Legal and Ethical constraints in Factual Television Production

Constraint	Describe the details of constraint	Explain how the constraint will directly impact on your documentary
Filming in public	Filming in public cannot be just done there and then, there are forms that may need to be signed in order for a person to appear in the documentary.  This is done for identity protection as the person may not want their faces to be shown on Television or the internet itself. This is also done for unwanted infringement as quoted from the stakeholders.ofcom.com website. This meaning if a person is shown in the show/documentary without their consent the production could go to a halt until the case is solved. Also this part of the constraint links with the Data Protection Act (1998) which allows the persons data to be used fairly.	I Don’t plan to do an interview in public but if I were to do one it would be with a student who has done graphics maybe from university to give their opinion. This could potentially affect my interview as they may not want to contribute towards it. This is quite unique to my documentary as it is using students who have a great knowledge in graphics. I could do a vox pop but they may not want to be in the documentary or they may want their faces blurred out which I will have to do because that is what the interviewee has requested me to do.
Clearances and permissions (Copyright Law)	According to the copyright law this is enabled as soon as a piece of work such as Music, Video etc is created. It gives the creator the right to publicise the piece of work, rent/lend the created work and allow him to copy it. It also states that if it was created by a single person he has exclusive rights to the work that has been created. This means that as the rightful owner he/she can lend, reproduce the work with the other person having full permission to use the work. Also of the person is working for a company the work that is produced will be given the ownership as they have hired him/her to work and produce the work.	To use archive footage I will need to use permission otherwise I will not be able to use the videos in my documentary. Without archive footage it would give my documentary some form of realism but it won’t prove my topic question in “why graphics is a niche subject” or will not prove any evidence towards the topic I am investigating. Also I cannot use music without permission as well as other videos in my documentary because of the fact that I could be flagged for using music without permission. Also without any music the documentary would be bland and I don’t think the viewer will be engaged to watch it if the documentary was just me talking throughout the whole 5 Minutes. Overall I cannot take ownership for piece of multimedia that I do not own to prevent any problems coming into play when I start creating the documentary.
Media Privacy Law	This refers to the law which regulate the way agencies collect, store and use  personal information while giving you access to it. This law will inform you when they are collecting information from you.	This law will barely affect my documentary because of the fact that I am not using their personal information and I am getting permission from the teachers to interview them. Also I will not be using their full names just what they go by in school to further protect their identities.
Libel and defamation Law	This law allows people to have the power to take legal actions if their identity is being misused or portrayed in a different way via communication.	Again this will not affect my documentary as the identities portrayed in this documentary will be used appropriately and I will not be misusing them and creating other portrayals of the people in the documentary.
BBC editorial guideline 1	Accuracy Guideline – Here is where the regulation state that I you need to have evidence for everything that you show in the video	This will not affect my documentary because I will have proof for everything that I say or have shown in the video. Also I have researched 5 questions which I will ask and use stats to prove my point.
BBC editorial guideline 2	Impartiality Guideline – The regulation states that when gathering evidence we need to see both sides of the argument and not take one side.	To remove the possibility of impartiality I will ensure I will see both sides of the argument and show them in the documentary. Also I will ensure that I do not take any sides of the argument and let people say what they have to say about the topic or question itself.
BBC editorial guideline 3	Fairness, Contributions and Consent – This guideline states that I need to be fair to everyone that contributes in the documentary.	I will ensure that any contributors are given credit for what they do in my documentary. And when interviewing get their consent that I am allowed to use them in the documentary. Also I will need to be fair to the audience by giving them information that is relevant and true and not made up in any way to change their views.
Ofcom Guideline 1	Privacy Ofcom Guideline - This is where the regulation allows the person’s identity to be kept safe and not distributed without the persons consent.	This may impact our documentary because of the fact that people may not want to be seen on the video itself but may want to contribute to what I am investigating throughout the documentary. As mentioned before I will ensure that their faces are blurred out and their names are not shown in the video itself.
Ofcom Guideline 2	Fairness Guideline – This regulation allows everyone in the documentary to be treated with equality.	To ensure this does not affect my documentary I will be ensuring that I see both sides of the arguments and not being bias towards anyone’s’ comment. Also by abiding to the fairness Ofcom regulation I will ensure that the viewers have a balance of thoughts when watching the whole documentary.
Ofcom Guideline 3	Harm and Offence Guideline – Here the regulation states that I am not allowed to show images that may not be appropriate to my target audience.	This will not affect my documentary as I am talking about art and if there are any inappropriate art or graphics pieces they will not be shown in my video or blurred out in order to abide by the regulation. Also as my target audience is from 16-19 I will be limited to what I can show to my audience because I have a variety of viewers.