NCTJ ESSENTIAL MEDIA LAW LATEST EXAMS TEST PAPER
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 6 iii) - ✔✔Children under 16 must not be
interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child's welfare
unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 6 iv) - ✔✔Children under 16 must not be paid for
material involving their welfare, nor parents or guardians for material about their children
or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's interest.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 6 v) - ✔✔Editors must not use the fame, notoriety
or position of a parent or guardian as sole justification for publishing details of a child's
private life.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 - ✔✔*Children in sex cases
An exceptional public interest would need to be demonstrated to over-ride the normally
paramount interests of children under 16.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 i) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against a
child the child must not be identified.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 ii) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against a
child the adult may be identified.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 iii) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against
a child the word "incest" must not be used where a child victim might be identified.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 iv) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against
a child care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the
accused and the child.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 8 - ✔✔*Hospitals
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 - ✔✔*Reporting of Crime
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 i) - ✔✔Relatives or friends of persons convicted
or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they
are genuinely relevant to the story.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 ii) - ✔✔Particular regard should be paid to the
potentially vulnerable position of children under the age of 18 who witness, or are
victims of, crime. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.
,✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 iii) - ✔✔Editors should generally avoid naming
children under the age of 18 after arrest for a criminal offence but before they appear in
a youth court unless they can show that the individual's name is already in the public
domain, or that the individual (or, if they are under 16, a custodial parent or similarly
responsible adult) has given their consent. This does not restrict the right to name
juveniles who appear in a crown court, or whose anonymity is lifted.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 10 - ✔✔*Clandestine devices and subterfuge
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 10 i) - ✔✔The press must not seek to obtain or
publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listening devices; or
by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails; or by the
unauthorised removal of documents or photographs; or by accessing digitally-held
information without consent.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 10 ii) - ✔✔Engaging in misrepresentation or
subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified only in the
public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 11 - ✔✔Victims of sexual assault
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 11 - ✔✔The press must not identify or publish
material likely to lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault unless there is
adequate justification and they are legally free to do so. Journalists are entitled to make
enquiries but must take care and exercise discretion to avoid the unjustified disclosure
of the identity of a victim of sexual assault.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 12 - ✔✔Discrimination
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 12 i) - ✔✔The press must avoid prejudicial or
pejorative reference to an individual's, race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual
orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 12 ii) - ✔✔Details of an individual's race, colour,
religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must
be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 13 - ✔✔Financial Journalism
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 14 - ✔✔Confidential sources
Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 15 - ✔✔Witness payments in criminal trials
,✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 16 - ✔✔*Payments to criminals
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice * - ✔✔Public interest exceptions apply
✔✔The Public Interest - ✔✔Detecting or exposing crime, or the threat of crime, or
serious impropriety.
Protecting public health or safety.
Protecting the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or
organisation.
Disclosing a person or organisation's failure or likely failure to comply with any
obligation to which they are subject.
Disclosing a miscarriage of justice.
Raising or contributing to a matter of public debate, including serious cases of
impropriety, unethical conduct or incompetence concerning the public.
Disclosing concealment, or likely concealment, of any of the above.
✔✔What is broadcast media controlled by? - ✔✔Statute
✔✔Ofcom key statute - ✔✔Communications Act 2003
✔✔Overview of Ofcom's duties - ✔✔Licences broadcasters
Sets programme standards
Deals with complaints
✔✔Sanctions for breaching the Ofcom code - ✔✔Corrections/ statements to be made
Shorten or revoke license
Fines (highest fine was £42m for BT)
✔✔Why are TV and Radio regulated? - ✔✔Deemed more impactful (movement, sound,
images)
Easily consumed by young and vulnerable
News to be handled with particular care
✔✔Overview of the Ofcom code - ✔✔Principles set out in 10 sections
Last updated Jan 2019
Complaints only allowed after broadcast (same as press - only allowed after publication)
Guidance for broadcasters
Now regulates the BBC as well
S7 & S8 also outline 'practices to be followed'
✔✔Ofcom code Section 1 - ✔✔Young people
✔✔Ofcom code Section 1 explained - ✔✔Under 15s get special protection
Content that could harm physical, emotional or moral development to be avoided
, Avoid identifying those involved in sex cases
9pm Watershed/ warn at other times
Violence/ sex/ language to be avoided pre-watershed (unless justified by context)
✔✔Ofcom code Section 1 - Case study - ✔✔Lee Rigby
Fusilier murdered outside barracks in May 2013
People nearby filmed and posted on social media
Footage shown by broadcasters pre-watershed
Investigated by OFCOM:
-Rule 1.3: "children must... be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is
unsuitable for them."
