Legal Constraints In The Media

When creating a media product, the producers of the product must take into many legal constraints, these are the rules and regulations that must be obeyed when creating products, if they do not obey these it may lead to prosecution, and other actions. These include if broadcasting or publishing something that is not true, damaging someone reputation means that the producer could get sued by the person the information was broadcasted about. 

The can also not produce anything that may deprave or corrupt, as they cannot produce something that lawyers haven't checked over before being released in-case of to much sexually explicit, violence or drug taking as if it is and it is broadcasted the film can be banned from the country and also the producers can be took to court.

They also need to make sure they don't publish anything that will break the Privacy Human Rights Laq as this can lead to the producers company being shut down. Also making sure they do not copy any work from other producers without permission as they other producers can take them to court and get them sued for not having copyrights. They also need to know is not to publish information from someone's phone or hack into something that is private and none of their business as this could lead to company closure also.

Obscenity Law

The definition of this is content that is "likely to deprave and corrupt" the audience for which it is intended. Lawyers may need to check whether a production breaks this law before it is released. Content such as sexually explicit, violent and/or drug taking is reviewed for suitability. Decisions are made dependent on factors such as age range of the audience, the time a production is broadcast. An example of this is the Human Centipede 2 was band in the UK for being related to sexual violence, graphic gore, breach of law relating to obscenity.

Libel Law

You can be sued for damages if you publish or broadcast things about a person which are untrue and damage their reputation (defame them) The law was created to protect individuals or organisations from unwarranted, mistaken or untruthful attacks on their reputation.

An example of this is Lord McAlpine as someone tweeted that he was part of a pedophile ring which targeted children at a care home in Wrexham, he pursued Sally Bercow wife of commons speakers John over comments she made on a social networking site.

Privacy Human Rights Law 1998

If a media company publishes information about someone which is information that should be considered private, that is to say, information in respect of which you had a 'reasonable expectation of privacy', then legal action for misuse of private information can be brought under the Human Rights Act 1998.

An example of this is a French magazine breaking a law as they put a picture of the Duchess of Cambridge in their magazine and she was topless sunbathing.

Official Secrets Act

It is a criminal offence to obtain or publish any information from a serving or former member of the security and intelligence services or from certain categories of civil servants or public contractors where that disclosure would be damaging.

An example of this would be News of the World phone hacking scandal were they hacked into Millie Dowler's phone.

Copyright and Intellectual Property Law This law exists to protect people's creative endeavors so that they can properly benefit from their work. If such protection didn't exist and people were able to copy or sell or profit from another's work, there would be little incentive for people to create in the first place. Program-makers are responsible for ensuring that all necessary clearances (copyright, trademarks etc.) have been obtained for their programs.

An example of this would be I tunes film breaking the copyright law as Russian films are being made available through Apple's I tunes service without the consent of the copyright holders, the films were old favorites Gentlemen of fortune, Assa, The diamond arm, Kin-dza-dza and Cheburashka despite their age the films and cartoons are still protected by copyright.

Media Ethics

Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton advertising.

The ethical constraints are listed below with descriptions and examples:

Protecting Under 18's : protecting the privacy of children and getting the parents of the child's consent, for example shows such as celebrity juice and big brother, which include drinking, offensive language, smoking and adult topics are always shown after 9pm. Also if a child is being featured on a TV show, such as the news the company must have the parent of the child's consent allowing them to be featured.

Power to influence the public: where the company can twist sound or video clips to make the public something that is possibly not true. For example when interviewing people for publication, television or radio they are boundaries that need to be met so peoples opinions cannot have an impact on the public's opinions.

Interviewing vulnerable people or children : The should know when the time is right to interview someone, for example if someone is grieving from a loss and they're is going to be an article written about the person who has passed away, they should give the grieving person time to cope with the loss before interviewing them about a sensitive subject. This also applies to children because they will not know any better.

Intruding on individuals privacy: this means knowing their boundaries, and knowing not when to disturb a member of the public. For example when images of The Duchess of Cambridge topless where taken whilst on holiday this was an invasion of her privacy. 

Anything that would cause offence or harm: this means understanding what could cause viewers or listeners harm. For example at the begins and ends of shows there are warnings if it something that could cause distress to the viewers. For example at the ends of Hollyoaks and EastEnders they're are helplines that help people who have been upset or effected by topics featured in the show.

I will now apply these constraints to different TV genres:

Reality TV Shows: Protecting Under 18's is main constraint that must be followed in this genre, as they include drinking, bad language and adult themes. Such as shows like Made In Chelsea and The Only Way Is Essex talk about topic such as sex and relationships, aswell as showing nudity, drinking and sometimes drug taking. Also these shows always have to be shown at 9pm.

