Chapter four- Employment opportunities and job roles in the media sector

The media sector that I am going to explore in terms of available jobs is the Radio sector.There are many different jobs in radio that all link onto each other in some shape or form. 

• Researchers are required to fact check and dig into the subject. 
• Script writers then take the notes from the researchers and write up a script for either the hosts to say on air or for a voice actor to record.
• The hosts need the technicians to work the equipment so that they can go on air easily.
• The voice actors also need the technicians to check the recording equipment is working okay, and then need the editors to put a bed underneath their vocal track in the case of a short recording that needs to grab peoples attention.
• The head of the studio will listen to the pre recorded things before they get put on air. 

These are a small handful of the jobs available in radio. There will be many of the above people, and will also be generic workers such as cleaners and caterers.

Full-time employment is employment in which a person works a minimum number of hours defined by the employer. This could be the employment of a cleaner.

A part-time contract is a form of employment that carries less hours per week than a full-time job. They work in shifts but remain on call while off duty. This could be the employment of a caterer.

A freelance worker is a term used for a person who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer. This could be the employment of a technician.

A voluntary worker is a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking. Radio stations get volunteers that want to learn the skills.

Casual employment can be defined as where an employee is employed when and if needed, This could be the employment of a radio host who comes in to cover someone else's show.

An hourly worker is an employee paid an hourly wage for their work, as opposed to a fixed salary. This could be the employment of a script writer.

Piecework is work paid for according to the amount produced. This could be the employment of an editor.

There are a range of job roles in the radio sector, not many of them creative rather than the script writer/audio editor. The technicians role is very technical and hands on, whereas the Studio Head's job is managerial. 

In order to work in the radio sector, work experience always helps as radio stations are keen to see any existing skills you have in any of the areas of work. Radio stations that are community ran or ran by a public service such as a hospital can be a good start to a radio career as you have taken time out of your life to learn the craft of radio. 

Courses that cover Media could also cover radio; courses such as Btec creative media production or Media Production courses in university can have radio modules to offer.

When working in the radio sector you must make sure you have good time management skills as a lot of projects you work on are time sensitive, such as writing a script within a time limit. Punctuality is also important for that reason as being late knocks time off your project time. You must be reliable so that your manager believes they can trust you with certain jobs. 

Chapter three- understanding the regulations of the creative media sectors

It is important that the creative media sector is regulated so that no harm or offence is caused to any viewers through the content which is broadcast. 

There are several regulatory bodies that exist to monitor the broadcasted material. A regulatory body is 'a public authority or government agency responsible for exercising authority over some area of human activity in a regulatory or supervisory capacity.'

Examples of regulatory bodies include BBFC (British Board of Film Classification), OFCOM (Office Of Communications), IPSO (Independent Press Standards Organisation formally PCC), ASA (Advertising Standards Authority). 

A way in which the creative media sector is regulated is with film certifications that are given to the film by the BBFC (U, PG, 12A, 15, 18, R18)

The BBFC consider the following when the films are given certificates:

• Context
• Theme
• Tone and impact
• Drug use
• Discrimination
• Behaviour that can be copied
• Bad language
• Sex
• Nudity
• Threat

An example of a film which had problems with BBFC ratings was Grotesque (2009), which was rejected a rating or classification at any level. There was so much inappropriate material in the film that cuts were not considered viable.

The Guidelines on rejected works state that 'If a central concept of the work is unacceptable (for example, a sex work with a rape theme); or if intervention in any of the ways noted above is not acceptable to the submitting company; or if the changes required would be extensive or complex; the work may be rejected, ie refused a classification at any category'

Films must be classified  to protect children from unsuitable and harmful content; and to give consumers information before deciding whether or not to view it. This is why the BBFC age rate films before they are released. They watch the film the whole way through before using guidelines such as harmful or disturbing scenes(which they make sure are taken out or given a higher age rating), as well as whether the films adhere to the animal protection laws and do not show scenes of animal cruelty.

