The whole idea of Copyright is to give the creator of original material rights on how and who uses there material. However the exclusive rights usually last on limited time, but it usually last for about 70 years.
Copyright is a huge thing in the Media and working in this industry you will come across Copyright quite a lot. You can find issues with copyright in every single Sector in Media and it is important that you know what you can and cant do when it comes to producing work.
In the case of Copy right it is offensive and against the law if you do the following acts with the owners permission:
- Copy the owners work.
- To rent out copies of the owners work to the public.
- broadcast and show the owners work.
A good example of Copyright was when Universal Music sued Groove shark. Universal Music group filed a massive lawsuit against Groove shark due to copyright infringement It was supposed that Groove shark uploaded 100,000 song files buy Groove sharks company employees. Groove sharks general counsel Marshall Custer made a statement. It simply explained that Universals claims were only based on a false internet blog comment. Groove shark then went on to fight Universals and prevent the true full facts to the court.
Broadcasting Act
1990 (and later
amendments)
The broadcasting Act is all about the reformations of British Broadcasting in British television. The Interdependent Broadcasting Authority was replaced by both Independent Television Commission and also the Radio Authority who have now also been replaced with Ofcom.
The Broadcasting act came about after something called the Peacock committee. The Peacock Committee was a review on the financing into the BBC. It was Margaret Thatcher that initiated it. The Government expected the committee would report that the BBC television licence fee, used to fund BBC had been scrapped. However they didn't has the Committee thought that favoring retaining the licence fee was a good idea as they thought is was the least worst option.
The immediate recommendations of the report were:
- BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 should be privatized.
- All television receivers should be built fitted with encryption decoders.
- The television licence fee should be indexed to inflation and the BBC should become responsible for the collection of the licence fee.
- The licence fee should be extended to car radios.
- Pensioners dependent on benefits should be exempt from the licence fee.
- Not less than 40% of the BBC’s and ITV’s output should be sourced from independent producers.
- The transmission space used by the BBC and ITV overnight should be sold.
- ITV Franchises should be put out to competitive tender
- Channel 4 should be able to sell its own advertising.
- Censorship should be phased out.
On December 14 1999 a London based radio station called Xfm was fined £50,000. They received this fine as it has been seen that they had breached the Broadcasting Act and the Programmers Code during two morning breakfast shows. During this Breakfast show it contained descriptions of bestiality highly offensive language and ill-judged references to sexual matters and pornography.
Official Secrets Act 1989
The Official Secrets act is used in the UK, Ireland, India, Malaysi and and formerly in New Zealand and Canada. This legislation provides that state secrets, official information or anything related to national security be protected.
An MOD (Ministry of Defence) official had to appear in court as he was being charged with breaching the official Secrets act said by Scotland yard. He was accused of communicating information that would have been deemed usefull to an enemy state. In the act it states that a member of security of intelligence services discloses any information, document or a article relating to security or intelligence which the member has been in possession of he is then unlawfull.
Obscene Publications Act 1959
The Obscene Publications Act created a new offence when you publish material deemed as too obscene, repealing the common law offence of obscene libel. This law warrants Police to be able to seize such obscene material. However some things have been let go when the material is made for a educational purpose. The Act was used several time in big high-profile cases in the trails of Penguin Books for publishing Lady Chatterley's Lover, Oz and Schoolkids OZ.
The very first law offence was in 1972 when a published book 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' was deemed as photography and too obscene for readers. It contained sexual scenes and was banned in England and Wales after the trail.
Race Relations Act 1976
The Race Relations Act was put into place to make sure that there was no discrimination based on the grounds of race. This act was put in place by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Race, Colour, Nationality, Ethnic and National Origin in the fields of employment, the provision of goods and service education and public functions are all fields cover by this act. The act helps make sure that it actually prevents discrimination and also promotes race equality.
In 1977 18 year old Paula Robinson a Jamaica descendant reported that she was rejected from a sales assistant role in Habitat in Chelsea because of the Colour of her Skin. It was said that in her interview after looking at her education record she replied 'it was good for a black girl'. The interviewer claimed there was no full time vacancies however a friend of the girl confirmed that there was. Paula however lost the case.
