Understand the ethical and legal constraints with in the media

sector
Copyright Law
Copyright Law is important within the television industry, as it allows the
television company to control when and how their work can be copied and
distributed. It also means that it prevents other companies from taking the
production for their very own use, without the owners permission. The
Copyright Law is vitally important for television companies, as it allows
them to control their productions, and ensure the credit is not taken by
another TV broadcaster. The 1976 Copyright Act protects the owner of the
productions, either a person or a company and ensures they have
exclusive right to reproduce the work that has been copyrighted.
If a piece of work has been copyrighted by someone, the owner of the
original material may decide to contact the person that has copyrighted
there work, by sending them an letter or email expressing for them to
remove the material from a website or just generally stop using it overall.
Another thing that could happen is that the person that copyrighted the
original material could get a notice demanding you cut distributing the
copyrighted work, or the internet service provider, like YouTube, could
block the copyrighted content. Lastly, the strictest penalty of all is that the
copyrighter could face severe penalties of $100,000 more or less for each
infringed piece of work. If the case is very severe the penalty may even
include an imprisonment, but honestly depends on the extent of the
infringement.
An example of copyright is when an unauthorised TV live streaming
broadcasted a live episode without the correct permissions. This meant
that certain websites decided to retransmit live TV over the internet
without the specific permissions from a broadcaster, causing one of
Europes highest courts to rule the judgement with lots of wide range
implications. This meant that the European courts ordered many different
sites showing live TV in the UK and Europe, must now get the right
clearance from the official, first broadcaster. An example, was that
Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV formed a case against TVCatchup.com that
streams free, live shows from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. This meant that
TV Catch Up was ordered to cut 30% of its 12 million registered users.
All ethical issues are vitally important to consider in TV media, as some
people may find that it too inappropriate. The portrayal of violence, sex
and the presence of strong language is vitally important to consider in
television media. The portrayal of stereotypes are also vitally to consider
in TV media, it may negatively affect many peoples perceptions of
themselves or promote negative behaviour. In TV a common stereotype
causing controversy is the portrayals of men, ethnic groups, affluence
leading to major various areas of debate. Equal opportunities are also
important to consider in TV media, as it promotes equality throughout the
TV industry sector. If a company like BBC only employees men as camera
operators, this could be deemed as very sexist in todays society, as

women should be considered equal to men creating an equal

environment. The use of language in a TV programme is important to
consider, as it may be considered as offensive to the younger viewers
watching the programme, and some parents may prohibit the use of
explicit words, and write to the company complain about the use of
inappropriate words. All ethical issues should be considered when
producing media in the TV sector, the morals or principles of morality are
vitally important to understand the difference between right and wrong in
conduct.
In the television media, the representation of Gender is majority in favour
of men than women, which is also represented through film media. Many
new statistics have shown that overall men get paid more on average
than women, for doing the same amount of work and the same type of
work. These statistics show that even in television media, the rights of
women and men are not considered as equal, which is causing inequality
throughout the TV sector. The majority of main TV characters are usually
male rather than female, but in 2015 more and more female characters
are emerging from TV media. In usual TV media men are portrayed as
overall better than the female characters on the screenplay. An example is
shown in Modern Family where the male characters are written better than
the female characters of the programme, as most of the male characters,
like Phil Dunphy have well respected jobs, such as an Lawyer, whereas the
female characters of the show usually dont have a job at all and are
housewifes.
It is vitally important to consider the representation of religious beliefs in
TV productions, as many people have different opinions and beliefs. The
main focus for TV broadcaster is to entertain the audience, and therefore
gain the greatest ratings possible, becoming the most successful.
Sometimes representations of religious beliefs can be disrupted, causing
greater controversy. An example, is shown in animation TV shows like The
Simpsons, Futurama and Family Guy, which usually intends to mock the
audience and their beliefs through the non-fiction character and
unrealistic storylines that sometimes mock religious beliefs, religious
culture and religious heritage. This can cause certain religious
backgrounds to become offended from the controversial conversations
from various backgrounds, even though the intention form the
broadcaster was trying to humour many people. The representation that
should be shown for religious beliefs is that all religions should be
accepted and everyone should be counted as equal
In the TV media sector women and men should be considered as equal to
each other, to cause equality for all working in TV media. It is vitally
important to ensure that women are paid the same as men, if they are
doing the same job, as no one should be paid less due to the concept of
their gender. Men and Women should be represented as equal, by showing
women having a well-respected job, rather than an un-employed
housewife, which demoralises women over men. Lastly, men and women

need to be treated as equal, by showing women with more clothes, so it

doesnt subject women to a stereotypical image that men lust over. This
would allow women to be seen equal to women, as men usually have
more clothes on than women, but now they will have the same.
In the media industry people are often represented with a
misinterpretation, which shows them as a completely different character
that they may like to be seen as. In the television media sector the
industry often represents religion as a key aspect that pinpoints different
people. An example is shown in Citizen Khan, shown on BBC 1, where
most people of a Muslim background are shown in the television
programme, but has received great controversy from some Muslims, that
have deemed the programme offensive and stereotypical to Muslims. This
is key example where people have been represented in a way that is
possibly not the way they would like. Another example is shown through
the use of female and male actors, where female actors are often
represented in a stereotypical way that demoralises women and makes
men look more superior compared to women.
I personally believe that the representation generally in the media sector,
regarding gender and religion still needs to be vitally improved. In todays
growing society, it is very important to count everyone as equal to remain
equality throughout the sector. I believe that especially in the film industry
women are not considered equal to the male actors, which is shown in the
difference in pay, and the amount of men getting the higher main
character jobs compared to women. I strongly believe that the media
sector needs to improve the diversity in the industry, and enrol people
from all different backgrounds to show equality throughout. Also,
representation of religion could be portrayed more positively and less
offensive to a specific race. In order to improve the representation of
religion, different people who follow different religions should be
considered equal to anyone else that is applying to that job. There are
many steps that could improve how things are represented, to improve
staff diversity and the pay gap between male and female employers to
make everything fair for everyone, and to improve the standard of living
for everyone.