Unit 2 learning aim a+b

Legal and Ethical considerations:

When involved in the world of media, there are many legal and ethical considerations that need to be considered. These ethics need to be considered and taken on board to ensure that the commissioning process goes as smoothly as possible. If these are not fully considered and carried out professionally then there could be some serious ramifications for the screenwriter, and those who are commissioning the film. One massive drawback of this could be a hefty fine, sometimes being within the millions and in some cases, the billions.

Copyright
 The first of which is copyright infringement. The effects of breaching the copyright laws are massive, and can even go as far as paying a hefty damaging fee. The fee could set the contract breacher back a six figure fee if the damages are that bad. To prevent any charges and claims of copyright being pursued, the scriptwriter must follow a guideline which doesn't cross paths with another copyrighted idea, for example, if you were to create an action adventure film, you couldn't steal ideas or base ideas from James Bond, as those who take care of the legal side i.e. the solicitors, will press the charges in order to gain a fee. A film that had been done for copyright was the film 'The cabin in the woods' after the producers believed the film had stolen ideas from the film 'The little white trip:A night in the pines'. The producers wanted a fee of around £10million for the damages made, this case is still ongoing.

Plagiarism
The next legal and ethical consideration is Plagiarism. Plagiarism is a similar consideration to that of copyright. The act of plagiarism is to copy from another persons ideas and take credit for it yourself. Breaching Plagiarism can have have many negative effects for the plagiarists, being forced to pay out millions if proven guilty. One film that had been accused of plagiarism was the hit 'Avatar'. The producers and all involved were taken to court over a suspected count of plagiarism against a novel by the Russian, Ruslan Zakriyev. He believed that the film had taken ideas from his novel that he had not approved of. Therefore, he demanded a third of the total revenue made from the film, totaling 1billion dollars. The film was an act of plagiarism, simply because the producers of the film took parts from the novel, and used it as their own and giving themselves the total amount of credit, against the authors wishes. To prevent any claims or charges of plagiarism, the producers will have to think of a way to alter the ideas that they are accused of stealing.

Libel
The third legal and ethical considerations of media is Libel. The act of libel during scriptwriting is to portray a person in a negative way and ruin their reputation in a way. This would be going against the wishes, ultimately, of the person who they're portraying, as the producers are demonstrating a person in a way that they are not. For example, libel could be seen if for some reason, they were to portray Donald Trump as a terrorist, or something similar. This is libel as it shows and portrays a person in a way that they're not. The consequences for libel can be very serious, the offender can't be put in jail for the offence, however they can be taken to court and ordered to pay a massive fine, which in most cases can be ordered by the person on the receiving end of the portrayal. A film which portrayed the act of being libel is the film 'The Interview'. Libel is shown in this film as the producers portray the North Korean supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, to be weak and easy to overpower. This is libel as the leader sees himself as the most feared man on the planet, not as a weak man.

Bias 

The next legal and ethical consideration of media is bias. Bias itself is an ethical consideration which involved with the representations of various groups, events and organisations. The idea of bias in screenwriting can be seen as trying to force a view or an opinion on the viewer, when they would rather have their own opinion. 

Censorship

The next legal and ethical consideration of media is censorship. With censorship, this is the law that the screenwriters must fully understand what they are about to have commissioned. This includes the target audience, and what time they intend for it to be broadcasted. The things the writers have to take on board are:

• Use of violence
• Use of language (profanity etc)
• Sexual scenes
• Discrimination
• Use of drugs

U.K Watershed

The consideration of censorship goes hand in hand with another consideration, this being the UK watershed. The watershed is between 9pm-5am. The watershed means that certain tv shows and movies can't be shown, these include the bullet pointed list above, as it may not be suitable for the viewers before and after 9pm and 5am. This is because there may be children watching, and the bullet pointed list will not be suitable for children. However, box office broadcasts may be shown before the uk watershed, even though they may contain usage of violence, for example violence. TV shows and movies which have a rating of 12 may be shown before the watershed. 12 rated tv shows may include The Simpsons and Futurama. Although 12 rated tv shows and films may include some of the things prohibited by the U.K watershed, they're seen as child friendly, therefore may be shown. Dead pool 2, for example, a 15 rated film, can not be shown before or after the U.K watershed, as it is not child friendly.

