Employment opportunities

Contracts

When finding and getting jobs in Media you will come across contracts. A contract is a legal document (contract) between and employer and employee. You will sign the contract and that will mean you have to follow the guidelines and rules that the contract highlights. A contract is important because it can protect the employee is they feel they are being mistreat or it can protect the employer if they feel they need to fire the employee because they feel they arent working as the contract says they should.

There are six different types of contracts that you might find when getting a job. These are;

• Full Time
• Part Time
• Fixed Term
• Freelanse
• On Completion
• Casual

Full Time

When you are given a full time contract you will probably be working from about 35-39 hours a week. With doing this it will probably mean that this job is your first priority and the only thing you will be consentrating on. You will most likely be set a annual wage for the year and this number wont change. In Media you will mostly find important jobs for example 'Producers' to be your full time jobs. The advantage of full time is that the hours you are contracted you will do therefor you are garanteed work and will be paid. The disadvantge is that with having this job you wont have any other time to do anything else and this job is your first priority.

Part Time

A part time contract is when you are have a job but will only be on a few hours. With Part time jobs you will find that they will mostly be doing other work on the side to support themselves. You will probably find that in a part time contract it will incolve  that the company can fire the emplyee if they feel that they arent working well. The advantage of this job is that you would be able to find work to do on the side.

Fixed Term

A fixed term in contract is when your hired but for a limited amount of time. However when that fixed time is over if the company dont like you they can let you go or if they think you work well they will carry on your employment. The advantage is that if you dont like the job you dont have to follow on after the fixed term is over. The disadvantage is that they can just let you go if they dont like you and you are then left jobless again.

Freelanse

Freelanse is when you are self employeed. You do a job yourself and are mainly working with short term jobs. When working in freelance it means you have to make great relationships as you get good buisness by building up a reputation therefor if you do a good job they will then refer you to someone else. You find alot of freelanse photographers in the media industry who advertise themselves on social networking sites. The advantage of this job is that you can work any flexible hours and turn down jobs you dont want to do. The disadvantage of freelanse is if you dont build up a reputation, you wont get jobs therefor you wont get paid.

On Completion

On Completion means that you are given a certain job with a timeline and you are then paid when the project is completed. A good example is say a magazine article. You will be told the article has to be written at certain time however if its not completed you pay will then be docked. The advantage is that you

Casual

A Casual contract is when you are assigned zero hours. This will mean that when the hours are available you well then be given them to work.

Dream Job

 

 

 



Regulatory bodies

In the Media industry content produced in the UK is designed by certain codes and guide lines. These code have been written up by the main regulatory bodies. Regulatory bodies are put into place to mainly protect the public. They impose restrictions and make sure the Media stick to certain standards. Some Regulatory bodies can hold investigations and could then fine the company or order certain measures.

Here are the five Regulatory Bodies in Media.

ASA stands for 'Advertising standards authority'. ASA is a self regulating body which is but into to place to watch over and monitor the distribution of advertisements in the UK. They are in charge or regulating most forms of advertisements including billboards to small advertisements on the internet.

ASA take in thousands of different complaints every year therefor they have to make sure that advertisements that they put in place don't have any material that could offend the viewers, have any obscene material and also doesn't have false information that could be classed as false advertisement  An advert has to breach the strict advertising guidelines before it is classed as harmful  if so the advert with be withdrawn.

The ASA was first put into place and set up by CAP(Committee of Advertising Practice) in 1962. It was set up after 1955 when it was the launch of commercial television advertisements altogether, by 1961 they decided non broadcasters could not be trusted and this is when ASA was brought in to regulate all advertisements in the UK. 

It was then in 1988 that Control of Misleading Advertisements Regulations was introduced. They gave power to the ASA which meant that if an advertisement help false information and could be offensive to viewers, they could then take legal action against the advertisers. After 2010 because of how popular the digital age has become ASA is now a widely known company. ASA now also have control over advertising displayed on videos and online.


 

 ASA told a company called 'The Sofa King' that a slogan they used in an advert was 'likely to often' because it sounded like a certain curse word. The slogan was 'Sofa King Low' and was used in the company's strap line. When newspapers seen the advertisement they complained that the adverts slogan was offensive and unsuitable for general display.

BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification. There job is to regulate films and decide what age group this film as appropriate for. The film is then rated for example 'U' means for all ages 'PG' means it needs parent or guardian supervision and '18' means you have to be 18 or over to view the movie. When regulating a movie BBFC have to consider what would offend the viewers. Things such as footage of 'Drugs', 'Language', 'Horror' and 'Obscene' scenes. BBFC then have to decide what age group or rating the film is appropriate for. BBFC first came about in 1912 but was first called 'British Board of Film Censors'. It was brought out by the film industry as they would rather manage their own censorship than have national or local government do it for them. BBFC regulate Films, DVDs and Some Video Games. 

If you sell DVD's to underage people of the classification. You can end up getting 6 month imprisonment and fined £5,000. If you sell DVD's that dont have a classification on then this is illegal. The BBFC have to check every single film to decide whether things need cutting out or editing to make it suitable for the public to watch. If films are really bad it can be refused by the BBFC and not shown to public.

The BBFC decided to ban the release of Dutch Director Tom Six's film 'The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)' in the UK. The original film was filled with shocking and grotesque images as a man sewed three people together however BBFC still allowed it to be released uncut but at a 18 certificate.

The sequel however they said it had gone to far and it may breach the 'Publications Act 1959' this was because the focus was the character being sexual aroused  at the idea or mutilation and murder of his victims.

The director was then given six weeks to appeal but it was decided even with cuts it would still breach the 'OPA'.

The Press Complaints Commission (PSS) is a regulatory body made for all British magazines, newspapers and representatives of all major publishers. The PCC is a voluntary regulatory bodies and is funded only by the annual levy that charges newspapers and magazines. The industry class them selves as self regulating as the PCC has no legal powers. The PCC has had a lot of criticism over the lack of action in the News of the World hacking's. The Prime Minister David Cameron especially as he called for it to be replaced by a new system in july 2011.

The precursor to the PCC was the 'Press Council' this was again a voluntary organisation that was made in 1953. The aim for this organisation was to keep high ethical standards in journalism. However by the 1980s severla newspapers breached and people were unsatisfied with the effectiveness of the 'Press Council'.

It was reviewed whether self-regulation should be carried on however in 1990 a report was written with a full code of conduct should be given 18 months to prove whether its effective. The press didn't want this to happened and wanted to avoid external regulation so they established the Press Complaints Commission and its Code of Practice. 

Any member of public can bring a complaint against any publication that has volunteered to keep to the code of conduct. Then members of the commission will review the complaint to see whether the code has indeed been breached, if so they then suggest measures of correction. Some of these include public apology's or printing a factual correction. However the Commission never imposes financial penalties on the newspapers.
There code of conduct is;

• Acuracy - all information published must be acurate. This includes pictures.
• Opportunity to reply - opportunities to reply when reasonably called for.
• Privacy -  Respect for private life. No Photos on private property.
• Harassment - No Persistent phoning, photographing or trespassing. 
• Intrusion into grief - Inquiries made with sympathy and care.
• Children - No school intrusions no photos issued without consent under 16.
• Children in sex cases - under 16's should not be identified both victims and witnesses.
• Hospitals - Must obtain permission from executive before entering non public areas.
• Reporting a crime - Relative's of offender shouldn't be identified without consent. 
• Clandestine devices - material from hidden devices can not be published or unauthorized removal of documents on phones ect.
• Victims of sexual assault - Can not identify the victims or detail that could reveal the assault.
• Discrimination - No prejudicial reference's to race, Colour  religion, gender, sexual orientation disability or physical or mental illness.
• Financial journalism - They must not write about financial information.
• Confidential sources - Moral obligation to protect confidential sources.
• Witness payments - No payment or offer to a witness who could be expected to be called as a witness.
• Payment to criminals - Payment for stories or information that exploit a particular crime or glorify crime in general.

Many breeches have been made by magazines. For instance the Leverson inquiry with had many witness's celebrities who had experienced phone hacking and false information published by the News of the World. A private investigator called Glenn Macaire was jailed for 7 month for phone hacking the Royals. 

The Office of Communications also know as Ofcom is the biggest government approved regulatory authority for broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries in the UK. Ofcom was made in 2002 and then received its full authority from the communications Act 2003.

Ofcom has a powers across TV, Radio, telecoms and postal sectors. it represents the citizens and consumers interests by promoting competition and also protecting public from what they would class harmful or offensive material. Ofcom launched on the 29th December 2003 and then took over the duties that five other regulators where responsible for;

• The Broadcasting Standards Commission.
• The Independant Television Commission.
• The Office of Telecommunications (Oftel)
• The Radio Authority
• The Radio Communications Agency.
• The Postal Services Commission.

