The document discusses the role of regulators in the media industry, particularly focusing on the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and Ofcom. The BBFC aims to protect audiences by providing age classifications for films and responds to changing societal attitudes, while Ofcom regulates TV and radio to prevent scams and promote competition. Both organizations face challenges of potential bias and funding pressures from the industries they oversee, raising questions about their effectiveness in truly regulating content.

1. The Regulators
Tom Dix

2. What are regulators?
• Wikipedia states that the word regulator means “a device for
controlling the rate of working of machinery or for controlling fluid
flow, in particular a handle controlling the supply of steam to the
cylinders of a steam engine.”
• This same definition can be applied to the media industry, for instance
in the TV industry you have OFCOM who regulate the likes of BBC and
ITV to make sure they are conforming to their remits. However the
people in charge are previous employees in establishments such as the
BBC meaning that they are often bias in their findings. Because of this
they can be seen as being unneeded.

3. British Board of Film Classification
• The BBFC is a trusted regulator
of films working as an
independent, self financing as
well as being a non for profit
media regulator.
• They operate a trusted
regulation labelling system
within the UK to allow for the
safe viewing of content for the
British cinema audiences.
• Their sole purpose is to regulate the British cinema industry and to make sure
that any film that is to be consumed by an audience within the UK has been
given the most suitable age certificate as well as making sure that nothing within
the product is offensive.
• This allows for the audience to be protected from what some will see as
unnecessary to be shown within cinema. However what people deem offensive
changes over they years meaning that the regulators must keep up with the
times
For example;
• In 1971 Stanley Kubrick banned his own film “Clockwork Orange” from
being released to an audience as he deemed the theme of rape being
unsuitable for the audience of the time. However in 2001, once he had
died the film got released due to how times had moved on and audiences
had become more accepting of what they will watch.
• In 2015 however I would personality say that although we are more lenient
within what we will accept within are viewings, I will also say that
regulations have become more strict due to how when you compare
cinema of now to cinema of 10 years ago we don’t seem to be producing
as much cinema that pushes the boundaries, this may be due to how the
audience got bored of extreme themes being explored within main stream
cinema which in turn helps to show how audiences can sometimes still get
offended by things they watch.

4. British Board of Film Classification
Their aims are to:
• Protect the public, especially younger
audience from content which may be
seen as unacceptable
• Empower the public, especially parents
in to making informed viewing choices
• To recognise and respect the freedom
of adult choice within the law
• To respond and reflect on changing
social attitudes towards media content
through proactive public consultation
and research
• To provide a cost effective, efficient
classification service within the
statutory remit
• To work in partnership with the industry
to develop innovative service models to
provide content advice which supports
emerging media delivery systems
• To provide an effective service to
enforcement agencies
• Like I previously stated the BBFC must always
reflect audiences of the time so every 4 – 5
years the carry out major public consultations
to find out what the public thinks about the age
rating of films and videos before they are
released to make sure that their guidelines
represent the times.
• When it comes to deciding what certificate a
film is to be rewarded, at least two examiners sit
down and judge it with the BBFC’s published
guidelines at hand. They must then watch the
film and see which of the guidelines it contains
in order for them to make a decision in its age
range.
• If a film is sitting on a boundary of two
categories or a serious policy issue is involved
then it may be viewed by more members of the
BBFC including the Director and Presidential
team.
• DVD’s however tend to
only have one examiner
especially when they
are viewing the DVD
version of a cinema
release, however if
they are viewing a
version of the film that
has not yet been seen
yet (extended cut) then
they will most likely use
the same method as
they do for an initial
cinema release with
two examiners.

