Roles and Responsibilties and Job Contracts

Job Roles

Broadcast Assistant

The starting salary is at £13,000+ per year, the hours are variable.

Radio broadcast assistants carry out running tasks to make sure that live and recorded radio programmes run smoothly. There are no set qualifications for becoming a radio broadcast assistant; many do have a degree qualification. Broadcast assistants support producers and presenters in the making of radio programmes. It will be your job to handle the administration, planning programmes and providing technical support. This is a common starting point for a career in radio. Duties will include:

• Researching programs
• Booking guests, preparing their contracts and arranging payment
• Booking studio time and equipment
• Typing scripts
• Producing program logs and running orders
• Keeping track of costs
• Updating the program or station website, blog or social media
• Arranging and sending out competition prizes

 Radio Producer

Radio producers have the responsibility for the audio content of the broadcasts via radio, the Internet and other mobile platforms. Producers are elaborated in the entire process, from producing ideas to managing the responses from the audience after the show.  They work with broadcasting assistants, DJs, presenters and the IT staff. Producers are also accountable for the business and commercial management of a program.

Radio Producers may be required to work long and unpredictable hours to make sure that deadlines are met. Most radio programs are broadcasted live so this means shift work will be common, this may included working evenings and weekends.

The starting salary for these job roles is at around £12,000 per year. If you come into this job role with previous experience you could earn a salary of £20,000 to £30,000. If you are a freelance radio producer you would earn around £190 to £300 a day.

Some of the skills and qualities that are needed for this job role are:

•        Strong communication (verbally and written)
•       Ability to generate fresh ideas
•       Able to stay calm under pressure and to deal with tight deadlines
•       Good at working in a team
•      Skilled with computers and broadcast equipment
•       Creative and inquisitive
•       Self-confident, persistent and persuasive

Station Manager

Station Managers have the responsibility of running the Radio stations and helping the management team to make sure that they meet the key objectives of the station in terms of output, audience and revenue. In

Station Managers are expected to have a clear understanding of the purpose and format of their station, and the characteristics of their target audience. In Commercial radio, the main focus of the Station Managers job role is sales, increasing revenue for the station and dealing with the budget and resources. In BBC Local radio Station Managers have editorial responsibility for all output as well as dealing the students finances. 

Skills needed:

•      Business and finance skills.
•       Sound editorial judgement.
•      Self-motivation and adaptability.
•      Ability to generate ideas and to creatively communicate them.
•       Great communication and presentation skills.
•      Knowledge of the Radio Market, different station and programme styles and audience demographics.

Radio Runners

Radio Runners work behind the scenes of Radio, running errands for the rest of the production team. They do whatever needs dong, which could mean photocopying scripts, hunting for props, fetching coffee for studio guests and keeping the studio tidy. Runners could be in the studio, in the production office or even working in the editing suite. A runner makes sure that the production goes smoothly and they also get to work with everyone who is involved.

Skills needed:

• Enthusiasm and willingness to take on any task.
• Excellent organisational and time management skills. 
• Easy to get along with.

Programme Controllers

Programme controllers have the responsibility to make sure that they produce programming which meets the creative and commercial needs of each station. Programme controllers work closely with the Station Managers. This job role can only be found in Commercial Radios. Program controllers contribute to the development of multi-platform content.

Skills needed:

• Be able to come up with creative orginal ideas
• Good communication and presentations skills
• Be able to work under pressure
• Ability to give and accept feedback
• Have a high level of IT skills
• Have self motivation
• Finance skills

Sales Executive

Sales Executives are responsible for creating the income for commercial radio stations from the advertising sales and sponsorship's. This job role is only found in commercial radios. The job includes selling the advantages of Radio as an advertising medium, to both media agencies and individual clients. Throughout the job role you will develop long-term business relationships. The starting salary for this job role is between £17,000 -£35,000.The hours for this job vary but are mostly full time working hours which is 9-5 7 days a week, sometimes depending on the job you may have to work overtime.

Skills needed:

• Be creative with your ideas
• Good writing and presentation skills
• Understanding of the Radio market
• Attention to detail
• Have self motivation
• Have confidence and tenacity

Marketing Executive

Market Executives are expected to fulfill a range of analytically and creative marketing functions. They are also expected to work closely with their work colleagues that are involved in the sales department. Market Executives must be able to give an insight into the audience and clients expectations,they must also help to building the brand so that it is more successful and to increase the revenue. The hours of this job vary from full time working hours which is 9-5 every day of the week sometimes you may asked to be in overtime depending on the amount of work that needs to be done.

