Legal and Ethical constraints in the creative media sector

Race relations act 1976Race Relations Act 1976 was made by the UK parliament to stop discrimination on people race. It covered racial, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin discrimination in employment, the provision of goods and services, education and public functions. The act has been revised by the ‘2000 Race Relations Amendment Act’ and the ‘Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006’. It started off with the fact of all different backgrounds of people being given the same rights and equality, within a TV production the management team can’t show that a darker colour of skin is the weaker race against the white background of England. “A leading Jewish school, JFS in Brent, this broke the race relations act by refusing admission to a boy because his mother was not officially recognized as a Jew, the court of appeal has ruled” this was in the telegraph newspaper from an article posted online, this straight away brakes the race relations act due to the boy’s mother not having a Jewish background.

Human Rights act 1998The Human Rights Act 1998 introduced the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, of which the UK was one of the primary authors. This means in practice is that people who want to bring cases where they know their rights have been violated they will now be able to through the British courts, rather than having to spend years chasing the case at the European Court of Human Rights.

Licensing 2003An Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act founds a single integrated arrangement for licensing grounds which are used for the sale/supply of alcohol, to deliver controlled entertainment, or to deliver late night refreshment.

Privacy LawRefers to the laws which deal with the regulation of individual information about persons which can be collected by governments and other public as well as private groups and its storage and use. Regulation or act that protects a person's right to be left alone, and governs collection, storage, and release of his or her financial, medical, and other personal information.

Copyright & Intellectual Property LawCopyright applies to work that is recorded in some way, rights exist in items such as artistic, musical and dramatic work as well as films, sound recordings and typographical arrangements. Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, like inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

Obscene Publications AcThe Obscene Publications Act of 1959&1964 was introduced to stop company's and individual people to publish anything that they had that would be classed as obscene - To own, possess or even to control it would be breaking the law. "Crash (1996) was accused by its critics of being obscene, but no prosecution was brought. Indeed, a leading QC gave his opinion that the film was not obscene."

Broadcasting ActThe Broadcasting act of 1990 is a law that was passed by UK parliament to form a legal outline on the electronic communication. The act contains a provision on the regulation of independent television, sound programme and other services provided by TV and radio frequencies.