Codes of Practice

Media law

There are several reasons why codes of practice are required:

• to set a benchmark of what is acceptable and what is not
• to keep in touch with contacts.
• to reassure the public - it builds trust between journalists and the audience.

There are three main bodies that set and regulate these codes of practice:

• The Press Complaints Commissioner (PCC) - newspapers and magazines
• OFCOM - broadcasters
• BBC - for staff and licence payers.

A case demonstrating how important codes of practice are is that of Peter Fincham. He was a BBC one controller who resigned after an investigation into footage misrepresenting the Queen. It concerned a documentary trailer which was edited out of sequence and incorrectly, Peter Fincham told the press that the documentary showed the Queen walking out of a photo session 'in a huff'.

The codes are crucial as they guide individuals through ethical issues. Questions such as, how can you go to get the story? what practices are legitimate? and, when do circumstances make a difference? can therefore be checked and answered with a higher degree of accuracy.

The key areas that the codes are used are therefore:

• ethical behaviour
• fair treatment (privacy, crime)
• requirement for accuracy and impartiality.
• to protect vulnerable groups i.e. children.

The PCC

It is considered to be the toothless tiger in comparison with the other codes. This is due to the fact, that it is self-regulated.
On its website, http://www.pcc.org.uk/, it gives brief guidelines and information regarding their stance on the accuracy of reports, the opportunity to reply, privacy, harassment, the intrusion into grief or shock and reports involving children. Rather surprisingly and unlike other codes, it does not include any guidelines on impartiality, which infers that it is less concerned with this.

A controversial and grey area of the PCC code is that some reports are affected or even completely determined by the public interest defence and so it is unclear when exactly and to what extent the rules can be bent.

OFCOM

If the PCC is a toothless tiger, OFCOM is definitely the fierce tiger of the codes as it has clear and established statutory powers attached.
If an error is made, then either the individual or their superior will be fined.
The competition phone - in saga demonstrates this, as stars Ant and Dec, along with programmes Blue Peter and Comic Relief were all caught up in it.
ITV were fined a record amount of £5.6 million, which was reached as it was a percentage of their turnover. This amount turnt out to be a more than even the most serious libel cases.
The BBC was fined £400,000. Still a staggering amount, in so far as claims to broadcasting channels go.
OFCOM also have certain powers that they can enforce upon broadcasters.

These include;

• giving the direction not to repeat the programme.
• corrections to findings must be broadcast, by way of an apology.
• impose fines. These can be up to 5% of their overall revenue. A point of contention concerns how revenue is defined? This seems to be unclear.
• in a very severe case, they can revoke a broadcasting licence. This has never happened, although if it did, it would be more likely to happen to channels with low usage.

On OFCOM's website, it discusses much of the same things as the PCCs, but goes into a lot more depth.

Although acknowledging that the impartiality principle brought up various intellectual difficulties concerning its definition and practice, Evan Davis's case concluded that impartiality was 'probably a public good'.

Impartiality is a requirement for all broadcasters. It is not applicable to any newspaper i.e. the Sun and the Daily Mail would have great difficulty is suddenly they had to adhere to impartiality requirements.
The classic BBC definition of impartiality is that it is the absence of bias or perception and it considers the 'axis of debate'. Examples of these include climate change and economic policy.

In some instances, such as David Irvine's piece on the Holocaust, obviously there is one resounding opinion of those events. However, in terms of producing a balance, the reporter would emphasis that the 'other' view was in the minority.

BBC

The BBC is considered as a wounded teddy bear and has a three-stage complaints process (according to the website):

Stage 1: What happens first when I make a complaint?

• We aim to reply to you within 10 working days depending on the nature of your complaint. We also publish public responses to significant issues of wide audience concern on this website.
• If we have made a mistake we will apologise and take action to stop it happening again.
• If you are dissatisfied with our first response, please contact the department which replied explaining why and requesting a further response to the complaint. If you made your original complaint through this website, you will need to use our web form again. You should normally do this within 20 working days.

Stage 2: If I'm not satisfied with this second reply, what can I do next?

• If you consider that the second response you received still does not address your complaint, we will advise you how to take the matter further to this next stage. You should normally do this within 20 working days
• If it is about a specific item which you believe has breached BBC editorial standards and it was broadcast or published by the BBC, it will normally be referred to the Editorial Complaints Unit. The Unit will independently investigate your complaint (normally in writing), decide if it is justified and, if so, ensure that the BBC takes appropriate action in response.
• Other complaints at this stage will normally be referred to management in the division responsible. For full details of the BBC’s complaints processes please visit the BBC Trust website.

Stage 3: If I still think the BBC has got it wrong what can I do?

• The BBC Trust ensures complaints are properly handled by the BBC and that the complaints process reflects best practice and opportunities for learning.
• Within 20 working days of your response at Stage 2, you may ask the BBC Trust to consider an appeal against the finding. If the BBC Trust upholds an appeal it expects management to take account of its findings.
• You can write to the BBC Trust at 180 Great Portland Street, London W1W 5QZ. Full details of the complaints and appeals processes are on the BBC Trust website.

One of the most recent complaints scandals was that of Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross.
The BBC was fined £150,000 after Brand and Ross left a message on Andrew Sach's answer phone , which OFCOM described as "gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning".

Have Pepsi fell for the Russian's charm?

Pepsi have paid a whopping £2.4 billion to a Russian drinks firm, a mere four hours before the World Cup decision was announced.

In a controversial, yet supposedly coincidental move, Pepsi bought a stake in the widely successful Wimm-Bill-Dann firm. It's biggest ever oversea's deal!
Many people believe that the World Cup outcome had already been decided before delegates had even entered the room, sparking discussion as to the reasoning behind Pepsi's stake hold.

The name Wimm-Bill-Dann was purposely chosen as the founders, Pavel Dudnikov and Vladimir Tambov believed it sounded very much like the tennis competition Wimbledon. Thus, suggesting it hoped to create a link with England.

The chief of Pepsi Indra Nooyi said: "This gives us clear leadership in the food and beverage industry in Russia."

Only a day in and yet already the conspiracies have begun!