Career opportunities and the structure of the media sector

With the media sector, there are a wide range of platforms for people to involved in. These vary from Television, film to radio and marketing. First of all, television. This sector is one of the biggest within the media industries. Television employs over 50,000 people in Britain alone and there are many broadcasters, however the main ones are BBC, which is funded by the viewers and TV licences, which is the reason for a lack of adverts. There is ITV, which is a private company and not funded by the public, and another main one is channel 4, which is funded by advertisements. The next platform in the sector is Radio. Now radio is the oldest form of media, this dates back to as early as the 1920's. However, as time has went by, radio has become a dying art of the media sector, as technology has made it digital, meaning the radio can even be seen on TV. Also there is a lack of demand for radio in a sense, as people can listen to music digitally, and news can be found all over the internet, which the vast majority of the population have access to. The 3 types of radio are:

• publicly funded radio (funded by the taxpayer)
• commercial radio (funded by advertisements)
• commercial and voluntary radio (funded by the national lottery)

The next platform in the media sector is film. Film currently employs 27,800 people nationwide, making it one of the largest and profitable sectors in the industry. With this industry, there are 6 different components to it, these being; Development, Production, Facilities, Distribution, Exhibition and Export. With film, there are a few huge blockbuster companies that create the film for the public, these are the likes of Universal, Disney and Paramount. However, there are plenty of thriving companies that are smaller and not as well known as said companies, one for example being Pinewood studios. The smaller companies don't tend to make substantial, blockbuster films, however they tend to create popular and successful films. Pinewood created the likes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The next industry in the sector is Animation, this is a role that works for the outcome of movies, to make them look as great as they do. TV, Film and adverts use animation to create shows and even special effects that are vital in their production. The video game business is also known for using animation, to create an immersive game experience. 2 popular animation companies are:

• Dreamworks (owned by Paramount)
• Pixar ( owned by Disney)
• Pixar has worked with films such as Toy Story and Cars, whereas Dreamworks have produced movies such as Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. The next platform is Interactive media, a platform that employs over 34,000 people. Interactive media is vital for day to day life, everybody with internet access uses it, this includes apps such as Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube. With people using phones and computers, these interactive apps can rack up users in the millions and sometimes even billions. The next platform in the media sector is computer games. This platform is gaining more importance and prominence as years go by, as more people get into gaming. Over time, gaming has allowed the 'casual' player to get involved, as in recent times gaming was seen for people who would play for competition, commonly known as Esports in recent years. Gaming has created plenty of jobs, including those who create the game, to those who play the games competitively. The biggest game producers are:
• Activision (big for games such as Call Of Duty)
• Electronic Arts( big for games such as Fifa, Battlefield etc.)
• Nintendo (big for games such as Super Mario Bros.)

The next platform is publishing. The publishing business in media can be those who create Magazines, newspapers, books and posters. Publishing creates plenty of jobs, as there are plenty businesses and companies who publish. The most popular publishing companies are:

• Co & Bear productions
• Hesperus House
• Plexus Productions

And another platform for media is press. This is the sector that produces news to the general public, both broadcasted by TV and written press that includes newspapers. The broadcast press includes companies such as:

• BBC News
• Sky News
• ITV News

And the written press:

• The Daily Mail
• The Daily Telegraph
• The Guardian

Career Opportunities- Journalism

With Journalism, there is a host of opportunities to be had. These include broadcast journalists, editorial assistants and magazine journalist. The journalism sector offers a lot of jobs and has opened up job opportunities for thousands of people. Sports Journalism is an opportunity I personally take an interest in, with so many companies and businesses offering job opportunities on all fronts, covering plenty of sports. The companies for example that cover sports journalism, firstly are giants Sky Sports. Sky are a mega business that offer the best journalists jobs covering sports, from writing reports to camera action. Many newspapers have their own experts covering sport, however these are local newspapers. These are both national and local newspapers. So for example, a local newspaper, like the Sunderland Echo would have their own expert following Sunderland AFC up and down the country and reporting on it, I only mentioned football as Sunderland is a one sport city. Whereas a city like Leicester would have multiple experts as it is a 3 sport city, covering Cricket, Rugby and Football, therefore it would have an expert covering their own sport. However, this differs from a national newspaper, as they would do a one page write up on the round-up of all sports and games, whereas a local newspaper would have several pages dedicated to the sports. Those are just 2 of the job and career opportunities in sports journalism, newspaper and television. There is also plenty of magazines dedicated to sports, after doing research I found FourFourTwo and Shoot to be popular football magazines. I found various cricket magazines, these being 'The cricketer' and 'The Cricket Annual'. Again, this offers hundreds upon thousands of job opportunities, as people would report on the sport, people will edit the magazines, and thats just 2 of a variety of jobs on offer. There is also a massive social media scene for various sports teams, as. each team would have a personalised account which would cover matchdays and all stuff behind the scenes. These accounts will vary from Twitter to Facebook and Instagram, some even will have YouTube. However this all links to the world of journalism and the media as they're all reporting on one thing and giving the world an insight as to what is happening. Obviously, the social media might not be as great and expansive as the likes of magazines and newspapers in terms of job offering, however the demand is still large, due to the amount of people who are interactive on social media. With journalism, there are plenty of legal and ethical issues to abide by, to make sure nothing is enforced on the journalist. The first of which is defamation and libel, this issue is to prevent a persons reputation being shattered. A code of conduct journalists much follow is the 'NUJ Code of conduct', which implies the following:

• Ensuring information is accurate and fair
• Differentiating between fact and opinion
• Avoiding intrusion into a persons private life and matters
• Protecting the identity of those who supply the information
• Producing no material that may lead to harming a persons reputation, which may lead to hatred and discrimination
• Obtaining material by honest, straight forward and open means 

Said conduct means that if a person breaches any of the above, they may get pulled over for copyright, plagiarism and libel and given a hefty fine and may even face a jail sentence for their troubles.