Ofcom are able to give fine's to companies which breach the telecom's rules of up to 10 percent of their relevant turnover. When Ofcom give out penalties they take many things into account first. For example the degree of damage the duration of the contravention. Whether the regulatory body gained anything or if they have a history of contraventions  All these are taken into account before given out the penalty and how big the fines are.

Ofcom fined TalkTalk and Tiscali UK £3 million after they incorrectly billed tens of thousand of their customers for services they had not been receiving. The companies then received thousands of complaints. However not only had they been wrongly billing their customers but also people who had also closed their accounts with them. This was seen in over 62,000 cases and that was between January - November 2010.  They were then issues a legally binding notification in 2010. However although they did take action and made changes in the companies management systems they still managed to again incorrectly bill over 3,000 Consumer's between 2 December 2010 and 4 March 2011.

The Mechanical Copyright protection Society also known ask (MCPS) was first establised in 1924. It is a organisation made not-for-profit which represent over 17,000 composers, songwriters and music publishers. The whole purpose of this organisation is to collect and then give out the royalties. The organisation will make agreement's on behalf of its members, with people who want to record and distribute products containing copyright music fees and then collecting the licence fee for this use. Its them passed on to the members as mechanical royalties.

MCPS is know to be a collecting society as its job is to collect money from music users in the UK who will record music into TV or Radio programme's  websites, films, CD's and so on. They will collect royalties by a issuing license's to music owners  in respect to the mechanical copyright in musical works.

The Copyright Act is all about giving the owner of material control of restricted acts to there work, in this case musical work. The Mechanical right as administered by MCPS consist of two rights;

• The right to copy the work.
• The right to issue copies of the work in public.

This will mean that every time that work is either copied or a copy is issued out to the public, royalties are given from the licensing and then given to the members.

Performing Right Society also known as (PRS) was first founded in 1914 and is a UK Copyright collection society and performance rights organisation that collects rights management for music works. PRS was formed in 1997 as the MCPS-PRS alliance this brought together two collection societies. PRS Music licenses and collects royalties on it members musical works whenever they performed publicly  when recordings of them are broadcasted or even just played publicly in the UK and globally through its partner network. 

The principle sources of PRS revenue are: music that has been transmitted either the television, radio broadcast, music performed at live gigs, concerts and also theaters. 

There are around 350,00 UK businesses that have some point paid for a licence from the PRS but some don't need one:

• Inpatient and treatments areas in hospitals.
• Medical day centers.
• Residential homes (in most circumstances).
• Civil wedding ceremonies and partnership ceremonies.
• Lone and home workers.

It was in 2007 the company PRS accused and then took a car servicing company in Scotland to court as it was alleged that workers in the shop were listening to the Radio and allowing music to be heard by the customers. Also they accused 11 police stations who didn't obtain permits to play music and then sought out an injunction and then payments for damages. 

Regulatory Bodies issues

What is Monopoly?

 

As a you child you have probably played with the game 'Monopoly'. However in the real life Monopoly is what happens when a certain industry has only one producer of certain products. For example if you wanted to buy something like a TV and there was only one shop that sold that TV that shop would be considered to hold the monopoly. The bad thing about this is that there is only one set price without any consideration for competetive priceing. The whole idea of Monopoly is that there are no competitors.

 

 



A good example of is Monopoly is Rupert Murdoch. He owns a extremely large portion of the Newspapers. In the UK he owns 'The Sun' 'The Times' and the 'The Sunday Times' but also many others all other the world. Because of the regulatory bodies they will not alow Ruport Murdoch to buy into any more papers. The reason for this is because when owning a paper you can then have controll over what people read and then control over there opinions. for example when the voting for the govrement comes around if there was a certain party that Rupurt supports he can then give them as much publicity as he wants. The best point of having lots of different papers to read is because people prefer diffenent things. If Rupurt owned all the papers then they would all contain the same stuff.

 

 

Takeovers

Many times when it comes to Media companies you find that some struggle to keep up with what the audiences are wanting. This will mean that smaller companies can sometimes be taken over by bigger companies or sometimes you can find that they merge together to make a new company.

The difference between a Merger and a Takeover is that a Merger is a mutual decision between to companies who decide to merger together and become one. This decision is made so that both companies are equal. A Merger is usually made in the hopes to gain more of a a viewing audience to gain more power. 

A takeover however is when a larger company will buyout a smaller company. This takeover shows that the combination are "unequals". The smaller company will sometimes show resistance to the larger company. However sometimes their can be friendly takeovers for example when the Walt Disney corporation bought Pixar Animation studios in 2006. This was friendly because the shareholders approved in the decision.

