An industry code of practice sets rules and guidelines to control industry conduct and the relationship with consumers. Codes aim to improve standards and comply with laws. They promote equality of opportunity and diversity within organizations. The BBFC classifies films in the UK with ratings like U, PG, 12A to ensure children are protected from harmful content. It was established in 1912 to bring uniformity to film classification nationally. Ofcom regulates TV, radio, telecoms and postal services in the UK. It has a code for broadcasting covering standards, fairness and privacy. Broadcasters must follow the rules or face sanctions like fines or show cancellation.

1. Unit 8
Task 3
Lauren Rosenfeld
& Ben Karrass

2. Industry codes of practice
An industry code of practice is a set of rules and guidelines put in place to control
industry conduct, its workers and their relationship with consumers. The role of an
industry code is to improve industry standards and follow law requirements. One code
of practice is that TV and film industries must remain professional, and stick to
guidelines. Another code of practice is promoting equality of opportunity within the
organisation, between men and women, people of different racial groups and for
people with disabilities. They make arrangements to promote equality of opportunity
in employment for people in different groups. Organisations work in promoting
choice, securing standards and preventing harm, and they do this by making sure all
levels of the organisation are diverse and have an inclusive culture.
BK

3. BBFC
The BBFC stands for British Board of Film Classification. The
BBFC is the UK’s regulatory for films and now music videos. The
BBFC provides the rating for each film that comes out in the UK,
such as providing a 12a, 12, 15, 18a, 18 age rating to them. All of the
decisions that the BBFC makes are based from public consultation
and their guidelines. The aim of the BBFC is to ensure that
children are protected from harmful and illegal material, and this
stops children from watching these types of films. The age rating
allows the children to be safe from seeing this type of material.
Children can be influenced from seeing violence or other things
such as drugs so having the BBFC in place allows them to not see
this content.
BK

4. BBFC
The BBFC was set up as The British Board of Film Censors in
1912 by the film industry as an independent body to bring a
degree of uniformity to the classification of film nationally. At
time the BBFC can be strict and if the films are very inappropriate
they can be banned throughout the country. An example of a
rating that the BBfc has provided is 18, a film this is an 18 is SAW.
This rating is provided because the content in the film contains
blood, gore and other unpleasant scenes that may not be suitable
for a younger age. Another film is The Lion King this film is a U
meaning anyone can watch it and it is suitable for all ages. This
type of movie includes safe content for young views and doesn't
have any inappropriate footage.
BK

5. Ofcom
The office of communications is the communications regulator in the UK. They regulate the TV,
radio and video-on-demand sectors, fixed-line telecoms, mobiles and postal services. Ofcom has a
code for television and radio, covering standards in programmes, sponsorship, product placement
in television programmes, fairness and privacy. The code includes a set of practices to be followed
by broadcasters. Broadcasters must ensure that they follow the rules as set out in the code,
otherwise they may face several sanctions. Firstly, Ofcom may receive complaints from the public
if they are unhappy with what is being broadcast.for example, programming that contains
offensive material. Ofcom will then investigate the complaints, if they find that the broadcaster
has breached the terms of the code, sanctions include fines and/or cancellation of the show. An
example of a show that breached Ofcom's terms is Big Brother, for airing racist bullying in 2007,
and several other controversial incidents. Ofcom launched an investigation after 46,000
complaints were made. Channel 4 was forced to broadcast a series of apologies over these
incidents. Therefore, Channel 4 axed Big Brother in 2009 and aired it on Channel 5 instead in
2011.
LR

6. The Watershed
The watershed is the time when TV programmes which might be unsuitable for
children can be broadcast. It is enforced by Ofcom from 9pm to 5:30 am, and is
designed to protect children from harmful material that may otherwise influence
them. For instance, material that shows violence, graphic or distressing imagery and
swearing will be shown during the watershed, in order for young children not to
witness it. Tv shows or films with frequent use of offensive language must not be
shown before the watershed, and if it is shown then the offensive language is to be cut
out. However, mature adult material is not to be shown instantly at 9pm, and should
instead appear later in the evening. But, Ofcom’s rules still apply during this time to
protect viewers from offensive and harmful content.
LR

7. The Watershed
Previously, broadcasters have scheduled unsuitable
content before or directly after the watershed. The
majority of these were inappropriate music videos, and
broadcasters have been fined for this. An example of a
programme that airs during the watershed is Game of
Thrones. It airs at 9pm, due to it featuring several mature
scenes such as graphic sex, violence and strong language,
which is unsuitable for younger viewers. A programme
that airs throughout the day and before the watershed is
Friends. This is because it does not contain any material
that would be seen as harmful to younger audiences.
LR

8. The Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988
The Copyright Law gives the creators of literary (books, song lyrics), dramatic (plays, dance),
musical (recordings, score), artistic works (photography, painting) and films the right to control
how their content may be used. The rights cover, broadcast and public performance, copying,
renting and lending copies to the public. The act was introduced to protect the investment of
time, money and effort by the people who have created original pieces of work. The act has two
main purposes. Firstly, to ensure people are rewarded for the work, and secondly to give
protection to the copyright holder if someone tries to copy or steal their work. An example of a
breach to the copyright, design and patents act was between Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.
20th Century Fox sued Universal Studios (Battlestar Galactica) for copyright infringement and
claimed that it had stolen 34 distinct ideas from Star Wars, including a character called Skyler,
which was similar to Star Wars’ Skywalker. Universal Studios countersued, saying Star Wars had
stolen ideas from the 1972 film Silent Running. After all, the case was decided in favour of
Battlestar Galactica, but, the original Battlestar Galactica had been cancelled and the new Star
Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was due to be screened.
BK

9. The Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988
In some cases where someone else uses someone’s product, they would often be
credited for it somewhere on the work. For example, in a youtube video someone may
use someone else's music so they would link that person's content from where they got
it from in the description of the video. someone else is still able to write their own
book or Movie around the same idea, provided they do not directly copy or adapt the
same idea that you came up with. If you don’t show evidence for creating the idea
before someone else comes up with the same idea, the work would not be protected.
The person who comes up with the idea of a book owns the right of it, but if you are
owned by a company to people who hired that person who came up with the idea
means that the idea is owned by that company. It is up to the creator to copyright their
work. They may mark their work with the international copyright symbol © followed
by their name and the year of creation.
BK

10. The Defamation Act 2013
The defamation act exists to protect an individual's reputation from being damaged.
Libel is a written or published defamatory statement, while slander is defamation that
is spoken. If a person's reputation is damaged as a result of another person's
statements, they can then proceed to sue them for defamation. You can defame
someone by publishing material in various forms, such as through newspapers or other
printed media, broadcasting on radio and the internet (online forums, social media
and blogs), or by email. People can sue so long as the material can be reasonably
understood to be referring to them. An example of a defamation case in the U.K was
with food blogger Jack Monroe and Katie Hopkins. Monroe won £24,000 damages,
plus legal costs, after a row over two tweets. Monroe sued Hopkins over two war
memorial tweets that caused "serious harm" to her reputation. Hopkins was ordered to
pay £107,000 towards the campaigner's legal costs.
LR

11. Bibliography
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-
industry/codes-of-practice
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv-radio-and-on-demand/advice-for-
consumers/television/what-is-the-watershed
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification
https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/uk_law_summary
http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/article/art20130702112133651