Assignment 3c

In this assignment I want to continue from the previous assignment by developing my understanding of laws and legislations. This written report consists of relating these regulators to either film or television industries. The laws I want to look further into are Race Relations Act, Broadcasting Act and the Obscene Publications Act to develop my understanding on these. With each of these regulators I will illustrate each point by giving an example to further my comprehension.

The Race Relations Act 1976 is a law that was established by the Houses of Parliament to permanently stop any form of discrimination. My understanding of the term ‘discrimination’ is an act that can be verbal or prejudice treatment to a minority or majority group of people. I don’t want to going into too much detail into the two main components of discrimination, as I want to focus more on this legislation. This law covers all types of discrimination that an individual may suffer within a workplace or whilst you are in education, but the act may not cover all forms of discrimination. Since the law came into place the forms of discrimination the act covers are; racial, nationality and colour within the workplace. Introducing this significant law like this, was vital as Britain today is has become one of the most multi-cultural and diverse country. You are bound to meet all sorts of people and they have brought their culture to the UK. As you may be aware of, there are a minority of people who express their hatred of foreigners coming over to the UK and taking job opportunities. In terms of the area of employment, this law has to ensure the safety of employees and that they are treated the same as others. In terms of the film industry, if I wanted apply for job vacancy for the role of a camera operator, the law clearly describes that each individual should be given the same commitment as other applicants. Linking this point to another example, going to an open interview were there will be other people wanting a job role of a camera operator, whether you are black or white, each individual will have certain traits that differ from each other. I believe that film companies who get their workers aware of this legislation and provide a brief account as to penalties workers face if they breach the law. My overall comprehension of this law is that no one should receive any prejudice treatment because of their colour, nationality within employment or education. These two institutions should promote race equality so people are aware the school/college/university or workplace is discrimination free.

Let’s focus on the next legislation which focuses on the Broadcasting Act 1990 (and later amendments). This law was introduced the Houses of Parliament and it was then sent to media communications companies to understand to changes the government is going to make. The purpose of this legislation was that the government wanted to update this act in order to give the television industry a shake up, by merging both the television and radio to become broadcasters. If the law never existed, then all television and radio industries will be chaotic. The reason for this is because they will be able to put programmes on television at any time; meaning programmes with a more adult nature will be put during the day. This legislation is there for companies to use as guidelines so that they are able to see whether they exceed each criterion. I believe that before a programme can be televised, they will have to meet the meet the right standards of the Broadcasting Act for it to be people to watch or listen. Failing to meet the basic regulations can lead to radio companies paying a substantial penalty. Whereas, carelessly breaching the laws will lead to consequences such as abbreviating television companies for their license. Personally, this is a good act that electronic communication companies to follow because the law as a whole may consist of

continuous pages outline the intentions of the legislation, but developing a fundamental conception of this law will prevent you from abbreviating it in the future.

The Obscene Publications Act, like all laws, the Houses of Parliament created it. Their real intentions for this law were to stop broadcasters today from putting anything that is considered as ‘obscene’ to viewers. My definition of the term ‘obscene’ is something that is offensive and not accepted to a particular minority. The real intention of this law is to stop people from broadcasting contents that may be belligerent or offensive to a small minority or materials that are not suitable for younger audiences. You don’t want your children watching a programme that has a nature of pornography or material relating to violence and people taking drugs. That would be a parent worst nightmare for their children. In the television industry, this law works with the previous legislation I previously explained, the Broadcasting Act. Today’s modern society, television companies are conscious of publishing or distributing contents to people because you will have to go through many prosecutions. There are a variety of cases that involves television companies and programmes breaching this legislation. The most recent case was in 2012, and the R v Peacock case involved a man got people interested in buying a digital video disk that contained contents that are for people 18+. I do not want to talk about the exact content but believe me its unbearable to even think about. In another case, Gavin Smith, a Canadian professional poker player, was believed to be charged for expressing is up most desire in having his fantasies of ‘spanking children’ come true. This happened in 2009, but there the final verdict came in 2012, yet I feel it is outrageous that the conviction came three years later. Who knows what this man could have done within that period of time. In my opinion, I feel that this is a very important law because society today will not be the same without this law. Fundamentally, you have television companies broadcasting programmes with an adult content to channels specifically for children and families.

I have always wondered on discovering the people who classify films before it can be distributed to cinemas. The British Board of Film Classification is a company that is totally funded by the film industry to classify each film and other media related requests. This non-government company are also responsible to categorising all promotional activities. For each television, film or promotional industries, they all trust that this independent company will rate their contents consistently will be lead to companies believing they are reliable. I believe that they have a respected and significant presence in the three industries I have mentioned. Fundamentally, it is important for them to protect certain age groups from particular contents as people may find it offensive and may psychologically affect them in terms of changing behaviours. The British board of Film Classification aim to empower the public about their decision about rating particular contents and to reassure parents that they are critically rating each film, video game or advert they receive. People may find contents like discrimination, pornography, drugs, violence and imitable behaviour. I want to discover the particular contents that can be shown on the following age rating.

