Legal considerations when working in the media

The BBFC

The bbfc examines films and videos & classes them into different age categories. This is in order to protect children from harmful or unsuitable content. It gives people an indication to whether or not a film will be suitable for them to watch. The bbfc looks at issues such as horror, drugs, discrimination, language, sex and violence.

classed as 18 rating due to extreme                                                           classed as a 15 due to it being classsed under

nudity and extreme sex scenes &                                                               horror. Strong violence, language and gorry 

homophobic scenes which is not                                                                 scenes are included too.

suitable for anyone under the age of

18.

classed as 12 with moderate language and sex                                          Suitable for all ages over 4, classed as a family 
briefly portrayed with brief nudity included.                                              film. contains brief moments when characters 
                                                                                                     are in danger







The obscene publications act (1959)

The obscene publications act (1959) is put in place for material which is obscene over television.  This means any material that is likely to corrupt or deprave the audience. This includes aspects such as drug taking, violence and sexually explicit. This act would usually just be put upon towards research material as there are much stricter laws against this. If the aspects I named are displayed on TV, it is usually after the watershed (9pm). 

The broadcasting act (1990)

The broadcasting act (1990) is a law set my the British Parliament that all television and radio companies would be classified as broadcasters rather than regulators. A range of different rules and regulations were also made in place for example; Continental companies allowed to bid for licences or take over licence-holders, Channel 5 to be set up, and Channel 4 to lose its link with ITV by being allowed to sell its own advertising. 

The Race Relations Act (1976)

When creating any production, the production team has to consider The Race Relations Act (1976). This act makes sure that all people with any background have the same rights and an equal power towards everything. This means the production tea cant portray the message that a black person is a stronger or weaker race than a white person for example. The act protects everybody who has immigrated to our country, however it doesn’t apply to an English background, which demonstrates that we have no right to make fun out of people who are not our race.