Channel 4 commissions all of its programming from independent producers and has around 800 permanent employees. It must adhere to regulatory frameworks and codes of practice in its representation of individuals and groups. Channel 4 employs people under different types of contracts - fixed term contracts for specific projects, freelance contracts where individuals invoice for time worked, and permanent full or part-time contracts. Channel 4 also has confidentiality agreements and codes of practice to govern its relationships with producers and ensure appropriate standards in programming.

1. Unit 8 Assignment 3- Contracts and
Ethics
Channel 4, unlike the BBC does not have in house production rather it commissions all of its
programmes from independent producers. As a broadcaster it has a permanent work force
of around 800 people, and more freelance, contract, fixed term workers. The roles and
services these people provide are very varied. There are for example programme
commissioners across all the genres, legal/business affairs, finance, press, technical
broadcast services, multiplatform, research and development roles to name just a few.
Channel 4 has legal and ethical obligations as an employer to all the people it employs – the
nature of this depends on the contractual relationship/status between the individual and the
Channel.
In order to retain a broadcasting licence and operate within the law, Channel 4 must adhere
to its remit and operate within the regulatory framework of the industry governed by Ofcom.
This not only relates to the range and way in which issues/topics are covered in its
programming but also how issues, individuals and groups are represented within them.
In terms of the work force within Channel 4 itself and the independent sector we can identify
the follows types of contractual relationships:
Fixed term contracts: this refers to when someone has a contract but there is a fixed
start and end date, for example a researcher might be employed on a specific project
for 6 months and the company do not want to offer this person a long term
staff/permanent job.
Freelance contracts; some roles in the TV industry are categorised by the HMRC as
freelance, meaning people can work for a company in this role (e.g. as a producer or
cameraman) on a specific project and invoice the company for their time, the
company does not have to pay tax against these earnings and it is the responsibility
of the individual to submit a tax return and pay their own tax. The idea is the
company is only getting their services for a period of time and not employing them as
any employee. In the TV industry this is a typical way for lots of people to work and
there is a big freelance community who move between different companies doing
short contracts on different projects; these are the list of job that can be freelance
Full-time and part-time contracts: Full-time employment or staff/permanent contracts
are when a person does not have an end date in their contract, they are contracted to
work a minimum number of hours defined as such by his/her employer and they have
employment rights in line with their status that means an employee can not unfair
dismiss them. Full-time employment often comes with benefits that are not typically
offered temporary, or flexible workers, such as annual leave, sick leave, and health
insurance. Full-time jobs are often considered careers and as Channel 4 is a
broadcaster rather than an independent producer they have a large number of
permanent staff

2. In a creative industry a big part of the value of a business can be in the ideas and intellectual
property ownership and generation, so when a person works for say an independent
producer the employer needs to be sure that person will not share confidential information
with competitors. A confidentiality agreement is a written legal contract between an employer
and employee. The confidentiality agreement lays out binding terms and conditions that
prohibit the employee from disclosing company confidential and proprietary information. A
confidentiality agreement is in effect for the duration of an employee’s employment and for a
period of time following employment termination. Employers benefit from confidentiality
agreements because they keep these parties from sharing proprietary knowledge, trade
secrets, client or product information, strategic plans, and other information that is
confidential and proprietary to the company with competitors.
Whereas exclusivity contracts are an agreement which are used to try to ensure that the
other parties do not make a prospective deal or negotiate solely with the client for a period of
time. They aim to give the client some protection from another party outbidding him.
Channel 4 as a broadcaster has a licence from Ofcom permitting it to broadcast but which
stipulates the need to meet a remit (i.e. quotas for various types of programmes) and to
follow Ofcom codes of practice. In line with the Ofcom code Channel 4 has created
guidelines for what it does as a broadcaster and how it works with it’s suppliers, outlined on
it’s website and in the producers handbook and a code of practice between itself and it’s
suppliers/independent producers. This code required Channel 4 to give producers;
- Clarity over the different categories of rights that Channel 4 is seeking to secure in programmes it
commissions from independent producers
- Clarity over the duration for which Channel 4 seeks to secure these different categories of rights
- Clarity over the prices that Channel 4 is willing to pay for these different categories of rights
- Clarity over Channel 4’s participation in other programme income
- A clear commissioning process and structure for conclusion of negotiations - Provisions for monitoring the
application of this Code and resolving any disputes
The overarching Ofcom Broadcasting Code not only defines how Channel 4 deal with it’s
suppliers but also how it operates more broadly, it is designed to ensure that generally
accepted standards are upheld in television programmes in order to protect members of the
public from harmful or offensive material.
As noted on the Channel 4 website the code acknowledges the importance of freedom of
expression but points out that with those rights come responsibilities. The Code has 9 key
sections containing "Principles" and "Rules":
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Protecting the under-eighteen's;
Harm and offence;
Crime;
Religion;
Due impartiality;
Elections and referendums;
7. Fairness;
8. Privacy;
9. Commercial references in TV programming

