This law was created so that production companies don't break the laws by showing graphic scenes or images before a certain time. Content that contains sexual explicit, violent and/or drug takings is reviewed for suitability for the audience, this is decided by the time a production is aired depending on the age range.
An example of this would be:
- The movie 'Last House on the Left' was banned in the UK due to unrestrained violence and sexual humiliation that runs throughout the movie.
- The Human Centipede 2 had been refused a certificate by the British Board of Film Classification. This means that the movie can't be released on DVD in the UK due to its graphic scenes and 'real risk of harm to the viewers'. It was also said that the movie may fall foul of the Obscene Publications Act. This was banned for being related to sexual violence, graphic gore scenes, and for breaching the obscenity law.
Libel Law
If you publish/broadcast a story about someone which is untrue what could result in their reputation being damaged you can be sued. This law was put in place to protect organisations or an individual from untruthful attacks on their reputation. Storing certain information about individuals without their consent is illegal. Any records you hold about a person can be opened by that individual under the Freedom of Information Act. Though, when working in journalism you may be protected by the Official Secrets Act which means it won’t be made public. Slander and libel have a lot in common, they both have to do with lies that hurt peoples careers or reputations, Both Slander and Libel are against the law. The definition of Slanders is 'the crime of making false spoken statements that are damaging to a persons reputation'. If the speaker has no proof and says it out loud so many can hear this is illegal and they can be prosecuted. The definition of Libel is 'the crime of writing and printing false spoken statements that are damaging to a persons reputation. It is illegal is the speaker has no proof but writes it for many to read.
If you publish/broadcast a story about someone which is untrue what could result in their reputation being damaged you can be sued. This law was put in place to protect organisations or an individual from untruthful attacks on their reputation. Storing certain information about individuals without their consent is illegal. Any records you hold about a person can be opened by that individual under the Freedom of Information Act. Though, when working in journalism you may be protected by the Official Secrets Act which means it won’t be made public. Slander and libel have a lot in common, they both have to do with lies that hurt peoples careers or reputations, Both Slander and Libel are against the law. The definition of Slanders is 'the crime of making false spoken statements that are damaging to a persons reputation'. If the speaker has no proof and says it out loud so many can hear this is illegal and they can be prosecuted. The definition of Libel is 'the crime of writing and printing false spoken statements that are damaging to a persons reputation. It is illegal is the speaker has no proof but writes it for many to read.
An example of this would be:
- Actress Cameron Diaz won her libel lawsuit against The Sun after they had made untrue allegations that damaged her personal and professional reputation. The sun claimed that she was cheating on her boyfriend Justin Timberlake with MTV producer Shane Nickerson.
- Lord McAlphine was involved in a twitter incident where someone tweeted that he was part of a paedophile ring which had been targeting children at a care home in Wrexham, he then prosecuted Sally Bercow wife of the common speaker John over the false comments that she had made on the twitter network.
Privacy Law Human Rights Act 1998
Legal action must be taken for the misuse of private information. When a media company collects information about someone which is private but still use it to publish a story legal action is taken. This refers to the laws which deal with the regulation of personal information about individuals which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private organisations and its storage use.
An example of this would be:
- The French magazine company 'Closer' breached into Kate Middleton's (Duchess of Cambridge) private holiday after taking indecent images of her sunbathing topless and published them.
Official Secrets Act
The Official Secrets Act forbids confidential material from government sources by employees being leaked. It is an offence for a member or former member of the security and intelligence services (or people working closely with them) to disclose information about their work.
An example of this would be:
- The News of the World phone hacking scandal: The newspaper company hacked into missing girl Milly Dowler's phone and read through her voice-mails giving her parents false hope that she was still alive. The News of the World was shut down shortly after this case.
- Clive Pointing had been charged with leaking an internal MoD documents which was concerning the General Belgrano, the Argentinian cruiser which British forces sank during the 1982 Falklands War, killing 360 people. Pointing was clearing of breaking the official secrets act but his case remained the landmark of Official Secret Case.
Copyright and Intellectual Property Law
This law was put into place to protect peoples creative goals so they can benefit from their work. If this law wasn't in place nobody would be able to copy/sell or profit from other peoples work. Programme-makers are liable for ensuring that all essential clearances (copyright, trademarks etc.) have been obtained for their programmes.
An example of this would be:
- Music band Vanilla Ice had a hit with 'Ice Ice Baby' he sampled the song 'Under Pressure' by David Bowie and Queen but did not credit them. Vanilla Ice denied it at first until he later faced a lawsuit by the duo, he then confessed to sampling their work. This case was settled privately out of court with Vanilla Ice paying a sum of money and crediting David Bowie and Queen on the track.
- Itunes broke the copyright law as they were allowing Russian films to be bought through the Apple Itunes service without any consent of the copyright holders.
