Regulatory and professional bodies what they do and why they exist - 23rd Feb

Regulatory and professional bodies what they do and why they exist - 23rd Feb

A web post about Regulatory and professional bodies what do they do why do they exist

• British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)The BBFC is an independent, UK based, non-profit, self funding organisation that exists to regulate classification of media content such as films, DVDs and videos. Their main goal is to provide security to the public surrounding media content by informing consumers of the information they need to decipher whether the media they are choosing is right for them. They Take pride in protecting younger audiences from content that might be inappropriate and try to keep up with societies ideals.
  Focusing on sexual content, drugs, nudity, horror, discrimination, language and violence among other things, the BBFC rates media according to their guidelines. Depending on where the media is going to be shown, there will be a certain amount of people involved. If a film is due for cinema release, it will be viewed by at least 2 examiners, it is the examiners who will usually make the final decision towards what rating the content should be given but sometimes if a film is sitting between two categories, the decision will be made by someone higher up in the BBFC.
  If a film is coming out on DVD and has already been given a certificate, it will usually only require one examiner to watch it.
• Office for Communication (Ofcom),
  Ofcom is another UK based organisation partly funded by the government that works to regulate and provide a number of communication based platforms from TV and Radio (Making sure there is a wide range of programmes, both TV and Radio, provided in a high quality, by different organisations, for all audience types) to Postal services and wireless devices (Airwaves that are used by the likes of boat owners, mobile company's and taxi drivers) . The company makes sure to provide a spectrum of electronic communications including broadband. The organisation operates under the Communications Act, 2003 along with others and abide by the rules and regulations within these acts. The main duty of Ofcom, according to the the Communications Act is to 'further the interests of citizens and of consumers, where appropriate by promoting competition' The organisation has made this their main priority. While keeping within the expectations of the Communications Act, Ofcom is allowed to set regulations and rules for sectors they are responsible for, this includes competition law.
  Ofcom also works to make sure that any persons who consume or are involved with radio and television are protected from content that might be seen as offensive or harmful. This includes making sure nobodies privacy is compromised and there is no unfair treatment.
  A six day postal service throughout the UK is provided by Ofcom.
  In 2008 Ofcom fined the BBC £400,000 for falsifying competition results on a number of television and radio shows, including Comic Relief and Russell Brands show on BBC6. In an investigation run by Ofcom, it was found that, in these cases, there was no way that viewers and listeners could have won the competitions as the winners names had either been made up or members of the production team had posed as winners. Viewers and listeners were encouraged to enter. According to the article by The Telegraph, Ofcom expressed that they "Considered that these breaches of the [broadcasting] code were very serious. In each of these cases the BBC deceived its audience by faking winners of competitions and deliberately conducting competitions unfairly." The Telegraph also states that Ofcom communicated that they "Found that the BBC failed to have adequate management oversights of its compliance and training procedures to ensure that the audience were not mislead" 
  This deception went as far as targeting younger viewers on shows like TMi aired on CBBC. The BBC Trust said that they regretted these actions and the consequential loss of license payers money as they had to pay such a heavy fine. This fine was decided by Ofcom to show the severity of the breach, and although the size of the fine should prevent this kind of thing happening again, a smaller fine of £50,000 a year prior to this case for a similar but less serious breach did't seem to deter the channel from repeating their actions.
  
• Press Complaints Commission (PCC),
  What used to be called the Press Complaints Commission has now changed to be named the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO)
  The IPSO works in monitoring written media like magazines and newspapers. The organisation works closely with the public in a professional manner to make sure that any rules or regulations that are violated can be amended. The IPSO website is a free service where any member of the public can go to express their concerns regarding written media. Any complaints that are made are investigated by the organisation.  IPSO manages the Editors Code of Practise to make sure there are as little breaches and complaints as possible. 
• Advertising Standards Authority(ASA),
  