Learning aim A

Professional behaviour in the media industries:

• Reliability- Reliability is essential as employers will need to know if their employees can hack their responsibility. It will also make the employee trustworthy and the employer will know they're good value for their job.
• Time management, attendance and punctuality- Arriving on time for work is always a work is a key point when trying to impress your employer. A person who arrives on time and is punctual is more likely to receive appreciation as opposed to a person who is late or takes a few days off most weeks.
• Commitment and efficiency- Being committed to a job is important for not only your work, but your wellbeing. This is because being in a positive state about your work will not give you second thoughts about your job, and will also leave you in a positive mental state
• Self presentation and communication skills- Its essential to make sure your work is presented. If a journalist was to send their work in to their employer that was not in a printable, readable format they would receive negative feedback from their employer.
• Team project contribution- The vast majority of media sectors require a lot of time on team projects. Making sure you are active in these situations is not only good for your work life, but your personal life as it bolsters your ability to work in and around a team. Also, this allows you to develop many skills that may not relate to your job.
• Personal responsibility- Most work in the media is freelance, therefore the onus is on yourself to drive yourself to goals and targets to achieve. In the media, a lot of work is personal, and if work is not completed during a set deadline, you may not receive payment, meaning the person will have to take it upon themselves to get work done, otherwise they may face serious problems.

Contracts of employment

In media, there are plenty of contracts that employees and employers must take into consideration. These are to determine how many hours you work, which may or may not be guaranteed.

The first of which is freelance. Working freelance, you can determine your own fate in terms of work and how often you work. This is because a freelancer is a person who works for themselves maybe as their own private business. They will receive payment by completing tasks and assignments. This contract however means that they may not receive the same rights as workers who are full time, although they negotiate their own schedule and terms.

The next is a full time contract. This is the most popular contract of them all in media and are usually handed out for a permanent position. So in terms of media, a person may be given a full time role of a magazine editor and will solely stick to that role. There are more benefits of a full time contract as opposed to any other contract as they're entitled to pension benefits, parental leave and statutory sick pay. The hours of work increase and are a lot more than any other contract, totalling over 35 hours per week.

The next contract is the part time contract, those who have this contract work less than those with a full time contract. The number of hours they're scheduled to work per week are  clearly visible in the contract and can work overtime if and when desired. The benefits of working part time can include flexible schedules, so they can fit in desired commitments when needed.

The next is the zero hours contract. This contract is handed to an employee to work when the employer only requires them to work, the employer is under no legal obligation to set a guaranteed number of hours and the employee does not have to accept the work hours given to them. They are also required the same amount of annual and holiday leave as full time workers and are guaranteed at least the minimum pay rate. Those on zero hours can also seek employment from other areas whilst working at one company.

 Legal and ethical issues for sports journalism

The first thing to consider for sourcing a story is double checking the source. The reason for this is a media story could be incorrect and not properly sourced, and could therefore reveal incorrect information about a person causing distress. The outcome of this could be fatal, including being taken to court. Another ethical consideration is right of reply. This generally means that a person has the right to defend themselves against public criticism. This generally means that a person has the right to dispute any wrongly accused criticism on their behalf. So for example, if a person wrongly accused you of doing something, you can defend yourself by disputing it and informing the person they were wrong in their claim. Respecting peoples privacy is another legal and ethical issue. This is vital because it is protecting those who have witnessed shock, grief or illness. This means the journalist won't report or speculate as to what has happened. For example a sports journalist wont report on a sportspersons death or speculate on it, as it would be unfair on the family who are hoping for peace during their hard time, this would be respecting their privacy. The next thing to consider is protecting the vulnerable. This means that in either a report or even in television coverage, the language used is considered.

Public interest:

Protecting public from being misled: This act is for when you source a news story, every detail needs to be legitimate and proper, so that the public is not faked into a news story and told anything incorrect.

Using secret recording only when absolutely necessary: Journalistic codes recommend that secret recording is only used when absolutely necessary. This includes the interest of the public and if there is no other way to source a story. An example of this could be recording undercover to show abuse or bullying that the public wasn't aware of. In spite of this, those who are being exposed to the wrongdoing will generally have to be blurred out to avoid any confusion and a legal charge. If you were to go without consent and post a persons face without their consent, this would be invasion of privacy.