Assignment 1- Legal and Ethical Considerations

Legal and Ethical Considerations in News

There are two different types of laws in the UK; criminal law and civil law.

Within media there are different types of rules and regulations, which must be followed within the industry. There are many different constraints facing media producers.

Libel/Slander is defamation via written words or images (as opposed to slander, which is defamation via spoken word). This is a civil offence and is to protect the reputation of an individual or individuals including companies. Newspapers would be libel since it is written and slander would be if something were said on radio. An example of slander is a case where George Galloway sued a Jewish radio station £15,000 and even got the station closed down, after a political spoof implied that he was an anti-semitic. A libel case was when The Daily Mirror branded Frankie Boyle a‘racist comedian’. Although Boyle had used derogatory language in his set, the court found him “a comedian who makes jokes about race” rather than “a racist comedian.” Boyle was rewarded £55,000.

When doing a report on a court case, the laws are designed to safeguard the accused’s right to a fair trial. The defendant cannot be described as “the killer” but can be named as “the accused” or the“alleged killer”. Reporting on a court case must be limited to what is said in court; therefore you cannot report on the history of an individual such as previous crimes and convictions. However it is sometimes allowed to name the individuals crimes (if they have any) after the verdict. Court reporters are not allowed to identify children under 16 years of age, nor name alleged victims of blackmail, rape and other sexual offences. No recording devices are allowed in court. During the trial of Ian Huntley, two Beacon FM radio presenters Mark Peters and Lisa Freame discussed Huntley’s testimony. The pair were immediately said from their jobs at the radio station, while the station itself ran the risk of being held in contempt of courts.

There is no specific law in the UK for privacy, although Article 8 of the Human Rights Act 1998 is designed “the right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.” People have different values on deciding what is ethic and what is not. Some people go to court to get injunctions, preventing the media from revealing certain information on grounds of privacy.

Ryan Giggs was named in parliament for having an injunction over an alleged affair with a reality TV star. A Lib Dem MP named the footballer during an urgent Commons question on privacy orders. Giggs’lawyers obtained a high court order asking Twitter to reveal details of users who had revealed his identity however it was impracticable to imprison 75,000 users.

Restrictions on Election Law only apply to broadcasters- they have to be impartial once an election is called. This only applies to radio, TV programmes and news coverage (broadcast only). The law doesn’t apply to newspapers, magazines or websites etc. They can support who they like because of “Freedom of the Press” Richard Murdoch who owns many newspapers around the country and practically all of them in Australia can help elect who they want for government. An example of a newspaper helping a government party is The Sun back in 1992, helping the Conservatives win the election with the headline, “It’s The Sun Wot Won It”.

In media ethical considerations have to be taken into count. Legal constraints are that it is an offence to incite racial or religious hatred. Basically media producers must be careful what they print even if someone else had said it (The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006). They must be careful not to allow racist remarks on phone ins, chat shows etc because they could be prosecuted. Even if a producer has an even balance with anti-racist views is not enough because racist remarks have been said.

The Official Secrets Act was originally brought in in 1911 due to concerns over foreign spies and saboteurs. It was revised in 1989 and was tightened up with what news could be withheld from public and what could not. It covered..

· Security and intelligence

· Defence

· International relations

· Confidential info from other governments or international organisations

· Information that could be useful to criminals

· Information about interception (opening and reading suspects mail)

An example of breaking the Official Secrets Act was when Edward Snow released a large number of top secret information to several media outlets.

The media industry must follow the rules of OFCOM (Office of Communications) which is a regulatory body, meaning it is accountable to parliament (and funded by the government). The body covers broadcasting and telecommunications. This also means that the public can complain to OFCOM if they are unhappy about something they see or hear. It covers the rules on: content for children, watersheds and protecting the public from “harmful and offensive” material. OFCOM last year released the most complaints for a show on TV. Big Brother came out top for the second year in a row. During its latest series, complaints surrounded several issues including racism, bullying and general fighting. The X Factor’s results show came second, with 734 complaints, 317 of which were complaints about an October broadcast featuring Lady Gaga performing in an “inappropriate outfit”. ITV News finished third, with 278 out of its 574 complaints relating to its coverage of Lee Rigby’s death.