A good example of a Company merger was when the US company Viacom merged with yet another big television company called CBS. This was known to be on of the worlds biggest media merger. This company was then on to be described as a "Media Empire". The company would be called Viacom. The company was then valued in at $80 billion. Viacom then came to be one of the big six companies in Media. It is one of the biggest rivals against the company "Walt Disney". From both sides the merger was described as an equal acquisition.

In the media there is a lot of competition on who is the most richest and most powerful  Just recently there has been talks of Virgin Media being taken over by a US cable company called Liberty Global. Virgin Media as we know in the UK is a huge company and is very know over here and hugely popular the audience. In the UK it is known as one of the leading suppliers of broadband and has over 5 million customers. Liberty Global is a one of the largest broadband provider outside of the united states. It was formed in 2005 when the companies 'Liberty Media' and 'UGC (United Global Com)' merged together. Its now a company who internationally telecommunications and is a television company. As of September 30 2012 its become popular with its cable services passing 33.7 million homes. Its been announced in February 2, 2012 that it will buy Virgin Media for $23.3 billion dollars. Both shareholders and regulatory have approved and it is very likely that the deal will come through.

Vertical Intergation

Vertical interagation is a process of when a product is controlled by a single company to increase the companys power in the marketplace. In similar words its that a product is made with the help of many different company's however when its sold only a well known brand is used to advertise and sell that product. Its when two companies who are in the same industry but in different stages in production come together. A good example of this is with the well know film company Warner Bros.

When a film is made it will be filmed in a studio and then shown in a Cinema. However Warner Bros Entertainment will call itself a fully integrated broad based entertainment company. This is because Warner Bros owns film studios, the means to distribute the film to the public as well as some Cinemas the films will be shown in. As well as this Warner Bros is also part of a bigger company known as 'Time Warner'.

Horizontal Integration

Horizontal integration is when a company comes up with a strategy to increase their market share by taking over a similar company. The merge/takeover can be done in the same country however you usually find its done outside of the country to increase your reach. Horizontal Integration is much simpler that Vertical integration  Where as Vertical integration is a merger of companies in the same industry but in different stages of production where as Horizontal integration is a merger of companies based in same field. For example it would the merger of two music production companies or two film production companies.

A good example of Horizontal integration in the Media industry is when 'Google' took over 'You Tube'. 'Google' bought 'YouTube' for 41.65 billion (£882 million). 'You Tube' was first launched in February 2005 and since has grown to be the most popular website on the internet. Over 100 million videos get viewed every single day and every month 72 million individual visitors each month. The two companies have been described as "natural partners" and are hoping that 'You Tube' joining forces with 'Google' that it can benefit from 'Google's' unbelievable global reach and their technology   leadership to deliver a more comprehensive entertainment experience for the users.

Since the Merger when opening the Google homepage along the heading there is now a button to connect you to 'You Tube' automatically. 

Legal and Ethical Constraints in the Creative Media Sectors

Copyright and intellectual property law


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. 

 

A breach was also made when a Corporal who worked as an Army translator for Nato Forces in Afghanistan. James was found guilty after he was caught sending coded emails on the British troops movements to the Iranian Military.

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. 

Human Rights Act 1998

The Human Rights Act came into force in the UK in October 2000. It has a series of sections imposed on the act that have effect of codifying the protections on Human Rights into UK law. Public Bodies all have to comply with the Convention rights for example, courts, police, local government  hospitals, publicly funded schools and others.

The Act sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that individuals in the UK have access to. They include:

Right to life

Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment

Right to liberty and security

Freedom from slavery and forced labour

Right to a fair trial

No punishment without law

Respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence

Freedom of thought, belief and religion

Freedom of expression

Freedom of assembly and association

Right to marry and start a family

Protection from discrimination in respect of these rights and freedoms

Right to peaceful enjoyment of your property

Right to education

Right to participate in free

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.

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 was also involved in the Leveson Inquiry. Charlotte told the inquiry on how she was pressured to waived a £100,000 fee to sing at Rupert Murdoch's wedding in exchange for a promise that she would receive 'good press'. However Charlotte's former manger Jonathon Shalit wrote to Lord Justine Leveson to say that there was no such thing as this deal. Charlotte was only 13 at the time and said the fee of £100,000 was the biggest offer she had ever been given. She also said that Rupert Murdochs newspapers have since written some of the most offensive things.

She then received £600,000 in legal fees and compensation.

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.