Ethics and Radio

Ethical implications are attached to every piece of journalism. These include:

• the stories that are chosen and equally those that are not;
• who is interviewed;
• the questions put to the interviewee;
• the editing of those interviews;
• what time of day the story is released;
• how many bulletins are used;
• the length of clips used and;
• how the cues and headlines are written and read.

The International Journalist Code's first clause states:

'Respect for the truth and for the right of the public to the truth is the first duty of the journalist.'

This also resonates in various other codes of conduct, namely:

• The International Federation of Journalism
• The BBC
• The National Union of Journalists
• Committee of Concerned Journalists
• The Radio & Television News Directors Association
• Arabic broadcaster Al-Jazeera

The truth is not always the easiest thing to find and is highly time consuming. Although, there are other  principles present;  accuracy, fairness, public accountability, impartiality and objectivity, truth can be said to underpin them all.

The BBC guidelines state that:
'We strive to be accurate and establish the truth of what has hapened. Accuracy is more important than speed and it is often more than a question of getting the facts right. All relevant facts and information should be weighed to get at the truth. Our output will be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear; precise language. We will be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation.'


The former director of the BBC News, Richard Sambrook, writing in the British Journalism Review in 2004 said how:
'In journalism, 'mainly right' is like being half pregnant - it's an unsustainable position.'

Impartiality and diversity
BBC Editorial Guidelines state how:
'We strive to be fair and open minded and reflect all significant strands of opinion by exploring the range and conflict of views. We will be objective and even handed in our approach to be a subject. We will provide professional judgements where appropriate, but we will never promote a particular view on controversial matters of public policy or political or industrial controversy.'

Here is a transcript from a piece on Radio 4's 'From Our Own Correspondent' on the funeral of the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat in 2004:

'The world watches the unfolding drama as the man who has become the symbol for Palestinian nationalism seems to hover between life and death...To be honest, the coverage of Yasser Arafat's illness and departure from Palestine was a real grind. I churned out one report after the other; without any sense of drama. Foreign journalists seemed much more excited about Mr Arafat's fate than anyone in Ramallah...Where were the people, I wondered, the mass demonstrations of solidarity, the frantic expressions of concern?...I started to cry...without warning. In quieter moments since I have asked myself, why the sudden surge of emotion?'

This led to hundreds of complaints from listeners. The BBC Governor's Programme Complaints Committee rejected the idea that this was a 'tearful eulogy' and a 'flagrant violation' of Editorial Guidelines. Also, it was said that the report was balanced with Mr Arafat's 'obvious failings'. The governor's decided that  that the reference to crying did breach the guidelines on impartiality. The BBC's Director of News  apologised for what she described as an 'editorial misjudgement' and thus that the reporter 'unintentionally gave the impression of over-identifying with Yasser Arafat and his cause.'

Common diversity issues

• ethnicity
• disability, whether physical or mental
• faith and religion
• gender and sexual orientation
• age

Ethical dilemma scenarios

The comments after each of these come from Kevin Marsh, the former Editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme and now the Editor-in-Chief of the BBC's College of Journalism.

1. You are covering a dramatic accident and the only eyewitness is a homeless man who seems somewhat intoxicated. He provides compellling information that appears to corroborate the scene.
Do you use it?

No. Under no circumstances. A single witness corroborates nothing. A single drunk witness is potentially misleading. If you were honest - if a little blunt - about this man to the audience you would say in a script 'The only witness to the incident was this drunk tramp.' Would they conclude he was a powerful, key witness?

2. While gathering natural sound at a high school football match, your sports reporter captures the popular coach making derogatory sexual references while motivating his players. Do you run a story?

I wouldn't run the story just with that information. The tape has the status very similar to that of a recording made for note-taking purposes. That's to say, it was legitimate to make it and there is not a problem in discovering that there is a potential story in it. We would, however, have to begin the story from scratch, though with very intial evidence. We would make every effort to gather evidence  that he had made  inappropriate comments, spelling out what they were.  Where the story went next would depend on his reaction and any other corroboration we could gather. It's possible - though not without heavy - duty Editorial Policy intervention - that it gets to the point where we run the original tape, but it would have to be after considerable efforts on our part to get the story another way.

3. A major celebrity is intown campaigning hard for a parliamentary candidate and wants to give media interviews. Do you schedule one?

It depends. There is an intrinsic reason why not. You'd have to look at what else you're planning/have done in that consitiuency. Why is the celeb campaigning? Who else is campaigning? There are plenty of circumstances where this is fine, but a few where you'd risk unbalancing your coverage and you'd have to be sure you weren't doing that. At the very least this would mean usuallyequally lengthy and impactful interviews with the other candidates or cheerleaders for them not legally but out of fairness.

 

Freedom of Information part two

Records produced on issues relating to public authorities such as city councils and healthcares are paid for by the taxpayer and therefore we, as a nation, own it. The Freedom of Information Act is made for journalists, citizens, taxpayers - no one is excluded from requesting information.

There are 130,000 bodies covered by the act and there are 100,000 freedom of information requests a year, costing around £34 million to produce.

Critics have argued that the act was made purely to make journalists jobs easier, although research has found that only 12% of requests come from journalists.

The Kingsnorth Climate protest concerned the protest arguing for the prevention of a coal - powered station from being built. A report stated that the protest was very violent and that 70 police officers had been hurt. David Laws, a Liberal Democrat MP put in an FOI request and found that only 12 had been injured and only four needed medical treatment. Not as violent as previously claimed!

Andrew Marr's interview with Tony Blair, revealed how much of a big mistake during his time in office, the implementation of the FOI act was. Perhaps this is why it has been seen to have a 'chilling effect' in terms of organisations having to self-sensor themselves for fear of having to reveal information to the public at large. This has the effect of reducing the likelihood of individuals discussing things openly or freely.

Journalists claim that there is at present, a high watermark of FOI requests and that individuals are now resorting to what is known as 'sofa chat'. This is where, as opposed to expressing views or plans in letter, text or email, individuals will have an informal chat, to prevent the likelihood of an FOI request being made.

The BBC is in favour of FOI and state that the basic principle is that:

'Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled to have that information communicated to him.'

FOI requests are expressed in either writing or email.

Private companies such as Coca Cola cannot be contacted for FOI requests as although, we buy their products, we do not fund their existence.

