Ethical Constraints - Ethical constraints are't necessary things that can get you arrested byt they are just as important as legal constraints. This type of constraints mean that people are working within accepted norms of society and you have to behave in a way that is considered the right way without offending anyone. This is covered by self regulating industry codes and it's up to the producer of the media production you're doing to make a judgement call.
Here are some examples of ethical constraints:
Protecting under 18's - This is when they need to protect the privacy of children and they must get the consent from the child's parents before they can air something on the radio or TV.
Interviewing Vulnerable People or Children - This means that people should know when and when not to interview people. If they interview a child they need to make sure that they don't twist what the person is actually saying because they don't know any better.
Intruding on Individuals Privacy - People need to know their boundaries towards others and they also need to know when not to disturb a member of the public.
Anything That Could Cause Offense or Harm - This means that people have to have a good idea of what could cause the listeners or viewers harm. Most of the time, there are warning if it is something that could cause distress to the viewers.
Legal Constraints - Legal constraints are legal laws that can control the media sector and it is very important that people follow these laws or they could be investigated and fined by the police. Legal considerations are laws that have to be followed and to be took into consideration or you can have some harsh consequences.
Here are some examples of legal constraints:
Obscene Publications Act (1959) - Obscene Publications is the legalization that makes sure to strengthen the law that is concerning pornography. The effect this has made on the radio means that they can't play the obvious pornographic sounds on family radio shows so it disrupts the listeners. The effect this has made on television is that it stops the use from showing pornographic scenes on television before a certain time. Channels usually make sure they put out warnings before the actual show to make sure that the viewers are aware of what they may be seeing.
Race Relations Act (1976) - The race relations act is the legalization that makes sure people respect that discrimination on any racial grounds it wrong. The effects this made on radio and televsion is that they need to make sure that they do not discriminate against any type of religon or race. Radio needs to be extra careful about people they hire because most programs are live and if any racial accusations are made, they have no way of stopping it.
Television have recently been making some television shows that have a person of a dark skin tone as the main character which shows a more fair approach to the law. An example of this would be the program 'Some Girls' which has a black girl as the main character and one of her friends is a Sikh.
Offical Secrets Act (1989) - The official secrets act is the legalization that helps ensure the protection of the state secrets and official information which is mainly related to national security. This doesn't really have major effect on television nor radio. However, if you talk about things that you are under strict untrustions not to discuss then polic could be brought in to investigate.
Broadcasting Act (1990) - The broadcasting act is the law that was created by the British Parliment and the aim of this was to recreate and improve the entire structure of the British Broadcasting & British Television. This effects televison because the act allowed for the creation of the fifth channel to be distributed in the UK, which turned out to be Channel 5 and this then caused a growth in the multichannel satellite TV. This act has recieved both critisim and praise, especially allowing the force of Rupert Murdoch's ambitions in Britain. It has also allowed the companies holding the ITV franchises to take over other companies from 1995. The effects it had on radio was that the act was allowed the launch of 3 Independent Nation Radio Stations. Two of them on medium wave usuing frequencies formally used by the BBC and the other on FM usuing frquencies used by the emergency services. This then started plans for many more local and regional commericial radio stations, using parts of the FM band which was not previously used for broadcasting. The plans for expanding the community radio were only developed in the 2000's.
In the Parliment is caused a series of opposition from the most of the Labour Party and even some members from the Consernative Party who all thought this was a representative of a decline in standards.
Privacy Law - This law is the law that deals with the use of people's personal information and making sure they aren't intruded upon. These laws make sure that people can't have their information wrongly used without their permission. The effects it has on radio is that they can't tell the listeners people's full names or any other type of private details they don't want to be revealed. For example, if a viewer calls in but they don't want their name to be revealed then they can't say it. Television basically has the same effects as radio, they can not use people's full names without their consent. This also means that if they take footage of someone, they also need that person's permission before they air it on TV.
Copyright and Intellectual Property Law - The Copyright law protects things that are owned by a certain person. This makes sure that no one can take the credit for someone else's work or they can't use something without getting permission first. This means that on radio, they can't play some music without getting permission from the people that created it. Also, in television, they can't play music or show clips without getting permission from the people who created them.
Libel Law - This is the law which states that someone can not give out false information about someone that potentially cause them harm. For example, writing a quote that someone said when in fact they didn't actually say that, or even portraying someone in a negative way when that isn't what happened.