In Media you have to be very careful especially on TV. On June 14th 2011 a New Zealand Broadcaster was given a fine of 2444 dollars for airing a racist joke on Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit during the TV Show. Also another TV show host, Paul Henry, was also criticized after making derogatory remarks against the Chief Minister as well.
In Media you have to be very careful especially on TV. On June 14th 2011 a New Zealand Broadcaster was given a fine of 2444 dollars for airing a racist joke on Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit during the TV Show. Also another TV show host, Paul Henry, was also criticized after making derogatory remarks against the Chief Minister as well.
There are many Human rights cases attached to Celebrities lately. Naomi Campbell was able to obtain damages from a newspaper as that published an image of her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Micheal Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones sued Hello! Magazine for Publishing unauthorized photos of their wedding. It was then that OK magazine could obtain redress as they had purchased the exclusive rights to the photographs which gave them the commercial value worthy of protection by the law.
Privacy Law
Privacy Law is all about the legal right to the protection of your person or private information from misuse or unauthorized disclosure. The Privacy Law is very distinct however has instances such as trespass or assault which is classed in the Physical Law. These laws would probably be apart of Criminal Law.
The very first celebrity case of the Privacy Law was with the British Radio DJ Sara Coxs who had a case against The People newspaper. The Newspaper printed naked pictures of her that were taken whilst on her honeymoon, she sued after the images where printed. However the case happened to be settled outside of court so there wasn't a verdict on the case.
Libel Law
Libel Law is all about the balance of freedom of speech and also the protection of an individuals reputation against a unjustified attack. Classed by the law defamation is when someone is ridiculed or shunned or is disparaged in his work by a statement. The only way you could build a defense against a libel case is when the the publisher can prove the statement made was true. So if an opinion is based on the true facts and not influenced by malice.
Kiera Knightley won a libel case against a story Daily Mail Printed on her earlier in the year.
Daily Mail accused Kiera knightley that she had a eating disorder They also claimed she was responsible of the death of a young girl who suffered from anorexia. The headline for the newspaper was "If pictures like this one of Kiera carried a health warning, my darling daughter might have lived" the headline was set next to an image of Kiera looking very thin in a bikini. However the same article then reported of the death of the girl.
This statement could then change the public's perspective on Kiera and turn people against her which is then going to affect her work and damage her reputation that's why she won the case.
Ethics
Ethics is entirely different than Legal constraints. Legal is where it is against the Law to do something however ethics is all about peoples opinion on what is right and what is wrong. Because of this you will find that a lot of people will disagree with what they think is wrong and right.
When talking about ethics you have to be aware that you are treating people with the respect that they deserve. Certain subjects might be sensitive to some people and might offend someone. If you were filming someone you need to make sure the shots are done with taste and decency so that it wont damage the persons reputation.
A good example of ethics is when the BBC Radio show host Jonathan Ross and show guest Russell Brand rang 78 year old Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs. They left a message on the actors answering machine using shocking and offensive language about Russell Brand having sex with the actors granddaughter Georgina. Although this action wasn't against the law the Actor was left embarrassed and extremely offended by the phone call. Many people expressed that this shouldn't have been aloud to be aired. However many people thought the prank call was funny therefor its a matter of ethics whether its wrong or right.
This act came with a lot of consequences. 37,000 complaint were made to the BBC. Jonathan Ross was suspended for 12 weeks without pay. BBC Trust stated that the incident was a "very, very serious failure in a radio program where editorial judgment was exercised that seriously let BBC down." BBC was then fined £150,000 from OFCOM and had to produce a register of high risk programs.
Ofcom's Broadcasting Code applies in the following areas:
Protection of under 18's
Harm and Offense
Avoidance of inciting crime or disorder
Responsible approach to religious content
Prohibition of use of images of very brief duration
Fairness
Privacy
Looking back to what Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand did i think that they broke two broadcasting codes, Fairness and Privacy. This is because they revealed private information about Andrew Sach's granddaughter Georgia.