Drama: Shows such as EastEnders, Call the Midwife and Sherlock must be careful when showing things that might cause offence or harm to people, for example showing violence they must be careful not to take things to extreme. They must also warn viewers before showing the programme that some parts of the show may cause offence.

Comedy Shows: these shows must be careful so they're content does not cause harm to certain individuals or groups of people, for example comedian Frankie Boyle does not take this into consideration, as he cracks jokes that have caused offence to difference cultural groups, and many celebrity's including Jimmy Savile and the royal family. The must also be careful when using bad language, as this can also cause offence.

Talk Shows and Current Events shows: These shows must both follow constraint of intruding privacy and the privacy of individual people, for example shows such as Watchdog must ask peoples permission to be included in the show, if they do not do so they have intruded peoples privacy and could be fined by that person.

The Structure and Ownership in the Creative Media Sectors

TV Sector

The television is a series of moving images edited together to create a program or a film. The first public television was shown in Selfridges and Co, London in the March of 1925 and was created by John Logie Baird. From 1925 till the late 19th century their was only 3 or 4 TV channels including the BBC, which created British TV history producing shows such as Doctor Who, Porridge and many others. It also spring boarded the careers of actors such as Sir David Jason and Ronnie Barker.

Now their is nine terrestrial broadcasters including the BBC, ITV , Channel 4, Five, SC4, SMG and UTV. These companies are called public service broadcasters, with a range of obligations set out in their licences. Their is also 300 cable and satellite broadcasters. This sub sector is ruled by international company's such as Disney, Sky, Virgin Media, Discovery and Viacom. Although the largest percentage of the industry is made up of 850 independent production companies making many famous well known programs on television for example : Syco Entertainment founded by Simon Cowell in 2002, has produced shows such as the X factor and Britain's got Talent. This company has also produced film's such as One Direction : This is Us and One Chance. 

The biggest company's gather more than £100- 200 million per year and employ thousands of people in the course of a year, but the ordinary production company is much smaller than this.  

Television stations get their income from companies paying them to advertise and sponsor their shows, which usually are to do with companies and products that the TV shows target audience will be attracted too. Such as for ITV, the tour DE France which is a sport program, is sponsored by a sports fitness product which is the Wii U. Aswell as their various weather shows are sponsored by travel companies and places.

Film Sector

The UK's film industry is part of a constantly evolving creative media landscape. When talking about the film industry, we refer to it in six separate parts: Development, Production, Facilities, Distribution, Exhibition and Export. The nature of the industry means production companies are often set up for specific production companies are usually set up for a specific production and the shut down The latest research shows there are around 400 'permanent'(registered) companies in the film industry, this figure varies depending on the number of productions being worked on at any one time.

Of the companies existing today, we can say approximately 43% are production, 13% are distribution and the remaining 44% are exhibition companies.In 2006, the UK film industry contributed £4.3 billion to the UK economy, up from £3.1 billion in 2004. The UK industry is an independent creator of feature films, a co-production partner and a provider of services to the international film industry. In 2007, UK production activity was £747 million, making it the fourth highest production year on record.

Inward investment productions including Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and indigenous productions such as Brideshead Revisited and How To Lose Friends and Alienate People were just some of the productions made in the UK. 516 films were released across the UK in 2007, a 58% increase over the decade. UK films, including co-productions, accounted for 21% of releases and 29% of the market by value. In 2007 the UK had the largest number of digital screens in Europe at 296 screens, double the number in 2006.While it is usually the cinematic release of a film that establishes its reputation, over half the revenues of the industry in the UK come from DVD/video retail and rental. Film companies get their income from its box office totals, for example The Hunger Games : Catching Fire box office total was $859,682,902, The movies income also came from DVD total selling, merchandise, product placement, as well as products that advertised in the movie

Radio Sector

During the 1860's, Scottish Physicist James Clerk Maxwell predicted the existence of radio waves. And in 1886 the German Physicist Heinrich Rudolph Hertz demonstrated that rapid variations of electric current could be projected into space in the form of radio waves similar to those of light and heat. In 1866, Mahlon Loomis, an American dentist, successfully demonstrated "wireless telegraphy." Loomis was able to make a meter connected to one kite cause another one to move, marking the first known instance of wireless aerial communication. Guglielmo Marconi, an Italian inventor, proved the feasibility of radio communication. He sent and received his first radio signal in Italy in 1895. By 1899 he flashed the first wireless signal across the English Channel and two years later received the letter "S", telegraphed from England to Newfoundland. This was the first successful transatlantic radiotelegraph message in 1902.