-Rule 2.3: "In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that
material which may cause offence is justified by the context."
Broadcasters were cleared in 2014
✔✔Ofcom code Section 2 - ✔✔Harm and Offence
✔✔Ofcom code Section 2 explained - ✔✔Broadcasters should avoid:
-Causing harm and offence unless 'justified by context'
-Flashing lights, hypnotists etc. unless warned
-Being materially misleading
-Describing methods of suicide unless justified by context
-Showing 'simulated news' unless clearly labelled as such
✔✔Ofcom code Section 2 - Case study - ✔✔Russell Brand show
(BBC R2, October 2008)
Prank called Andrew Sachs with Jonathon Ross
Revealed that he slept with granddaughter Georgina Braille
-"explicit, intimate and confidential information"
-"This not only unwarrantably and seriously infringed their privacy, but was also
gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning."
£70,000 fine for harm and offence (breach of section 2)
£80,000 fine for privacy breach (breach of section 8)
✔✔Ofcom code Section 3 - ✔✔Crime
✔✔Ofcom code Section 3 explained - ✔✔Broadcasters should avoid:
-Encouraging crime and disorder
-Showing how to commit a crime unless editorially justified
-Compromising operations e.g. hostage negotiations
-Paying convicted criminals, unless in public interest
-Paying witnesses - but can reimburse loss of earnings/ expenses. Can pay if public
interest e.g. to help investigation
✔✔Ofcom code Section 3 - Case study - ✔✔Undercover Mosque
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS SURE A+
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 6 iii) - ✔✔Children under 16 must not be
interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child's welfare
unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 6 iv) - ✔✔Children under 16 must not be paid for
material involving their welfare, nor parents or guardians for material about their children
or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's interest.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 6 v) - ✔✔Editors must not use the fame, notoriety
or position of a parent or guardian as sole justification for publishing details of a child's
private life.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 - ✔✔*Children in sex cases
An exceptional public interest would need to be demonstrated to over-ride the normally
paramount interests of children under 16.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 i) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against a
child the child must not be identified.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 ii) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against a
child the adult may be identified.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 iii) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against
a child the word "incest" must not be used where a child victim might be identified.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 7 iv) - ✔✔In cases involving a sex offence against
a child care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the
accused and the child.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 8 - ✔✔*Hospitals
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 - ✔✔*Reporting of Crime
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 i) - ✔✔Relatives or friends of persons convicted
or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they
are genuinely relevant to the story.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 ii) - ✔✔Particular regard should be paid to the
potentially vulnerable position of children under the age of 18 who witness, or are
victims of, crime. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.
,✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 9 iii) - ✔✔Editors should generally avoid naming
children under the age of 18 after arrest for a criminal offence but before they appear in
a youth court unless they can show that the individual's name is already in the public
domain, or that the individual (or, if they are under 16, a custodial parent or similarly
responsible adult) has given their consent. This does not restrict the right to name
juveniles who appear in a crown court, or whose anonymity is lifted.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 10 - ✔✔*Clandestine devices and subterfuge
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 10 i) - ✔✔The press must not seek to obtain or
publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listening devices; or
by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails; or by the
unauthorised removal of documents or photographs; or by accessing digitally-held
information without consent.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 10 ii) - ✔✔Engaging in misrepresentation or
subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified only in the
public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 11 - ✔✔Victims of sexual assault
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 11 - ✔✔The press must not identify or publish
material likely to lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault unless there is
adequate justification and they are legally free to do so. Journalists are entitled to make
enquiries but must take care and exercise discretion to avoid the unjustified disclosure
of the identity of a victim of sexual assault.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 12 - ✔✔Discrimination
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 12 i) - ✔✔The press must avoid prejudicial or
pejorative reference to an individual's, race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual
orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 12 ii) - ✔✔Details of an individual's race, colour,
religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must
be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 13 - ✔✔Financial Journalism
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 14 - ✔✔Confidential sources
Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 15 - ✔✔Witness payments in criminal trials
,✔✔Editors' Code of Practice Clause 16 - ✔✔*Payments to criminals
✔✔Editors' Code of Practice * - ✔✔Public interest exceptions apply
✔✔The Public Interest - ✔✔Detecting or exposing crime, or the threat of crime, or
serious impropriety.