Ofcom's code of broadcasting has 9 key sections that contain principles and rules:

• Protecting the under-eighteen's
• Harm and offence
• Crime
• Religion
• Due impartiality
• Elections and referendums
• Fairness
• Privacy
• Commercial references in TV programming

These principles and rules relate to the sections of broadcasting that they believe needs regulating.

An example of a broadcasting mishap which broke some of Ofcoms rules was Sachsgate- which included Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross calling Andrew Sachs and leaving inappropriate messages about his granddaughter during one of their radio shows.

The Ofcom rules that Sachsgate breached are as follows:

2.1- generally accepted standards must be applied to the contents of television and radio services so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion in such services of harmful and/or offensive material.

2.3- offensive material must be justified by the context

8.1 the standard requiring adequate protection for members of the public from unwarranted infringements of privacy.

Whilst the regulation the creative media sector can only be a good thing; there are some issues to do with regulation.

Consumer choice means that people are able to watch what they want at home. For example, a parent could determine that their child under 18 is able to watch an 18 rated film and that is not illegal in their own home; whereas it is illegal to buy or to see it in the cinema.

Freedom of Information is an act that the public have 'rights of access' to information held by public authorities and therefore have the rights to view such films that they want to.

Censorship is a problem as different people hold different views on what is appropriate and what is not, and there are a few words that come into this category- 'damn', 'hell', etc. These words are censored out of kids TV shows and films, however some parents don't believe that they are necessarily bad words.

Understanding the ethical and legal considerations when working in the creative media sector

Understanding the ethical and legal considerations when working in the creative media sector

It is important for producers to understand the legal considerations when working in the creative sectors so that their work is legally able to be broadcast.

Libel law

Libel law is a law against publishing in print something which is not true or may harm that persons reputation and may bring hate or scorn towards them.

It must be a statement which claims to be fact and is not clearly identified as an opinion.

An example of the libel law is a tweet by Sally Bercow, the wife of the UK parliaments speaker of the house of commons, which read "why is lord McAlpine trending? *innocent face*" The tweet occurred at the same time as a case assuming he had sexually abused children at a foster home, which made McAlpine able to sue Bercow for posting a libelous tweet saying that he wasn't innocent.

Privacy law

The Privacy law (or Human rights law) is a regulation that protects a persons right to be left alone and says that people are allowed to be left alone and have 'the right to privacy' and 'the right to be left alone'- 'Harassment and data protection'. 
An example of the Privacy Law being broken is the News of the World phone hacking scandal. This incident resulted in the hacking of the phones of the Royal Family, celebrities, and 13 year old Millie Dowler who had been murdered. 
The result of the phone hacking was the News of the world being shut down and millions of pounds being paid to victims of the hacking.

Obscene Publications act 1959 (and later amendments)

The Obscene publications act 1959 (c.66) is an act of parliament of the United kingdom parliament that significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and wales.
The act stops any content being published that may 'deprave and corrupt' anyone who may read/see it (torture, beastiality etc.) and was created to strengthen the law concerning pornography, as well as the law preventing the publication/ production of obscene matter.
An example of Obscene Publications being carried out in media is the Human Centipede sequel being banned in the UK as a DVD or a download and denied an 18 rating in the cinema due to thoughts that it contains a real risk to viewers.

Copyright and intellectual property law

Intellectual property is something that is unique to you if physically created. I.e. an idea is not your intellectual property but the words you write are. Copyright is a type of intellectual law that protects your work.By knowing your rights and having the right type of protection you can stop people stealing or copying:

• The names of your products or brands
• Your inventions
• The design or look of your products
• Things you write, make, or produce

An example of the copyright law being somewhat broken is the court situation between the Avatar director James Cameron and artist Roger Dean, who said that Cameron had ripped off his artwork in the film.

This picture shows the scene from avatar on the left compared to the art work on the right by Roger Dean.

James Cameron won the case and did not have to pay $50 million in damages as the court declared him innocent.

Official Secrets Act 1989

The official secrets act of 1989 is a term used in Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Malaysia, and the United kingdom, and formerly in Canada and New Zealand for legislation that provides for the protection of state secrets and official information, mainly related to national security.
An example of a breach of the Official Secrets Act is the Royal Navy officer Edward Devenney being jailed for offering nuclear submarine secrets to MI5 agents posing as Russian spies.