Public authorities can say no if producing the records will cost more than £600 (or £450 for smaller authorities) or if the information is exempt:

• Absolute exemption - i.e. court records, security services
• Qualified exemption - i.e. ministerial communications, commercial confidentiality

Individuals must balance the public interest with the need to express information freely. This is however, not specified in law and so must be proven.

In terms of time, organisations must 'respond promptly'. They must send a response within 20 days and then they have 40 days to either produce a record of give reason(s) for why they cannot.

One qualified exemption that is very vague and considered a 'get out' is:

• That information 'intended' for future publication does not have to be published. However, what is considered a reasonable time scale is uncertain and subjective.

If they say no, then the next stages are:

• to request an internal review
•  to visit an information commissioner (six month waiting list)
• to go to an information tribunal
• to lastly visit the High court.

The FOI act is the only reason that the expenses scandal came out. The Daily Telegraph pursued the case and went right up to the High court, spending £150,000.

I and a fellow student then proceeded to send an FOI request to the Winchester and Eastleigh healthcare NHS trust.

We asked them to produce a report regarding the number, age and occupations of patients who had been prescribed anti-depressants and/or Viagra in the years 2007/2008, 2008/2009 and 2009/2010.

The challenges faced by a journalist (2)

Public Sphere

Journalism is important as it catapults discussion of information into the public sphere. This social role gives a journalist the role of reflection and practitioning news, treating it as a practiced art form, understanding that it goes beyond mere entertainment.

Brian McNair states how:

'Analysts and critics may dispute the extent to which Britain has a properly functioning 'public sphere'...but all agree that such a space should exist, and that the media are at its core.'

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries Jurgen Habermas stated how, 'the advent of a public sphere of reasoned discourses circulating in the political realm independent of both the Crown and Parliament (Allan 1997: 298).

Granville Williams argues that the concept that journalism serves an informed citizenry is undermined by the fact that that audiences are often treated as merely consumers. He believes there are constant battles between:

• Community v Globalism
• Value v Price
• Society v Market
• Regulation v Efficiency
• Need v Want
• Citizen v Community

Reflective Practitioner

Lynette Sheridan Burns (2002: 11) believes that journalists must become reflective practitioners, if they are to avoid losing the importance attached to social responsibilty:

'Professional integrity is not something you have when you are feeling a bit down at the end of a long week. It is a state of mindfulness that you bring to everything you write, no matter how humble the topic...Put simply, given the power that you have to do good or harm by virtue of the decisions you make, under pressure each day, the least you can do is think about it. It means an active commitment in journalists to scrutinise theor own actions, exposing the processes and underlying values in their work while they are doing it'.

Pat Aufderheide discusses the need to produce 'a more self - aware journalistic culture'. With regards to the US television after the 9/11 attacks, he argues  that journalists do need 'time, money and imagination to experiment with the kind of  reporting that gives viewers an understanding of large conflicts and issues in the world, before they become the stuff of catastrophe.'

The importance of maintaining curiosity

One of the main challenges in journalism is said to be the retention of curiosity.

Martin Wainwright of the Guardian states how, 'the best journalists go into a situation with an open and absorbing mind.' He continues: 'The great virtue of a journalist is curiosity - a constant interest in what makes people tick, why has this happened, what is going on?'

Jane Merrick, of the Press Association believed that modesty is an important quality to possess: 

'Never think that you know more than the lowest journalist on the newspaper or agency, or wherever you start. Take everything on board. There's a balance between giving your newsdesk  the confidence that you can do the job, and being level-headed. It's a matter of getting the balance right. Journalists will respect somebody prepared to take it all on board.'

Abul Taher feels that journalism is ' a daily ritual of moral and intellectual compromise - it is a good job, but it is hard'.

Paul Foot, a long standing reporter, investigator and columnist has some useful points for  aspiring young journalists in the 21st century:

I think people should join the NUJ and if there isn't a union where they work they should do their best to try and form one. That's the first thing. The other thing is, don't lose your sense of curiosity or your sense of scepticism. Understand the way the industry works and do your best to apply yourself against that. The last thing I mean is young people rushing in and telling their editors how to run the world, that's absolutely fatal. There's nothing worse than the arrogant young person - who knows everything - going and telling people what to do. Even if they're right, which often they are, that's not the way to behave. That's the way to get sacked. You've got to keep your head, you've got to bite your lip, and you've got to do what you're told a lot of the time. Nine times out of ten it's better to go ahead and do what you are told, but there's a tenth time when it is worth resisting. The main thing is to keep your sense of independent observation as to what's happening around you, and to try to use what ability you have to get those things into print. Whatever, you see, there's a story behind it. There is a truth and there's no doubt there are facts. Facts are facts. you cannot bend them.'

The one thing to remember then is once you have that initial foot in the door, do as your told by your editor!

Agency

Agency refers to the extent to which individual journalists can make a difference to the news. 

The political economy model has developed the idea that it is the determining role played by economic power and material factors in creating media products.

Peter Golding and Philip Elliott state how: 'News changes very little when the individuals that produce it are changed' - quoted in Curron and Seaton (1997: 277).

Stuart Hall beieves that the media have 'relative autonomy from ruling class power in the narrow sense,' but emphasises the 'relative', as he states his belief that journalism tends to reproduce societies prevailing ideology.

John O'neil believes that although agency may be limited by economic structures it does very much exist:

'Many, I suspect, find themselves forced to compromise the constitutive values of journalism,

while at the same time insisting that some of the standards be enforced...Journalists, like other workers, are not totally passive in their attitude to their own faculties.'

Harcup argues that talk on agency needs to take into account the tension of between journalists, of different identities between individual professionals, as socially responsible citizens, and as workers with a sense of a collective identity.

The challenges faced by a journalist (1)

Constraints

One of the many challenges facing journalists are the constraints that is placed upon them in terms of what they are able to publish.

Brian Whittle believes that 'the best reporter is someone who's naturally nosy.'