Radio operators fall into three broad categories: publicly-funded radio, commercial radio and the community and voluntary radio sector - from well-established student and hospital radio to the most recently licensed community radio stations. The industry has been growing steadily in recent years and now employs over 22,000 people (more than terrestrial TV) in a wide range of occupations. Employers range in size from the BBC and larger commercial radio groups to not-for-profit community radio stations run mainly by volunteers.he main source of income for radio comes from advertising, for example TFM is the main advertiser for Middlesbrough College. Some radio stations get their money from grants, donations and pledges this is usually the main source of income for community radio stations. BBC radio stations get their sources of income from licences.

Animation Sector

The animation Industry in the UK consists of a large workforce that stretches across many of the in the creative media industries. You will find animated content on television, in feature films, commercials, websites and computer or video games. Just over 2000 people work in animation in the UK, half of them freelance, and there are currently more than 300 companies producing a range of work. Animation is a relatively small sector that is growing in success and popularity. Flexible scheduling by broadcasters has increased opportunities for animators and the internet provides another platform for short and experimental work. Big-budget features such as Toy Story have enjoyed great commercial success and 2002 saw the introduction of the first ever Oscar for an animated feature, won by Dreamwork’s Shrek.

 The Animation Sector is divided into four main sectors: •2D drawn or traditional; •2D computer generated •stop frame; and •3D computer generated. Most companies will concentrate on one discipline and but some studios do all four. There are a wide range of freelance, some contract, and some more permanent jobs in animation. These can be found at small production companies, larger studios, computer generated post production facility houses and at computer games developers or interactive media designers. Animation is extremely expensive to make, labour intensive and time consuming and it can take up to two years to create and produce just 30 minutes of animation.This has placed a heavy emphasis on good project management and good teamwork; the skills shortages in this sector reflect the need for people who can adapt to busy production schedules. But balanced against this is the popularity of animation and the fact that it can easily be translated into other languages, for worldwide sales. Budgets for animated features may be in excess of $60 million, but the sale of products, such as books and toys, plus the potential for high box office returns, can usually more than compensate for the initial investment.

The UK has an excellent reputation for creativity and technology, but high production costs mean that less than 5% of the animation currently seen on our TV screens originated here. But unlike some other sectors in the creative media industries, animation has a number of distinct and highly successful centers of excellence outside London; including Bristol, Manchester and Dundee. Most of the money spent on animation is associated with the advertising industry and competition for commissions is fierce. But the UK also leads the world in the production of pre-school storytelling and design, and this area continues to attract investors. Other products include: •feature films •children’s programmes •games •music promos •titles and idents •CD-Roms (for educational purposes) •adult comedy and drama

Publishing Sector

Publishing is made up of different industry's, these include ; books, newspapers, magazines and various other information services. Depending on the form of industry, the occupations and roles are diverse. This also means the quantity of people working in the industry varies.

The industry consists of a majority of small company's : 88 percent of them having less than 10 employees, for example independent magazine Rebel is published by University of Northampton graduate, Namal Lanka who as well as publishing, is the editor and creative director. The team is also made up of emerging fashion graduates, independent designers and unpublished writer's. Although the magazine is independent and made up of a minuscule team, the online readership of the first issue of the magazine reached in excess of 25,000, which prompted the publishers to print a limited amount of copies.

Whilst on the other hand, fashion publications Vogue was founded in 1892 by Arthur Turnure, which was then bought my Conde Montrose Nast in 1905 and the publication began to grow. By 1920 the publication was available in five different country's including the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and France. This was all because of the new nast management which increased the publication and its profits. As the magazine grew bigger and now available in 22 different countries all around the world, each magazine in every country has a team of over 100 people working together to create this fashion publication including directors, editor's, assistants, researchers as well contributors for example : Kate Moss is a contributing fashion editor in the Vogue UK.

As of October 2013, the average print circulation of vogue is 11.3 million, whilst the websites average monthly audience is 1.6 million. The median readers age is 37, while the gender split of the readership is 87% female and 13 % male.

The main geographical area of employment for publishing in the UK is London and the south east. The east of England is next followed by South West, Scotland and the North West. In Wales ans Northern Ireland the sector is predominantly made up of smaller publishers and news media.When creating an animation, alot of television and animation company's combine together to fund the animation program. For example when filming a huge animation feature film such as the Toy Story trilogy, these are very expensive and time consuming to produce. The industry get their income from how many sales and downloads the publication gets, this also includes subscriptions the magazine receives. They also get paid by company's to advertise their products such as Company magazine mostly advertises beauty brands such Revlon, Tressemme and Rimmel. They also include freebies from these brands as testers.

