Ethics in the TV Industry

Ethics

I’ve been looking through your legal and ethical presentations, and we would all benefit from doing some work on the ethical presentation

What are “ethics”?

What are “ethics”?

The moral principles that define how a person or

group acts.

Ethical issues & TV producers

What kinds of issues affect TV producers?

Ethical issues & TV producers

What kinds of issues affect TV producers?

- Trust- Impartiality - Truth - Privacy- Serving the publics interest- And many more

Ethics & the Beeb

Today we’re going to look at the ethical standards that guide the BBC.

Ethics & the Beeb

How do the BBC ensure that they are an ethical organisation?

Ethics & the Beeb

What policies & procedures do they have which outline how their producers should act ethically?

The BBC Charter

The BBC Trusts Charter sets out the purpose & inner workings of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/governance/regulatory_framework/charter_agreement.html

The BBC Charter

The charter states that….

“The BBC exists to serve the public interest.”

This is the BBC’s prime moral principle.

BBC editorial guidelineshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/

BBC Editorial guidelines

The BBC has editorial guidelines which tell its producers the principles & practices of acting ethically, in detail.

The editorial guidelines set out how producers should deal with issues such as impartiality, accuracy, privacy etc….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/guidelines/

Eg/ Impartiality

The principles

Eg/ Impartiality

The practice

What if someone wants to make a complaint about the ethical

standards of a programme they appeared in, or which was about them or featured them in some

way?

Complaints

OFCOM

The BBC’s

EditorialStandardsCommittee

What was I thinking, going on The Trisha

Show….

Editorial Standards Committee

The BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee will investigate certain complaints (see their guidelines for more details).

I have stored the ESC’s guidelines as a PDF on the rooms hard-drive.

Editorial Standards Committee

The Committee will consider appeals concerning complaints which allege that:

• the complainant has suffered unfair treatment either in a transmitted programme or item, or in the process of making the programme or item

• the complainant‟s privacy has been unjustifiably infringed, either in a transmitted programme or item, or in the process of making the programme or item

• there has otherwise been a failure to observe required editorial standards

TASK 1

You will need to write a case study on the BBC’s ethical guidelines.

You will need to comprehensively explain how the BBC’s policies, procedures and code of practice ensure their productions are ethical.

You should explain each individual guideline and how this affects content producers.

Answer each of the following

How do the ethical guidelines affect how producers represent subjects (for example people, religions, abortion etc…)?

How do the BBC balance access (in the publics interest) with privacy? What examples can you find to support this?

Does the editorial guidelines / charter state that producers should be objective or subjective? Why is impartiality & balance important to producers? Why shouldn’t producers be biased?

Answer each of the following

Explain the role that accuracy has in producing programmes at the BBC.

Does accuracy relate to truth & trust?

Can bias & opinion really be truthful?

Important

You must explain & not just describe.

Explain:

to give reasons; what it is and why it is like that, how it affects people.

Important

You must include examples for each of the ethical issues you talk about if you want to get higher than a pass.

The link to the newsletter (on the final page of the .PPT) is a treasure trove of examples. Use them to highlight your findings.

BBC editorial guidelines

The editorial guidelines contain all the rules which state how BBC producers must act ethically.

BBC Charter

The BBC charter sets out the BBC’s core values.

NewsletterThe BBC’s newsletter has some GREAT EXAMPLES about how the issues affecttheir producers. Read some articles and use them as examples to aim for the merit & distinction grades.

Useful links

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/newsletters/7/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-values-charter/