Common constraints also include time, style, advertisers, audience, subjectivity and sources that journalists face on a daily basis. With these in mind, David Randall came up with the suggestion that every newspaper should consider publishing this disclaimer:

'This paper, and the hundreds of thousands of words it contains, has been produced in about 15 hours by a group of fallible human beings, working out of cramped offices while trying to find out about what happened in the world from people who are sometimes reluctant to tell us and, at other times, positively obstructive. Its content has been determined by a series of subjective judgements made by reporters and executives, tempered by what they  know to be the editor's, owner's and reader's prejudices. Some stories appear here without essential context as this would make them less dramatic or coherent and some of the language employed has been deliberately chosen for its emotional impact, rather than its accuracy. Some features are printed solely to attract certain advertisers.'
What he really means is that do not believe all what you read in newspapers.
The London Evening Post in 1754, was quoted as saying 'Those who declaim against Liberties taken by Newspapers....know not what they say; it is this Liberty, that....protects all the rest.'
However, it has been argued that, although the journalists work alongside various constraints, some of these may be considered positive. For example, the Code of Conduct set out by the National Union of Journalists and the Code of practice by the Press Complaints Commission may be interpreted as protecting and helping journalists to resist what may be viewed as unethical behaviour and also defending journalistic integrity (Harcup 2002a and 2002b).
HG Wells delivered a message to his members of the NUJ in 1922 saying how:
'We affect opinion and public and private life profoundly, and we need to cherish any scrap of independence we possess and can secure. We are not mere hirelings ; our work is creative and repsponsible work. The activities of rich adventurers in buying, and directing the policy, groups of newspapers is a grave public danger. A free-spirited, well-paid, and well-organised profession of journalism is our only protection against the danger. (Quoted in Mansfield 1945: 518).

Ethical Responsibility

A further challenge for journalists is the importance of ethical responsibility. Jake Lynch, an international TV and print reporter believes that journalists must take this seriously as it is an imperative consideration of the job:

'In this information age, journalists are not disconnected observers but actual participants in the way communities and societies understand each other and the way parties wage conflict...We live in a media-savvy world. There's no way of knowing what journalists are seeing or hearing would have happened the same way - if at all - if no press was present. This means that policies are born with a media strategy built in. There's nothing pejorative in that, it's a condition of modern life; but it closes the circle of cause and effect between journalist and source. The only way anyone can possibly calculate journalists' likely response to what they do is from their experience of previous reporting. Every time facts get reported, it adds to the collective understanding of how similar facts will likely be reported in future. That understanding then informs people's behaviour. This is the feedback loop. It means every journalist bears some unknowable share of the responsibility for what happens next.'

Lindsay Eastwood has said how 'we should have been dodging bricks, but the adrenalin gets you.'

Media Law

Copyright

Week 7

The first copyright statute was the British Statute of Anne of 1709. The full title of this was "an act for the Encouragement of Learning, by vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or purchasers of such Copies, during the Times therein mentioned".
Copyright can be extended to photographs, films, sound recordings, broadcasts and computer technology (including software and databases).
It has been internalised from the late 19th century onwards and today adds both a global and European dimension to the law.
Currently copyright law is governed by the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 which simplifies the different categories of works that are protected by copyright. This eliminates the treatment of engravings and photographs:

• literary, dramatic and musical works (s. 3): they must be recorded in writing or otherwise to be granted copyright, and copyright begins from when recording takes place
• artistic works (s. 4): includes buildings, photographs, engravings and works of artistic craftsmanship.
• sound recordings and films (s. 5)
• broadcasts (s. 6): a transmission by wireless telegraphy which is intended and capable of reception by members of the public.
• cable programmes (s. 7). A cable programme is a part of a service transmitting images, sound or other information to two or more different places or to members of the public by means other than wireless telegraphy. There are several exceptions however, including general Internet use.
• published editions (s. 8) refers to the published edition of the whole or part of one or more literary, dramatic or musical works.

A division also exists between the copyright treatment of 'author works', which are governed by the Berne convention and 'media works', governed by the Rome convention.
Copyright has economic functioning which enables the production emanating originally from information, ideas and entertainment to be rewarding for those authors and publishers who have produced them. Copyright also has the non-economic function of providing a legal system the ability to recognise creativity as an aspect of individual personality.

In Sweeney v Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Joyce estate, which owned copyright in Ulysses and preparatory material , claimed that a new edition of the material produced was an infringement of the author's copyright. It was held that copyright subsisted in each chapter and perhaps every page or even sentence of Ulysses, as it was an original piece. However, as each passage was to be incorporated into a larger work, copyright should be regarded as existing in the whole piece, rather than constituent parts.
In Robin Ray v Classic FM, the high court ruled that a contractor providing services owns the intellectual property in the materials created for their client.
In Coffrey v Warner/Chappell Music Ltd, Chappell wrote the music and lyrics to a song called 'Forever after'. Chappell claimed that the copyright for this song had been infringed by another song. The issue was whether these parts, that were contained in a larger piece of work  could by themselves constitute another work. It was held that, when taken in isolation, three features were not, when taken in isolation, sufficiently separable from the remainder of the song to be considered a musical work in its own right and it did not amount to a substantial part of 'forever after' as a whole.

The general principle is that copyright protects the expression of a work rather than ideas.
Lord Hoffman in Designers Guild Ltd v Russell Williams Ltd stated that the connection between an unpredictable idea into a copyright expression was the degree of originality, skill, labour and time depicted by the author.
Pixx Products v Winstone held that although each case should be judged on their own independent facts, it can be inferred that a higher level of generality or abstraction in terms of the idea of the work, the less likely it is to be protected as such.
In the case of Interlego AG v Tyco Industries Inc, concerned the artistic copyright claimed in engineering drawings modifying an earlier design by the same author, the Lego company. 'Nobody draws a tolerance,  nor can it be reproduced three dimensionally' - Lord Oliver. This is important as literary copyright knows no equivalent to the artistic copyright's concept of 3D infringement.

Fixation refers to the concept set out in the Berne convention which says that copyright subsists in literary and artistic works in terms of 'whatever may be made  of formed of its expression' (Art 2(1)). However, this does allow for the law 'to prescribe that works in general or any specified category of works shall not be protected unless they have been fixed in some permanent form' (Art 2(2)). So, copyright does not subsist in a literary, dramatic or musical work unless and until recorded in writing or otherwise (s.3(2)).
In Norowzian v Arks Ltd (No.2), Norowzian produced a film called 'Joy'. It showed a man dancing to music. The use of an editing technique known as 'jump cutting' made it appear that a man was making sudden changes in positions, that were not possible as successive movements in reality. Rattee J said that 'Joy, unlike some films, it is not a recording of a dramatic work , because, as a result of a drastic editing process adopted by Norowzian , it is not a recording of anything that was or could be danced or performed by anyone...'.