Health and safety act

The Health and safety act applies to all work activities in the UK, not excluding film, TV and broadcasting.
Employers are expected to have responsibilities and duties defined, have a system for managing health and safety, assess and manage risks, and regularly review the process and procedures for managing the risks.

It is important for producers to understand the ethical considerations when working in the creative sectors so that morally they aim to not cause harm or offence to the majority.

Social issues and sensitivities/Not causing harm or offence

Social issues and sensitivities, can be hard to ignore when it comes to the media, however the way these are represented can be the difference between your media product being broadcast or not.

Not causing harm or offence

It is important for media producers to try to not cause harm or offence, especially when representing stereotypes, however since people can be offended by different things it is difficult to draw a fine line as to what is okay to show and what is not, hence why most broadcasters have a code of which their 

Adhering to the professional body codes of practice (e.g. Broadcasters code, BBC producers' guidelines)

Ofcom set the standards for what a broadcasted program can or can't control in terms of certain criteria:

1. Protecting the under 18's
2. Harm and offence
3. Crime
4. Religion
5. Due impartiality and due accuracy and undue prominance of views and opinions
6. Elections and referendums
7. Fairness
8. Privacy
9. Commercial references in television programming
10. Commercial communications in radio programming

Sachsgate was a situation which involved the broadcasting of an inappropriate voicemail which Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross sent Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter Georgina Baillie. The voicemails breached these certain codes:

• 2.1- generally accepted standards must be applied to the contents of television and radio services so as to provide adequate protection for members of the public from the inclusion in such services of harmful and/or offensive material.

• 2.3- offensive material must be justified by the context

• 8.1 the standard requiring adequate protection for members of the public from unwarranted infringements of privacy.

The result of Sachsgate was that the Russell Brand show was discontinued.

Social Media

Social media scandals


- Sam Pepper- Murder Prank video.


- James Franco- hitting on a 17 year old via instagram.


Codes of Conduct for social media


1- Do not post material which could be harmful or offensive to people. E.g racist comments, threats, vulgar language/pictures.
2-Do not post anything about a person without their permission. This includes personal videos, pictures or information about a person.
3- Do not post something and claim that it is yours if it is not.

Ofcom's broadcasting code in relation to Sachsgate

Ofcom's broadcasting code in relation to Sachsgate 

1- Protecting the under 18's 
At the time of Sachsgate Georgina Baillie was over 18, so this section of the broadcasting code does not apply to this situation. As far as the audience being under 18 and exposed to information which they shouldn't, the BBC played a warning before the show was broadcast.

2- Harm and offence

The radio broadcast contained a lot of offensive material which could offend the listener, and Andrew Sachs and his family. Whilst the show had a warning before it, they did not thoroughly check with Andrew Sachs or Georgina Baillie that it was acceptable to be broadcast.

3- Crime

Breached rules are as followed:

2.1- generally accepted standards must be applied to the 

contents of television and radio services so as to provide 

adequate protection for members of the public from the 

inclusion in such services of harmful and/or offensive 

material.

2.3- offensive material must be justified by the context

8.1 the standard requiring adequate protection for members 

of the public from unwarranted infringements of privacy.

Understanding structure and ownership in the creative media sector

Chapter one- Understanding structure and ownership in the creative media sector

The creative media industry consists of film, TV, radio, publishing, advertising and marketing, animation, interactive media, games, and photo imaging. Within these sectors, there are several subsidiaries that exist, thus making the creative media industry even bigger. In this assignment I will be explaining structure and ownership in the creative media sector.

Film

The film industry is structured around the various steps of production which include Development, pre-production, production, post production, and more- as shown by the below poster which was in the December 2015 empire magazine.

Different companies can have different roles in the film development process depending on their relationship with the company which has total control over the project. 
For example, the film Elf was a co-production between New Line cinema- who are credited as the distributors- and Guy Walks Into A Bar Productions. 

The film industry has several ways of earning profit which include retail sales, downloads, advertisers, sponsorship, cinema box office, CD and DVD sales, as well as merchandise.