Skills needed:

• Be creative with your ideas
• Good writing and presentation skills
• Understanding of the Radio market
• Attention to detail
• Have self motivation
• Have confidence and tenacity

Job Contracts

Full Time
This is where you work between the hours of 37-29 hours at the most a week. You get full pay including holiday and sick pay, and also maternity and pension pay. You have to give at least one-three months notice before you want to leave.

Permanent
This is where you have the job until you decide to leave on your own accord or the company you work for doesn't need to employ you any more.You have to give at least a one-three months notice before you leave.

Part-time work
This is where you work half the hours that you would work if you were working full time, so that would mean you would be working about 18 hours a week on average. You still get all the advantages that you would get if you worked full time.

Office Hours
This is where you work the normal hours a day shift which is 9 till 5 five days a week. You get normal pay/

Irregular Hours
This is where you could work for about ten hours one week and then the next week you might only work two hours, your work hours change on a regular basis.

Anti-social Hours
This is where you work the evening and night shifts, you could be starting work at 10 till 4am or 1 till 6am, it depends on the place where you working and their opening times.

Salaried
This is where you get a set amount pf pay throughout each year but is divided by the months so you would get a certain amount a month continuously throughout the years. For example; if you were to get payed £24.000 annually you would receive a pay of £2,000 each month, a proportion of your pay goes towards tax and national insurance.

Hourly
This is where when your working you get payed hourly. If your under the age of 18 you get payed minimum wage until you are old enough to get maximum pay per hour.

On Completion
This is where you get payed for doing your job there and then as soon as your finished. This can apply for builders, plumbers and other job roles etc..

Progression Routes

It's important to understand that it's a competitive industry to get into. Your skills and abilities and previous work experience needs to stand out from everyone else who has applied for the same job. There are many progression routes that you can take when you are looking for employment in the Creative Media Industry.

For example if you study a level 2 Media course you can then progress onto a level 3 course that takes two years to complete or if you are over the age of 19 then you can study an access course which is the level 3 course combined into one year. After level 3 or the access course you can then progress onto an undergraduate course at university which lasts around 2-3 years depending on what you are studying, then after you have your degree in the completed course you have more of a chance at getting into a internship or a job in the area that you want. You need to network to get the contacts for possible work experience opportunities however there are other routes that you can take.

If university isn't a first choice for you, then you could apply for an apprenticeship or you could work voluntary to get the experience that is expected of you for a certain particular job role. This can help in many ways as you are still gaining work experience and many of the jobs in Media look for previous work experience. 

Regulatory Issues

What is the definition of monopoly?

A monopoly is where a single company or group have a hold over the majority of a specific market. This causes an absence of competition which results in the smaller companies having an unfair chance to be successful. An example of this is: ‘Rupert Murdoch’s hold over the world’s press and media. He owns the majority of the world’s media industry that there aren’t enough opportunities for other companies.’ Monopoly increases the income of a company, meaning that the company can afford to invest in things that they need that will help benefit the business more. Some companies have better and newer products than others due to their high profit margin. Companies that have a monopoly don’t tend to invest in to other businesses leaving a detrimental effect on the market.

Why is it important to ensure that no single media producer in the UK has a monopoly?

It is important to uphold a variety of producers that own different aspects of the media industry. This is because if one producer has control over the complete media sector then they gain monopoly. Having one producer owning a monopoly could be harmful to the media industry, this is due to the fact that one company will have complete control over the sector giving other companies or producers an unfair chance.

Why is consumer choice important?

Consumer choice means giving the customers of your selling product the right of choice of how they purchase and use that product. An example of this is: ‘Apple, they initially manufactured music devices. But through the use of vertical integration they now create many types of other similar products. These are ranging from mobile phones to tablets and TVs. This gives their consumers more choice range from them to buy from.

What is the definition of censorship?

Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication, which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet or other controlling body.

China’s Censorship:

Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching a wide audience including television, print media, radio, film, theatre, text messaging, instant messaging, video games, literature and the Internet.

Political Censorship: Censorship is mostly seen as a measure to keep the rule of the Communist Party of China. Censorship helps prevent unapproved reformist, separatist, ‘counter-revolutionary’ or religious ideas from spreading around.

Moral Censorship: This type of censorship is mainly used to help with the prevention of political conflicts from occurring within the social background. For example: people are allowed to talk about politics on the Internet, but China blocks certain websites enclosing anti-government material. China also has large restrictions on pornography, extreme pornography and violence in films.

Cultural Censorship: The PRC (Peoples Republic of China) has factually required the use of censorship to ‘protect the country’s culture’.  Religious works and symbols are believed intolerant and are set for destruction. China also has a ban on foreign cartoon from the Chinese prime time TV.

Religious Censorship: A huge amount of religious texts, publication and materials are banned or limited in the PRC. Foreign citizens are forbidden from preaching in China, and information regarding the action of some religious groups is tightly controlled.