'Originality does not in this sense mean that the work must be an expression of originality or inventive thought. Copyright acts not with the originality of ideas, but with the expression of thought...originality which is required relates to the expression of the thought' - Peterson J.
'What is worth copying is worth protecting' - Peterson J.
 In George Hensher Ltd v Restawire Upholstery (Lanchashire Ltd), it was up to the judge to determine whether a rough prototype for a suite of furniture was a work of artistic craftsmanship. It was held that the prototype was not a work of artistic craftsmanship.
In Green v Broadcasting Corporation of New Zealand, the Privy Council had to grapple with the question of whether a few catchphrases used constantly by the host of a television show ('opportunity knocks') constituted a dramatic work. It was held that it did not amount to a dramatic work.

Effort, skill and labour

In Cramp v Smythson it was held that tables and information printed  on part of a pocket diary had no copyright because selection and appointment had not required the exercise of any judgement or taste by the complier.
In Exxon Corporation v Exxon Insurance, the claim was for a literary copyright in the single word 'exxon'. The failure concerned not being able to achieve the production of a literary work, rather than originality, but the point to be stressed is that effort, skill and labour by itself is not necessarily enough to get copyright.

Derivative works:
A new copyright is to be created concerning alterations to text which must be extensive and substantial.
In Black v Murray, it was held that the changes made in Black's second edition of material had their own copyright, but that Murray's takings were substantial and infringed copyright, but only in relation to the editorial notes.
In Walter v Lane, the House of Lords allowed the Times  newspaper copyright in reporter's verbatim transcript of a speech by Lord Roseberry, a leading politician. The reporters work was derivative, but the creation had involved expenditure of individual skill and effort.
Robertson v Lewis depicted the current judicial view, which tends to favour a reporter's copyright.

On the 14th December 2009, the European commission welcomed the ratification of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) copyright treaties. So-called 'internet treaties' have now been introduced which are intended to make the world's copyright laws 'fit for the internet.'
 "Today is an important day for the European Union and its Member States and WIPO. We, as a group have shown our attachment to the international system of protection of copyright and related rights. These two treaties brought protection up to speed with modern technologies. As the technological evolution accelerates, protecting creators and creative industries is more urgent than ever" - Charlie McCreevy, Internal Market Commissioner.

Photographs

Photographs

 Action phototgraphs are the most common type of photograph to be used in news. The purpose is to represent what the story is about and create drama and description, as the written material merely gives the reader the facts.



Identification photographs, otherwise known as 'mugshots' are vital to avoid defamation claims. This would result from different people having the same name and so misidentification occuring, as was the case of Artemus Jones. 

                        Action Shots



                     



Identification Shots



Come on Zoe, pimp my ride!

Renault can name their new model Zoe.

A French judge, rejecting a case made by the parents of two girls coincidentally named  Zoe Renault.

The parent's argued that their children and also others, who have the forename Zoe, would suffer teasing, distress and therefore harm from Renault's latest move.

The judge disagreed and believed he could not see how children would suffer 'certain, direct and current harm.' It is thought the parents are planning an appeal.

The parent's lawyer David Koubbi told Associated Press:
"There's a line between living things and inanimate objects, and that line is defined by the first name...
we're telling Renault one very simple thing: first names are for humans."
Koubbi went on to say that following the hearing which took place on Wednesday, the judge defended his decision saying that this"was not a first name, but just a common noun".
Not only would this amount to distress and harm in the younger years, it could also stretch on into adulthood with comments such as 'Can I see your airbags' or 'Can I shine your bumper', claims Koubbi.

Features

Bella - 9th November 2010

• Confessional Interview: 'What turned this perfect father and partner into a violent psycho?', pages 24 and 25.
• Response: 'letters' followed by 'Tell us your views - there's £50 for the star letter and £10 for all others, page 31.
• Comment/Analysis: 'Icon or victim?' fashion piece, pages 4 and 5.
• Comment: 'Are women better drivers than men?', page 23.
• Investigative:  'New ways to beat the winter blues', pages 52 and 53.
• Profiles: 'Melinda's family favourites', pages 42 and 43.
• Pictures/ fashion: 'All wrapped up...', pages 32 and 33.

Star - 25th October 2010

• Comment/analysis: 'rated or slated', pages 50 and 51.
• Response: 'Seen it? Buy it!' followed by 'Spotted it on a star? Get the real thing!', page 53.
• Interview - Question and Answer: 'Celeb diet secrets' followed by this weeks interviewee 'Susie Amy', page 73.
• Arts review: 'Reviews films'. Pages 80 - 83.
• News Features: 'Cheryl opens up about Ashley - at last!', pages 8 and 9.
  

Closer 13th - 19th November 2010

• Confessional Interviews: 'My 15 year old needs his stomach stapled - not a diet', pages 20 and 21.
• Comment/Analysis: 'I say it like it is' followed by 'Kelly O', page 25.
• Response: 'Closer to you!', pages 34 and 35.
• Interview - Question and answer: 'Credit Watch' followed by Former Strictly contestant Matt Dawson, 38, on his last buys, page 57.
• Arts Review: 'Closer Hot Picks', page 101.

What's on TV 13th - 19th Nov 2010  

• Interview - Question and Answer: 'Garrow's love battle!', page 15.
• Response: 'Have your say', page 98.
• Feature on documentary: 'Mum, I'm no Monster!', page 29.
• Comment/Analysis: 'I'll tell Sally the truth!', page 7.
• Pictures: Actors and actresses throughout.

