Industries: Regulation

Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 128: Contemporary Media Regulation. Our Media Factsheet archive can be found at M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets

Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:

1) What is regulation and why do media industries need to be regulated?

Systems of regulation are required to provide rules and regulations to ensure that organisations operate fairly.

2) What is OFCOM responsible for?

Broadcast media (TV and Radio) are regulated by OFCOM.

3) Look at the section on the OFCOM broadcasting code. Which do you think are the three most important sections of the broadcasting code and why?

Sections 2, 5 and 6. For sections 5 and 6, impartiality in politics is incredibly important to democracy and for section 2, media that could cause harm and offence is needed in order to not cause outrage and spread hate.

4) Do you agree with OFCOM that Channel 4 was wrong to broadcast 'Wolverine' at 6.55pm on a Sunday evening? Why?

Yes, as it goes against section 1 of the broadcasting code. Viewers would not have expected a violent film at this time slot as, previously, family friendly films were broadcast at similar time slots.

5) List five of the sections in the old Press Complaints Commission's Code of Practice. ) Why was the Press Complaints Commission criticised?

Section 1: Accuracy. Section 2: Opportunity to Reply. Section 3: Privacy. Section 4: Harassment. Section 5: Intrusion Into Grief and Shock

7) What was the Leveson enquiry and why was it set up?

An inquiry into the “culture, practice and ethics of the press” was held throughout 2011 and 2012 mainly due to a phone hacking scandal where phone calls connected to the royal family were illegally intercepted.

8) What was the PCC replaced with in 2014?

On 8th September 2014, the PCC was replaced by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). This new body (like the PCC) has been set up by the newspaper industry itself and it’s code of practice is essentially the same as the code administered by the PCC.

9) What is your opinion on press regulation? Is a free press an important part of living in a democracy or should newspapers face statutory regulation like TV and radio?

I believe that freedom of speech is integral in society, however newspapers are a largely trusted and consumed piece of media that could cause an outcry if it were to showcase violent hate speech for instance. Too much regulation could be considered dangerous as well, as it can lead to silencing freedom of speech and even propaganda. 

10) Why is the internet so difficult to regulate?

Because the internet is under the ownership of one single country and so it's impossible for governments to enforce the rules of a single government upon it. Also, huge internet conglomerates like Amazon and Google are larger than any single government.