An example of a huge film company is Walt Disney Pictures. Disney currently has its own production and distribution sectors for the different types of films it produces.

(Wikipedia)


The whole Walt Disney Company employs 58000 people and has sales figures of of $49.78 billion according to Forbes Most Valuable Brands.

One of the reasons why Disney is such a big company is because it is a Conglomerate and owns companies such as LucasFilm and Pixar, as well as being involved in all of the creative media sectors such as TV (Disney Channel) and Radio (Radio Disney).


Television

Television is one of the biggest creative media sectors. In 2013 there were 121,910 employees in the TV broadcasting which was more than both the radio broadcasting employees, and the cable employees. The structure of television is focused on five parts: Creation, Production, Aggregation, Service, and Delivery. Creation and Production are carried out by the production company, Aggregation is carried out by a channel or network, and is the packaging of several tv shows onto one channel. Service and Delivery are carried out by cable or satellite companies. The whole TV sector employs over 55,900 people.

The BBC is quite possibly the biggest UK Television company due to having 10 live TV channels- two for children- as well as BBC Iplayer on which people can catch up on their shows through.  There are 20,951 employees within the whole of the BBC.

The BBC is publicly funded through the obligatory license fee which everyone has to pay to watch television, whether coloured or black and white, although the latter is cheaper. Between 2013 and 2014 66% of all license fees paid went towards TV, which equates to £2276 million, or £8.00 per month, per household. 

The sources of income vary between whether the TV company is private (like Disney Channel) or public (like BBC) as the BBC's income comes from the licence fee as well as merchandise sold and DVD's sold. The Disney Channel would have CD sales as another source of income as almost everything they produce for the channel has a soundtrack.

Radio

There are two types of radio which exist- publicly funded, or commercially funded (advertisements).
Different radio stations can focus on different genres, whereas some just focus on what is popular like Capital.
Radio employs over 22,800 people.
Publicly funded examples of radios are all of the BBC radios, whereas an example of a commercially funded radio station is Capital FM. Capital have different radio stations around the country, as shown by their website. 

Capital FM is funded by adverts played, hence why it is known as commercial radio. 
In the BBC there are 1300 employees working on their radio.

Publishing

The sector known as publishing includes books, magazines, newspapers and information services. 
The biggest book publisher in the world, according to The Passive Voice is Pearson, which is a subsidiary to Pearson PLC. Another subsidiary it owns is Edexcel, the exam board. The company primarily produces resources for schools and colleges, and had 40,000 employees as of 2009. 

This is the structure of the Publishing sector which shows the outlets of income that exist for each part of the book. This therefore shows who is involved in the process.

Advertising and Marketing

Advertising and marketing refers to the promotional material created for the other sectors, and can include logos, posters, and more. This sector employs 21,455 people. Media advertising and marketing has increased in popularity in the past few years as a job, and presently many universities do a course solely focused on media advertising. The main source of income for Advertising would be client jobs such as logos or posters.

Animation

The animation sector has over 4600 people working for it in the UK, which doesn't seem like much. Animation can be used in films, TV shows, music videos, and advertisements.
 Animated films are for the most part dominating the cinema box offices.
The biggest animation film companies are:

•  Pixar (A subsidiary of Disney) which had over 1200 employees in 2011 and released big films such as Inside Out (2015) and Toy Story (1995)
• Dreamworks which had 2200 employees in 2013 and has released big franchises such as Shrek and Madagascar.
• Studio Ghibli (A subsidiary of Toho Co) which had around 300 employees in 2012. The studio has released films such as Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away.

The sources of income for the animation sector are similar to films as it is DVD sales, cinema ticket sales, merchandise sales, and soundtrack sales.

Interactive Media 

Interactive media refers to websites and media that can be shown on interactive televisions which include moving pictures that interact with the viewer. 

Examples of interactive media websites can be social networks such as facebook and tumblr. Video games also come under the interactive media sector although they have their own sector.
This is the structure of the interactive media sector according to ATSF. This sector employs about 40,000 people.

