the regulators

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The Regulators Tom Dix

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Page 1: The Regulators

The RegulatorsTom Dix

Page 2: The Regulators

What are regulators?• Wikipedia states that the word regulator means “a device

for controlling the rate of working of machinery or for controlling fluid flow, in particular a handle controlling the supply of steam to the cylinders of a steam engine.”• This same definition can be applied to the media industry,

for instance in the TV industry you have OFCOM who regulate the likes of BBC and ITV to make sure they are conforming to their remits. However the people in charge are previous employees in establishments such as the BBC meaning that they are often bias in their findings. Because of this they can be seen as being unneeded.

Page 3: The Regulators

British Board of Film Classification • The BBFC is a trusted regulator

of films working as an independent, self financing as well as being a non for profit media regulator.

• They operate a trusted regulation labelling system within the UK to allow for the safe viewing of content for the British cinema audiences.

• Their sole purpose is to regulate the British cinema industry and to make sure that any film that is to be consumed by an audience within the UK has been given the most suitable age certificate as well as making sure that nothing within the product is offensive.

• This allows for the audience to be protected from what some will see as unnecessary to be shown within cinema. However what people deem offensive changes over they years meaning that the regulators must keep up with the timesFor example; • In 1971 Stanley Kubrick banned his own film “Clockwork Orange” from

being released to an audience as he deemed the theme of rape being unsuitable for the audience of the time. However in 2001, once he had died the film got released due to how times had moved on and audiences had become more accepting of what they will watch.

• In 2015 however I would personality say that although we are more lenient within what we will accept within are viewings, I will also say that regulations have become more strict due to how when you compare cinema of now to cinema of 10 years ago we don’t seem to be producing as much cinema that pushes the boundaries, this may be due to how the audience got bored of extreme themes being explored within main stream cinema which in turn helps to show how audiences can sometimes still get offended by things they watch.

Page 4: The Regulators

British Board of Film Classification Their aims are to:

• Protect the public, especially younger audience from content which may be seen as unacceptable

• Empower the public, especially parents in to making informed viewing choices

• To recognise and respect the freedom of adult choice within the law

• To respond and reflect on changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research

• To provide a cost effective, efficient classification service within the statutory remit

• To work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which supports emerging media delivery systems

• To provide an effective service to enforcement agencies

• Like I previously stated the BBFC must always reflect audiences of the time so every 4 – 5 years the carry out major public consultations to find out what the public thinks about the age rating of films and videos before they are released to make sure that their guidelines represent the times.

• When it comes to deciding what certificate a film is to be rewarded, at least two examiners sit down and judge it with the BBFC’s published guidelines at hand. They must then watch the film and see which of the guidelines it contains in order for them to make a decision in its age range.

• If a film is sitting on a boundary of two categories or a serious policy issue is involved then it may be viewed by more members of the BBFC including the Director and Presidential team.

• DVD’s however tend to only have one examiner especially when they are viewing the DVD version of a cinema release, however if they are viewing a version of the film that has not yet been seen yet (extended cut) then they will most likely use the same method as they do for an initial cinema release with two examiners.

Page 5: The Regulators

British Board of Film Classification

• When it comes to the certificates the BBFC are able to reward a film there are 6.• First we have U which means they the film is suitable to those aged 4

and over.• PG which means the film is suitable for general viewing but some

scenes may disturb a child. • 12A which means anyone under 12 can see it as long as they are

accompanied by an adult.• 12 which is suitable to anyone 12 or over. • 15 which is suitable for anyone 15 or over.• 18 which is suitable for anyone 18 or over.• R18 which is a specially and legally restricted classification primarily

for explicit works of film of consenting sex.

• For more in depth research on each classification here is a link to my blog for AS Media Studies where I undertook extensive research in order to gain an understanding of what my project would be classified under

Page 6: The Regulators

British Board of Film Classification • To make sure the

regulations (certificates) are enforced they work in conjunction with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to provide evidence to help secure convictions.For instance;• They make sure that

the regulations are enforced and also that they works closely with the government issuing acts such as the Certificate of Evidence under the VRA 1984 which is where.

• The BBFC itself is funded by the film industry meaning that if and when they make a decision that is deemed “controversial” they will back down due to film companies turning round and threatening not to fund them anymore. • For example in 1989 when Tim Burtons

“Batman” was released the BBFC initially rated it at a 15 (almost an 18) but due to the studio threatening to stop funding the BBFC they quickly began to develop the 12 certificate to allow for more people to see a wider range of films.

• This can be seen as both good and bad as it allows the audience to see a wider range of content but also it may cause the BBFC to in some extent become redundant.

Page 7: The Regulators

Office of Communications (OFCOM)

• They regulate the TV and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate.• Their aim is to protect the public

against scams whilst at the same time ensuring there is always healthy competition between competitors.

• Just like the BBFC, OFCOM exist to regulate the output of any method of communication.

Page 8: The Regulators

Office of Communications (OFCOM)

• One example of them making sure the public does not get scammed that always sticks in my mind is when Blue Peter held a competition way back 2006.

• The show held a competition in conjunction with their appeal of that year (UNICEF "Shoe Biz Appeal”) for the public to phone in at a premium rate. It was later revealed that the competition was rigged due to phone services going down in the studio resulting in them to get a member of the show to act as an outside caller.

• After months of extensive investigating, OFCOM fined the show £50,000.

Page 9: The Regulators

Office of Communications (OFCOM)

• In order to make sure TV corporations stick to the regulations OFCOM have put in place they licence all commercial television in the UK.• Broadcasters must comply to the

terms of their licence, or risk having it revoked. • They also publish the Broadcasting

Code which is an extensive series of rules that all broadcasted content must follow.

• Once they receive complaints they must take instant action and begin investigating in to the issue.• To carry out the investigation they

ask the broadcaster for a copy of the programme which they then examine to see if the content is at breach f the broadcasting code. • Once the broadcaster has responded

to the complaint OFCOM will mark the complaint as either "upheld" or "not upheld", or alternatively simply "resolved"

Page 10: The Regulators

• An example of OFCOM investigating complaints can be seen within the BBC satire of themselves “W1A”. • In the first episode of the latest series the BBC

come under fire due to one of its presenters extensive use of the word “Tosser”.

• In order to comply with the regulations the BBC make one of its employees re watch every episode of “Top Gear” from the last 4 years to check whether the word is overused.

• Although part of this will be fictionalised, it does resemble some truth to the real industry because of how no broadcaster is wanting the bad publicity.

Office of Communications (OFCOM)

Page 11: The Regulators

Office of Communications (OFCOM)

• OFCOM is funded by fees from the industry for regulating broadcasting and communications networks, and grant-in-aid from the Government.• Because they are funded by the industry this means that like the BBFC,

companies that they regulate could threaten them with not funding them if what they do is seen to be too controversial.

• A lot of the board members who run the regulator are also past employees of corporations such as BBC, meaning that although they may look like they are regulating the industry they are in actual fact just there to keep the public at rest.

Page 12: The Regulators

Quick Thought•A question I often find myself asking is “Do the

regulators actually regulate or are they there just to put the audiences mind at rest?. I ask this because more often than not you will see that a lot of the investigations end up with the broadcaster just issuing an apology, so it seems that there only purpose is to make us feel like people care about our issues when in actual fact no one does.