shown at the time he was killed with a man holding a knife and blood all over his hands was in the public interest. They were incredible pictures with Lee lying on the floor behind him dead. However they were shown on the 6pm news but the editors made sure that a warning was played before the images were shown to warn its audience of what was about to be broadcast. They did show less of this story at 6pm than they did later on in the night due to the watershed regulation.
WINOL last week did a similar story where they had CCTV footage of a man being punched in the face which lead him to fall over. This was shocking footage as the man died in hospital later on in the evening. All broadcasters should not show the moment of death however they can show leading up to it as in this case.
You should also always consider the effect the material has on its viewers/ listeners if they come across your story unawares such as turning on the TV half way through a package.
Door stepping is filming or recording (section 8) of an interview or an attempt to get an interview with someone being filmed/recorded for broadcast purposes without warning. The former editor of The Sun was libel for the Hillsborough incident. Alex Thomson from channel 4 shows an extreme example of door stepping when trying to get Kelvin MacKenzie to speak. Its defence was that it was in the public interest and and that he is well known, you cannot do this to someone from the general public.
Impartiality is not required for newspapers hence the likes of The Sun or The Daily Mail who are free to talk about immigrants and can be partial in their writing. However it is a requirement for broadcasters to remain impartial to topics. This also means that packages should remain absent from bias or preconception and consider the 'axis for debate' when you work out the lines of the debate for both sides of the argument.
Guidance is regularly updated on the BBC editorial guidelines so you must always make sure that you are up to date with any changes they may add. They are editorially justified and always fit for the audience.
There is also something called 'product prominence' which is where you should avoid undue prominence when attributes appear on chat shows and similar programmes to promote a new film, book or product. Proper editorial discussion is acceptable however shows like Graham Norton are really pushing the boundaries for this category as he is always holding up Cd's and book releases on his show.
The main differences between broadcasting and newspapers is that broadcasters need to remain impartial whereas newspapers do not. The sanctions of Ofcom include: a direction not to repeat the programme, corrections or findings must be broadcast, impose fines 5% of revenue which for ITV is a lot of money and they can revoke the broadcast license.
The ITV were fined 5.68 million for the Ant and Dec phone service scandal where they seriously mislead the public phoning in to a live programme when they were not doing so. The BBC Attorney General refuses to let the public see letters to minsters however the Court of Appeal 12th March that we should be allowed to know what the people say.
In the news on the 5th March there was a debate between Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage about whether to have an EU live debate on the TV. The way the press are managed is changing due to the phone hacking scandal which has put a focus on press ethics.
IPSO- independent press standards organisation was set up by the papers themselves. This may work in the future as a press regulator. The government wanted the Royal Charter statute regulation to be more prominent however the papers think that this contains too much state intervention for them to be able to run smoothly. This statute law has been passed however it still currently remains inactive.
The PCC remained silent throughout the phone hacking scandal and never had a word to say about what happened. They were supposed to stand up for the public however failed to do so. The newspapers are more of a self regulator as there has never been any real sanctions or fines on them for hacking etc.
Trust is a big driver of behaving properly as a journalist- if you treat people properly then they will talk to you and you will gain a good reputation. BBC Peter Fincham resigned after an investigation into his footage that misrepresented the Queen.
There was also the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross phone prank scandal that aired live on TV on the BBC. The BBC were fined £150,000 by Ofcom and it ended Jonathan Ross's series on the BBC. Ofcom does regulate parts of the BBC if the BBC make a large editorial error as mentioned in the story above. There is also the NUJ code of conduct that regulates. The BBC have their own Royal Charter and agreement with parliament that is regulated by the BBC Trust and BBC governing body as well as their own editorial guidelines and the BBC complaints commission unit which is similar to those of Ofcom.
The codes guide us through ethical issues and help us with how far we can go to get a story. One of these guidelines is to respect the privacy of the bereaved. The test is to decide whether the story is in the public interest. Undercover investigation and secret filming can be justified by public interest based on prima-facie evidence.
The purpose of the law is specific and limited. The codes provide a benchmark for behaviour and reassure the audiences that they can build trust. Broadcasting is more intrusive as it contains moving image, sounds and can imitate experiences more vividly than photos or text.
The Ofcom code March 2013: states harm and offence- section 2- swearing on TV and the 9pm watershed where talks about sex, nudity, violence and death have to be regulated these before 9pm due to children watching. Suicide and self harm must not be shown unless justified editorially.
Section 3 states that crime should not be glamorised and the details should be kept hidden as they could enable commission of crime and people could copy it. Section 7 discusses 'fairness' and to avoid unfair treatment to others/ organisations.
The Lee Rigby footage that was shown at the time he was killed with a man holding a knife and blood all over his hands was in the public interest. They were incredible pictures with Lee lying on the floor behind him dead. However they were shown on the 6pm news but the editors made sure that a warning was played before the images were shown to warn its audience of what was about to be broadcast. They did show less of this story at 6pm than they did later on in the night due to the watershed regulation.
WINOL last week did a similar story where they had CCTV footage of a man being punched in the face which lead him to fall over. This was shocking footage as the man died in hospital later on in the evening. All broadcasters should not show the moment of death however they can show leading up to it as in this case.
You should also always consider the effect the material has on its viewers/ listeners if they come across your story unawares such as turning on the TV half way through a package.
Door stepping is filming or recording (section 8) of an interview or an attempt to get an interview with someone being filmed/recorded for broadcast purposes without warning. The former editor of The Sun was libel for the Hillsborough incident. Alex Thomson from channel 4 shows an extreme example of door stepping when trying to get Kelvin MacKenzie to speak. Its defence was that it was in the public interest and and that he is well known, you cannot do this to someone from the general public.
Impartiality is not required for newspapers hence the likes of The Sun or The Daily Mail who are free to talk about immigrants and can be partial in their writing. However it is a requirement for broadcasters to remain impartial to topics. This also means that packages should remain absent from bias or preconception and consider the 'axis for debate' when you work out the lines of the debate for both sides of the argument.
Guidance is regularly updated on the BBC editorial guidelines so you must always make sure that you are up to date with any changes they may add. They are editorially justified and always fit for the audience.
There is also something called 'product prominence' which is where you should avoid undue prominence when attributes appear on chat shows and similar programmes to promote a new film, book or product. Proper editorial discussion is acceptable however shows like Graham Norton are really pushing the boundaries for this category as he is always holding up Cd's and book releases on his show.
The main differences between broadcasting and newspapers is that broadcasters need to remain impartial whereas newspapers do not. The sanctions of Ofcom include: a direction not to repeat the programme, corrections or findings must be broadcast, impose fines 5% of revenue which for ITV is a lot of money and they can revoke the broadcast license.
The ITV were fined 5.68 million for the Ant and Dec phone service scandal where they seriously mislead the public phoning in to a live programme when they were not doing so. The BBC Attorney General refuses to let the public see letters to minsters however the Court of Appeal 12th March that we should be allowed to know what the people say.
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