Legal and Ethical Restrictions

Criminal Law

The laws of a State or Country dealing with criminal offenses and their punishments.

Civil Law

The laws of a State or Country dealing with private and civilian affairs

Heath and Safety

During a Photo shoot, there are many health and safety checks you need to do before starting. You need to be sure there are no trailing cables on the floor from lights, in case anyone trips ofver them, all equipment should be sturdily fitted to prevent anything faling on anyone during a shoot, all non-necessary personnel should be off the floor to be sure no one bumps into any equipment.

Copyright

A person's exclusive right to reproduce, publish, or sell his or her original work of authorship as a literary, musical, dramatic, artistic, or architectural work. Copyrights are governed by the Copyright Act of 1976 contained in title 17 of the U.S. Code. The Act protects published or unpublished works that are fixed in a tangible medium of expression from which they can be perceived.

Libel Law

Defamation - publishing a false piece of information that places a negative image on a company or person that you claim to be true.

Libel – Defamation by written or printed words, in a magazine, newspaper, or the internet.

Slander – Defamation by oral utterance, such as rumours.

Data Protection Act

An Act to make sure that the processing of information relating to individuals, including the obtaining, holding, use or disclosure of such information is regulated.

Ethics

Sports personalities – Recently sports personalities are being given a bad reputation as all cheaters, when if you look at the big picture, only a small percentage of this bracket are committing adultery.

Teenagers – In the media all teenagers are either presented as angels or devils, mainly the Latter. The only time you will see a teenager in the news, is if they have done something extremely bad or extremely good, there is no middle.

PCC – Press Complaints commission

The PCC is an independent self-regulatory body which deals with complaints about
the editorial content of newspapers and magazines including their websites. They keep
industry standards high by training journalists and editors, and work pro-actively
behind the scenes to prevent harassment and media intrusion. They can also provide
pre-publication advice to journalists and the public. Some of the codes put in practice to prevent complaints are; The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures, everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications, and in the case of crimes, relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the story.

NUJ - National Union of Journalists

The NUJ is a union for Journalists, to provide journalists with training, and to provide them with legal support if any legal action is taking against them. The NUJ is self regulatory in the fact they are a group of Journalists who look after other journalists, helping them in the working world. The NUJ is campaigning to close the gender pay gap in the media by supporting members being treated unfairly, they also help members by encouraging them to help themselves and take part in campaigning activities. A combination of the recession and the drive by media owners to maintain impossible profit levels has led to a sharp fall in the work available for freelance journalists, the NUJ are trying to support these now redundant journalists by finding them work and campaigning for them. The NUJ are also campaigning for free press, as such a strict surveillance in deemed unfair, to give a freer aspect of journalism.

ASA – Advertising Standards Authority

The ASA regulates advertising across all media, including TV, internet, sales promotions and direct marketing. They ensure ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful by applying the Advertising Codes. The ASA regulatory system is a mixture of self-regulation, the industry has voluntarily established and paid for its own regulation, for non-broadcast advertising and co-regulation, the ASA takes responsibility for maintaining standards for broadcast advertising in the UK. for broadcast advertising. Find out more about regulatory system for non-broadcast and broadcast advertising, and how advertising in the UK is controlled. The ASA keeps tabs on many different codes of conduct for advertising, for example; If there is a chance any viewer may be offended by the ad, Ads for alcohol should not be targeted at people under 18 years of age and should not imply, condone or encourage immoderate, irresponsible or anti-social drinking, and Ads fro cars should not contribute to a culture of dangerous, irresponsible or inconsiderate driving or motorcycling, especially among young drivers.