Codes of practice and regulation

Defamation

Defamation is when laws are put in place to protect the reputation of an individual against uncalled for and inexcusable attacks, which might cause damage to their reputation.

Libel

Libel relates to the publication in print and more permanent forms like broadcasting, magazines, newspapers. In libel term they do not need to prove that they have suffered monetary losses from the results of the publication.

Slander

Slander is communication via word of mouth. A journalist may slander an individual by merely talking about them in a third party. Slander does need proof unless it is a criminal action or attacked on the basis of their profession.


Copyright and intellectual property

The copyright act of 1911 was put in place to stop people redistributing other peoples work.Copyright is a private right that lets the creator of work whether text, music, film or broadcast decide how it is allowed to be distributed to the public. The copyright law stays in place for 70 years after the death of the creator for literary, dramatic musical or artistic work as well as films, for sound recordings and broadcasts it stays in place for 50 years from the year when the work was made and for typographical work have a duration of 25 years from the date they were created. There is no single law, in the UK or worldwide or official registration system for copyright meaning anyone can copyright their own work.

Data protection and privacy

The Data Protection Act of 1988 protects personal information such as phone numbers, email addresses, bank details, passwords etc. Personal data collected from magazines might include phone numbers and email addresses if you have subscribed to them online to receive the magazines in the post you will have to have put your bank details in. These companies cannot pass information on to 3rd parties because they are normally advertisers which will phone you asking you for more information or if you want to buy something and you will receive a lot of emails asking you to sign up to stuff related to the thing you have recently subscribed to. Case studies into privacy invasion include Catherine Zeta Jones and Sara Cox.