The document discusses laws and regulations related to the film and television industries in the UK, including the Race Relations Act, Broadcasting Act, Obscene Publications Act, and roles of the British Board of Film Classification and OFCOM. It provides examples of how each law relates to and regulates different aspects of content, employment, and operations within the industries. The document also reflects on how researching these laws and regulations has increased the author's understanding of both the legal frameworks and the industries themselves.

1. Assignment 3c
In this assignment I want to continue from the previous assignment by developing my understanding
of laws and legislations. This written report consists of relating these regulators to either film or
television industries. The laws I want to look further into are Race Relations Act, Broadcasting Act
and the Obscene Publications Act to develop my understanding on these. With each of these
regulators I will illustrate each point by giving an example to further my comprehension.
The Race Relations Act 1976 is a law that was established by the Houses of Parliament to
permanently stop any form of discrimination. My understanding of the term ‘discrimination’ is an act
that can be verbal or prejudice treatment to a minority or majority group of people. I don’t want to
going into too much detail into the two main components of discrimination, as I want to focus more
on this legislation. This law covers all types of discrimination that an individual may suffer within a
workplace or whilst you are in education, but the act may not cover all forms of discrimination. Since
the law came into place the forms of discrimination the act covers are; racial, nationality and colour
within the workplace. Introducing this significant law like this, was vital as Britain today is has
become one of the most multi-cultural and diverse country. You are bound to meet all sorts of
people and they have brought their culture to the UK. As you may be aware of, there are a minority
of people who express their hatred of foreigners coming over to the UK and taking job opportunities.
In terms of the area of employment, this law has to ensure the safety of employees and that they
are treated the same as others. In terms of the film industry, if I wanted apply for job vacancy for the
role of a camera operator, the law clearly describes that each individual should be given the same
commitment as other applicants. Linking this point to another example, going to an open interview
were there will be other people wanting a job role of a camera operator, whether you are black or
white, each individual will have certain traits that differ from each other. I believe that film
companies who get their workers aware of this legislation and provide a brief account as to penalties
workers face if they breach the law. My overall comprehension of this law is that no one should
receive any prejudice treatment because of their colour, nationality within employment or
education. These two institutions should promote race equality so people are aware the
school/college/university or workplace is discrimination free.
Let’s focus on the next legislation which focuses on the Broadcasting Act 1990 (and later
amendments). This law was introduced the Houses of Parliament and it was then sent to media
communications companies to understand to changes the government is going to make. The
purpose of this legislation was that the government wanted to update this act in order to give the
television industry a shake up, by merging both the television and radio to become broadcasters. If
the law never existed, then all television and radio industries will be chaotic. The reason for this is
because they will be able to put programmes on television at any time; meaning programmes with a
more adult nature will be put during the day. This legislation is there for companies to use as
guidelines so that they are able to see whether they exceed each criterion. I believe that before a
programme can be televised, they will have to meet the meet the right standards of the
Broadcasting Act for it to be people to watch or listen. Failing to meet the basic regulations can lead
to radio companies paying a substantial penalty. Whereas, carelessly breaching the laws will lead to
consequences such as abbreviating television companies for their license. Personally, this is a good
act that electronic communication companies to follow because the law as a whole may consist of

2. continuous pages outline the intentions of the legislation, but developing a fundamental conception
of this law will prevent you from abbreviating it in the future.
The Obscene Publications Act, like all laws, the Houses of Parliament created it. Their real intentions
for this law were to stop broadcasters today from putting anything that is considered as ‘obscene’ to
viewers. My definition of the term ‘obscene’ is something that is offensive and not accepted to a
particular minority. The real intention of this law is to stop people from broadcasting contents that
may be belligerent or offensive to a small minority or materials that are not suitable for younger
audiences. You don’t want your children watching a programme that has a nature of pornography or
material relating to violence and people taking drugs. That would be a parent worst nightmare for
their children. In the television industry, this law works with the previous legislation I previously
explained, the Broadcasting Act. Today’s modern society, television companies are conscious of
publishing or distributing contents to people because you will have to go through many
prosecutions. There are a variety of cases that involves television companies and programmes
breaching this legislation. The most recent case was in 2012, and the R v Peacock case involved a
man got people interested in buying a digital video disk that contained contents that are for people
18+. I do not want to talk about the exact content but believe me its unbearable to even think about.
In another case, Gavin Smith, a Canadian professional poker player, was believed to be charged for
expressing is up most desire in having his fantasies of ‘spanking children’ come true. This happened
in 2009, but there the final verdict came in 2012, yet I feel it is outrageous that the conviction came
three years later. Who knows what this man could have done within that period of time. In my
opinion, I feel that this is a very important law because society today will not be the same without
this law. Fundamentally, you have television companies broadcasting programmes with an adult
content to channels specifically for children and families.
I have always wondered on discovering the people who classify films before it can be distributed to
cinemas. The British Board of Film Classification is a company that is totally funded by the film
industry to classify each film and other media related requests. This non-government company are
also responsible to categorising all promotional activities. For each television, film or promotional
industries, they all trust that this independent company will rate their contents consistently will be
lead to companies believing they are reliable. I believe that they have a respected and significant
presence in the three industries I have mentioned. Fundamentally, it is important for them to
protect certain age groups from particular contents as people may find it offensive and may
psychologically affect them in terms of changing behaviours. The British board of Film Classification
aim to empower the public about their decision about rating particular contents and to reassure
parents that they are critically rating each film, video game or advert they receive. People may find
contents like discrimination, pornography, drugs, violence and imitable behaviour. I want to discover
the particular contents that can be shown on the following age rating.
U – Films that are rated as ‘U’ is specifically for children aged four years old and over. This
rating will not allow programmes or films to contain prohibited language or adult content.
PG – Films that are rated ‘PG’ is suitable for all audiences, although it may contain scenes
that is regarded as incongruous for children aged below four years old
12 – Films that are rate a ‘12’ are normally films that are suitable for children aged 12 and
above. Younger children can watch films with this rating, only if they accompanied by a
parent or guardian

