Regulation of the Media Sector

REGULATORY AND PROFESSIONAL BODIES

BRITISH VIDEO ASSOCIATION

The British Video Association is the trade body that represents the interests of publishers and rights owners of video entertainment. It was founded in 1980.

FILM DISTRIBUTORS' ASSOCIATION

The Film Distributors' Association is the trade body for theatrical film distributors in the UK - the companies that release films for UK  cinema audiences. It was founded in 1915.

VIDEO STANDARDS COUNCIL

The Video Standards Council is a non-profit making body that was set up to develop and oversee a Code of Practice designed to promote high standards in the video industry. It was later expanded to promote high standards in the computer game industry aswell. It was founded in 1989.

TRADING STANDARDS INSTITUTE

The Trading Standards Institute exists to promote and protect the success of a modern economy. It aims to safeguard the health, safety and wellbeing of citizens. It was founded in 1881.

PRESS COMPLAINTS COMMISSION

The PCC is an independent body which administers the system of self-regulation for the press. It does so primarily by dealing with complaints, framed within the terms of the Editors' Code of Practice, about the editorial content of newspapers and magazines and the conduct of the journalists. It was founded in 1953.

ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY

The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK's independent regulator of advertising across all media, including marketing on websites. They work to ensure ads are legal, decent, honest and truthful. It was founded in 1962.

MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT FORUM

MEF is the global community for mobile content and commerce. It is the leading trade organisation for companies wishing to monetize their goods, services and digital products via the mobile connected device. It was founded in 2000.

THE INDEPENDENT GAMES DEVELOPERS ASSOCIATION

The Independent Games Developers Association is the trade association representing the UK's games industry. It was founded in 2001.

BRITISH ACADEMY OF FILM AND TELEVISION ARTS

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is the leading independent charity supporting, developing and promoting the art forms of the moving image in the UK - from Film and Television to Video Games and Interactive Media. It was founded in 1947.

RADIO ACADEMY

The Radio Academy, formerly known as the Commercial Radio Companies Association, is a registered charity dedicated to the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK radio broadcasting and audio production. It was founded in 1983.

INTERNATIONAL VISUAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION

The International Visual Communication Association exists to represent its members to Government and other stakeholding bodies and to promote effective business and public service communications of the highest ethical and professional standards. It was founded in 1950.

WORLDWIDE WEB CONSORTIUM

The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community where Member organisations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. It was founded in 1994.

UK WEB DESIGN ASSOCIATION

The UK Web Design Association was established to encourage and promote industry standards within the British web design and new media sector. It was founded in 2001.

BRITISH INTERACTIVE MULTIMEDIA ASSOCIATION

The British Interactive Multimedia Association exists to;

•  support and promote the British digital industry
• share knowledge and best practice and
• reward great work and encourage the next generation

It was founded in 1985.

                               REGULATION ISSUES

OWNERSHIP

A regulatory body has to make rulings on how much one company can control in the media. For example, in recent times, News Corporation wanted to buy the remaining 61% of BSkyB. Due to the fall out from the News of the World phone hacking scandal, the government were forced to not allow this deal to go through.

MONOPOLY

A Monopoly is when certain branches of the media industry are owned by one party. An example is if News Corporation owned every single newspaper in the UK.

ACCESS

The MAC (Media access control) functions as a crossing point among the LLC (logical link control) sublayer and the network's physical layer. The MAC layer mimics a full-duplex communication channel in a multi-point network. This channel may present a broadcast, multicast or unicast communication service.

CONSUMER CHOICE

The BBC are ordered by Ofcom to have radio stations and TV channels that accommodate the public in their wishes to watch what they want to. This is a good idea because it means that people are getting their money's worth when paying the License Fee (which pretty much only provides BBC's services).

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

Freedom of information regulation consists of rules that assure access to data held by the state. They establish a 'right-to-know' legal method where submitted requests may be made for information held by the Government, to be obtained freely or at a minimal cost, excluding standard exceptions.

CENSORSHIP

Censorship is basically the theory of stopping someone from doing or saying something. Private organisations or the Government can apply censorship rules onto people or companies. The spoken word, a message posted online, a film/tv show/game/song/album, the press, TV/radio/newspapers and many, many other things can be deemed as worthy of censorship as it may offend people in many ways. Religious groups, political groups, etc. Slander and libel is another reason for censorship to be implemented, too. 

TASTE AND DECENCY

Quite similar to censorship, taste and decency is all about what is deemed unacceptable to be shown on various media outlets such as TV, film, radio, newspapers, etc. Something could be seen in bad taste and may offend many people. Comedians tend to be the ones who drag themselves into this category. For example, they could make a joke about a much loved deceased person which leaves many people upset. The 9.00pm watershed applied to British television is used in order to stop children from hearing something which is inappropriate for them to hear. This is in Section 1 of the ITC Programme Code, which is provided by Ofcom.