Legal and Ethical Constraints



Copyright

Copyright gives a creator of works exclusive rights to use, sell and distribute their work, usually for a limited time. Copyright holders can sell the rights of their work to be used in another media format, such as song artists letting their music be used in a film.

The advantages of Copyright laws for media producers can be huge, holders can sell the rights for others to use to make more money, and they could also sue users for using their material without their permission and gain even more money.

Some disadvantages of copyright laws are that they can be very complicated to get the permission of the holder to use their content, which could take a large amount of time which, if on a tight schedule could become problematic.

An example of the use of copyright is from Sigur rós’ website, and the use of their song Hoppipola in advertising. Despite refusing to allow that song to be used in a variety of adverts, eerily similar tunes keep popping up all the time. Advertising companies are using the song Hoppipola in their advertisements; however they are changing a note or two to avoid copyright infringing, claiming that the chords used in the song are common or homage to the original.

And that’s how you avoid losing money.

Libel

Libel is defamation by the use of written words or pictures, anything other than speech; an example of libel is a falsified statement that harms the reputation of a person or business.

An advantage of libel in media is to defend the reputation of the production, or company you believe to be wrongly accused of something. A defamatory statement is presumed false unless the defendant can prove it is true, which means if something the production has done IS true, yet cannot be proved due to lack of evidence, it is thrown out of court and you can get off free.

The disadvantages of libel can be that anyone could persuade the jury that they are telling the truth, people such as big celebrities who can afford expensive lawyers can turn the court in their favour, making some media producers wonder whether it is worth libelling them. Another disadvantage of libelling is freedom of speech, some people are now too worried to speak their mind in case they get a lawsuit against them, which leads to censorship and tensions with freedom of speech.

In the early 20^th century, when sensationalist cocaine stories were selling well, a newspaper journalist published false stories that Annie Oakley, an American sharpshooter had been arrested for stealing to support a cocaine habit. However the women arrested was a burlesque dancer who told the police her name was Annie Oakley. The original Oakley then spent the next six years with lawsuits against the newspapers who defamed her.

Ethical Considerations

Legal constraints

In legal constraints in media it is an offence to incite racial and religious hatred, as according to the Race Relations act 1976. It is also illegal to disclose information regarding national security, if a newspaper disclosed information about the UK’s lack of defence in Scotland, this could threaten the safety of the people and endanger national security. The Obscene Publications Act relates to publishing images which are in bad taste.

Ethical Constraints

Media groups need to be aware of how they are representing a minority group, so as to not stereotype them negatively and to represent groups, whether it is age, disability, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and social class fairly and avoid prejudices.

Privacy

There are no laws specific to privacy; however through Article 8 of the Human Rights Act, it is the right of a person to have privacy, a private family life, home and correspondence. In the court, one way to get privacy from the media is to get an injunction, which prevents the media revealing information you don’t want known. One well known case of injunctions is between Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs and his brother’s wife having an affair.