U – Films that are rated as ‘U’ is specifically for children aged four years old and over. This rating will not allow programmes or films to contain prohibited language or adult content.

PG – Films that are rated ‘PG’ is suitable for all audiences, although it may contain scenes that is regarded as incongruous for children aged below four years old

12 – Films that are rate a ‘12’ are normally films that are suitable for children aged 12 and above. Younger children can watch films with this rating, only if they accompanied by a parent or guardian

15 – Films with this rating are only suitable for people aged 15 and above. The British Board of Film Classification, state that anyone below this age are not allowed to view the film contents with this rating. Not even being accompanied by a parent will allow younger audiences to watch the film

18 – Films that are rated 18 are strictly for people aged 18 and above. The reason for this is because it contains sexual nature, swearing, violence and possibly discrimination.

The British Board of Film Classification is vital for the film industry in the UK. I feel that with this law, it stops younger people, who are normally eager in watching films that are not for their age, from viewing contents that may affect them physically or mentally. If a young teenager was watching a film that contains violent scenes, the child will psychologically feel that rein acting the scenes will make them popular amongst a crowd. Looking at this from a psychological perspective, that child will increase its ‘id’ which operates as a pleasure principle and the natural instincts of the child’s personality. In other words, the ‘id’ can be associated with a devil on your shoulder ordering you to do things that are outside your comfort zone. Another example is a child watching a movie about discrimination to a particular race. The child may come across the race, in which was being discriminated in the film he watched, and may start using the language he/she heard in the film. There is no place for any form of discrimination and that is why I feel the BBFC have introduced age ratings. Cinemas today have to follow the orders given to them by the BBFC. This will help the employees at cinemas to understand the BBFC expectations and develop reliability to the age rating process.

OFCOM is a communication supervisory body that controls the television and radio sector. This organisation provides a license to all television and radio channels in the UK which states rules companies have to comply with. Breaching the rules OFCOM have stated to companies not to break, will result in OFCOM taking away licenses from those who have breached the rules. People often come to OFCOM to complain about particular content on programmes or misleading information that has been provided. The main intentions of OFCOM are to understand whether they follow the legislations of the UK and EU, so that companies in the UK are aware. If someone was to complain about a particular programme, then OFCOM will request a copy of the content to see whether they can match the complaint to the footage and to see whether it can breaks the Broadcasting Act. There are a few ethical issues that OFCOM have to consider like exploitation or offensive contents, and OFCOM are there to stop these from happening. They affect the things everyone watches on television by getting people to give their own opinions on things that has bothered them or mislead them, and as a company who deals with these issues, it is important to listen to the public and understand the affects certain things on television may have on them. For example, placing betting adverts during prime time television is not really suitable because this is the time children and young teenagers watch television. Parents won’t be happy seeing betting adverts on children channels because there is no link or comparisons between the two.

Overall, I feel that I have dramatically increased my knowledge of the television and film industries. There were some terms that I have never come across before until now. The methodology used was to read articles about the television and film industries to get to grasp of certain terminology, and now I am capable using it when I try elucidating a point or illustrating an example. The first task, 3a, has given me a better understanding of employment contracts, policies and the social concerns that are happening now. I found the section talking about ‘racism in football’ and ‘society views on

Muslims’ very intriguing because I have a very good knowledge on both matters and I have watched documentaries that has enabled me to elucidate and critically analyse both situations. The second task, 3b, has given me a better comprehension of the laws that television and film companies have to abide. Before I started this task, I already had some background knowledge on the Health and Safety Act, Employer’s liability, Intellectual Property and Copyright. Carrying out my own preliminary research has increased my knowledge on not just the examples I outlined, but the other laws that I was never aware of. The last task, 3c, continued by talking about the laws and regulators and how they both relate to the television and film industries. I enjoyed this task the most because most of the information was difficult to find and sometimes to comprehend, especially the Broadcast Act. This act took me a while to actually understand the main purposes and why television and radio companies have to abide this law. My overall realisation of this unit may be very beneficial, especially if I find a job in either the television or film industry.

Bibliography

1. http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/your-rights/race/what-is-race- discrimination/your-protection-under-the-race-relations-act-1976/

2. http://uk.ask.com/question/what-is-race-relations-act 3. http://mediachs.edublogs.org/13-broadcasting-act-1990/ 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscene_Publications_Act_1959 5. http://www.slideshare.net/DeanoHoughtonKBA/british-board-of-film-classification-

10050063 6. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/18 7. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom