Regulatory & Professional Bodies

After describing a regulatory body from each sector of the media industry, the remaining ones will be briefly outlined below.

British Video Association - Formed in 1980 to represent the interests of publishers and nights owners if pre-recorded video entertainment.

Film Distributors Association - A trading body for theatrical film distributors in the UK, these are the companies that release films for UK cinema audiences.

Video Standards Council - Established in 1989, it is a standards body for the video and video games industries. It provides it's retailer members with a staff training course to ensure they deal with age restricted video, DVD's and video games, appropriately. They act as an administrator of the PEGI system of video game certification.

The Mobile Entertainment Forum - Global trade association for companies wishing to monetise their products and services via mobile. Established in 2000, MEF represents the total mobile ecosystem providing on impartial and powerful voice for pioneering companies from across the mobile content and commerce value chain.

The Independent Games Developers Association - Founded in 2001, international organisation to network collaborative projects and communities comprised of individuals from all fields of game development from programmers and producers to writers, artists, QA and localisation.

British Academy of Film and Television Arts - The leading UK charity that supports art forms of moving image - film, television and video games - helping to promote and develop these forms. They identify and reward excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public.

The International Visual Communication Association - They exist to represent it's members to government and other stakeholding bodies and to promote effective business and public service communications of the highest ethical and professional standards.

World Wide Web Consortium - Information on this can be found here.

British Interactive Multimedia Association - Represents the diverse interests of the British digital industry since 1985. It exists to do four things; support and promote the British digital industry, share knowledge and best practise, reward great work and encourage the next generation.

Pan European Game Information (PEGI)

The Pan European Game Information is an age rating system that was designed to help European parents make an informed decision on which video game is appropriate for their children.

The system was established in 2003 and replaced a number of national age rating systems with one single system. It is used throughout the majority of Europe, in 30 countries.

PEGI is support the major console manufacturers which are; Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

It was developed by the ISFE, Interactive Software Federation of Europe.

Age and Content Ratings
All PEGI rated games will be issued with an age rating, as well as illustrations that signal the content of said game. They are as follows;

3: Suitable for all ages (or 3 and above). These games may contain mild violence (for comedic value, ie; Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry). No explicit language is allowed.
7: Suitable for ages 7 or above. They may contain mild, cartoon violence, sports of elements that may be frightening to younger children.
12: Suitable for ages 12 or above. May contain violence in a fantasy setting, coarse language, mild sexual reference or innuendo, or gambling.
16: Suitable for ages 16 or above. May contain explicit violence, strong language, sexual references or content, gambling, or drug use (encouragement)
18: Suitable for ages 18 or above. May contain graphic violence, including "violence towards defenseless people" and "multiple, motiveless killing", strong language, strong sexual content, gambling, drug use (glamorisation), or discrimination.

The bottom images show illustrations to distinguish the games themes. They are (L-R);
- Bad language: Game contains bad language
- Discrimination: Game contains depictions of, or material which may encourage, discrimination
- Drugs: Game refers to or depicts the use of drugs 
- Fear: Game may be frightening or scary for young children
- Gambling: Games that encourage or teach gambling
- Sex: Game depicts nudity and/or sexual behaviour or sexual references
- Violence:  Game contains depictions of violence
- Online gameplay: Game can be played online

RadioCentre

Initially this section was to be about the Commercial Radio Companies Association, however in 2006, they merged with the Radio Advertising Bureau to form RadioCentre.

RadioCentre is the industry body for UK commercial radio. They work alongside the government, policy makers and regulators, and also provide a forum for industry-wide debate and discussion.

They strive to maintain and build a strong and successful commercial radio industry.

In previous years, RadioCentre have successfully provided stations with more freedom with the way in which they produce content.

RadioCentre members and BBC stations build up the majority of the radio listening in the UK. They work together in several areas to advance the interest of radio as a whole.

Both organisations founded RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited) in 1992 to operate a sinlge audience measurement system for the radio industry.

Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

The ASA, or Advertising Standards Authority, is the UK's independent regulator of advertising across the media. They investigate and adjudicate potential breaches of the Advertising Codes.

On their official website, the state that their mission is;

'to ensure that advertising in all media is legal, decent, honest and truthful, to the benefit of consumer, business and society.'

They aim to achieve their mission by bettering their advertising regulation. This is particularly to be done by;

'- making a success of regulating online ads

- being an effective part of the response to societal issues shown to be affected by advertising

- placing more emphasis on prevention rather than cure

- being more efficient and in tune with consumers, business and society

The ASA ensure they work to published standards of service. Their websites states that they are committed to;

'- being accessible to member of the public and the advertising industry

- resolving complaints without undue delay, whilst recognising that complex complaints can take longer than the average

- being effective in meeting the needs of our customers, whether members of the public or industry

- delivering a high quality and professional service

- being open about our procedure and our decision making, and accountable for our performance

The ASA 'recognises the importance of providing a service that is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities'.

Press Complaints Commission (PCC)

The Press Complaints Commission, or the PCC, is the print based media complaints office that deals with regulating the print industry before material is published, and complaints from the public on any content they deem unacceptable.

The PCC has an editors code of practice to consider when regulating print. The 16 points are as follows (according to their official website)

1. Accuracy
The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures

2. Opportunity to reply
A fair opportunity for reply to inaccuracies must be given when reasonable called for.

3. *Privacy
Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.

4. *Harassment
Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.

5. Intrusion into grief and shock
In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings, such as inquests.

6. *Children
Young people should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.

7. *Children in sex cases
The press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences.

8. *Hospitals
Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible executive before entering non-public areas of hospitals or similar institutions to pursue enquiries.

9. *Reporting of crime
Relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the story.

10. *Clandestine devices and subterfuge
The press must not seek to obtain or publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listening devices; or by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails; or by the unauthorised removal of documents or photographs; or by accessing digitally-held private information without consent.

11. Victims of sexual assault
The press must not identify victims of sexual assault or publish material likely to contribute to such identification unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so.

12. Discrimination
The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual's race, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability.

13. Financial journalism
Even where the law does not prohibit it, journalists must not use for their own profit financial information they receive in advance of its general publication, nor should they pass such information to others.

14. Confidential sources
Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.

15. Witness payments in criminal trials
No payment or offer  of payment to a witness - or any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness - should be made in any case once proceedings are active as defined by the Contempt of Court Act 1981.
This prohibition lasts until the suspect has been freed unconditionally by police without charge or bail or the proceedings are otherwise discontinued; or has entered a guilty plea to the court; or, in the event of a not guilty plea, the court has announced its verdict.

16. *Payment to criminals
Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information, which seek to exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorise crime in general, must not be made directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates - who may include family, friends and colleagues.

There may be exceptions to the clauses marked * where they can be demonstrate to be in the public interest.

Television, Radio and Telecommunications Office for Communication (Ofcom)

Television, Radio and Telecommunications Office for Communication, more commonly stylised as Ofcom, is a communications regulator responsible fore the regulation of the television and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobile, postal services and the airwaves in which wireless devices operate.

Is it their job to ensure that people living in the UK get the most from their various communications services as well as being protected from scams, whilst still ensuring that industry competition is able to thrive.

Ofcom is funded by industry fees that are paid for the regulation of broadcasting and communications networks. They are also given a grant-in-aid from the government. 

They operate under the Communications Act 2003 which states that Ofcom  have general duties that include furthering the interests of citizens and consumers, meeting those requirements is their main purpose.

Ofcom have a list of main legal duties that they must complete. On their website, they state that they are to ensure; 

'- the UK has a wide range of electronic communications services, including high-speed services such as broadband

-a wide range of high quality television and radio programmes are provided, appealing to a range of tastes and interests

- television and radio services are provided by a range of different organisations

- people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material

- people are protected from being unfairly treated in television and radio programmes and from having their privacy invaded

- a universal postal service is provided in the UK - this means six days a week, universally priced delivery and collection service across the country

- the radio spectrum (the airwaves used by everyone from taxi firms to boat owners, to mobile-phone companies and broadcasters) is used in the world effective way'

They also state that they are not responsible for;

'- disputes between you and your telecoms provider

- premium-rate services, including mobile-hone text services and ringtones

- the content of television and radio adverts

- complaints about accuracy in BBC programmes

- the BBC TV license fee

- post offices

- newspapers and magazines'

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

The British Board of Film Classification is the UK's regulatory board that reviews all films before cinema and sales release to give them an appropriate age certificate based on the content of the film. This is based off the language and scenarios.

The BBFC's mission statement is as follows;

'As a highly expert and experienced regulator, our mission is to:

- Protect the public, and especially children, from content which might raise harm risks

- Empower the public, especially parents, to informed viewing choices

- Recognise and respect adult freedom of choice within the law

- Respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research

- Provide a cost-effective, efficient classification service within our statutory remit

- Work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which support emerging media delivery systems

- Provide an effective service to enforcement agencies

The organisation is independent, funded solely by the fees that they charge for their services which is calculated by measuring the films runnings time of each production they are given. They do not gain profit from their work, simply enough to cover the costs they use per film.

The council members consist of those who work in the manufacturing and servicing sections of the film industry, banking, corporate accountancy, television broadcasting and production, as well as the charity sector. The Council of Management members are excluded from deciding on a films classification as well as the policy making.

These are the BBFC's age ratings. The certificates are in place to make the audience aware that you should be of this age or above, or have guidance before watching these films.

U is a universal rating, making these films available for all ages. 

PG requires parental guidance for those under the age of 8, but overall it is suitable for all. 

12 is the rating given for a film that is unsuitable for anyone under this age.

12A is unsuitable for anyone under the age of 12 unless accompanied by an adult one age should not be much younger than 12 though as some pieces of material are still unsuitable.

15 is unsuitable for anyone under this age.

18 is unsuitable for anyone under this age.

R18 is restricted to those 18 and under, very select cinemas will show these films and can mostly only be purchase from 'adult stores' for their extreme sexual content.