5. British Board of Film Classification
• When it comes to the certificates the BBFC are able to
reward a film there are 6.
• First we have U which means they the film is suitable to those aged 4
and over.
• PG which means the film is suitable for general viewing but some
scenes may disturb a child.
• 12A which means anyone under 12 can see it as long as they are
accompanied by an adult.
• 12 which is suitable to anyone 12 or over.
• 15 which is suitable for anyone 15 or over.
• 18 which is suitable for anyone 18 or over.
• R18 which is a specially and legally restricted classification primarily
for explicit works of film of consenting sex.
• For more in depth research on each classification here is a link to my blog
for AS Media Studies where I undertook extensive research in order to
gain an understanding of what my project would be classified under

6. British Board of Film Classification
• To make sure the
regulations (certificates) are
enforced they work in
conjunction with the
Department of Culture,
Media and Sport to provide
evidence to help secure
convictions.
For instance;
• They make sure that
the regulations are
enforced and also that
they works closely with
the government issuing
acts such as the
Certificate of Evidence
under the VRA 1984
which is where.
• The BBFC itself is funded by the film industry
meaning that if and when they make a
decision that is deemed “controversial” they
will back down due to film companies turning
round and threatening not to fund them
anymore.
• For example in 1989 when Tim Burtons
“Batman” was released the BBFC initially
rated it at a 15 (almost an 18) but due to
the studio threatening to stop funding
the BBFC they quickly began to develop
the 12 certificate to allow for more
people to see a wider range of films.
• This can be seen as both good and bad as it
allows the audience to see a wider range of
content but also it may cause the BBFC to in
some extent become redundant.

7. Office of Communications (OFCOM)
• They regulate the TV and radio
sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles,
postal services, plus the airwaves
over which wireless devices operate.
• Their aim is to protect the public
against scams whilst at the same
time ensuring there is always
healthy competition between
competitors.
• Just like the BBFC, OFCOM exist to regulate the output of any
method of communication.

8. Office of Communications (OFCOM)
• One example of them making sure the public does not
get scammed that always sticks in my mind is when
Blue Peter held a competition way back 2006.
• The show held a competition in conjunction with their
appeal of that year (UNICEF "Shoe Biz Appeal”) for the
public to phone in at a premium rate.
It was later revealed that the competition was rigged
due to phone services going down in the studio
resulting in them to get a member of the show to act
as an outside caller.
• After months of extensive investigating, OFCOM fined
the show £50,000.

9. Office of Communications (OFCOM)
• In order to make sure TV
corporations stick to the
regulations OFCOM have put in
place they licence all commercial
television in the UK.
• Broadcasters must comply to the
terms of their licence, or risk
having it revoked.
• They also publish the Broadcasting
Code which is an extensive series of
rules that all broadcasted content
must follow.
• Once they receive complaints they
must take instant action and begin
investigating in to the issue.
• To carry out the investigation they
ask the broadcaster for a copy of
the programme which they then
examine to see if the content is at
breach f the broadcasting code.
• Once the broadcaster has
responded to the complaint OFCOM
will mark the complaint as either
"upheld" or "not upheld", or
alternatively simply "resolved"

10. • An example of OFCOM investigating
complaints can be seen within the BBC
satire of themselves “W1A”.
• In the first episode of the latest series the BBC
come under fire due to one of its presenters
extensive use of the word “Tosser”.
• In order to comply with the regulations the
BBC make one of its employees re watch every
episode of “Top Gear” from the last 4 years to
check whether the word is overused.
• Although part of this will be fictionalised, it
does resemble some truth to the real industry
because of how no broadcaster is wanting the
bad publicity.
Office of Communications (OFCOM)

11. Office of Communications (OFCOM)
• OFCOM is funded by fees from the industry for regulating
broadcasting and communications networks, and grant-in-aid from
the Government.
• Because they are funded by the industry this means that like the BBFC,
companies that they regulate could threaten them with not funding them if
what they do is seen to be too controversial.
• A lot of the board members who run the regulator are also
past employees of corporations such as BBC, meaning that
although they may look like they are regulating the industry
they are in actual fact just there to keep the public at rest.

12. Quick Thought
• A question I often find myself asking is “Do the
regulators actually regulate or are they there just to
put the audiences mind at rest?. I ask this because
more often than not you will see that a lot of the
investigations end up with the broadcaster just issuing
an apology, so it seems that there only purpose is to
make us feel like people care about our issues when in
actual fact no one does.