3. I think these codes are all very important for retaining the confidence and trust with the
independent producers C4 hires, the codes also make sure they understand what rights they
have. The codes of practice help the people in the industry, as they have to come up with
more creative ideas that do not breach the rules, because if there were no codes, there
would be all kinds of bad things on television
Policies and procedures;
C4 have a whole range of policies and procedures that it and producers who work for
Channel 4 are required to adhere to from the point at which a programme is
commissioned through to transmission and beyond. These reflect the broader
requirements of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, which is designed to ensure that
generally accepted standards are upheld in television programmes in order to protect
members of the public from harmful or offensive material, and also C4 obligations under
it’s Code of practice to it’s employees and suppliers and under the law.
Before a programme is formally commissioned by Channel 4 the Independent producer
will put together a detailed Editorial Specification that includes the editorial outline,
staffing expectations, agreed timetable for production, post-production, viewings and
scripts. Once agreed it will go to Channel 4’s Programme Finance Committee (PFC) or
Business Approval Board (BAB), which approve projects after considering the identified
risks to C4 in financial, legal, business, scheduling and practical terms of each project
submitted.
Following PFC or BAB approval the contract will be issued and a standard
commissioning contract issued. Channel 4 contracts with independent producers on the
basis of its Code of Practice - approved by OFCOM and PACT - which governs how
Channel 4 manages its relationship with Independents. It outlines both what is expected
of Channel 4, and what Channel 4 can fairly expect of its suppliers in return. It also
outlines the commissioning process.
As part of the Commissioning Agreement C4 licences various rights from the producer
which allow it to transmit the programme, as part of the agreement the producer agrees
to clear the programme for this usage. So in theory Channel 4 will not broadcast a
programme before a contract has been signed or indeed before the producer has
confirmed that all the relevant clearances have been obtained.
Channel 4 provide extensive guidance to producers in the form of a ‘producers
handbook’ (http://www.channel4.com/producers-handbook/c4-complianceprocedures/internal-procedures-for-reference-up-and-compliance), this not only outlines
the procedures within Channel 4 for key decisions and lines of responsibility (referral up
the chain of command at Channel 4 across complex editorial matters/decisions on
projects) but also to the final delivery of the programme, from the technical point of view
but also the paperwork that needs to be submitted to show all the clearances have been
made for the programme. In addition this relates back the initial editorial specification
drawn up before the PFC/BAB meeting and the guidance created at the point of the
compliance meeting, as part of it’s procedures Channel 4 insist all productions have a
compliance meeting to discuss any issues related to the subject matter or contributors in
a programme/series, in the final paperwork the Channel refers back to this to ensure any
matters that were flagged as areas of concern have been addressed.

4. The following pages show the key areas Channel 4 producer handbook covers.

5. Channel 4 have to deal with a whole range of complex social concerns, expectations
and ethics as a result of the remit of the channel. The recent coverage of the Mark
Duggan case was an interesting example of this, where Channel 4 had a real
responsibility to report, interrogate, challenge all the issues around this case but also
a responsibility to be fair and balanced in this coverage and not to incite further
violence.
Fair and appropriate representation of groups and individuals on Channel 4 is a key
question and one that Ofcom code tries to offer guidance and best practice around. It
is however a very complex area. Recently channel 4 has run a documentary series
called ‘Benefit Street’ that has raised huge amount of controversy. Channel 4 often
shows programmes which show a diverse range of people from all walks of life.
However, many were asking whether ‘Benefit Street’ was the right name for the
programme, as it sends off the wrong message about the area and isn’t entirely true.
The programme is an observational documentary about a street in Birmingham
where apparently 90% of the inhabitants are on benefits, the programme made by
Love Productions, chose to select a small number of contributors and follow their
lives over a year. It certainly made fascinating TV, but has been heavily criticised as
having not given a balanced view of the street, dealt with the broader issues of the
causes of such poverty, represented the street fairly as a whole or indeed
considered if the impact on the vulnerable people in the programme. A key question
was whether these contributors knew what they had committed to and many felt they
did not as they were apparently unaware of the title of the programme until it was
broadcast – it’s working title was in fact ‘Community Spirit’ which was changed
according to Ralph Lee, the head of factual commissioning at Channel 4 who
appeared on Newsnight to defend the programme.

6. This example only goes to show how
complicated the contractual and ethical
issues that a broadcaster like Channel 4
faces, but I feel uncomfortable about the
way in this case they showed these people
and it how much hatred this representation
caused on places like Twitter with members
of the public post really awful opinions and
threats against the contributors in this programme – ironically they have now had to
be moved out of their street for their own protection!
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/aug/30/ofcom-investigate-bbc-citizen-khan
Sources
https://www.gov.uk/contract-types-and-employer-responsibilities
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full-time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part-time
http://humanresources.about.com/od/glossaryc/g/confidentiality_agreement.htm
http://www.channel4.com/media/documents/commissioning/DOCUMENTS%20RES
OURCES%20WEBSITES/CodeOfPractice.pdf