Despite the BBFC's certificates, it is possible for a town or city's council to appeal to have the rating overturned for their theatres to showcase the select film. This happened in 2007 with Bristol's City Council after This Is England was slapped with an age 18 rating. The film's director Shane Meadows was appalled and outraged when his film was given this certificate as he felt it alienated the target audience he had in mind during production. TIE focuses on a young boy who joins a gang of skinheads in 80's Thatcherite Britain, the groups struggles with society, political upheaval and the coming of age. 

Meadows has said "It's like I've somehow overachieved. By having one piece of violence and one piece of really acute verbal violence I've managed to get an 18 certificate, whereas someone else can slay thousands of people in a single film and that's OK. To be honest I don't understand it because, yes, the film is affecting but I think it's something that someone of 18 can cope with. It's not like it's a film about the 80s that has no value; it's incredibly relevant politically. It's as much about Iraq as it is about the Falklands. It's as much about England in 2007 as it is about England in 1983." 

Bristol City Council described the BBFC's final verdict as 'idiotic' and changed the rating for their theatres to a 15, enabling more teenagers to view it.

The Regulation of the Media Sector

In the media industry, before anything is public or released to the public, it must be regulated to ensure it's appropriate for it's audience and complies with any laws. There are a range of regulatory and professional bodies, such as;

- British Board of Film Classification (BBFC)

- British Video Association

- Film Distributors Association

- Video Standards Council (VSC)

- Television, Radio and Telecommunications Office for Communication (Ofcom)

- Trading Standards Central

- Trading Standards Nets

- Press Complaints Commission (PCC)

- Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)

- The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF)

- The Independent Games Developers Association (IGDA)

- British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)

- Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA)

- The International Visual Communication Association (IVCA)

- World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

- British Web Design and Marketing Association

- British Interactive Multimedia Association (BIMA)

The following posts will explore some of the boards in a bit more depth.

Legal: Media Laws

Within the media industry, there are various laws that all platforms must adhere to in order for their products to be appropriate and to avoid a negative backlash.

The media laws are as follows;

-Broadcasting Act 1996

- Official Secrets Act 1989

- Obscene Publications Act 1959

- Films Act 1985

- Video Recordings Act 1984

- Race Relations Act 1976

- Human Rights Act 1998

- Licensing Act 2003

- Privacy Law

- Copyright and Intellectual Properly Law

- Libel Law

Broadcasting Act 1996 - This is a broadcasting legislation put in place for television and radio, to reform the structure of British broadcasting. Explicit images on television aired at an inappropriate time would be breaching this act.

Official Secrets Act 1989 - This is an act that makes obtaining or publishing any information sourced from a serving or former member of the security and intelligence services or certain civil servant categories, a criminal offence if the information is damaging. There is no public interest defence.

Obscene Publications Act 1959 - This act applies to television and relates to any material deemed obscene. Obscene is 'likely to deprave and corrupt' the target audience as well as other audience member who view it, ie; sexual scenes, violence, drugs etc.

Video Recordings Act 1984 - The video recordings act was put in place as when video recorders were first introduced to the UK in 1978, there was no legislation in place that governed what could be released on video. Because these films could be released without being submitted to the British Board of Film Classification before release, the content was not reviewed for certain ages there many corruptive images, and illegal activity could be presented with any say against it. The law is in place to govern all recordings before public release.

Race Relations Act 1976 - An act enforced to prevent discrimination against different races. This is based on race, colour, nationality, ethnic and national origin in the fields of employment, education and public functions.

Human Rights Act 1998 - Human Rights Act is the UK legislation that incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights. It's in place to ensure that every individual is treated fairly regardless of their circumstances and everybody should have access to all public services.

Licensing Act 2003 - This at looks at having an appropriate license in an establishment that supplies alcohol, or provides classified entertainment. In the media industry, a cinema would have to be in possession of a license in order to broadcast their films to an audience. The same applies with an establishment that broadcasts music of any form to a certain number of people or above.

Privacy Law - This is the culmination of all laws that regulate a person's personal information that can be collected by governments and private organisations. They are there to regulate specific types of information it; health privacy laws, financial laws and privacy in ones home. If one shares someone else's private and confidential information, then this is a breach of privacy laws.

Copyright and Intellectual Properly Law - Copyright is a common issue, this law is in place to prevent ones ideas from being used by others without that persons positions. If someone uses a song for promotional purposes without consent from the artist or record label then this is a copyright breach.

Libel Law - This relates to laws preventing the publishing of a false statement made by someone about someone else that would be damaging to that person's reputation. A slanderous statement or comment that was published in the media, that was untrue and unfair, would be a libel law breach.

Ethical: World Wide Web Consortium Accessibility Standards

"The power of the Web is in its universality. 
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.
Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

The World Wide Web Consortium is the internet's main international standards organisation.

The Web has been designed for use of any person regardless of their computer software and hardware, language, location, culture, physical or mental ability. It is accessible to people with a range of hearing and sight ability.

As the Web is so easily accessed, it allows those affected by disabilities to be able to communicate and interact with others like they may not be able to do in the physical world.

To ensure that the Web provides equal access for all users, then it's essential that it be accessible, not prejudiced or excluding any person that may different from a large portion of society. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities sees the access to information a basic human right. Of course it is.

Not only does the accessibility cover the variations of people today, it also relates to the devices that the internet is available on, such as; computer systems, mobile phones, tablets and various electronic devices.

An example would be alternative text for images. The text of the image should be available in the HTML coding as those who have a lower internet bandwidth will struggle to see the image so if the text is there they will be able to see what should be in its place. If the text isn't provided for the images then the images information will be inaccessible.

It is also beneficial to those who are blind, their readers speak the page content aloud so if the image text isn't available, the text won't be available to the consumer.

Ethical: Representation of Gender

Within the media, it is very common for genders to be generalised and misrepresented, stereotyping the genders as a whole. If a large portion of these gender's are known to behave a certain way and have a similar mindset, then it's very easy to pigeonhole them in one particular way.

Women have often been (and still are) viewed as an object, either something other women and young girls would aspire to be like, or as a sexual symbol for men to objectify.

Laura Mulvey studied  the way in which women are viewed by men in her 1975 essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. Mulvey stated that women were objectified on screen because heterosexual men were controlling the camera. Hollywood films showed the models with a sense of voyeurism and scopophilia. The male gaze occurs when the camera places the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man. For instance, the camera may linger on the woman's body.

In I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, very often there will be shots that are provocative or show a women as a sexual figure; ie: showering in a bikini. The shots linger over her figure and assets to draw in a male audience.

Within the gaming industry, gender is very strongly misrepresented, whilst Lara Croft from Tomb Raider is a very strong female lead and shows that a woman can be a fighter and determined, its oh so clear that she was created by a man. With the size of her chest, little clothing and abnormally small waist, it seems rather unfair that this is the ideals created by a man of how they want a woman to look, for younger boys playing the game, it becomes an image they expect to see rather than what reality actually presents. The evolution of Lara has shown to look more realistic, mostly with the advancement of graphics in the past 15 years. She is a sex symbol of the gaming world and her short, tight clothing that defines her assets have drawn in a very large fanbase that have watched her change over time and still continues to explore her world as well as her demeanour, stances and the way in which she walks.

In Grand Theft Auto, women are high demeaned, they are merely there as something for the male characters to use from time to time before they embark on their next robbery or gang related crime. The women are all pretty girls, with tight clothing and an object of a desire for the men, as well as being prostitutes and hookers. The Telegraph's video game editor Tom Higgins stated that he believed the latest GTA game was designed to degrade women and that it would have been ebtter had one of the leading characters been a woman and not there jus as a sexual object.

The female gaze actually is a term in which the idea is formed that a women will start to view herself in the way a man would, of she doesn't deem her appearance acceptable then she will change herself to suit a mans ideas and expectations.

In contrast, it is also very common for a man to be presented in such a way to attract  female attraction. Popular ways are brand ads (mostly fashion and fragrances), showing off their bodies, underwear shoots and being sexually positioned with a woman. Well dressed men are a plus side too.


Abercrombie & Fitch advertisement.

With all of this being said, woman are gaining a fairer approach in some aspects, they're being shown as stronger and more powerful than ever before. The independent women's approach may be scarier to the males but it's exciting and finally shows that a woman isn't letting others pusher her around, she actually can stand up for herself.

Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 cult film 'Pulp Fiction'
Strong willed yet sexy and alluring.


Moving over to men, for years, decades, centuries, men have been perceived as a gender that are dominant and in the 1970/80's they were quite macho characters who fought when needed to and were determined.

Traditional representations and stereotypes of men in films were;
- Rugged features
- Facial hair
- Violent
- Possessive
- Strong/Muscled
- Hard faced


John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction

Today the connotations are stereotypes are a lot softer, it's not uncommon for them to show a more feminine side who have no qualms about showing their emotions (or at least a little of them) and taking pride in their appearance. Dapper and suave.

Whilst this would once be say as a sign of homosexuality, it's much more widely accepted than ever before.

A more... PG version of David Beckham's new range for H&M.

It is right that most believe that 'sex sells'?

Ethical: BBC Producers' Guidelines

"Audiences rightlight expect the highest editorial and ethical standards from the BBC. The BBC's Producer' Guidelines are a public statement of those values and standards and how we expect our programme-makers to achieve them.

They detail the BBC's approach to the most difficult editorial issues and provide guidance which programme makers at all levels need to be aware of and follow."

Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC.

The first note to be made is the change in name, the BBC Producers' Guidelines has been renamed to BBC Editorial Guidelines.

There are 11 editorial values;

- Trust

- Truth and Accuracy

- Impartiality

- Editorial Integrity and Independence 

- Harm and Offence

- Serving the Public Interest

- Fairness

- Privacy

- Children

- Transparency

- Accountability

The editorial guidelines are in place to ensure that the BBC stick to what is right, moral and fair for it's widespread audience. Because of the heavy hand we have in the financial side of the BBC, it's only fair that we have large input in the content of their media platforms, after it's there for us at our disposal. 

These points are all of ethical standpoint, regarding the way in which we are treated as separate groups and many of these points are also considered within the PCC (Press Complaints Commission, this will be covered in the third section of information).

The BBC says that the 'audience is at the heart of everything we do', meaning their main focus is to provide their audience with the media they wish to consume, for the most part.

They note that the guidelines are quite strict and hard to abide by, but they will do everything in their powerful to stay true to their morals, expectations and promises.

Ethical: Representation of Age

The media are prone to stereotype people based on their age and the group they fall under. Society has categorised us all and therefore, all age ranges consist of various connotations.

Children

Children are mostly represented in a positive way within the way within the media for their innocence and compliance/obedience.

There are a range of stereotypes surrounding children. Some examples are; 

- Cute (babies adverts, adverts involving children)

- 'Little devils' or 'tykes' (riotous/cheeky, generally found in comedy and drama shows, ie. Bart Simpson)

- Brave (terminally ill or disabled)

- Modern (more advanced knowledge for their age in comparison to previous generations)

Evian's clever baby advert.

Youth

Today's youth is divided into two categories, however its more commonly mediated negatively.

Whilst the media industry do tailor products to the 'youngsters', and are trying to socially construct youth in terms of the lifestyle and identity, the way in which they portray this age group is as a social problem.

Social networking websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr all allow youth to share their identities around the world and use these sites for networking with others and for discovering creative side projects.

Youth's portrayal is very much negative in the sense that the media states them as immoral or anti-authority, constantly trying to rebel against discipline and society. Most of this derives from hooded culture, crime, gangs, drugs and alcohol.

These habits have been disapproved by authority, causing a harsher view on the youths.

It's very uncommon or a young person's perspective or opinion to be shared or viewed. The media tend to only deliver a one dimensional picture of today's youth, one that encourages fear rather than understanding.

The cast of 'This Is England' film about 80's skinhead culture.

Elderly

The elderly age are commonly viewed in the media as;

-Grumpy 

- Mentally challenged (decline in mental health)

- Dependent (on family members or carers)

- a Burden (on society, cost wise and family for the worry and care)

- Incapable

Also, female newscasters, such as Anna Ford, have continuously complained about how older men in the public eye are often found to be paired with attractive young females, whilst older women newsreaders are moved to radio. Female actresses are also often related to certain parts once their looks and figures are not what is 'wanted' for show, tragically this seems to be past age 40.

Despite all of this, recent research has suggested that media producers may slowly be changing how they deal with this age group, especially as more are having extra money to spend on consumer goods.

Elderly lady with her carer.

Ethical: Representation of Social Class

Whilst we all wish that social classes were represented equally and fairly, even in this day and age prejudice will still strike. 

The social class model is divided into three sections; 

- Upper Class

- Middle Class

- Lower Class

Upper Class

The upper class is mostly represented in a positive way, celebrating hierarchy and wealth. The British mass media rarely criticise this class, nor do they draw serious attention to inequalities within their wealth or the extent of their wage. 

David M. Newman (2006) argues that the focus of the media was very positive in terms of the wealthy and privileged. He stated that the media are prone to show particular attention to luxury items that would not particularly be available to those within the middle or lower class such as luxury cars, costly vacation places and fashion items that are far out of reach to other classes. Also, news coverage focuses largely on business news and stock market happenings despite the fact it was of less use to the majority of the public.

The Financial Times

The Daily Telegraph

The two newspapers are very much aimed at the upper class.

Middle Class

It has been argued that the middle class are over-represented in television programmes such as dramas and situation comedies.

A large portion of British newspapers are specifically tailored towards the middle class in terms of tastes and interests ie: The Daily Mail.

Most of the creative teams in the media are themselves middle class, bringing biased approach to reports. The majority of 'expert' opinions and facts are taken from the middle status participants.

The Daily Mail

Working Class
Newman raises the issue that news organisations commonly report on how problematic the working class is ie; drugs, welfare cheats, criminals. In the 1980's working class groups like youth sub cultures, such as mods and skinheads, the media was known to cause moral panic over the connotations and stereotypes attached to their groups.

Today, the youth raised in a working class environment are known to be feared by adults despite the majority living a clean and normal lifestyle. The media also concentrate heavily on unemployment or single parent families that suggests that lack of attention or discipline is the cause for social problems because that's what society and the media have led us to believe.

Studies from the Glasgow University Media Group have suggested that because the media portray 'unreasonable' workers as trouble making for 'reasonable' employers. Its a lose lose situation.

Curran and Seaton (2003) have said that working class aimed newspapers (known as red tops) such as The Daily Mirror and The Sun seem to think that they aren't interested in serious analysis in current affairs so they tend to focus on the lifestyle and celebrity gossip instead, as well as sport.

The Daily Star is known as the white van man's newspaper.

Do you think that the media represents the classes fairly?

Ethical and Legal Constraints

The next section to be explored is the ethical and legal constraints seen within the media industry.

Competitors & Customers

Competitors

The whole of the media industry are continuously competing against one another, newspapers compete against each other by claiming their 'exclusive' stories and having competing prices (often having a banner stating that they are cheaper than X newspaper) to have the consumer returning to them as opposed to another brand.

