Media: Ofcom & the ITC programme code

The ITC Programme Code sets out the editorial standards which audiences are entitled
to expect from commercial television services in the UK. It aims to ensure that
requirements covering programme content which Parliament stipulated in the 1990
and 1996 Broadcasting Acts are met, while allowing for and encouraging creativity,
development and innovation.

Code:

• To secure that every licensed service includes nothing in its programmes which offends
  against good taste or decency or is likely to encourage or incite to crime or lead to disorder or be offensive to public feeling.
• Family Viewing Policy and the Watershed - Material unsuitable for children must not be transmitted at times when large numbers of children may be expected to be watching.
• The portrayal of any dangerous or harmful behaviour easily imitated by children
  should be avoided, especially before the watershed, and must be excluded entirely in
  children’s programmes. This applies especially to the use, in a manner likely to cause
  serious injury, of knives and other offensive weapons, articles or substances
• Requires that broadcasters take “appropriate measures to ensure that television
  broadcasts… do not include any programmes which might seriously impair the
  physical, mental or moral development of minors, in particular programmes that
  involve pornography or gratuitous violence”.
• Certification: No ‘12’ rated version should normally start before 8pm on any service.
• No ‘15’ rated version should normally start before 9pm (or 8pm on premium
  rate subscription services, contents permitting).
• No ‘18’ rated version should start before 10pm on any service. This rule may
  be relaxed if the classification was made more than 10 years ago and the film is now
  clearly suitable for earlier transmission.
• No ‘R18’ version should be transmitted at any time.
• No version refused a BBFC certification should be transmitted at any time.
• Pay Per View Services - Where security mechanisms, such as a PIN system or equivalent, satisfactorily restrict
  access to films or programmes solely to those authorised to view, watershed rules may
  be waived.
• Trailers and Programme Promotions - Viewers do not choose to see promotional material, so special care is required in scheduling. All trailers and promotions shown before the watershed must comply with Family Viewing Policy.
• Bad language must be defensible in terms of context and scheduling with warnings where appropriate.
• Careful consideration should be given to nudity before the watershed but some nudity
  may be justifiable in a non-sexual and relevant context. Representations of sexual intercourse should not occur before the watershed unless
  there is a serious educational purpose.
• Violence. It is reasonable for television to reflect this but it is clear that the portrayal of violence, whether physical, verbal or psychological, can upset, disturb and offend. Different types of violence are:
• Offensive violence
• Psychological Harm to Young and Vulnerable Viewers
• Imitable violence
• Cumulative effects of violence
• Sexual violence
• Suicide:There should be no more detailed demonstration of the means or method of suicide than is justified by the context, scheduling and likely audience for the programme.
• Violence in News and other Programmes: News and current affairs programmes are subject, like any other programming, to the requirements of Family Viewing Policy.
• Respect for Human Dignity and Treatment of Minorities -Viewers have a right to expect that licensed services will reflect their responsibility to preserve human dignity.
• Ethnic Minorities-No programme should be transmitted which is intended to stir up racial hatred.
• People with disabilities - There is a danger of offence in the use of humour based on physical, mental or sensory disability, even where no malice is present.
  

Film: Louise's Journey

Louise's Journey

Thelma & Louise 1991 Dir. Ridley Scott

At the begining of the movie Louise is working at the Diner, a job usually occupied by women. Employed and controlled by a man. She wears a standard american diner uniform which kind of resembles a maids uniform. She is not happy here, we know this as she plans to escape and abandon her job and go on a road trip with her firned Thelma (Geena Davis).When we first see Thelma and Louise togther Louise comes across as the dominant one in their friendship and mothers her in a way, she is less naive more aware and the more mature character. Louise is in control of the journey, she drives the car and is the navigator of the journey. Louise drives a 66 Thunderbird, a very desirable car for men. Thelma begged Louise to stop at the bar like a child would beg there parents to stop somewhere, this shows that Louise is in complete control of where they stop and holds parental status. When in the bar Thelma is dancing about and very immature, Louise has to watch out for her like a babysitter. This ultimately leads to Thelma getting in trouble and Louise saving her. Defeating the man and taking on the hero/protagonist role.Once on the run they take refuge in a motel where Louise gets in contact with Jimmy, this is the first point in the film where she asks/needs for help from a man. Before she has not relied on a man to help her. Now the audience knows that Louise has previously been involved with a man and has not been "going it solo" all the time. The fact that she has recently had a relationship gives her back some of her feminity and makes us portray her as more of a woman. This is short lived as once she recieves the money and spends some time with Jimmy she then ups and leaves with no intentions of seeing him again. This now cuts out emotional hold backs and she takes control.They continue on there journey and pick up JD along the way. They stop later at another Motel where JD steals the money off of Thelma, this courses Louise to break down as the money was her way of escape, she belives it is now not possible to escape and starts crying. In which Thelma conforts her, this is a switch in the roles as Thelma remained strong whilst Louise could not cope. This is one of the only times we see Louise at her weakest.Later Thelma then stops at a Store and robs it, Louise is now slightly over shadowed by Thelma as she has found her confidence. Louise was unsuspecting of Thelmas act and it comes as a shock to her. They escape and are on the run again.A policeman then pulls them over for speeding, Thelma again takes charge with a spontainus impowerment and puts him in the boot. This scenes is still feminised by Louise and Thelma saying "Thank You", "Please" and plenty of apologies. Louise once again has to be the one whom is a partner wrapped up in this instead of the dominant one like in the beggining of their journey.