Leveson Inquiry
The Leveson Inquiry is all about the look into the practices and ethic into the British Press. This inquiry is chaired by Justice Leveson who was appointed in July 2011 after the News Internationale Phone Hacking Scandal. Public hearings were held all through out 2011 and 2012. The Leveson Inquiry was hoping to replace the Press Complaint Commission.
The Leveson Inquiry has been building up over many years. Evidence from Celebrities and Victims has been gathering to build a huge case in hopes that change will be made.
It was in 2000 that the phone hacking allegations came out with the voice mail hacking of Missing girl Milly Dower. Prince William himself found that his phone was hacked buy a private investigator called Glenn Mulcaire in 2005 however he was then arrested in 2006 and then jailed for 7 months after hacking the royals. However it was only in 2011 on the 10th of July that the News of the World closed down. It was then three days later that the Prime Minister announced a two-part inquiry investigating the role of the press in the phone hacking scandals.
Victims
Below is some of the victims of phone hacking and News of the World articles.
In 2000 allegations of the phone hacking came about and the News of the world newspaper hacked into Milly Dowlers phone after she had gone missing. They hacked into her phone clearing her voice mail which it then appeared to the Parents of Milly that she was in fact alive.
I think that this is extremely wrong and so did most other people. Many people claimed that this wasn't a criminal offense but when it came to the girls parents, they were given false hope to that their daughter was alive. This incident became a big part of the case.
JK Rowling was a big part of the Leverson case. She expressed in her statement on how the press hound her children as she tries to keep them out of the public eye. Reporters and photographers have stood outside the families home waiting for a picture. A incident happened when her daughter was 8 and pictures appeared in OK magazine of her in a bikini on the family holiday. She also felt that her children weren't safe at their own school as her 5 year old daughter came home with a letter from a journalist in her bag. She said that she had taken action against the news papers over 50 times and was driven to hide her children under blankets to keep them out of the paper. She said she felt hounded and driven out of her own home and felt her privacy was invaded.
JK Rowling was a big part of the Leverson case. She expressed in her statement on how the press hound her children as she tries to keep them out of the public eye. Reporters and photographers have stood outside the families home waiting for a picture. A incident happened when her daughter was 8 and pictures appeared in OK magazine of her in a bikini on the family holiday. She also felt that her children weren't safe at their own school as her 5 year old daughter came home with a letter from a journalist in her bag. She said that she had taken action against the news papers over 50 times and was driven to hide her children under blankets to keep them out of the paper. She said she felt hounded and driven out of her own home and felt her privacy was invaded.
Think of JK Rowling's case I think she is exactly right. Although she herself has been in the papers and the public eye her children should be left alone and kept out of the papers. Magazines should not be aloud to print pictures of young children without the parents position.
Charlotte Church has a good case again Rupert Murdoch as I think he took advantage of a 13 year old girl who was vulnerable. She deserved the settlement she was given.
Hugh Grant wrote a statement on his events and dealings that he had with the press. Hugh Grants statement was all about how him and his partner were hounded and harassed. He said that Tinglan his partner was often frightened when photographers came close to her to take pictures. He didn't feel that he could trust the hospital staff that they wouldn't leak to the press about the birth of his baby therefor her thought it was best that he wasn't there for the birth. False information was often printed in the papers and and also mistaken his girlfriend for a actress. She was also hounded with phone calls and texts from unknown numbers.
Hugh Grant is exactly right in his statement and has a good case. During the time his partner was given birth he couldn't be there and that is the restrictions that photographers give to celebrities.
Kate and Gerry Mcann parent of Missing Madeline Mcann also gave evidence. Gerry was going to be giving a oral statement. He expressed that the press made life unbearable when Maddy was abducted. Also during the time Maddy was taken Kate kept a diary of how she was feeling and soon found extracts of her diary in a tabloid newspaper. Also soon after storied where printed of how Kate and Gerry could have been involved in Maddy's dissapearance.
When it comes to the public they can sometimes judge people on the stories that are printed. When it was printed that Kate and Gerry were involved it wasn't something that has been proven in court. Not only could this have a devastating effect on the couple during this time but as they were doctors it could have damaged their reputation and work.
