Methods used to help regulate the media
Regulation
Ofcom
Ofcom, the office of communications is the UK government approved authority for the
broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries for the whole of the United
Kingdom. Their powers are only for the radio, telecoms, television and postal sectors.
They have been put in charge of regulating internet in the UK in 2020.
Libel
Libel is a form of defamation, it's a comment or statement made by another person with the
intention of damaging that person’s reputation. An example of this would be, “in 2019 Elon
Musk made a tweet calling Mr Vernon Unsworth who helped to save the 12 boys trapped in
the Thai cave a “pedo guy” after declining the help from Mr Musk’s resources.
Data protection
Data protection is a set of principles which any organisation or company must abide by to
keep someone's data secure. The media is regulated by this legislation so it stops them from
breaching an individual’s confidentiality. An example of a failure of this is that in 2018 the
Greenwich University was fined £120,000 for a security breach as 19,500 students personal
information was placed online.
Censorship
It can be viewed as individuals or groups in power to be restricted from their freedom of
speech, meaning that public communication or other information given out is considered
harmful or inconvenient for places like government and private institutions. An example of
this is January 2020 the China film festival has been shut down following the crack down on
freedom of expression.
Self-Regulation
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press is the principle that communication and expression through various
media should be considered the right to be exercised freely. Two Reuter’s journalists
accused of illegally obtaining information while covering the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar will
face trial
, Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information Act (2000) give individuals or organisations the right to request
information from any public authority, or by companies wholly owned by public authorities
in England, Wales & Northern Ireland. According to conservative MP Chris Grayling,
journalists “misuse” the Freedom of Information Act to create stories
Code of practise
A code of practice is a set of written rules which explains how people working in a particular
profession should behave. An example of code of practise is the General election 2019, The
BBC is required by electoral law to adopt a code of practice
Respecting an individual’s privacy
Respecting privacy is People having a right to peaceful enjoyment, without being disturbed
or harassed by others. An example of the lack of respecting an individual's privacy is, Twitter
has demanded an AI company stop taking images from its website
Possibilities of bias
The action of supporting or opposing a particular person, group or thing in an unfair way,
because of allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment. Google may have skewed
the results of the 2018 midterm elections by millions of votes, according to research by
psychologist Robert Epstein.
Independence of the BBC
The independence of the BBC is important for a few reasons, one it allows the BBC to be
held accountable for how their license fee is spent which is provided by the public's tax
money and they have majority of control on what they report as long as it meets the rules
and regulations and reporting standards.
The BBC should remain independent as it gives them control on what they report; they get
to make the decisions on how to spend the public’s licensing money wisely to be able to
report on the best content possible and the fact that the public pays for the BBC to run
should mean that they have a say on their independence. The reporters also have their say
in what happens to their creative writing pieces, how it’s reported and why it should be
rather than it being controlled by government for instance.
There is no good reason to why the BBC should not be independent; If the BBC wasn’t
independent and was run and primarily funded by the government than their independence
would disappear, they wouldn’t be able to have control on what got reported and placed on
Regulation
Ofcom
Ofcom, the office of communications is the UK government approved authority for the
broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries for the whole of the United
Kingdom. Their powers are only for the radio, telecoms, television and postal sectors.
They have been put in charge of regulating internet in the UK in 2020.
Libel
Libel is a form of defamation, it's a comment or statement made by another person with the
intention of damaging that person’s reputation. An example of this would be, “in 2019 Elon
Musk made a tweet calling Mr Vernon Unsworth who helped to save the 12 boys trapped in
the Thai cave a “pedo guy” after declining the help from Mr Musk’s resources.
Data protection
Data protection is a set of principles which any organisation or company must abide by to
keep someone's data secure. The media is regulated by this legislation so it stops them from
breaching an individual’s confidentiality. An example of a failure of this is that in 2018 the
Greenwich University was fined £120,000 for a security breach as 19,500 students personal
information was placed online.
Censorship
It can be viewed as individuals or groups in power to be restricted from their freedom of
speech, meaning that public communication or other information given out is considered
harmful or inconvenient for places like government and private institutions. An example of
this is January 2020 the China film festival has been shut down following the crack down on
freedom of expression.
Self-Regulation
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press is the principle that communication and expression through various
media should be considered the right to be exercised freely. Two Reuter’s journalists
accused of illegally obtaining information while covering the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar will
face trial
, Freedom of information
The Freedom of Information Act (2000) give individuals or organisations the right to request
information from any public authority, or by companies wholly owned by public authorities
in England, Wales & Northern Ireland. According to conservative MP Chris Grayling,
journalists “misuse” the Freedom of Information Act to create stories
Code of practise
A code of practice is a set of written rules which explains how people working in a particular
profession should behave. An example of code of practise is the General election 2019, The
BBC is required by electoral law to adopt a code of practice
Respecting an individual’s privacy
Respecting privacy is People having a right to peaceful enjoyment, without being disturbed
or harassed by others. An example of the lack of respecting an individual's privacy is, Twitter
has demanded an AI company stop taking images from its website
Possibilities of bias
The action of supporting or opposing a particular person, group or thing in an unfair way,
because of allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment. Google may have skewed
the results of the 2018 midterm elections by millions of votes, according to research by
psychologist Robert Epstein.
Independence of the BBC
The independence of the BBC is important for a few reasons, one it allows the BBC to be
held accountable for how their license fee is spent which is provided by the public's tax
money and they have majority of control on what they report as long as it meets the rules
and regulations and reporting standards.
The BBC should remain independent as it gives them control on what they report; they get
to make the decisions on how to spend the public’s licensing money wisely to be able to
report on the best content possible and the fact that the public pays for the BBC to run
should mean that they have a say on their independence. The reporters also have their say
in what happens to their creative writing pieces, how it’s reported and why it should be
rather than it being controlled by government for instance.
There is no good reason to why the BBC should not be independent; If the BBC wasn’t
independent and was run and primarily funded by the government than their independence
would disappear, they wouldn’t be able to have control on what got reported and placed on
