Glossary

AUDIENCE

Audience is the term given to a group of people that are assembled at a performance, such as watching TV or listening to a radio programme. It is technically the act of hearing or attending.

ADVERTISING STANDARDS AUTHORITY (ASA)

The ASA is a company that works to make sure that all adverts in the UK are acceptable and meet the rules and regulations set up by themselves. It regulates adverts from all media areas, including TV, internet, sales promotions, marketing, radio, etc.

BROADCASTERS AUDIENCE RESEARCH BOARD (BARB)

BARB is the official UK website that gives the official measurement of UK TV audiences. It is responsible for giving the viewing figures for people that watch TV and the share each channel has for the viewing figures.

BRITISH BOARD OF FILM CLASSIFICATION (BBFC)

The BBFC determines the rating on all films released in the UK; it is responsible for age restrictions on games, DVD's and films in the cinema. However, it can be overruled by local councils.

BROADCASTING

Broadcasting is the distribution of texts via TV, radio and film to the public audience. It can also be broadcasted digitally via the internet by sites such as iPlayer.

COMPANY SIZE: MAJOR COMPANIES (TNC)

Major companies are companies that are known nationwide / worldwide and own smaller companies within themselves. Examples of these include Sky and the BBC.

COMPANY SIZE: BIG TO MEDIUM SIZED

Big to medium sized companies are ones that fall below a certain limit (turnover).

COMPANY SIZE: INDEPENDENT

An independent company is one that is not government owned or by a small number of shareholders. They do not offer shares to the public; the companies shares are offered, owned, traded or exchanged privately.


CROSS MEDIA COMPANIES

Cross media commpanies are ones that have a range of different companies spread throughout the media industry. For example, they may own a TV company, a radio company and an advertising company. It basically spreads across platforms.

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION

Horizontal integration occurs when a firm is being merged with another company in the same industry in the same stage of production as they are. It is known as "buy out" or "take over". It can also be linked with horizontal expansion, which means that the company is expanding. The more the better in this case.

INSTITUTION



NEW MEDIA INDUSTRY

The new media industry refers to the add ons to the traditional media industry (TV, written work, radio, etc). It has developed to include the new technologies that are now developing, such as the internet and computer-enabled comsumer products.

NARROWCASTING

This is sort of like a niche audience, it is aimed at a small group of people that have a specific interest. Basically it means that they base their product on a specific topic (narrow), whereas broadcasting is where they cover a wide range of topics.

NATIONAL READERSHIP SURVEY (NRS)

This is the equivalent of the BARB, but estimates how many readers each newspaper and magazine has. They are a non-profit organisation, and they interview 36000+ adults every year in order to get their results. The interview lasts roughly 27 minutes.

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS (OFCOM)

OFCOM regulates the airwaves, such as TV, mobiles, radio, broadband and fixed line telecoms. They ensure that the audience get the best from their telecommunications service, and that their is nothing on the air that could offend. They are in charge of punishing programmes that they feel have created an offence.

PRESS COMPLAINTS COMMISSION (PCC)

The PCC is an independent body that deals with complaints from the public about editorial content from magazines and magazines. It is free and easy for the public to access as it is self-regulatory. All complaints are explored under the Code of Practise which binds all magazines and newspapers.

PRIVATE OWNERSHIP

This is where a person, or group of people exclusively own a piece of property or business. It is legally theirs.

PUBLIC OWNERSHIP

This is where the piece of property or business is owned by the state, government or community.

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING

This is refering to services that are funded by public money, such as the BBC. They charge an annual fee in order to watch or listen to their services, which means that no adverts are played during programmes.

REGULATORY BODY

This is where a regulatory agency or government agency regulates some areas of public activity.

SELF-REGULATORY BODY

A self-regulatory body is where a company regulates themselves without help from the government, often meaning that their is no legal costs for the public to use their services.

VERTICAL INTEGRATION

This is a firm is engaged in different parts of production, for example, growing materials, manufacturing, transporting, marketing and finally retail.

Ethics

One example of ethics is the image of teenagers in the media. They are stereotypical images of them and are usually negative. The papers are quick to jump onto the negative stories involving teenagers, but they aren't so quick to report on positive stories.
Another example would be Muslims in the media. There is a small majority that take thier religion to the extreme, but in the media they are all stereotyped as the same old negative image, when it is really only a very small majority.
Also, celebrities are portrayed badly. Celebrities are photographed rolling out of clubs (Sarah Harding being a prime example) and the headlines are about them being drunk, but the picture is usually just taken at an awkward moment.

Data Protection Act

This is an act that defines the UK law on processing of data on identifiable people. It is the main piece of legislation that governs the protection of personal data in the UK, the act itself does not mention privacy, but it protects fundamental rights and freedoms; in particular their right to privacy to the processing of personal data. It provides a way for individuals to control information about themselves. There are eight data protection rules:

1.Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless- at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the conditions in Schedule 3 is also met.
2.Personal data shall be obtained only for one or more specified and lawful purposes, and shall not be further processed in any manner incompatible with that purpose or those purposes.
3.Personal data shall be adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purpose or purposes for which they are processed.
4.Personal data shall be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date.
5.Personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
6.Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the rights of data subjects under this Act.
7.Appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken against unauthorised or unlawful processing of personal data and against accidental loss or destruction of, or damage to, personal data.
8.Personal data shall not be transferred to a country or territory outside the European Economic Area unless that country or territory ensures an adequate level of protection for the rights and freedoms of data subjects in relation to the processing of personal data.

Libel Law

Defamation is a false statement that concerns another, an unprivileged publication of a statement to a third party (somebody other than the person defamed by the statement). It is also considered defamation if the matter is of public concern, fault being on behalf of the publisher.
Slander is the making of a defamatory statement by a transitory representation, usually a spoken representation.
Libel is the making of defamatory statements in a printed or fixed medium (magazines or newspaper).

Copyright

Copyright is an exclusive right that is given to the artist and author to a piece of original work, where they are then in charge of copying, distributing and altering the piece of work.Copyright owners have the exclusive statutory right to exercise control over copying and other exploitation of the works for a specific period of time, after which the work is said to enter the public domain.
You can copyright music, books, images, text; anything really! Copyright means that the author of the work is protected from having their work stolen or taken as somebody elses work. The author has the "right to control copying".

Health and Safety

5 checks that you would make before a photoshoot, on location or in the studio would be:

- Check that all wires are tucked away so as not to trip on them.
- Don't leave bags or belongings lying around.
- Be careful when handling lights as they are hot.
- Ask permission (if necessary) when using locations.
- Be sensible and respect privacy when in crowded places.

Criminal Law Vs. Civil Law

Criminal law is an act that is classed as an act of crime. In England we are tried by a number of agencies that work together to give punishment to criminals. These include the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, the courts and the National Offender Management Service. These agencies are overseen by three government departments: the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office and the Attorney General's Office.
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law. The laws are written into a collection, codified and are not determined by judges. It is ultimately a group of legal ideas and systems derived from the Code of Justinian. It is a branch of common law dealing with disputes between individuals or organisations (an example being suing someone, becoming the plaintiff).
The differences between these are generally that with criminal law you can be put into prison or executed, whereas in civil law this cannot happen; theu usually reinburse the plaintiff. Also, with criminal law the burden of proof is on the state, whereas in civil law the burden of proof is with the plaintiff.