Sienna Miller made accusation to the Leveson inquiry on how she felt paranoid as private detail of her life was reveal in papers and how she felt someone close to her was leaking information. She found that photographers were turning up at meetings she had arranged on the phone even though she changed her number three times in three months. Sienner consulted the police and eventually wrote a report about her phone being hacked. She soon had written notes by a man name Glenn Mulcaire. On these notes was extremely private detail including account numbers, pin numbers important date in her life and so on.
It is ridiculous how much this Glen went to just to get details for a story. The private information he had on her also got passed on to other people and could have gotten in the hands of the wrong person. She said that she blamed friends during her paranoid moments therefor lost close friendships due to the News of the World.
Ryan Giggs decided to sue News of the world due to breach in privacy after his phone had been hacked by journalists working for the paper. Ryan already had rifts with the paper after he was fighting to conceal information on his affair with Imogene Thomas but was a fail when an MP named him in parliament and was then revealed due to peoples twitter post's. He was also fighting to keep information on another affair with his sister-in-law Natasha Gigg's.
Thinking off Ryan's case yes they invaded his privacy with the phone hacking. However I think in this case Ryan Gigg's deserved to be outed and shown his true colours. Although I do feel sorry for the other parties involved for example his wife, children and brother.
Heather Mills Made a claim about an incident that happened in 2001. She said that after having a row with her former husband Paul McCartney he left her 25 voice messages on her phone. Including one begging for her forgiveness. Piers Morgan told the inquiry that he had listened to one of the messages left by Paul but he didn't say what time or place he listened to it. However Heather denied that she authorized Piers or anybody to get access and listen to her voice mail.
She expressed how the Paper had made disgusting remarks about her accident after meeting Paul including 'one-legged bitch'. She also made a claim that News of the world hired unlicensed Photographers and that all Photographers should have a license.
I think the remarks and names that Heather was called is ridiculous and i would certainly agree with the fact that it was bullying. It would seem that Rupurt had a personal vendetta against Heather.
Anne Diamonds case is a shocking one. It would seem again that Ruport Murdoch had a huge vendetta against Anna after she interviewed him asking questions like "How do you sleep at night, knowing you destroy lives?". It was in 1987 in 'the Sun' when an article came out on the front page with the headlines "Anne Diamond killed my father". The story was based on a road traffic accident seven years earlier in which a man had died. 'The Sun' also offered her nanny £30,000 for a story and even infiltrated the hospital where she was giving birth by impersonating a doctor. She also told Lord Justice Leveson of how she was besieged by reports only an hour after her sons death and how the front page of the paper printed a picture of herself and her husband carrying her sons coffin at his funeral.
Looking at this report it just seems that Ruport wasn't happy with the questioning that Anna gave him and hes had a personal Vendetta since. Having the image of the funeral was disgusting and an extreme invasion of privacy. Also having an article about her murdering is extreme slander.
Looking back through all the research I have gathered on all The Legal and Ethical problems that I have found out, I've learned that when working in the Media whether its Publishing, TV, Film or Radio you have to consider every single person and make sure that no one is offended or that you don't breach any legal laws.
If I was a Producer on a Reality show their would be many thing that I would have to take into consideration. I would have to make sure that the people in the Show don't use Racist and that material that isn't too obscene. Any people who are filmed without permission wont she shown or faces are blurred to protect their privacy. Any music played in the show I would have to ask permission from the owner if it can be played or used. Although with realities for example 'Geordie Shore' as it does in fact hold strong language and sexual references as its shown after the watershed, it would have to have a warning at the beginning and after each break to make sure the public know exactly what the content holds therefor it is there choice to carry on watching. Any personal details on the people in my show will be protected to give them privacy.
If I was to write a book I could use Names of people I know. I couldn't use existing characters from other books without the permission of the owner. The Material inside the book wouldn't be too obscene and if it had strong language it would have a warning on the back. No references to makes or brands again with the owners permission or it could be seen as copyrighting.
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