  The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is an independent organisation that deals with advertising across all media platforms in the UK. The organisation works pro-actively to make sure that the hundreds of adverts we are exposed to every day follow rules and regulations and are as accurate and responsible as possible. This helps to protect audiences, including children, against inaccurate, misleading information and offensive content etc. They do this by monitoring adverts and complaints made by the public. Any adverts that doesn't obey the ASAs standards can be removed by the organisation and further action can and will be taken if the advertising company continues to produce unacceptable content. To avoid continued misconduct, the ASA offers support and advise to advertisers.The panel of people who determine whether or not an advert has infringes guidelines is diverse and made up of people from all walks of life. This is because the ASA recognises that there are a lot of different types of people in the UK and they want an accurate assessment of how an audience is likely to react to an advert. As well as using this panel the organisation takes not of what parents and young people have to say regarding protecting children from harmful content.The ASA is planning on raising awareness of the organisation so that the advertisers and audiences know where to go if they have any issues or enquiries regarding any adverts. 
• The Independent Games Developers Association (IGDA)
  The Independent Games Developers Association (IGDA) is a international, non-profit institution that works with anyone who's involved in the production of games. This includes programmers, graphic designers and script writers. The association works towards making the best life for game developers ad encouraging a new generation of game makers. They do this by introducing people within the game developers industry and creating awareness of the problems and issues that developers face within the community. The IGDA also works hard to promote the industry both to help improve the art of game development and to broaden the population of game developers. 
• British Academy of Film and Television Arts(BAFTA),
  The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is a UK based charity that relies on funding from members (6,500 approx.), partnerships and donations etc. BAFTA rewards greatness in the moving image sector of the arts. Awards can be given to people who inspire, excel and benefit the community. There is a BAFTA award ceremony every year where these awards are handed out, but this is not the only BAFTA event that takes place. The charity runs over 250 events each year which promote the educational side of the charity as well as the charity itself.
  The charity has an educational field and runs classes, scholarships, workshops and lectures for people of all ages i the UK as well as in New York and LA in America as well as offering on-line resources. These educational opportunities promote the arts by showing how gratifying it is to be a part of it and encourage new talent by giving people the opportunity to learn from some of the best and most inspiring people in the industry.
  The charity believes strongly in celebrating existing talent while encouraging new talent. 
• Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA),
  The Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA) is an association that represents both national and local radio stations around the UK to bodies like the government, copyright societies and the Radio Authority. The association partly owns Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd (RAJAR) and deals mostly with advertising on the radio. The association is an advocate for commercial radio stations and works towards promoting surroundings and circumstances that will help radio to prosper in years to come.Regulatory issues
• why is ownership controlled?
  If one company had a monopoly over all media outlets, whether he company had good intentions or not, the public's right to freedom and independent thinking would be jeopardised. Making choices, political or not, requires exposure to contrasting and varied ideas and information within the news, popular culture and all other media outlets. If the public are not exposed to this kind of diversified media, there is no way of them being able to make educated and personal decisions, every choice that is made will, essentially, be the choice of the media company.
  The article that I got this information from was published in 1987, nearly 30 years ago. In this article the writer explains that if the rate of monopolisation did not change, the disturbing vision of one corporation owning every media outlet would become a reality, yet, even with the ate that the media industry is growing, we still haven't got there yet. I think that this is because, as a society, we want to protect our right to freedom of speech and self-sufficient thinking, so we strive to control the media in order to preserve this.   
• What does a monopoly mean for the audience?
  There are only six corporations that dominate the media industry in the whole of America. This has not always been the case though. In the early 80's there were 50 businesses that shared the monopoly over the media. Not only has the number dropped so dramatically, the companies that still hold a percentage of ownership are extremely powerful. These companies include Time Warner, CBS and Walt Disney. Each of these companies own sub companies, Walt Disney's 'Pixar Animation Studios' for example. They control all sorts of media outlets from movie studios to newspapers. This means that these six companies can control almost everything that Americans see and hear day in, day out. Although these six companies do not own all fields of the media, companies like Google, and Microsoft are starting to dominate the internet and there is one company that owns over 1000 of the US' radio stations. When so few companies have such large monopolies over the media industry it means that each corporation can display their personal views over many media platforms and millions of people are guaranteed to see it. In tern, these companies can control what the audience thinks, feels and does and although, as human beings, we would all like to think that we are more intelligent than to fall for the medias tricks, these companies are so powerful and creative that most of us don't even realise we are being controlled. For these companies, it's not about being moral and ethical. It's about making money and they will do whatever they need to do to gain interest from big advertisers. With a combination of personal opinion and the thirst for money, it's hard to tell if any of what the media informs us of is true.
  Companies that can make the biggest impact are the companies that control the news that is seen repeatedly every day. These companies will use their power over news broadcasting to create a story to suit their beliefs. For example. If a media company is going to benefit from a certain party coming into power, they are able to create good news stories for that party and will use anything bad about the opposing parties to urge the public to favour their party. 
• In censorship what is meant by taste and decency?
  In the media taste and decency mean to stay away from anything that might upset or offend an audience and to make sure that nothing is aired that might lead to crime or disorder. There is a rule in place that states that no material that is deemed unsuitable for children is to be shown before the watershed time of 9PM. This covers the showing of programs but does not cover advertising.
  The BBC has its own editorial guidelines which the company used to make sure they follow the rules. Within the guidelines there is a section named 'Harm and Offence' this section is there so that the company can exercise their right to air programs that are contemporary and challenging while still taking into consideration the more vulnerable among the population i.e; children, the elderly and people suffering with mental health. BBC is very careful to keep these types of people in mind always but more so if they are working on something that is a bit risky.
  The BBC classes offensive content as; bad language, sex, violence, distress and discrimination among other things that are all listed in the 'Harm and Offence' section of the guidelines.