Industry regulation blog task

1) What is regulation and why do media industries need to be regulated?

Regulation can be interpreted as rules or laws which media industries have to follow and there are two present types, Statutory regulation and Voluntary regulation. Media industries need to be regulated in order to allow for cultural diversity and to provide a free space of public access.

2) What is OFCOM responsible for?

OFCOM is responsible for regulating media industries/companies and the services we use and rely on each day specifically communication services.

3) Look at the section on the OFCOM broadcasting code. Which do you think are the three most important sections of the broadcasting code and why?

One of the most important section of broadcasting code would be Section 1:Protecting the Under-Eighteens.

The second most important code would be Section:8 because this ensures that everyone is safe and secure.

The third most important code would be Section 4:Religion because the majority of media product consumers are religious and if the media product was deemed offensive or not accepting to other religions then less people would consume the product.

4) Do you agree with OFCOM that Channel 4 was wrong to broadcast 'Wolverine' at 6.55pm on a Sunday evening? Why?

I would argue that although the Wolverine movie is targeted for an older audience and is not suitable for kids the parents should also be at partial blame for allowing their children to watch TV and consume media mindlessly. However the weekends for many are rest days from work and this means that those media consumers would like to consume media at their own discretion and they want to enjoy the Sunday off therefore one complaint is minuscule.

5) List five of the sections in the old Press Complaints Commission's Code of Practice. 

The Sections of the Broadcasting Code

Section 1: Protecting the Under-Eighteens

Section 2: Harm and Offence

Section 3: Crime

Section 4: Religion

Section 5: Impartiality and Undue Prominence of Views and

Opinions

6) Why was the Press Complaints Commission criticised?

In recent years the PCC became the focus of a great deal of controversy, this is because critics claimed that the lack of statutory powers meant that when a newspaper was found in breach of the rules/sections the best a victim could hope for is an apology. Critics also argue that newspapers often break the rules and little is done to stop them.

7) What was the Leveson enquiry and why was it set up?

The leveson enquiry was a search into the "culture, practice and ethics of the press" and this was set up because of the phone hacking scandal.

8) What was the PCC replaced with in 2014?

The press standards organisation.

9) What is your opinion on press regulation? Is a free press an important part of living in a democracy or should newspapers face statutory regulation like TV and radio?

I believe that the press should be regulated so that media consumers are provided with a product that does not mislead them or treat them wrongly. However I also believe that the press should be regulated to an extent and this extent should be imposed by media consumers themselves but this causes an issue because some people may be sensitive to topics whereas others are not and this causes a lot of clash on how to regulate media products.

10) Why is the internet so difficult to regulate?

The internet is so difficult to regulate because there is an exponential amount of content produced each day on the internet and this has to be constantly regulated which is hard. Everyday over 10 years of content is produced on youtube alone and this is almost impossible to regulate. Even through the use of ai and complex algorithms this would cause many problems because AI may cause problems such as unfair censorship.