Games Sector

The first games were launched in the 1960s. By the 1970s there was a recognized Games Industry with video arcades and home entertainment consoles. Home computing got big in the 1980s and brought a period of huge expansion and creative innovation. Games became an industry, and moved away from 2 or 3 talented, devoted creative “mavericks” being responsible for every aspect of a project. Developing top of the range Computer Game titles now involves large teams of people, and costs millions of pounds.

It begins with market research and development in national and international operations. Teams of people then work to produce design documents from which all the elements that make up the final game are drawn and which sets down all possible paths the games can take players and any of the mechanics of actual gameplay that are relevant. If the game has story or narrative elements scripting and story-boarding also takes place.

Working from this design document the technical aspects of the game are decided and the game code, animation, graphics audio production and special effects follow. The application of the technical expertise then turns the creative products into paths for gamers to enjoy. Teams work on the projects in a system of production much like producing a movie. Like movies the risk is great – the game may not grab audiences, the investors may lose money.

But like movies, Games can be successful globally, and the profit margin per unit can be far more than that per viewer for movies. Like movies games often feature well known franchises and blockbuster sequels which greatly enhance the commercial success of the sector. Sales of entertainment software outstrip the video rental market and cinema box office spending, and the growth in the software and hardware market is set to go on rising. More games are being purchased worldwide and UK companies are contributing to that success. On the app store, if they app is free they make money from advertisements which pop up on the apps, whilst if the app comes at a cost the income comes from how many downloads the app gets, such as the game tiny wings has got 6.5 million downloads and cost £0.60.

Games Consoles and Games get their income from how many copies of the games are sold, and the on-line downloads. As well as on-line subscriptions, they also get alot of income come from buying extras for the game and other merchandise such as toys and clothing.

Interactive Media Sector

The interactive media industry is a very fluid sector with many overlaps with, and blurred distinctions between, other sectors. In particular, as interactive media products become more sophisticated, their development increasingly has greater overlap with the software and IT sector. As convergence gathers pace, the boundaries between interactive media and other forms of digital media become yet more blurred - particularly as television broadcasters look to multi-platform, ‘360 degree' commissioning models.

In a rapidly evolving industry, any definition of it risks quickly becoming out of date.Interactive media itself is a vague and often misunderstood term. We must look not just at what the sector does and who does it, but also at other stakeholders who operate in the grey area at its fringes, as well as considering those who use its products. The market for interactive media contributes to a number of significantly larger markets. This is taking into account those who enable it, buy from it and, in turn, are enabled or supported by it.

The biggest of these are e-commerce and online advertising. The UK's interactive media industry is worth several billion pounds annually, but its products support a far larger economy.Definition of the sector is difficult not only because of the pace of change, but also because there are many companies and individuals involved in interactive media who more accurately fit within other sectors. In many ways it is not so much a sector as a discipline, as its creation and use is increasingly becoming part of everyday activity across all sectors of industry in general. 

Their main source of income is advertising which means company's pay the websites to advertise their services and products, for example Facebook advertise Ticketmaster, iTunes and restaurants. They also get their income from downloads, such as Spotify premium pays 9.99 for its service. Also services such as Netflix, which is a subscription is also a way of gaining income.

Advertising Sector

Advertising is a form of communication intended to persuade an audience to take some action, usually to purchase or consume a product or service. It is totally focused on the client and the client's marketing or advertising need for a brand or product. It crosses multiple platforms from broadcast, print, billboard and online.

It is a sector which leads the way with cross-platform innovation as campaigns cross boundaries between TV, radio, print, billboard and interactive media. Job roles within advertising are varied and include copy writing, creative, media planning and buying, account management, production and client services.

There are around 13,000 business in the sector who produce £6.2 billion of the UK GVA annually. Around 70% of the industry is based in London, with the north west having the second largest concentration at 6%. It is a young industry with 47% under 34. 46% of the workforce is female and only 6% is from black, Asian or ethnic minorities (source: Creative and Cultural Skills, 2007). It's importance as a sector to the broadcast and print industries are crucial. Advertising funds 75% of commercial television, 95% of national press, 80% of magazines, and 95% of commercial radio. Without advertising revenue the quality and quantity of programming and editorial would suffer (Source: IPA, 2008).