The same happen with television when channels compete against each other by premiering films first or the programmes they play, even the adverts are known to compete by showing how they are a better brand than other brands within their business sector.

Sometimes one may shame a competitor in order to gain more consumers and a higher audience.

Customers

The customers of the media industry are basically the audience and consumers. They are the ones that the different media platforms are aimed at, the target audience and market.

Within print media, we actively seek out and purchase the types of publications that most appeal to us, whether it be the type of newspaper (dependent on style of writing, the way in which the information is presented etc) or the subject of magazine (fashion, beauty, gossip, photography, science, film etc).

As a customer, you are actively able to seek out what you wish to consume. 

Uses & Gratifications theory looks at how we actively seek out media that will 'satisfy our needs'. If you are feeling sad and you want to view something to cheer you up like a comedy film or a video of a cute cat, you can. Similarly, if you are wanting to take your mind of certain things for a short period, you can watch or read something that can provide you with a sense of escapism.

Media platforms also have a remit, or a duty to provide their audience with what they wish to consume. The BBC have a remit to provide a public service such as, showing educational programmes or presenting the news in form of shows like Newsnight as well as entertainment programmes. Over the BBC channels, there are a range of programmes specifically tailored to different genders, classes, ethnicities, religions etc.

Alternatively, Channel 4 show reality programmes that show the middle and lower classes and the way in which their lives are run and the environments they grow up in, as well as Big Brother and Made In Chelsea. ITV show reality shows like The Only Way Is Essex and I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

Product Diversity & Organisational Objectives

Product Diversity

Product Diversity & Organisational Objectives

(TO BE ADDED)

Multinationals & National and Global Competition and Trends

Multinationals

"This is a large corporation with operations and subsidiaries in several countries"*

A media example of a multinational would be 5 Cross Media, representatives for international brands in the Nordic markets. They strive to provide Nordic companies and institutions with access to a widened range of global audiences.

They are not an ad-network, they simply provide international advertising solutions to Nordic advertisers. They are the sole contracted representatives for all of their media partners.

Currently, they represent several major publishing houses in the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Through these partnerships they are able o help Nordic companies plan and organise campaigns to target the consumer and business audiences in various European markets.

* dictionary.com

National and Global Competition and Trends

(TO BE ADDED)

Cross-Media & Diversification

Cross Media

Cross media, or transmedia, is the distribution of media over a range of media platforms. The cross media sector defines the term as; "The cross-media sector provides multimedia products and services by using radio, television, internet, mobile devices, print and events simultaneously along each other." 

An example of use of cross media could be a news story, it will be available over a range of platforms such as the internet, television, radio and print media. In television, a programme can be viewed and if the channel has a internet player such as BBC iPlayer or 4oD,  you will be view said programme online or on a mobile device. Alternatively many video media productions can be found on YouTube, Netflix or similar online streaming sites.

Diversification

Diversification in the media sector is related to conglomerates in the sense that it focuses on a conglomerate having business and ownership on products that can either be related or unrelated. 

Looking back on the Conglomerate write up (last post), Virgin was used as the example for it's diverse range of business ventures. Once again, it becomes a useful example for diversification within, and away from, the media industry. Not only have they had a heavy hand in media, they also have ventured far far away from this industry too.

Independents & Conglomerates

Independent Media

Independent media (or alternative media) refers to any media platform, ie; radio, television, newspapers or internet that is void of government or corporate interests.

It is argued that mainstream media is too biased, and whilst aspects of alternative media can too be biased, it tends to be significantly different to that of mainstream media.

Every person is able to engage in independent media, in fact most of us do. Through blogging platforms and media based websites, we can input our own content and material into the media sector, ie; this blog you are currently reading.

Conglomerates

A conglomerate is a corporation consisting of numerous smaller companies. In media, a conglomerate is a company that owns a variety of smaller companies that are involved in different media platforms.

In business terms, a conglomerate owns businesses in unrelated industries, however in media they are much more combined within the same industry. That being said, the conglomerate may also own businesses outside of the media industry.

A prime example of a multi industry conglomerate is Britain's own Virgin Group Ltd, founded by Sir Richard Branson. Since the 70's, Virgin have provided us with some of the largest companies to have dominated the business industry, with not only being a heavy competitor in the music industry, they've also ventured into airlines, railway, mobile networking, banking, holidays and television to name a few.

Here is a slightly condensed list of Virgin Group's ventures both past and present;

- Virgin Records (Record label, retail stores, recording studios)

- Virgin Games

- Virgin Atlantic Airways

Virgin Cargo

- Virgin Holidays

- Virgin Airship & Balloon Company

- Virgin Radio

-Virgin Vodka & Virgin Cola

- Virgin Trains

- Virgin Cosmetics

- Virgin Mobile

- Virgin Active

- Virgin Cars

- Virgin Galactic

- Virgin Fuel

- Virgin Money

- Virgin Healthcare

- Virgin Media

Performance Against Financial Concerns & Profitability of Product Range

When something is being produced by a company, it's essential they research into the current market to see what they will be competing against by producing and marketing said product. First they they must ensure that they will make back what they had to spent to work and produce their product or service otherwise the exercise proves pointless and then they need to see what profit will be made from mass producing.

Whilst some companies are known to have lost money on their business venture,s, the majority of them regain their costs and further themselves to gain the money back.

Vs

An example of a failed business venture would be News Corp buying out Myspace.

Although they will have had to do extensive research into the market to decide whether it was a worthwhile investment, it sadly did not end in a profitable way.

News Corp bought Myspace in 2005 for $580 million and for a a few years it remained quite strong, racking up many more hits than Facebook. However in April 2008, Facebook were far outranking Myspace as it became a universal website, no longer aimed solely at college students. 

Myspace began to rapidly decline, members leaving the site as quick as they joined and the majority or suggestions for this were including the fact it was 'stuck to a portal strategy' of building an audience around the concept of entertainment and music. It contrasted to it's competitors of Facebook and Twitter as they were launching new features that were helping improving the experience of social networking media.

In 2011, News Corp sold the website to Specific Media and pop-singer/actor Justin Timberlake for a reported $35 million, a major loss of $545 million.

Private Media Ownership & Public Service Media

Private Media Ownership

The first thing you should know about private ownership in the media industry is that the communication with it's consumer is primarily provided on the premise of generating profit and competing in the marketplace.

Unlike public media institutions, private media has the ability to change their input strategies and join a different industry in terms of expanding their profit growth.

A clear media example of this would be ex-Canadian newspaper chain Thomson Corp. withdrawing from the print industry and moving their assets to other business ventures the potential provided a stronger financial growth.

Horizontal and vertical integration are both factors of private ownership. 

Public Service Media

Public service media is the more consumer friendly option between the two, it focuses on delivering communication on a public service level as opposed to aiming for financial profit. In fact, it addresses it's audience as citizens ran than another consumer.

This type of ownership strives to inform its audience and be created on the basis of what the audience actually want to see/hear, at the end of the day, we pay for it to be produced and broadcast to the masses so it's only fair that we have a say in what we wish to consume.

4 steps why public ownership is better for you;

1. You Use It

2. You Pay For It

3. You Have A Say In It

4. You Share It

A good example of public ownership is the BBC as it does not gain funding from advertisements, only from the viewers television license fee. This means that they have to broadcast information and programmes that are not only entertaining but also informative and of the public interest. As they host a range of media platforms, there has to be a mix of what everyone can enjoy.

Vertical & Horizontal Integration

Vertical Integration

Vertical integration is the process where a product or services production and / distribution is controlled by one single entity or company, in order to increase their power in the marketplace.

Every single product has a large life cycle. Whilst you might recognise the product with the brand name printed on it, many companies are involved in developing that product. these companies are not necessarily part of the brand you see.

Vertical integration in simple terms is this; a media conglomerate owns several different companies at different stages of the production or supply chain, for example; Warner Bros., owned by conglomerate Time Warner.

An example of Warner's vertical integration is, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

The film's process goes like this.

- Production; HP and the DH: P2 was created by Warner Bros. Pictures

- Distribution: Warner Bros. Distribution then distributed the film.

- Marketing: Several of Time Warner's companies successfully marketing the HP film by showing a Behind the Scenes programme on HBO ahead of the film's worldwide release, CNN showed a special which consisted of interviews with the actors before the red carpet premiere and Time magazine also ran special HP features before and after the films release. This helped not only gain further box office ratings, but proceeded to help with DVD sales.

- Exhibition: Warner Bros. were able to use it's WB International Cinemas chain to present the film to a worldwide audience. 

In the US, HBO broadcast the films television premiere, it allowed HBO to profit from airing a box office hit for the first time.

There are 3 types of Vertical Integration;

- Backward integration - When a company tried to own an input product company.

- Forward integration - When a business attempts to control it's own post production or the distribution area.

- Balanced integration - A combination of the two! A balanced strategy with advantages of both.

Horizontal Integration

Horizontal integration is a lot simpler and more common that vertical as it is simply a strategy to increase a company's market share by taking over a similar company. 

A strong example of this type of integration would be the merging of YouTube and Google as Google had a strong and loyal user base that would increase popularity and ratings for the online media video site. Google announced the acquisition on October 9th 2006, stating the agreement with YouTube would cost $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. YouTube was able to retain its distinct brand identity.

Mergers & Takeovers

Mergers

Mergers are the joining of two companies who have decided that they would be a stronger company if combined than being standalones. The merging of the companies is a friendly decision between two 'equals'. 

The combination of two businesses can be a benefit as it can cut costs and increase profits, boosting the shareholder values for both corresponding businesses. In other words, a standard and typical merger involves two equal companies combining to become one legal entity aiming to produce one company that is worth more than the sum of it's individual parts.

An example of this would be the merging of Comcast and NBCUniversal in 2009. Comcast paid $6.5 billion to General Electric for a 51% stake in NBCUniversal, leaving GE with 49%. The deal was made under the negotiation that states Comcast must contribute $7.5 billion in programming that included regional sports networks and cable channels such as Golf Channel, Versus and E! Entertainment. 

Under the deal terms, Comcast reserves the right to buy out GE's share at certain times, and General Electric reserves the right to force their stake into sale within the first seven years of their contract.

In March 2011, Comcast completed the deal with General Electric, buying out the remaining 49% of the company.

Merger activity is an example of integration taking place within industries. It can either be Vertical Integration of Horizontal Integration, which will be explained in my next post.

Takeovers

A takeover, or acquisition, is the act of a larger company buying a smaller one as they aren't 'equal'. In the event of a hostile takeover, there is usually a change in the board of directors and senior management. a friendly takeover tends to leave the management in tact causing a benefit to the target company. 

In a hostile takeover, the larger company will go directly to the smaller company's shareholders in order to reach a takeover agreement rather than going to their management board first, or they can fight to replace the current management in order to have the acquisition approved. This type of takeover can be accomplished either through a tender offer or a proxy fight. 

Overall, the company's management does not want to deal to succeed. 

A friendly takeover is a lot different as the smaller company's management and board of directors agree to the merger or acquisition by another company. 

Share of Ownership

Share of Ownership relates to concentration of Media Ownership which means that a very small number of corporations are controlling an increasing amount of the media industry. 

Today, some of the largest contributors to the UK media industry are;

- the BBC

- Ofcom

- ITV

- Northern & Shell

In America, roughly 90% of the media is owned by "The Big Six". The Big Six includes General Electric, Walt Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom and CBS.

Walt Disney: In 2009, Disney had revenues of $36.1 billion. 

Disney owns; 

- ABC Television network 

- Cable networks such as; ESPN, the Disney Channel, SOAPnet, A&E and Lifetime 

- 277 radio stations

- Music and book publishing companies 

- Film production companies; Touchstone, Miramax and Walt Disney Pictures

- Pixar Animation Studios

- Disney Mobile

- Worldwide theme parks

News Corp,  founded in 1979 by Australian born Rupert Murdoch, basically have fingers in a million different pies causing them to dominate a large portion of the media industry, much like Disney.

News Corp owns (or part owns)

- Fox Entertainments Group (20th & 21st Century Fox, FOX, etc)

- The Wall Street Journal

- The Times / The Sunday Times

- New York Post

- The Daily Telegraph / The Sunday Telegraph (non-UK)

- The Sunday Mail (non-UK)

- Vogue (Australia)

- GQ (Australia)

Plus many more.

Sources of Income & Licenses and Franchises

Sources of Income

Like all businesses, there are a variety of ways that income is generated through advertising, sales and licenses.

Within the print industry, they gain revenue from selling advertising space, newsstand sales and subscription sales. 

There is a whole section of revenue that is portioned to advertising, instead of reiterating the the whole section, check out the advertising post here.

As well as the pesky television advertisements and half a magazines worth of brands you're so over, Film has a range of strategies to gain income, such as; box office, DVD sales, merchandise, soundtracks and books as well as anything else that the production and distribution companies decide to release. Most films manage to surpass the budget spent on the film's production.

In television, not only do they have adverts (obviously not the BBC... I know you're growing tired of hearing this) but on television shows such as X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing, they have voting lines which charge a minimum of 35p per vote. It may not seem so much per person, but when their audience ratings average over 8 million, they're income soon sky rockets. That's not to mention the competitions they hold each week which cost around £1 per entry.

Whilst this constitutes as part of advertising, it was not previously mentioned and it's something important to touch on. Sponsorships are when a company sponsors a product or production, for example; Talk Talk sponsor X Factor so their advertisements appear before the show, at the beginning and ending of the ad breaks and at the end of the show. It is reported that a 3 year sponsorship deal has cost Talk Talk £20 million.

Although this isn't media related, football teams are sponsored by companies; Liverpool are sponsored by Standard Chartered, Arsenal are sponsored by Fly Emirates etc.


Licenses and Franchises

The most important license in UK media industry is the TV License, responsible for broadcasting directly into your homes as it is being broadcast in real time. The first note is, if you watch or record television as it is being shown, you MUST have a television license. There are no two ways about it. This includes the use of all mobile devices, computers, laptops and anything that can present it in real time.

Other licenses include PPL which is a license a business or organisation must hold in order to broadcast music or music videos, these are issued to bars, nightclubs, work places, retail, hotels, factories, schools, gym etc. After administration costs are covered, the remaining money from the licenses is passed on to the PPL's registered members, thousands of performers and record companies who receive the royalties they deserve for their recorded music.

A media franchise is is the creation of a whole series of work based on an original piece of media (mostly fictional).

A prime example would be Harry Potter. The franchise first started in the form of multiple books, the first four had been released before the first film was distributed to theatres. In the end there were 8 films and 7 books (the film book being split into two films).

The whole Harry Potter franchise was such a phenomenon, not only were the books and films available, various companion books were released as well as action figures, merchandise, a shop opened in Kings Cross Station in London, LEGO, a theme park, video games, Rowling's Pottermore online project for fans, audio books, Warner Bros Studio Tour (studios tour in London where the films were made).

From book sales, DVD sales, box office, rentals and toy sales alone, the film has roughly grossed $24,751,000,000 (£14,769,664,230)