 Why do some people think there is a fine line between censorship and protecting the public interest?

 Without censorship many harmful and offensive advertisements could be published to the views of the public. This could provoke illegal activities depending on the situation of the advertisement. Obscene advertisements could be issued in magazines which would have a negative effect on the public, most commonly on the younger generation of the public.

 Examples:

The Prada advert featured a 14 year old actor in a potentially life-threatening situation. This was banned by the ASA as it was irresponsible as it shown a child looking upset sitting in an unsafe location. This was said to be innapropiate as it could encourage a young person in the same state to copy off the advert.

Why should under-18s be subject to particular consideration by regulators? 

There are many exceptions for under 18s to the rules that are set in place by regulatory bodies. This is because there is many rules within media regarding under 18s that have to be abided by. If a person is under the age of 18 they will not be classes as an adult so therefor they need to be protected under many acts that have been put in place to keep them safe. In regards to censorship, minors can not be portrayed negatively in advertisements, if they are this can lead to discrimination. For example alcohol advertisments are not aimed at minors this is so that they are not encouraged to drink, also car advertisements are also aimed at more older people who are legal to drive this is so that it does not give young people an idea to drive illegally.

Regulatory and Professional Bodies within the Media Sector

BBFC (British Board of Film Classification)

The BBFC stands for the British Board of Film Classification. The BBFC is a non- governmental organisation which is funded through the film industry, this is responsible for the national classification and censorships of films in the UK. They classify different films depending on the content in them. They categorize film in the following way: U, PG, 12, 12A, 15, 18, R18.



OFCOM (Office of Communications)

Ofcom is an independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. They deal with licenses in Radio communications, broadcasters and TV broadcasts. They also consumer from what might be considered harmful or offensive material, they also make sure programmes should be on at right times. Ofcom regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, also the frequencies over which wireless devices operate. The founding of Ofcom was announced in June 2001 during the Queen’s Speech to the UK parliament it wasn’t until 29 December 2003 that it was officially launched.
Ofcom became heir to the duties that five different regulators had previously been responsible for, these are:

-          The Broadcasting Standards Commission

-          The independent television commission

-          The office of telecommunications

-          The Radio Authority

-          The Radio communications Agency

If there is a problem Ofcom have the power to step in and take action for the benefit and welfare of citizens and consumers. This includes encouraging competition or resolving regulatory disputes between communication providers. Ofcom also enforce consumer protection law, they protect and manage the radio spectrum, and to ensure that the viewers and listeners are protected from offensive and harmful material, Ofcom treats everyone fairly.

Ofcom: Code of Practise Sections:

-          Section One: Protecting the Under-Eighteens

-          Section Two: Harm and Offence

-          Section Three: Crime

-          Section Four: Religion

-          Section Five: Due Impartiality and Due Accuracy and Undue Prominence of Views and Opinions

-          Section Six: Elections and Referendums

-          Section Seven: Fairness

-          Section Eight: Privacy

-          Section Nine: Commercial References in Television Programming

-          Section Ten: Commercial Communications in Radio Programming

 
ASA (Advertising Standards Agency)

The Advertising Standards Authority is the UKs most independent regulator of advertising across all types of media. They apply the advertising codes which are written by the committees of advertising practice. There work includes acting on complaints that are made about the media product and proactively checking the media to take action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements.





PCC (Press Complaints Commission)

The Press Complaints Commission is an independent body which administers the system of self-regulation for the press. It does so primarily by dealing with complaints, framed within the terms of the Editors' Code of Practice, about the editorial content of the newspapers and magazines and the conduct of journalists. The editors’ code of practise is the rules that they have to abide by when publishing an advertisement.
The press complaints commission deal with complaints that are made against the press, they protect the rights of individuals and puts the editors into account.

PCC: Editors' Code of Practise Sections:

-          Accuracy

-          Opportunity to reply

-          Privacy

-          Harassment

-           Intrusion into grief or shock

-          Children

-          Children in sex cases

-          Hospitals

-          Reporting of Crime

-          Clandestine devices and subterfuge

-          Victims of sexual assault

-          Discrimination           

-          Financial Journalism

-          Confidential sources

-          Witness payments in criminal trials

-          Payment to criminals

Ethical Constraints within the Media Sector

Ethical Issues within the media industry are much more difficult to judge than legal constraints. This is because there is no set guidelines as to what is and isn’t acceptable in the extent of ethical constraints, this is because ethical issues are based on judgements. These constraints mean that you are working within the accepted norms of society. You are believed to behave in what is considered the right way without offending anyone. Many ethical concerns are upraised by groups of specific people. These groups may find the publication either harmful or offensive, due to how the minority are portrayed. The main ethical concerns in the media industry are:

Protecting under 18s

It is important to protect the privacy of children no matter what, this can be done by the parent or guardian of the child consenting them.

Power to influence the public

This is where the company are able to twist the truth around to make the public believe something that is not neccesarily true, this is often applied in newspaper articles as journalists stretch or twist the truth to recieve a reaction from the public. There's boundaries that can't be crossed in Television so that peoples opinions don't affect the publics opinions.

 

Interviewing vulnerable people or children

It is important to be aware of or not interview a person that looks like a vulnerable subject. For example of someone is doing an interview and the interviewer asks deep and personal questions that could have a negative affect on the interviewee from previous or current situations. The interviewer has to make sure that the questions that are asked aren't too personal or sensitive. This applies to children aswell as they may not know any better or have a clear understanding on it.

Intruding on individuals privacy
This is where you have set boundaries that you have to stick to when it comes to the Media Industry, you do not want to invade someone else's personal space. For example when the french newspaper company took indecent images of the Duchess of Cambridge whilst she was on holiday and published them without her knowledge and consent of the images.

Anything that would cause harm or offence
In the Media Industry you have to make sure that you dont cause any harm or offence to the listeners or viewers, this is because they could have suffered from a problem that could be the topic of a programme but could be offended by how the programme portrays that problem. Or if someone has epilepsy the programme would have to make sure that there is warning message at the beginning of the show warning the viewers of 'flashing lights'. Television companies also provide helplines at the end of their emotional or traumatic story lines  so that if anyone has suffered from it they can have someone to talk too who understands.

Ethical Issues in Radio
In the radio sector their are a lot of ethical constraints that everyone in the industry needs to be aware of so that any of the content on the show can't offend or upset the audience. Constraints can limit your production depending on the content that it consists of and if anyone is sensitive about it. The target audience must be kept in mind so that you know what content include for example if the radio show was just for adults listeners then it would be aired throughout the night and it if it was for young ages then it would be aired throughout the day. Language must be kept to a minimal this includes no swearing or racial abuse whilst on air, of a show uses racial or ethnic abuse this could possibly offend listeners and they could get upset over it, this will lead to complaints being made about the show which you could end up loosing your job. When you work in radio you must be really sensitive on topics and content of your show so that you don't upset or offend anyone. You have to always treat your listeners with respect, for example when you are on air having a phone call with one of the listeners you must always be polite and show respect towards them. You have to include a wide range of different content that will suit your audiences taste for example when playing music you should include a variety of choices based on your targeted audience. You have to ensure that you are working within the accepted social norms when working in Radio. 

Code of Practice
A set of written rules which explains how people working in a particular profession should behave.  A set of guidelines and regulations to be followed by members of some profession, trade, occupation and organization, it does not normally have the force of law. If any of the rules below are broken then it means that the person who has broke them will either get suspended or fired, the case could also be took into the courts hands.
The editors’ code of practice is the rules that they have to abide by when publishing an advertisement they have to make sure of;

-          Accuracy

-          Opportunity to reply

-          Privacy

-          Harassment

-           Intrusion into grief or shock

-          Children

-          Children in sex cases

-          Hospitals

-          Reporting of Crime

-          Clandestine devices and subterfuge

-          Victims of sexual assault

-          Discrimination           

-          Financial Journalism

-          Confidential sources

-          Witness payments in criminal trials

-          Payment to criminals

Many advertisements have been banned by the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) as they have been thought to give off the wrong impression to people or cause offence. When thinking of the ethical constraints that you could come across in the creative media industry, you need to take the following into consideration:

• Representation of age, gender, race, diasbiltiy and religion
• Protecting under 18s
• Using off the record information
• Power to influence public opinion
• Interviewing vulnerable people or children
• Intruding on individuals
• Anything that could cause offence or harm

• For example; Wonga's 'Mr Sandman' advertisement was took off the screen shortly after being aired due to giving off the wrong impression that taking a high-interest loan could be done lightly.The ASA quoted that 'We considered that the claim gave the impression that a high-interest short-term loan was not a financial commitment that required a great deal of consideration and that impression was also compounded by the claims about the simplicity of the application process."

• A controversial Paddy Power advert became the most complained about UK advertisement of all time, the ASA said that they received over 5000 complaints about the ad. Paddy Power had been offering bets on the outcome of Oscar Pistorious trial, offering money back to all who bet if he walks free from court. The ASA came to their decision of banning the ad after they had over 120,000 supporters on an on-line petition.
  

• Controversial advertisement vans have been banned by the ASA after telling illegal immigrants to 'go home' this was against the ethical constraints as its representing race and religion offensively. The ASA received 224 complaints against the Home Office campaign earlier on in the year, the slogan was said to de 'distasteful' and 'irresponsible'.
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