The Sun, Thursday, November 11th, 2010

• News Feature: 'I (didn't) predict a riot', pages 4 and 5.
• Comment Analysis: 'Kelvin Mackenzie', page 11.
• Pictures - a picture of Daniel Radcliffe on set. The headline reads: 'Harry to hairy' to represent what is shown in the picture (an older looking post- pubescent man), page 25.
• Response: 'dear deirdre', page 64.
• Consumer reviews: 'How to stay warm this winter', pages 56 and 57

The Daily Telegraph, Monday, November 8th, 2010

• News Feature: 'Danger: 46 jailed terrorists go free.' Appears on the front page.
• Investigative: 'Exercise, not diet, key to obesity', page 2.
• Pictures : throughout to compliment the story. The majority are of people. For example,  a feature containing an emotive. action shot of Jamie Oliver, beside the headline, 'We want nutrition experts - not you, Los Angeles tells Oliver, page 21.
• Expert review: 'Anyone for a gym and tonic?', page 29.
• Response: 'Puzzles, mind games and Herculis', page 24.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Radio Journalism

Week 7

News priorities concern the order in which stories are broadcast. This will usually start from national news to news affecting the local area. This is dependent upon what type of radio station it is. The demographic and the area drive the demographic. I.e. a local radio station such as 'the breeze' may choose a local story as their main story. This will depend upon the content, the impact and the target demographic of the story.

Example of the order of a News Bulletin

1. One of James Bulger's killers is back in prison, after breaching the terms of his release.
2. A man's in a serious condition in hospital after being hit by a car in Bentley.
3. Secret files have emerged which suggest police in Portugal dismissed potential leads in the Madeleine  McCann case.
4. There's now more time to tell the Waverley Borough Council where new housing should go in the area.
5. Haslemere and Farnham and the areas around them are set to get a whole lot brighter.
6. Half of all men think the Elvis quiff is the greatest hairstyle ever invented.

The position of a story often depends upon the waning interest of the public and whether it is a national or local news story. There are subjective elements; however what needs to be considered in what story is going to provoke the biggest reaction. Often, negative, urgent stories are a higher priority to report than positive ones, as they are more likely to capture the interest of the audience.

 The unique selling point of local radio stations is the fact that they report on local stories. National news stations have many more stories to cover.

Intros

Previous:

1. Noone was seriously injured when a coach with 38 holidaymakers was in a collision with a lorry on the Southern approach to Inverness yesterday.

Now:

1. A coach of holidaymakers crashed on the coast to Inverness.

Previous:
2. According to a report published today British men between the ages of 35 and 45 are healthier than ever before.

Now:

2. British men are healthier than ever before.

Previous:

3. North Dale Crags, the popular tourist attraction in Dartmoor was the scene of a tragedy last Saturday when a young rock climber, 18 year old student Mark Wallcaster from Suffolk fell 150 foot to his death.

Now:

3. A man has fallen to his death on Dartmoor.

Previous:
4. It has been suggested by Mrs Hazel White, Secretary of the Westminster Chamber of Commerce that the local council tax is too high at £225 per year.

Now:

4. Local council tax is too high

Previous:

5. At 8.30 pm on Saturday 16th October at Greenwich Station, South East London, police were called to a disturbance as a result of which three men were arrested and one policeman was slightly injured.

Now:

5. A policeman has been injured at Greenwich station.

Making news is the production of a product. It needs to sell, because ratings matter!

Gagging orders to be gagged!

Five celebrities may experience many a sleepless night after a judge overturned an order which banned news outlets from making known a top celebrity and details of his private life.

On Friday, Mr Justice Tugendhaut, who was the acting judge in the John Terry scandal earlier this year, reversed the decision of a received gagging order, legally known as a super injunction, awarded to a premier league footballer in August. This reversal may now open the way for five other super injunctions awarded to celebs to be challenged.

A media law expert said last night:
'They will all be trembling now'
Media law expert Mark Stephens - of for top London firm Finers Stephens Innocent has re-iterated this point:
'Celebrities will be trembling because we are now seeing that some of these injunctions should never have been granted. Judges are now looking at applications more critically.'

He has now warned that celebrities may use this to attempt to 'pull the wool over judge's eyes' by claiming that this new decision may lead to them being blackmailed about their private lives.

This decision is a major win for journalists and their press freedom.

Media Law

Freedom of Information

Week 6

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 came into action in 2005, which created a general right of access to information held by different braches of the government and other public authorities in the UK.

In the past, requests under the Act requiring a disclosure from the Government included (1) the advice given by the Attorney General on the legality of the UK's part in the invasion of Iraq and (2) a draft of the controversial dossier published by the Goverment justifying the invasion.

Although most of the stories that make it onto the national news channels are involving controversial or shocking disclosures provoking a reaction throughout the whole of the country, it is important to remember that local and regional journalists also regularly use this Act to retrieve disclosures. Examples of these have included;

• how many children have been excluded from local schools;
• the number of under-16s that have required local hospital treatment for alcohol-related illness and drug issues.

BBC journalists have have managed to receive disclosures concerning;

• elderly residents of a nursing home who allegedly suffered verbal and physical abuse;
• the fact that only two councils had managed to meet Government targets on the welfare of children in council care.

Heather Brooke, the author of her book Your Right To Know, has summed up the Act in a nutshell by saying: 'While not quite the sword of truth some had hoped, the new laws are an effective chisel against government secrecy and corruption.'

The Act covers about 100,000 bodies in the public sector, which includes to name a few:

• the armed forces;
• national park authorities
• universities, schools and colleges - if in the state sector;
• national government departments and ministries.

There are various public bodies that are exempt from the Act. These include:

• The UK's security and intelligence services - MI5, MI6, and GCHQ.
• Courts and Tribunals.

A public authority who receives a request for information must normally make a response within 20 working days, either giving the information or with an explanation as to why it cannot be supplied. This may be because:

• the cost of retrieving the information is to expensive;
• the public authority does not hold the information;
• the information is covered by exemptions under the Act, and therefore does not have to be supplied.

The Act permits authorities to refuse to supply information in certain circumstances, known as exemptions. There are two types of exemptions; absolute and qualified.

The absolute exemptions are contained in:

• Section 21 - information reasonably accessible by other means.
• Section 23 - information supplied to the public authority by or relating to bodies dealing with security matters.
• Section 32 - court records.
• Section 40 - personal information.
• Section 41 - information provided to the authority in confidence by another party.

