media regulation

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 128: Contemporary Media Regulation. Our Media Factsheet archive can be found at M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. You can find it online here - you'll need to log in using your Greenford Google login. 

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What is regulation and why do media industries need to be regulated?

Very few industries leave the organisations or companies who operate in that sector to their own devices. Systems of regulation are required to provide rules and regulations to ensure that organisations operate fairly.

2) What is OFCOM responsible for?

OFCOM – the OFfice of COMmunication and the advertising industry is regulated by the Advertising standards Authority.

3) Look at the section on the OFCOM broadcasting code. Which do you think are the three most important sections of the broadcasting code and why?

Section 1: Protecting the Under-Eighteens

Section 2: Harm and Offence

Section 3: Crime

the first three are the most important as they help to prevent any crime and malicious behaviour from happening and especially with under-eighteens.

4) Do you agree with OFCOM that Channel 4 was wrong to broadcast 'Wolverine' at 6.55pm on a Sunday evening? Why?

I disagree with this as Channel 4 shouldn't be responsible as the children's parents/gradians should be monitoring what their children should be watching and judging if it is suitable.

5) List five of the sections in the old Press Complaints Commission's Code of Practice. 

Section 1: Accuracy

Section 2: Opportunity to Reply

Section 3: Privacy*

Section 4: Harassment*

Section 5: Intrusion Into Grief and Shock

6) Why was the Press Complaints Commission criticised?

In recent years, the PCC became the focus of a great deal of controversy. It’s critics claim that the lack of statutory powers means that when a newspaper has been found to breah the rules, the best a victim can hope for is an apology, which often does not get sufficient prominence in the paper. Critics also argue that many newspapers seem to fly in the face of the rules on a pretty regular basis and that very little is done to stop them. It’s defenders point out that a free press is a vital part of a functioning democracy. If statutory rules were imposed, newspapers

ability to hold politicians and other people in power to account would be greatly diminished.

7) What was the Leveson enquiry and why was it set up?

Throughout 2011 and 2012, an inquiry into the “culture, practice and ethics of the press” was held, mainly as a result of the so-called phone hacking scandal. In January 2007, Clive Goodman (the royal reporter of the News of the World newspaer) and Glenn Mulcaire (a private investigator, employed by Goodman) were imprisoned for

illegally intercepting phone calls connected to the royal family. At the time, the News of the World claimed that Goodman was a rogue reporter, working alone but it emerged during the Leveson Enquiry that phone hacking was much more widespread throughout the industry. The enquiry also looked at other areas of press behaviour that were considered questionable.

 
8) What was the PCC replaced with in 2014?

The PCC was replaced by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).

9) What is your opinion on press regulation? Is a free press an important part of living in a democracy or should newspapers face statutory regulation like TV and radio?

I think that press regulation is increasingly important to make sure there is fairness and other regulatory guidelines for information that goes out to he public. Additionally newspapers should also face statutory regulation for the same reasons as press regulation and prevent biased views being portrayed. 

10) Why is the internet so difficult to regulate?

Complications of Regulating Legitimate Sites Under Sweeping Legislation/laws