Media Industries - Mini Assignment Two

Brief
People working in the media industries need to be aware of a wide range of constraints which must be followed or companies can be fined, their reputations could suffer, and in extreme cases jobs could be lost or people could go to prison. These can be broken down into three main areas;

· Professional codes of practice – how industries must conduct themselves
· Legal constraints – relating to laws of the land
· Ethical constraints – how people should be treated

Use the tasks to research the regulatory, legal and ethical considerations that the Magazine industries need to be aware of, and give examples to back up your points using the correct technical terminology wherever possible. You will need to present your detailed findings and need to apply these considerations to your own particular specialism - mentioning which apply to you and need to be aware of in the making of your own magazine projects. The information on the SNC Times blog-site will help you.

Tasks

1. Professional Codes of Practice
The following organisations all help regulate various areas of the media industry – some of them are regulatory and impose regulations, others are self-regulatory where the industry imposes agreed regulations upon itself. Your task is to look at these organisations and research them, answering the questions below:

· ASA
· NUJ
· PCC

Questions
· What is their full name?
· Who do they regulate? Which areas of the media?
· Are they regulatory or self-regulatory?
· Give 2-3 examples of the specific codes that they put into practice?

Workplace codes
These are codes that everyone at work should be treated the same and be professional, such as good time-keeping and wearing the correct clothing. Name three other codes you feel would be relevant to the magazine publishing industry.


2. Legal & Ethical Restrictions
Legally there are laws that need to be followed in the media just as there are in everyday life. Please make notes on the following;
· Criminal Law & Civil Law – what are the differences between these?
· Health & Safety – What H&S checks would you make before a photo-shoot – list five factors to consider whilst shooting on location or in the studio?
· Copyright – what is copyright, what can you actually copyright and how does this protect you as the author of a text or set of images?
· Libel Law – what is defamation, what is libel, what is slander? Give examples of all three.
· Data protection – what is the data protection act?
· Ethics - give three examples where you feel that groups or individuals have not been treated fairly in the media – consider stereotypes.

This work must be posted on your own blog-sites by February 23rd at the latest.