Protecting public health or safety.
Protecting the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or
organisation.
Disclosing a person or organisation's failure or likely failure to comply with any
obligation to which they are subject.
Disclosing a miscarriage of justice.
Raising or contributing to a matter of public debate, including serious cases of
impropriety, unethical conduct or incompetence concerning the public.
Disclosing concealment, or likely concealment, of any of the above.
✔✔What is broadcast media controlled by? - ✔✔Statute
✔✔Ofcom key statute - ✔✔Communications Act 2003
✔✔Overview of Ofcom's duties - ✔✔Licences broadcasters
Sets programme standards
Deals with complaints
✔✔Sanctions for breaching the Ofcom code - ✔✔Corrections/ statements to be made
Shorten or revoke license
Fines (highest fine was £42m for BT)
✔✔Why are TV and Radio regulated? - ✔✔Deemed more impactful (movement, sound,
images)
Easily consumed by young and vulnerable
News to be handled with particular care
✔✔Overview of the Ofcom code - ✔✔Principles set out in 10 sections
Last updated Jan 2019
Complaints only allowed after broadcast (same as press - only allowed after publication)
Guidance for broadcasters
Now regulates the BBC as well
S7 & S8 also outline 'practices to be followed'
✔✔Ofcom code Section 1 - ✔✔Young people
✔✔Ofcom code Section 1 explained - ✔✔Under 15s get special protection
Content that could harm physical, emotional or moral development to be avoided
, Avoid identifying those involved in sex cases
9pm Watershed/ warn at other times
Violence/ sex/ language to be avoided pre-watershed (unless justified by context)
✔✔Ofcom code Section 1 - Case study - ✔✔Lee Rigby
Fusilier murdered outside barracks in May 2013
People nearby filmed and posted on social media
Footage shown by broadcasters pre-watershed
Investigated by OFCOM:
-Rule 1.3: "children must... be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is
unsuitable for them."
-Rule 2.3: "In applying generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that
material which may cause offence is justified by the context."
Broadcasters were cleared in 2014
✔✔Ofcom code Section 2 - ✔✔Harm and Offence
✔✔Ofcom code Section 2 explained - ✔✔Broadcasters should avoid:
-Causing harm and offence unless 'justified by context'
-Flashing lights, hypnotists etc. unless warned
-Being materially misleading
-Describing methods of suicide unless justified by context
-Showing 'simulated news' unless clearly labelled as such
✔✔Ofcom code Section 2 - Case study - ✔✔Russell Brand show
(BBC R2, October 2008)
Prank called Andrew Sachs with Jonathon Ross
Revealed that he slept with granddaughter Georgina Braille
-"explicit, intimate and confidential information"
-"This not only unwarrantably and seriously infringed their privacy, but was also
gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning."
£70,000 fine for harm and offence (breach of section 2)
£80,000 fine for privacy breach (breach of section 8)
✔✔Ofcom code Section 3 - ✔✔Crime
✔✔Ofcom code Section 3 explained - ✔✔Broadcasters should avoid:
-Encouraging crime and disorder
-Showing how to commit a crime unless editorially justified
-Compromising operations e.g. hostage negotiations
-Paying convicted criminals, unless in public interest
-Paying witnesses - but can reimburse loss of earnings/ expenses. Can pay if public
interest e.g. to help investigation
✔✔Ofcom code Section 3 - Case study - ✔✔Undercover Mosque