Media: The Hutton report

The Hutton Inquiry was a British judicial inquiry chaired by Lord Hutton, appointed by the United Kingdom Labour government with the terms of reference "...urgently to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly". On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee of the Ministry of Defence, was found dead after he had been named as the source of quotes used by BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan. These quotes had formed the basis of media reports claiming that Tony Blair's Labour government had knowingly "sexed up" the "September Dossier", a report into Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The inquiry opened in August 2003 and reported on 28 January 2004. The inquiry report cleared the government of wrongdoing, while the BBC was strongly criticised, leading to the resignation of the BBC's chairman and director-general. The report was met with criticism by British newspapers opposed to the Iraq invasion, such as The Guardian and the Daily Mail, though others said it exposed serious flaws within the BBC.

Media: The Broadcasting Act 1990

The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism.
The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been described by Margaret Thatcher as "the last bastion of restrictive practices". It led directly to the abolition of the Independent Broadcasting Authority and its replacement with the Independent Television Commission and Radio Authority (both themselves now replaced by Ofcom), which were given the remit of regulating with a "lighter touch" and did not have such strong powers as the IBA; some referred to this as "deregulation". The ITC also began regulating non-terrestrial channels, whereas the IBA had only regulated ITV, Channel 4 and the ill-fated British Satellite Broadcasting; the ITC thus took over the responsibilities of the Cable Authority which had regulated the early non-terrestrial channels, which were only available to a very small audience in the 1980s.

An effect of this Act was that, in the letter of the law, the television or radio companies rather than the regulator became the broadcasters, as had been the case in the early (1955-1964) era of the Independent Television Authority when it had fewer regulatory powers than it would later assume.
In television, the Act allowed for the creation of a fifth analogue terrestrial television channel in the UK, which turned out to be Channel 5, now renamed Five, and the growth of multichannel satellite television. It also stipulated that the BBC, which had traditionally produced the vast majority of its television programming in-house, was now obliged to source at least 25% of its output from independent production companies.

The act has sometimes been described, both as praise and as criticism, as a key enabling force for Rupert Murdoch's ambitions in Britain. It reformed the system of awarding ITV franchises, which would prove controversial when Thames Television was replaced by Carlton Television, for what some felt were political reasons, and when TV-am, admired by Mrs Thatcher for its management's defiance of the trade unions, lost its franchise to GMTV (the by then former Prime Minister personally apologised to the senior TV-am executive Bruce Gyngell). It also allowed for companies holding ITV franchises to take over other such companies from 1994, beginning the process which has led to the creation of ITV plc.

Media: The Peacock comittee 1986

The Peacock Committee, was a review into financing of the BBC It was initiated by the conservative government of Magaret Thatcher on March 1985. The committee was led by Professor Alan Peacock. The other 6 members were Samuel Brittan, Judith Chalmers, Jeremy Hardie, Professor Alastair Hetherington, Lord Quinton, and Sir Peter Reynolds.Miss Kimberley Taylor was the key paper holder throughout proceedings a back seat member but later sacked and dismissed due to a national newspaper outing her as a non licence fee payer.

The government had expected the committee to report that the television licence fee used to fund the BBC should be scrapped. However, the Peacock Committee favoured retaining the licence fee as they believed it was the 'least worst' option.

The immediate recommendations of the report were:

• BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2 should be privatised.
• All television receivers should be built fitted with encryption decoders.
• The television licence fee should be indexed to inflation and the BBC should become responsible for the collection of the licence fee.
• The licence fee should be extended to car radios.
• Pensioners dependent on benefits should be exempt from the licence fee.
• Not less than 40% of the BBC’s and ITV's output should be sourced from independent producers.
• The transmission space used by the BBC and ITV overnight should be sold.
• ITV Franchises should be put out to competitive tender
• Channel 4 should be able to sell its own advertising.
• Censorship should be phased out.

Media: Ross & Brand Debate

Public Views:

• Younger generations wouldn't be offended and in stead, would find it funny
• Family would obviously be upset and offended
• People don't want their money to fund such a controversial show
• Was only aired because producer was inexperienced and didn't realise the potential outrage it would cause, placing the blame on the BBC, not the entertainers.

Were BBC's actions correct?

• Shouldn't have been aired as it wasn't recorded live
• BBC had the option to prevent the public hearing it but passed it up
• Russell Brand shouldn't have been the only one to to take the brunt of the blame, Ross was just as fundamental in the harassment, yet virtually got off unscathed
• Brand shouldn't have been used as a scapegoat, especially to save the BBC's reputation
• On the other hand, it was a smart move on their behalf, and justice for the fee paying public, so it was resolved in some way.
  

Was Any Lasting Damage Done?

• Jonathan Ross has to be more careful with what he says so that the same ting does not happen again
• No, because Brand was used as a scapegoat, all the blame was placed on him as he is branded the rogue of show business and he could be blames for influencing Ross, who is usually uncontroversial. Also upon his resignation speech, he was told to "big up" BBC and say how great it was to work for them
• Ross a huge star for BBC so has more power and influence, therefore was not sacked

What is the role and future of public service broadcasting in Britain today?

Public service broadcasting is a channel, like the BBC which is paid for by the public. This is through television licenses of roughly £150 per household a year. All the programmes shown on BBC are funded by the public, which BBC promise to 'inform, educate and entertain.' I think that public service broadcasting is becoming less successful as the years go on. With the Internet now showing repeats of certain programmes with channels such as 4od and BBC iplayer. Product placement is a more successful way of advertising than showing 3-4 minutes of adverts which only makes the viewer switch off or change the channel. In a few years time I think that there will no longer be a public service broadcasting channel, and that all programmes will be funded by adverts or product placement. And that we will be viewing television programmes either on the Internet or on the telly using an EPG.