2. Copyright
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The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 - The Copyright Act was created to protect the
investment of time, money and effort by the people who create new and unique pieces of
work.
The Copyright Act has two main purposes 1.To ensure people are rewarded for their work,
2.To give protection to the copyright holder if someone tries to steal their work.
Copyright Advantages for media producers are that if they have created and own a piece of
production they can call it there own and have pride in and it is protected against being
stolen and someone taking it to claim as there own.
Copyright disadvantages for media producers are if you find a piece of production you like it
would have been copyrighted or even if not you need to contact that person and ask
permission to use it, if its done by a professional and your a professional in the industry you
might have to pay to use it too, it depends on the person/company who own the production.
Or if you don’t ask permission for someone’s audio or video footage or photograph then you
can be sued if they find out.
The concept of copyright is tied with intellectual property and it ensures that creators of
original work (writing, music, art) are guaranteed ownership of their work. Any creator is
guaranteed automatic copyright over that specific work, however a certificate of registration
is what secures the creator's rights particularly if legal matters arise. Creators can obtain a
certificate of registration by applying to Canadian Intellectual Property Office.
Authorship
The person(s) who originates or gives existence to a piece of writing, music, or art. It is
important to outline that authorship is not granted unless the creation is tied to a tangible
form of expression - words, musical notes, painting, sculpture etc.
3. Libel
• Libel is a published false statement that is damaging to
a person's reputation; a written defamation.
• Under Article 10(2) of the Convention, the protection
of the reputation of others is a legitimate ground for
restricting the right to freedom of expression. Libel and
slander are legal claims that protect an individual’s
reputation against defamation. An individual is
defamed when a person publishes to a third party
words or matter containing an untrue imputation
against his or her reputation.
4. Real example of Libel
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Rumours or using false and inaccurate information from third parties for example
the Michael Jackson case, rumours of him being a paedophile which cant be
proven and no one had any evidence or any particular reason or spoke out to say
that he really was, press dragged the rumours out and it damaged his reputation
and image.
In interviews when Michael got questioned about these rumours he’d have an
answer/explanation why he did the things he did that made people suspect he was
a paedophile for example Neverland and his relationship with young
children, which was because he didn’t have a child hood so he made Neverland for
all the children so they could have a childhood and make the most of it, he made it
into everything he would of wanted to do when he was a child, and his close
relationship with children was because he was still a big kid and liked having fun
and he loved children and wanted to give them fun things he never had or had the
chance of doing.
Media producers can protect themselves against libel as long as they have or give
a reason for the stuff they have produced before its released or when its released
as people/press will have first impressions, pre judgements and make assumptions
and accusations. So they have to be prepared for that.
5. Ethical Considerations
• Legal Constraints
• A constraint is a limitation or a restriction on
something to prevent something else from
happening. In the Media industry there are
many limitations, laws and restrictions. Some
regulations aren’t legal in that they aren’t
provided by law.
6. Ethical Constraints
Representation
• Ethical Constraints
• The depiction of violence and sex and the presence of strong
language. Ethical guidelines and legislation in this area are
common and many media (e.g. film, computer games) are
subject to ratings systems and supervision by agencies. An
extensive guide to international systems of enforcement can
be found under motion picture rating system.
• Product placement. An increasingly common marketing tactic
is the placement of products in entertainment media. The
producers of such media may be paid high sums to display
branded products. The practice is controversial and largely
unregulated.
