Ethics and Legality of Media

Ethics of Radio Broadcasting...

 Ethics

 The breach in ethics, that has been one of the largest complained about in ten years.  It was given the name Sachsgate, after Andrew Sachs, whom was pranked called live on air by Radio host Russell Brand and guest Jonothan Ross.  When Brand was attempting to phone Sachs for a live phone interview, before which Brand mentions live on air that he had slept with Sachs' granddaugter.  This is already a breach of ethics as it was personal information not needed or allowed to be broadcast live on air, But soon followed to continuously phone and berate sachs over his answer machine 3 more times one of which Ross shouted "He fucked your granddaughter" this again was breaching the linguistic uses on air, this was originally a distasteful joke that turned into a breach in ethics and a slander fest live on air, which resulted in Brand and Ross were suspended and eventually left the BBC.  This went against basic radio ethics as it brought personal and private information to light and linguistically used foul language on live radio without prior warning or made awareness.

Legality

Ofcom Broadcasting Code 7.1 Broadcasters must avoid unjust or unfair treatment of individuals or organisations in programmes.

On the Radio it would be unethical to state live on air unfair comments about another person or organisation.  An example of this is when on air at BBC RADIO 1 Chris Moyles when talking to Fearne Cotton about the lead singer of The Gossip, Beth Ditto, said "I'm not saying Beth Ditto is fat, but her blood type is Ragu".  In this instance Chris Moyles went against this Ofcom code by giving out his own personal, negative and unfair comments againts an individual.  This is Illegal and would have been brought up and taken into action by Ofcom.

International Business - Media structures and ownerships

Virgin

Virgin is the perfect example of a international media company that uses horizontal business structures.  Virgin is a highly recognizable name in Records, Insurance, Phones, TV, Internet, Air travel and is now even attempting space visits with Virgin Galactic.  This company has been so successful in many of the fields that it uses so that on its horizon structure, if one sector falls short on money or doesn't make its target, it can use the overall wealth made by the other sectors in all of Virgin.  This company has mastered the using multiple fields/sectors in a horizon structure while still expanding on existing sectors... so it is both a horizontal and vertical structure.

Virgin has a majority ownership by Richard Branson, founder and chairman of Virgin group.  But like the other companies it does have a board of directors. So while Branson is majority owner and can make the company decisions, he cannot do it without a majority approval of his board of directors.

National Business - Media structures and ownership

Channel 4

Channel 4 is one of the largest and most watched television channels in the uk.  Known for its massive comedy shows (peepshow, father ted) and investigative series (dispatches) and phenomenal drama series (homeland, the sopranos).  Channel 4 while still focusing on the vertical structure they have built with their television compnay has gone slightly more horizontal.  As in they have introduced websites and interactivity to their company.  investing in 4od a interactive playback website allowing everyone to watch shows that they have missed at anytime during the week and streaming them to their device.  And in the past year or so they have expanded their reach into interactivty with the internet by featuring twitter on a majority of their programmes.  Channel 4 has not got a massive horizontal business structure yet, but is starting to use it more and more.

The Channel 4 company much like Johnsons press PLC uses a board of directors to make its corporate decisions, meaning that there is not one power head in the channel 4, all decisions have to be passed through the board of directors before being allowed.  The current chairman of channel 4 is Lord Burns GCB.

Local business - Media structures and ownerships

The Crawley Observer.

The Crawley observer is a local newspaper, operating in the county West Sussex and more specifically in the towns Crawley and Horley.  The company deals with dealing with local news operation in and around west sussex, that would be useful to its inhabittants.  The Crawley observer operates on a vertical structure, meaning that they have more control on the production process of their media company.  So rather than having many businesses and different sectors to look at like larger companys they can focus more on the production of their newspaper.  Having a vertical structure in a local newspaper allows them to focus directly on the paper, from making sure the journalists make the deadline, to the designers, to the editors and then distribution.

The crawley observer is owned as part of Johnston Press PLC, the second largest local newspaper producer in Great Britain and Ireland.  The Company is run by CEO Ashley Highfield and Chairman Iain Russell CBE.  The Company is run and all corporate decisions are made by a series of directors instead of one individual boss.

Media In Industry - Calum Skorka

• Publishing (novels, books, comic books etc.) - The publishing industry is one of the oldest forms of the media especially books, leading all the way back to the 1400 hundreds. is one of the most common forms of media industry and still a major one used today, most common are books and serials like comics and graphic novels.
• Magazines - this media is easily accessible and used everyday life, can range from lifestyle magazines to fashion and even tv and film to cater to an audience who is intertested in that subject and wishes to learn or read more about them to get further information on said subject. 
• Newspapers - used and published everyday, used to convey the news out to a mass audience examples like the sun and the independant. the newspapers are often split into a left and right wing centred material which attracts the target audience who are left or right wing themselves.
• Animation  - used back as far as the early 1900's another common form of media, that can take its place in film, tv and games. started out with simple cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop but now involves different audience with adult cartoons such as family guy or even some Anime (japanese animation, aimed at both kids and adults) the first fully animated film was pixars Toy Story.
• Film - the largest and most expensive of the media industry, and also the most profitable.  Filmmaking and viewing has changed over the decades as it was originally silent films that had the music covered by an orchestra in the theatre.  until the films eventually changed in "talkies".  films have evolved so much from then, becoming larger, more effects driven and became 3 and 4d to make the viewing experience more interactive.  the amount of money placed into budgeting films has drasatically increased with pirates of the carribean 3 at worlds end costing around 300 million dollars to make. and the profit they make is even more astounding as avatar pulled just short of 3 billion dollars.
• Television - television is one of the most common and easily accessible for all people, today there is a tv in near every home, giving everyone access to the news, updates and fiction to keep them entertained. however tv is still in the reality era with the channel being ruled by wannabe stars placing themselves on singing and talent shows.  some are now even just follwed around by a camera and is passed off as entertainment to the masses.
• Web 2.0 - the biggest, cheapest, fastest and easiest way to gain information in society today, it is hard not to find a person with out access to the internet on there phone or smart device. which is very impressive as only about 10/15 years ago you would need a big bulking machine that would take forever to load a single image and now you can load and piece of information, stream a film, listen to music and talk to friends all in the palm of your hand.
• Music - the music industry has always been big, starting off at concerts and live perfomances at bars and events, it was then broadcast over the radio along with the news and programs.  then placed on a purchasable format, in gramaphones and LPs.  the music industry really broke into popular culture and the youth scene in the late 50's and early 60's with the baby boom, more teenagers having more money to spend spent it on music and clothes to make them like the artists that they listened to.  it is still the same today, the only exception being that much of the music is featured and bought online now.
• Radio - radio was around long before the televison used in the army and in pedestrian life, it was the quickest way to deliver news to the public and could be broadcast out to a large audience as anyone could listen and tune into it.radio used to be used more than the TV at one point it was cheaper and not everybody could afford a tv.  but now the radio is mainly used only in car journeys in the morning. more people turn on the tv or the computer instead of the radio now.  so radio stations have used the internet as a way of broadcasting to their audience through their computers.
• Video Games - video games have only really been around for the past 30 years or so, even though in that short space of time they have advanced massively, starting with basic 2d games like pacman, pong they have changed into 3d games highly based on visuals and effects that can rival many tv and film animations now. even branching out into online gaming so that you can play video games with anyone in the world anywhere.
• Facilities - media facilities have branched out and expaned majorly over the years. these facilities are often movie companies or even multi media production companies that take on work and produce media for there clients or employers.