This post has been updated to reflect new information that is useful to you. If you visited this post prior to 12th January 2021, it is worth re-reading. As part of your Media Studies exam you might well be asked about regulatory bodies as part of the Media Industries section, whether at GCSE or A-Level. You might also be asked about a couple of things they do in order to regulate the media. As we have been learning, groups like Ofcom and the BBFC exist to ensure that the media content we are served doesn't harm us in some way - and that there are things that we can do should we come to harm after all. That harm might be social (i.e. to our reputation or standing), financial (causing us to lose money or even a job), emotional, mental/psychological or even physical. You could be asked who regulates newspapers and magazines. Be careful: newspaper and magazine websites would fall under Ofcom's remit, whilst the majority of (but not all) newspapers and magazines themselves answer to the Independent Press Standards Organisation, or IPSO for short.
IPSO's name gives us a big clue about how it is different to Ofcom: where Ofcom is a government office answerable to whichever political party is in power at the time (and therefore arguably able to be influenced by it), IPSO is completely independent of government. This is in part as the print media is seen in most societies as a medium for free expression that governments might want to control or, worse, take away. We're very lucky to have what is called a Free Press (with a few, understandable limitations). It explains why IPSO lists independence, boldness, fairness, accessibility and transparency among its values. IPSO does have a very delicate balancing act on its hands, however, that shines a light on the much wider debate of 'free speech.' IPSO must at once protect a newspaper's freedom of expression while at the same time ensuring it does not use that 'freedom' of speech to harm others. Let's take a look at what the European Convention on Human Rights has to say:
ARTICLE 10 Freedom of expression 1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises. 2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.
NB if reading in 2021 or beyond, you will be aware that the UK has now left the European Union in full. However, UK law was informed by European Law up until that point, and as of early-2021 UK law hasn't been changed from the wording provided by the European Convention on Human Rights.
So you'll notice that 'freedom of expression' is not absolute as people think it is. It is much more complicated than simply being able to say what you want, when you want without consequences! I've highlighted the key phrase 'without interference...' meaning that you can express yourself without fear of the government/state persecuting you but notice that the legislation adds notes on licensing, duties and responsibility. Freedom of expression doesn't mean freedom from criticism or censure and doesn't mean you can necessarily express yourself freely on all platforms - an important distinction!
As a result, IPSO is funded by the very magazines and newspapers it holds to account. The idea is that being an IPSO member gives a newspaper or magazine a good reputation, standing and sense of trustworthiness among audiences, making them more likely to read.
IPSO, like Ofcom, has a code and a complaints procedure to follow when a
print publication is felt to have broken that code, and can then apply sanctions and fines to publications. Indeed, IPSO uses its money to assist individuals or groups in pursuing cases against publications. Not only that, however, but IPSO also protects individual journalists or sources if they feel their duty to report the truth is being blocked or threatened (for example, if a whistleblower wants to leak information in the public interest but that leak could cost them their job or their freedom.) IPSO has sixteen parts to its code. You don't need to know all sixteen but a summary like the following is helpful in that newspapers and magazines who are IPSO members must: - Be accurate; - Respect privacy, especially in times of grief or when reporting from or about hospitals; - Not harass people; - Be careful when reporting sensitive topics; - Not harm the education or wellbeing of children; - Not use deception or entrapment to gain news;
- Protect anyone who has spoken to the publication in confidence;
- Be careful when reporting crime, including protecting the identities of under 16s, victims of serious crimes or relatives or friends of alleged criminals.
If you're noticing any similarities with Ofcom's broadcast code, you aren't alone. Remember that a lot of these broadcast codes are derived from the law of the land and the things that it values. What we value as a society is reflected in the work of groups like IPSO or Ofcom and, in turn, the behaviour and conduct of our media. Extension information: IPSO is the biggest (but not only) press regulator in the UK. There is also the smaller IMPRESS regulator. For GCSE, you are expected to know about IPSO only. The following information is primarily for A-Level pupils, but you are free to read it if interested. Both IPSO and IMPRESS resulted from a landmark inquiry into the behaviour of the UK press called the Leveson Inquiry. Central to the inquiry was the way The News of the World and other papers had gained illegal access to voicemail messages and then reported their contents as news. A Press Recognition Panel also resulted from the Leveson Inquiry. IMPRESS signed up to both the panel and the Inquiry's findings in full and is voluntary to join just like IPSO. However, joining IMPRESS suggests that you agree with the Leveson Inquiry's findings in full - which not all newspapers do. As such, many of those joined IPSO instead. Joining IMPRESS also offers benefits under the law not afforded to non-members, including a limit on how much your newspaper can be sued for. Sections 34-40 of the Crime and Courts Act cover this, with Section 40 being the most controversial as non-IMPRESS members can be made to pay the legal costs of the other side in a court case even if the newspaper wins. This is designed to make it easier to sue a newspaper as an individual without worrying about the costs and is seen as a way of ensuring that newspapers conduct themselves appropriately. Understandably, the larger newspapers worry that it could encourage baseless lawsuits, while smaller, local newspapers have a genuine concern that even a single lawsuit could utterly bankrupt them. These papers have criticised Sections 34-40, questioning how 'voluntary' membership of IMPRESS is and indeed how 'independent' it can be said to be with such incentives in place. That doesn't mean everyone just joined IPSO, however. Even those papers criticising IMPRESS as over-regulating see IPSO as little better. Many UK papers choose to regulate themselves instead. The Independent, The Guardian, The Financial Times and Private Eye are all good examples.
コメント