By qualified exemptions, the Act means those that if the public authority decides not to supply the information in these categories it must gives reasons, showing how it has applied the 'public interest test', laid down in the Act, in order to justify its refusal to provide the information.
The Information Commissioner lists some of the public interest factors that are likely to encourage the public authority to disclose information:

• Promoting accountability and transparency in the spending of public money.
• Bringing to light information affectingpublic health and safety.
• Furthering the understanding and participation in the public debate of issues of the day.

The qualified exemptions are:

• Section 24 -information which if disclosed is likely to prejudice national security.
• Section 27 - information which if disclosed is likely to prejudice international relations.
• Section 31 - information held by an authority for law enforcement functions.
• Section 35 - information which relates to formulation or development of Governement policy.
• Section 36 - information the disclosure of which is likely to prejudice effective conduct of public affairs. Heather Brooke states: 'This is the weakest exemption, frequently overturned on appeal. A public authority's reliance on it shows it is desperate and grasping at straws.'
• Section 43 - commercial interests.

John Connor Press Associates [a freelance news agency] v Information Commissioner

In this case, the Information Tribunal decided that the National Maritime Museum should in fact of disclosed information regarding its finances concerning its purchase of a particular set of artworks. The Museum had argued that when it received the FOI request, it was in discussion with another artist about a different project and their ability to ensure value for public money would of been prejudicedh had information regarding this of been released. The tribunal decided however that no real and significant risk of such a prejudice existed.

Derry City Council v Information Commissioner

This case involved a request by an employee of the Belfast Telegraph for details of an agreement between Ryanair and the council regarding the operation of the Derry City Airport, including how much Ryanair had paid for the airport facility. As a result of an appeal to the Information Commissioner, the council provided the information by way of a document, although some information was missing. The Commissioner upheld a complaint about the information that was not included.

Recent news stories

Tuesday 26th October 2010

The Ministry of Defence has released details of incidents in which troops attacked Afghan civilians, leading the actions of three British military units in Afghanistan to be questioned.
The Guardian made a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which disclosed that of casualities caused by Brtish troops, two thirds of those involoved troops from these three units, causing concern. These were among thousands of incidents that were spoke about in US army logs posted by Wikileaks, the popular whistle-blowing website.

Sunday 17th October 2010

A FOI request resulted in the British Governor of a Caribbean island to question the ownership of a suggested deal between a company allegedly owned by Conservative MP, Lord Ashcroft and a prime minister. Both are now being investigated over alleged corruption, Foreign Office documents suggest.

Monday 11th October 2010

It been has reported that local councils are using the FOI act as a means of avoiding answering questions. Judith Townend reported that when a news blogger questioned a local council of the Isle of Wight about a broken lift, they were told to try and get the answers to this by putting in a FOI request.
Trinity Mirror's multimedia chief, David Higgerson says he sees one or two example of this a week and beleives this 'can kick a tricky issue into the long grass for 20 days (or longer), by which the public body involved will hope the media agenda has simply moved on.'

Recent legal developments

The Conservative- Lib dem coalition governement intend to extend the powers of the FOI act, in order to increase transparency.
One of the central issues that have been scrutinised recently is the issue of 'aggregating public interest considerations'. In cases and particularly so, where the question of exercising the public interest test is needed, the question arises as to whether;

1. It is available to the public authority to aggregate all the public interest considerations which come up in under the different exemptions in a single public interest balancing exercise; or
2. the authority must undergo discrete public interest balancing tests under each individual exemption.

Media Law

Official secrets, Confidentiality and Privacy

Week 5

Official secrets concern government secrets, which if leaked, can lead to prosecution. The

Official Secrets Act 1911, with various amendments, is the leading statute concerning this area of confidentiality.
The six areas of the government that are protected by the act are:

• security and intelligence
• defence
• international relations
• foreign confidences
• information which might lead to the commission of crime
• the special investigation powers under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 and the Security Service Act 198
 

S.1 of the Official Secrets Act 1911 concerns information that is of use to the enemy and can result in up to 14 years in prison.

S.2 concerns 'silly secrets' of any establishment which comes under the branch of the government i.e. the post office and any internal information that is disclosed.

Clive Ponting
The leading case on this area is considered to be the Clive Ponting case. He was charged with leaking an internal Ministry of Defence document about the General Belgrano, the Argentinian cruiser which British forces sank during the 1982 Falklands war, which killed 360 people. Lady Thatcher's government claimed that the Belgrano was threatening British lives when it sank, but Ponting's document suggested that it in fact was sailing out of the exclusion zone, causing gross embarrassment to the government. Despite the judge indicating that the jury should convict him, he was cleared of any breach under the Official Secrets Act.

The 'Spycatcher' case
In 1987, former MI5 officer Peter Wright published a book named Spycatcher, alleging that in the 1960s, the MI5 conspired to discredit the Labour prime minister Harold Wilson. Thatcher's government claimed that Wright owed a duty throughout his life to the confidentiality of internal government activity. Despite this, Wright published his book in America and Australia, with copies making their way into the UK. The government then tried extraditing Wright, who was now living in Australia. A House of Lords judgement came in 1988, which overturned a blanket injunction across all media outlets from reporting information from former intelligence officers.
Lord Goff said: "In a free society, there is a continuing public interest that the workings of government should be open to scrutiny and criticism."

The Bill Goodwin case
In 1989, an engineering company, Tetra Ltd, who were in financial difficulties had prepared a business plan in order to obtain a substantial bank loan. A copy of the draft plan 'disappeared' from the company's offices and the next day Mr Goodwin received a telephone call from an unidentified source giving him information about the company. This included the amount of the anticipated loan and the forecast results for the company. Goodwin then proceeded to check this and so he phoned the company and its bankers. Tetra Ltd obtained injunctions against the magazine The Engineer and the trainee reporter Bill Goodwin. Goodwin and The Engineer were required to hand over notes disclosing the source of their information. Goodwin refused to do so and was fined £5,000. In 1996, the ECHR held that the court order and the fine violated his right to freedom of expression under Art 10 of the ECHR.

Sarah Tisdall
On a rare occasion one case did result in a prosecution: The young Foreign office clerk leaked details of when controversial American cruise missiles would be arriving on British soil, to The Guardian newspaper. She was found guilty under the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to six months imprisonment, although only serving three.

Commercial secrets which are governed by confidentiality common law.