3. 15 – Films with this rating are only suitable for people aged 15 and above. The British Board
of Film Classification, state that anyone below this age are not allowed to view the film
contents with this rating. Not even being accompanied by a parent will allow younger
audiences to watch the film
18 – Films that are rated 18 are strictly for people aged 18 and above. The reason for this is
because it contains sexual nature, swearing, violence and possibly discrimination.
The British Board of Film Classification is vital for the film industry in the UK. I feel that with this law,
it stops younger people, who are normally eager in watching films that are not for their age, from
viewing contents that may affect them physically or mentally. If a young teenager was watching a
film that contains violent scenes, the child will psychologically feel that rein acting the scenes will
make them popular amongst a crowd. Looking at this from a psychological perspective, that child
will increase its ‘id’ which operates as a pleasure principle and the natural instincts of the child’s
personality. In other words, the ‘id’ can be associated with a devil on your shoulder ordering you to
do things that are outside your comfort zone. Another example is a child watching a movie about
discrimination to a particular race. The child may come across the race, in which was being
discriminated in the film he watched, and may start using the language he/she heard in the film.
There is no place for any form of discrimination and that is why I feel the BBFC have introduced age
ratings. Cinemas today have to follow the orders given to them by the BBFC. This will help the
employees at cinemas to understand the BBFC expectations and develop reliability to the age rating
process.
OFCOM is a communication supervisory body that controls the television and radio sector. This
organisation provides a license to all television and radio channels in the UK which states rules
companies have to comply with. Breaching the rules OFCOM have stated to companies not to break,
will result in OFCOM taking away licenses from those who have breached the rules. People often
come to OFCOM to complain about particular content on programmes or misleading information
that has been provided. The main intentions of OFCOM are to understand whether they follow the
legislations of the UK and EU, so that companies in the UK are aware. If someone was to complain
about a particular programme, then OFCOM will request a copy of the content to see whether they
can match the complaint to the footage and to see whether it can breaks the Broadcasting Act.
There are a few ethical issues that OFCOM have to consider like exploitation or offensive contents,
and OFCOM are there to stop these from happening. They affect the things everyone watches on
television by getting people to give their own opinions on things that has bothered them or mislead
them, and as a company who deals with these issues, it is important to listen to the public and
understand the affects certain things on television may have on them. For example, placing betting
adverts during prime time television is not really suitable because this is the time children and young
teenagers watch television. Parents won’t be happy seeing betting adverts on children channels
because there is no link or comparisons between the two.
Overall, I feel that I have dramatically increased my knowledge of the television and film industries.
There were some terms that I have never come across before until now. The methodology used was
to read articles about the television and film industries to get to grasp of certain terminology, and
now I am capable using it when I try elucidating a point or illustrating an example. The first task, 3a,
has given me a better understanding of employment contracts, policies and the social concerns that
are happening now. I found the section talking about ‘racism in football’ and ‘society views on

4. Muslims’ very intriguing because I have a very good knowledge on both matters and I have watched
documentaries that has enabled me to elucidate and critically analyse both situations. The second
task, 3b, has given me a better comprehension of the laws that television and film companies have
to abide. Before I started this task, I already had some background knowledge on the Health and
Safety Act, Employer’s liability, Intellectual Property and Copyright. Carrying out my own preliminary
research has increased my knowledge on not just the examples I outlined, but the other laws that I
was never aware of. The last task, 3c, continued by talking about the laws and regulators and how
they both relate to the television and film industries. I enjoyed this task the most because most of
the information was difficult to find and sometimes to comprehend, especially the Broadcast Act.
This act took me a while to actually understand the main purposes and why television and radio
companies have to abide this law. My overall realisation of this unit may be very beneficial,
especially if I find a job in either the television or film industry.
Bibliography
1. http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/your-rights/race/what-is-racediscrimination/your-protection-under-the-race-relations-act-1976/
2. http://uk.ask.com/question/what-is-race-relations-act
3. http://mediachs.edublogs.org/13-broadcasting-act-1990/
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscene_Publications_Act_1959
5. http://www.slideshare.net/DeanoHoughtonKBA/british-board-of-film-classification10050063
6. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/18
7. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofcom