Professional codes of practice, definitions and workplace codes:
ASA – The Advertising Standards Authority are an independent self-regulatory company in the UK that regulate advertising across all media. Their aim is to “ensure that consumers do not just enjoy the ads they see, but they can trust them too” enforcing the Advertising Codes put into place by the Committee of Advertising Practice making sure when marketing communications break the rules they act swiftly to solve the problem. There work includes acting on and investigating complaints as well as monitoring and taking action against misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements, sales promotions and direct marketing. The ASA are independent from both the Government and the advertising industry operating according to published standards of service and is established as the means of consumer protection from misleading advertising.
The ASA regulate the following areas:
- Print and press ads
- Posters
- Television commercials
- Radio ads
- Internet ads (banner and display ads and paid-for search)
- Marketing communications on companies' own websites and in other, non-paid-for space under their own control
- E-mail and text messages
- Direct mail
- Competitions, special offers
- Sales promotions
- Cinema commercials
- Teleshopping
- and more
The rules that the ASA regulate by are made to try and prevent controversial adverts that are seen as offensive or harmful to the viewer. The rules allow the advertisers freedom over what is in their adverts whilst making sure there adverts are not offensive in any way. The rules are made to work with any type of media. As well as this, codes also contain certain rules for specific products and marketing techniques. For example, it would be seen as dishonest or misleading for a Budweiser advert to say that it is healthy for your liver because it is untrue and if the viewer didn’t know any better they could buy the product for this reason. This means there are extra rules for products such as alcoholic drinks, beauty & health products, children’s medicines, financial products, direct marketing and prize promotions to make sure advertisements do not use false information to help sell their product.
NUJ – The National Union of Journalists are an active regulatory campaigning organisation that seek to improve the pay and conditions of their members and work to protect and promote media freedom, professionalism and ethical standards in all media.
The NUJ is an active union with their members taking part in campaigning to ensure they are properly rewarded for the work they do whilst also backing a member of their union in any legal cases. Members of this union work in a wide range of media such as broadcasting, newspapers, magazines, books, public relations as well as others.
These are the codes of conduct as printed on their website:
A journalist:
1. At all times upholds and defends the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed
2. Strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair
3. Does her/his utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies
4. Differentiates between fact and opinion
5. Obtains material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means
6. Does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest
7. Protects the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and material gathered in the course of her/his work
8. Resists threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information
9. Takes no unfair personal advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge
10. Produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation
11. Does not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed
12. Avoids plagiarism.
PCC – The Press Complaints Commission are an independent self-regulatory body which deals with complaints about the editorial content of newspapers, magazines and websites. They also train journalists and editors, working behind the scenes to prevent harassment and media intrusion as well as we can also provide pre-publication advice to journalists and the public.
There are a set of rules that editors in any sort of media that the PCC govern must abide by. These are the ‘editors’ codes’ as printed on their website:
1 - Accuracy
i) The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.
ii) A significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion once recognised must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence, and - where appropriate - an apology published. In cases involving the Commission, prominence should be agreed with the PCC in advance.
iii) The Press, whilst free to be partisan, must distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture and fact.
iv) A publication must report fairly and accurately the outcome of an action for defamation to which it has been a party, unless2. Opportunity to reply
A fair opportunity for reply to inaccuracies must be given when reasonably called for.
3. Privacy
i) Everyone is entitled to respect for his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.
ii) Editors will be expected to justify intrusions into any individual's private life without consent. Account will be taken of the complainant's own public disclosures of information.
iii) It is unacceptable to photograph individuals in private places without their consent.
Note - Private places are public or private property where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.
4. Harassment
| | i) Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit. ii) They must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to desist; nor remain on their property when asked to leave and must not follow them. If requested, they must identify themselves and whom they represent. iii) Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and take care not to use non-compliant material from other sources. |
| 5 | Intrusion into grief or shock |
| | i) 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. *ii) When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used. |
| 6 | *Children |
| | i) Young people should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion. ii) A child under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child’s welfare unless a custodial parent or similarly responsible adult consents. iii) Pupils must not be approached or photographed at school without the permission of the school authorities. iv) Minors must not be paid for material involving children’s welfare, nor parents or guardians for material about their children or wards, unless it is clearly in the child's interest. v) Editors must not use the fame, notoriety or position of a parent or guardian as sole justification for publishing details of a child’s private life. |
| 7 | *Children in sex cases |
| | 1. 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. 2. In any press report of a case involving a sexual offence against a child - i) The child must not be identified. ii) The adult may be identified. iii) The word "incest" must not be used where a child victim might be identified. iv) Care must be taken that nothing in the report implies the relationship between the accused and the child. |
| 8 | *Hospitals |
| | i) Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible executive before entering non-public areas of hospitals or similar institutions to pursue enquiries.
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| 9 | *Reporting of Crime |
| | (i) 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. (ii) Particular regard should be paid to the potentially vulnerable position of children who witness, or are victims of, crime. This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings. |
| 10 | *Clandestine devices and subterfuge |
| | i) 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. ii) Engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means. |
| 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 |
| | i) 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. ii) Details of an individual's race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story. |
| 13 | Financial journalism |
| | i) 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. ii) They must not write about shares or securities in whose performance they know that they or their close families have a significant financial interest without disclosing the interest to the editor or financial editor. iii) They must not buy or sell, either directly or through nominees or agents, shares or securities about which they have written recently or about which they intend to write in the near future. |
| 14 | Confidential sources |
| | Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information. |
| 15 | Witness payments in criminal trials |
| | i) 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. *ii) Where proceedings are not yet active but are likely and foreseeable, editors must not make or offer payment to any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness, unless the information concerned ought demonstrably to be published in the public interest and there is an over-riding need to make or promise payment for this to be done; and all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure no financial dealings influence the evidence those witnesses give. In no circumstances should such payment be conditional on the outcome of a trial. *iii) Any payment or offer of payment made to a person later cited to give evidence in proceedings must be disclosed to the prosecution and defence. The witness must be advised of this requirement. |
| 16 | *Payment to criminals |
| | i) 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. ii) Editors invoking the public interest to justify payment or offers would need to demonstrate that there was good reason to believe the public interest would be served. If, despite payment, no public interest emerged, then the material should not be published. |
| The public interest There may be exceptions to the clauses marked * where they can be demonstrated to be in the public interest. 1. The public interest includes, but is not confined to: 2. There is a public interest in freedom of expression itself. 3. Whenever the public interest is invoked, the PCC will require editors to demonstrate fully that they reasonably believed that publication, or journalistic activity undertaken with a view to publication, would be in the public interest. 4. The PCC will consider the extent to which material is already in the public domain, or will become so. 5. In cases involving children under 16, editors must demonstrate an exceptional public interest to over-ride the normally paramount interest of the child. | |
Workplace codes:
1. Professionalism is key when working on any project, the moment you don’t take a project seriously is when you begin to fall behind and in photography this would mean a bad photoshoot and an angry client.
2. The ability to build an instant repor with a client is vital as you need to be able to connect with the kind of person the client is, from personality to style so you can achieve the best possible outcome.
3. Time keeping is one of the most important qualities a photographer must have, as most of the time you will be working to someone elses schedule rather than your own so you need to make sure you are punctual and plan out everything you do.
Legal and ethical restrictions:
Criminal Law - The laws of a State or Country dealing with criminal offenses and their punishments.
Civil Law - The laws of a State or Country dealing with private and civilian affairs
Health and safety – During a photoshoot there are many issues you need to take under consideration when concerning health and safety. A few examples would be…
Loose cables from the lighting system are a potential trip hazard.
The lighting system is very bright which could be potentially harmful to your eye sights.
On location any enviromental factors could be a potential hazard, for example if you were working near a lake falling into the lake would be seen as a potential hazard.
Any equipment must be secured so it wouldn’t fall and injure any crew or clients.
Copyright - Copyright is a set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. It protects the creator because it stops other people from copying the work and using it for there own financial gain.
Libel Law - Libel is defined as defamation by written or printed words, pictures, or in any form other than by spoken words or gestures. The law of libel originated in the 17th century in England. With the growth of publication came the growth of libel and development of the tort of libel. "Defamation" is the general term used internationally, and is used in this article where it is not necessary to distinguish between "slander" and "libel". Slander is the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person's reputation.
Data Protection Act - An Act to make sure that the processing of information relating to individuals, including the obtaining, holding, use or disclosure of such information is regulated.
Ethics –
Sports: Sporting figures have always come under significant scrutiny possibly due to how much money they earn, all footballers are generally cast under the same group as arrogant horrible people whereas a lot of footballers are generally nice down to earth people.
Religion: Religions have always been treated unfairly by one form of media or another because of so many medias available there are bound to be conflicts in beliefs. For example since 9/11 the Islamic community has been treated very unfairly in the English media at points.