 Privacy became a fundamental, residual right by the enactment of the Humans Right 1998.
 It is contained under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) which covers the 'right to respect for private and family life'. 
The article states that:
1. Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.
2. There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

There is no set privacy law in the UK. So the judiciary are left to consider individual cases to determine how the privacy law is England will be determined.
Art 8 is always balanced against Art 10 of the ECHR - the freedom of expression.
In terms of Art 8, invasion of privacy is considered lawful if it has a clear public duty. For example, a policeman exercising an arrest in lawful.
However, problems of privacy may arise if photographs of the offender are published. Invasion of privacy is also legal if consent is obtained. Consent can be achieved in two ways: explicitly and implicitly.

 There are four factors that will 'define' if san incident can be rendered to be an invasion of one's privacy;
 1. If it has the necessary quality of confidence i.e. as Justice Eady commented 'not just tittle-tattle' and;
 2. it has been provided in 'circumstances imposing an obligation' and;
 3. there has been no permission to pass on the information and;
4. it has caused actual detriment.

The landmark area in this case is Campbell v MGN Ltd. The case concerned a photographs of Naomi Campbell coming out of a Narcotic Anonymous meeting. The "Mirror" then published these photographs which included pixilations of the faces of other attendees of the meeting. This was done in order to protect their identities. The headline alongside the photograph read "Naomi: I'm a drug addict". Attached was an article which contained very general details relating to Ms Campbell's treatment for drug addiction, which included the number of meetings that she had attended. Campbell claimed damages for breach of confidentiality and compensation under s.13 of the Data Protection act 1998. Morland J upheld both these claims at trial. The Court of appeal reversed this decision. Ms Campbell appealed this decision. The issue here was whether the publication of the additional information contained in the photographs along with the nature and details of Ms Campbell's treatment was a breach of confidence. In the House of Lords, the decision from the Court of Appeal was reversed by a 3:2 majority and it was held that the additional information was confidential as its publication would have caused substantial offence to a person of ordinary sensibilities in Ms Campbell's position. Ms Campbell's Article 8 rights outweighed the Defendant's Art 10 rights and so as a result the publication of the additional information was an infringement of Ms Campbell's Article 8 rights and she was entitled to damages. In light of this decision, it has been commented that similar to the decision in Reynolds v Times Newspapers, the House of Lords judgements create more questions than answers to how privacy law will work in the future. Giving practical advice to wannabe claimants on the scope of the law relating to privacy is now difficult.

In a Pennsylvanian court, a US couple lost their battle against Google, claiming that the street view technology 'invaded their privacy.' Aaron and Christine Boring accused the giant search engine of privacy violation, negligence, unjust enrichment and trespassing for showing their home in the street view technology, which adds 360-degree-street-level photographs to Google world maps. They were seeking more than $25,000 (£17,400) in compensation and damages. Judge Amy Hay said that the Borings could not prove they have suffered as a result of having their home photographed, as they had not contacted Google asking them to remove the images. In addition to this, the Borings had published their addresses on court documents.

 Privacy law has recently adorned legal websites such as IPkat, as more and more celebrities have been claiming their privacy has been without justification. These have come from the likes of Max Mosely, Sienna Miller and Tiger Woods. The most recent comes from the rumoured soon-to-be latest royal, Kate Middleton, who reportedly instructed solicitors, after photographs of her playing tennis in Germany were published. It is reported that Ms Middleton feels her privacy rights have been infringed and requests that the pictures be withdrawn from the publication and damages to be awarded from the photographers and distributing agency. The European Court of Human Rights later held that the UK's actions had violated the right to freedom of speech. In a neat historical detail, David Shayler - then editor of the Durham University student newspaper - also published some of Wright's allegations.

Prisoners are people too.....

News today comes of the decision to allow prisoners the right to vote. The decision was made after a long-running battle between ministers and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). This will lift the ban and give the opportunity for more than 70,000 inmates to discover which side of political fence they are on.

David Cameron is said to be 'exasperated and furious' at abolition of the 140-year blanket ban on prisoner voting. Cabinet officer Mark Harper told MPs that:
"The UK's blanket ban on prisoners voting was declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in October 2004.
"This Government accepts, as did the previous government, that there is a need to change law.
"It's a legal obligation, not a choice, and we are considering how to implement the judgement."

After a challenge from John Hirst, the ECHR ruled in 2004 that the blanket ban was discriminatory and was a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Shockingly, advisors were warned that in ignoring this ruling, they may be left with a colossal compensation payout, totalling millions.

Juliet Lyon from the Prison Reform Trust has come out with the controversial statement:
'In a modern prison system you would expect prisoners to have rights and responsibilities and politicians to take an active interest in their constituency prisons.'

I can envisage a whole load of controversy sparked as a result if this latest example of what many believe are the wide open human rights floodgates. Are the installation of mobile phones, televisions and Xboxes simply not enough for those who do end up with a conviction? Obviously not! It appears their political affiliation now needs to be known to our democratic, 'civilised' society.

Sexsomniac rights!

Darren Greenwood, who appeared on 'This Morning' today, walked out of court free last week, after a jury accepted his defence of the rare medical condition, sexsomnia.

'Sexsomnia is a form of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnia (similar to sleepwalking) that causes people to engage in sexual acts such as masturbation, fondling, sexual intercourse and sexual assault or rape while they are asleep'. It is thought to affect up to 1% of the population worldwide. Drink, drugs, sleep deprivation and stress are all thought to make the condition worse.

Darren, from East London had only just met the 21-year-old when she stayed the night at his house. She awoke to find him touching her. Darren held that he was 'oblivious' to this.

The verdict meant that Darren had no control over his 'sexual' actions and or had any knowledge of groping the girl, as she slept.

Although both a medical expert and the prosecution's expert agreed with this diagnosis, Darren warned real sex attackers not to claim this defence as sexsomnia; 'You will get found out. You cannot just make this up.'
It has been 14 years since the first research paper was published in 1996, by three researchers from the University of Toronto. It suggested sexual behaviour during sleep may be a new type of parasomnia. Since this groundbreaking study, more and more research has been released detailing the condition. However, in order for this to of been helpful, yet accurate, the judiciary and need to be vigilant and prevent the possibility of the floodgates argument persevering and eradicating the credibility of such a new and specialist decision.