Ethics are the moral principles that define how a person or group acts. This is employed fervently with the BBC film and editorial guidelines. Trust, truth and accuracy, impartiality, harm and offence, fairness and privacy to name but a few. The BBC even quotes "trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest" and "we will strive to be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation". This is compatible with the fact that the BBC are in fact paid to give this public service of true and honest information to educate and entertain. The BBC says that the company "exists to serve the public interest" which is the BBC's prime moral principle.
If someone has a problem with the BBC in terms of ethical standards, for example if someone was in a BBC program and feels that they were exploited in some way, then they would either consult the BBC's editorial standards committee or OFCOM (office of communications). OFCOM is the regulator and competition authority for broadcasting, postal services, telecommunications and radiocommunications, they are also the ear that the public complains to. As OFCOM allow all of these services for our country they are the company that parents go to when they think that their child is watching a film that is more adult than the 'U' rating implies. It is also a source of complaint for actors and others on screen if they feel that they were edited out of context and outside of what their contract allowed.
Codes of practice control how people act. Not all aspects of regulation is legally binding, but set out to stop unethical actions by forming an agreement between two parties. For example, in the BBC film and editorial guidelines the BBC wrote "We expect independent producers to apply the highest professional and ethical standards in their dealings with BBC staff". These ensure rules and regulations in the workplace, they are not laws set by the government but by the employer. If these rules are broken it could be feasible grounds to fire someone from the job.
More on the BBC's film and editorial guidelines here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/guidelines/
Legalities are the qualities or state of being in accordance with the law.
There are two different forms of employee rights, statutory and contract employment. Statutory rights are legal rights based on laws passed by Parliament. Statutory rights are different to each individual, a basic one would be protection against unlawful discrimination, or 'collective rights', for example, union recognition where there is decent support. All workers, no matter how many hours a week they work, have basic statutory rights. Contractual rights come from contracts of employment made between the employer and the employee. some of these rights will be expressly stated at the interview or in a written contract, though sometimes the court will imply terms (such as the duty of care).
Employers need to make sure that their workplace is fit for employees, though no workplace is perfect and thus the employers need to buy liability insurance. Employees might get injured or become ill as a result of their employment. If the employee feels that their employer is responsible then they may try to claim some form of compensation. This insurance covers the employer in the event of employees wanting to claim compensation. The employers' Liability act 1969 ensures that they have at least a minimum level of insurance cover against any such claims. Public liability insurance is particularly important to those filming on sight or on public premises. As this will pay out on behalf of the offending party in the event that a member of the public is injured or their property is damaged through accident.
Legal constraints are restrictions on the subject in question through law. Legal constraints can affect the types of marketing or advertising that a company may wish to use and violating these constraints can lead to negative and serious impacts on the company. For example, before the 1970's it was allowed for cigarette companies to advertise their tobacco and cigarette products within the media. Cigarettes were used to sponsor TV shows and some adverts were even shows either side of children's TV programs like 'The Flintstones'. It wasn't until 1964 that the first legal constraints were put on advertising cigarette and tobacco products within the media.
No comments:
Post a Comment