Most people in advertising fall into five departments: •Account Services - who liaise with clients and maintain their relationship. •Creatives - who generate the ideas and concepts for a campaign. This may be for one platform or across multiple platforms. •Production - this team moves the ideas from the creative concept into reality. Some of the larger advertisers may have these services in house, but the majority of agencies will need to have good contacts with production companies and facilities houses. •Media - the media planners work with the different elements of the media that advertising crosses. This department organised where the campaign will be seen to create the maximum effect. •Other Services - these may include researchers, interns (who may work across several departments) and a traffic department which looks at the flow of the agencies work. Company's pay other sectors and company's to advertise their services and products which is their main source of income.Advertising is linked to all the other media sectors. Product placement is also a good way of earning money, such as Holly-oaks are sponsored by VO5 and Impulse, as well them featuring their products in the show.

Photography Sector The total Photo Imaging workforce comprises around 43,100 people. 51% of these are based in the south of England, with the largest proportion - some 38% - in London and the South East. The rest of the workforce is spread throughout Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the remaining regions of England, with the highest concentrations in the South West (13%) and the East of England (12%). The Photo Imaging industry is made up of 8,700 companies, two thirds (68%) of which are sole trading or freelance photographers. The remaining companies can be broadly divided into the following categories: •Image producers (including laboratories and minilabs) •Photo retail •Picture libraries and agencies •Manufacturers •Support services (e.g. equipment hire and repair) 

In each individual Media Sector their are many sources of income applied to them; Whether this being a movies box office takings or how many copies of a magazines publication are sold daily.

I will now talk about the many sources of income that are applied to each sector.Photographers sell their work to company's and publications for money, for example doing a 6 page spread photo shoot for VOGUE magazine for black and white images you could get paid $150-200 per image, and for color $300-500 per image. Whilst wedding photographers cost a minimum of £1000.

Public Sector

The Public Sector (also known as the state or government sector) is funded by the public paying their TV licensees and through taxation, instead of relying on advertising and sponsors to fund the corporation. For example the BBC is funded by the public,using their funds to be able to keep there corporation running and to create and air their television programs, this runs across all BBC Channels and Radio Stations, including BBC1,BBC2,BBC3,BBC4,CBeebies and CBBC.

Private Sector

The Private Sector (also know as the citizen sector) is funded by the corporation advertising and having sponsors to fund the corporation. For example ITV and Channel 4 show advertisements and there programs are sponsored, meaning they use the money from the advertisements to run and create their programs. This runs across all ITV and Channel 4 channels , including ITV1,ITV2,ITV3 and ITV4, also Channel 4, E4, More4 and 47. For example Hollyoaks which is broadcasted on Channel 4 is sponsored by Impulse and VO5. Whilst Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway which is broadcasted on ITV1 is sponsored by Morrisons, and through out its airing time, the advertisements also feature Morrisons.

Community Sector

The Community Sector (also known as the volunteer sector) is a network of national community organisations working with communities in the UK. There are currently 30 members with a wider membership of approximately 70,000 organisations. The Community Sector has many Visions, Missions and Aims these include ; To be a credible and authoritative independent voice for the community sector, To campaign for policy change that will benefit the community sector, To deliver a programme of research and learning about the community sector and to enable members to share information and identify priorities for collective action.

The Community Sector Coalition was established in 1994 by a group of Chief Executives of national umbrella organisations whose work focused on the community sector. They met to establish a Coalition of organisations that wanted to champion the unique contribution that the community sector makes to society.

Since 1994 the Coalition has met regularly to share information, network, develop joint projects and respond collectively to Government policy. The added value that is generated through members working together ensures that resources are used more effectively across organisational boundaries and that a stronger, unified voice campaigns on issues vital to the sector

Conglomerate 

A media conglomerate, media group or media institution is a company that owns large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing,movies, and the Internet. Media conglomerates strive for policies that facilitate their control of the markets around the world. The two largest media conglomerate's are The Walt Disney Company which is spread across television, movies and radio. As well as News Corporation founded by Rupert Murdoch which includes New's International, Dow Jones and Company, HarperCollins and The Fox Entertainment Company.

Takeover

When an acquiring company makes a bid for a target company. If the takeover goes through, the acquiring company becomes responsible for all of the target company’s operations, holdings and debt. When the target is a publicly traded company, the acquiring company will make an offer for all of the target’s outstanding shares.

Merger

The combination of one or two more corporations, LLCs or other business entities into a single business entity; the joining of two or more companies to achieve greater effinciencies of a scale and productivity.