Legal and Ethical Issues

Copyright is a legal concept which gives the original creator of a piece of work exclusive rights to the work, usually for a limited time before it is placed in the public domain. Generally speaking it is the right to copy the work however it also gives the creator the right to be credited for their work and to choose who may perform the work, adapt it and financially gain from it.

Defamation (also known as calumny, vilification, traducement and slander) is the act of making a statement which may give an individual, group, company, product or religion a negative or inferior image. This can be also any disparaging statement made by one person about another, which is communicated or published, whether true or false, depending on legal state. 

Certification is the process of deciding what age group a TV show or film should be shown to. Examples of certificates are U, PG, 12, 15 and 18.

When making a TV show or film, the producers must take into account all of the potential issues they could face. For example,  The One Show, Doctor Who and High Crimes must make sure that there is no copyrighted material in the product. The most likely material to be copyrighted is music so they must make sure that they have permission to use a certain piece of music in the show/film. Any work must be original in order to receive copyright protection. Copyright can be placed on websites, written work (including software and databases),  theatre (dance and mime can get protection as well), Music, artistic work (including photos), spoken word and performers and TV & film. You must gain permission before using any of these mediums. Often, music will have multiple copyright protections. The composer will have the copyright to the song, the lyricist will own literary rights to the lyrics as they are considered to be literary work. The producer will own the copyright to the recorded track. 

As well as copyright, there are other, more specific, legal and ethical issues for film or TV producers to consider. The One Show would be affected by the representation of tribal people. If they were to film a tribe then they would have to make sure to gain the permission of the tribe and ensure that the tribe understand that they will be shown on TV. Another thing that the Producers must consider is accuracy. The BBC Editorial Guidelines state that where possible material should be gathered from first hand sources and that facts should be checked and then cross checked. The producers must not represent the tribe in a way that is nor true to their daily life which would in turn be misleading the audience. The One Show would also have to take care to be impartial when talking about subjects that could potentially be controversial. As Doctor Who is broadcast before 9pm (the watershed) and is aimed at people of all ages, the producers must take into consideration the level of violent and sexual content as well as any bad language. There is no legal constraints to enforce the watershed but they are in the BBC Editorial Guidelines and most television companies keep to the guidelines.

Although High Crimes is an American film, it is still subject to the BBFC (British Board of Film Compassion. The BBFC is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films within the UK. To be shown in the UK, High Crimes would have to be classified by the BBFC. The current guidelines of the BBFC identify certain areas of a film that must be considered when awarding a certificate or making cuts to a film. These include violence, sexual content, actions that can be easily imitated by children, horror/disturbing content, drugs and discrimination. High Crimes was certificated a 12. This is likely because of violence, profanities and sexual content. Some films, when released on DVD, receive a higher certificate because they include trailers of films with a higher certificate. The BBFC do not have any effect on the TV broadcast but they will give the DVD release a certification. With the exception of series 5, every full series DVD release of Doctor Who has been given a 12 certificate.