Games

This is the structure of the games sector. The first four steps can be carried out by the same company or different ones whereas Retail is the place that sells the game.
The amount of employees in the games industry in 2010 were 32,000.
The biggest game companies according to revenue are as follows:

The sources of income for the Games sector are the games consoles, the games, and the add on packs for games. 

Photo Imaging

The photo imaging sector includes image producers, photo retail, picture libraries and agencies, manufacturers, and support services (for example equipment hire and repair).
The sector has around 44,000 people working in those five sections, in over 14,000 companies.
The main source of income for the photo imaging sector would be jobs coming in from outside clients such as retouching or airbrushing. 

Private Ownership Television is funded by advertising and most of the time applies to a certain audience only, for example MTV which aims its TV shows at 16- 24 year olds. This is an advantage as they know they are sticking to what they are good at rather than trying to please everyone.

Public Ownership television, like the BBC, is funded by the licence fee that everyone has to pay. As it is public, the shows have to be A- suitable for everyone viewing (or played after watershed) and B- please everyone. This is why they have an array of channels, as they please more people by having audience specific channels like cbeebies. This is an advantage as it increases their outlets.

A Multinational company is a company which controls production in more than one country other than their home country. An example of this is Universal, as their films are released in many countries, and an advantage of this is that the audience is diverse.

Diversification is the ownership of unrelated products by a company which did not originally start out that way. An example of a diversified company is Virgin as they started out distributing music, then created a record label, and developed a mobile phone distributor company, as well as an airline and many more. An advantage is that they have full say over what happens in those companies and they all bring money into the overall company.

Share of ownership is common when two conglomerates take over a company and both have ownership of it. CBS and Viacom have a large portion of ownership of National amusements (Theatre Company).

Product Diversity(or product variety) refers to the different products which the company has to offer. This could relate to diversification- like Virgin- or could relate to a company creating different products for one media sector. For example, the BBC has to have a variety of products available as it is public service and has to please everyone, so they have shows for almost every target audience.

Profitability of Product range is a phrase which refers to companies using what is popular and sticking with it to make more money. An example would be Disney using Frozen so much. Post success of the original film they have since released a short film, tonnes of merchandise relating to the film, and there is a sequel planned currently. Another example is film companies releasing Horror films in Autumn, and family movies when school isn't in session.

Performance against financial concerns relates to how well companies do against competitors or whilst there are troubles in the general economy. 

Organisational objectives are the ultimate goals and objectives of a company. For example, pixar's objectives as written on their LinkedIn page are 
'to combine proprietary technology and world-

class creative talent to develop computer 
animated feature films with memorable 

characters and heartwarming stories that 

appeal to audiences of all ages.'


Licences and Franchises seem similar but 

have different meanings. Licensing refers to a business offering another business the chance to create their products for a fee. An example of this is how disney sell their characters to be reproduced.
A franchise is a collection of media that has come from an original media product. Shrek is a franchise as it has four films, and several short films for which the idea was carried on from the first film.

Competitors exist in media whether you are a small company, or a big conglomerate company. An example of competition in terms of film is Disney Pixar as a competitor of Illumination pictures. They both had family blockbusters out this past summer, with Pixar releasing Inside Out and Illumination releasing Minions. Competition can be a good thing for a company as it can push you to be better.

Customers are important in all media sectors as no one would make any money if there were any customers. A company which especially needs to please its customers is the BBC as it is funded through the obligatory License fee and therefore has to appeal to everyone paying that.

Voluntary ownership is the section of creative media which is not produced for a profit. Several radio stations, such as ones in some hospitals, are voluntary and not created for a profit.

National and Global competition is the way in which companies compete with each other despite long distances. 

Trends are figures which allow media companies to see how well themselves and competitors are doing presently, and how well they will be doing in the future if they keep the same sales figures as they have now.

Conglomerates are big media companies (or parent companies) which own a lot of smaller companies which are called subsidiaries. An example of a hugely popular conglomerate is The Walt Disney Company which has subsidiaries which it owns (Pixar, LucasFilm, Marvel) as well as subsidiaries in almost all of the creative media sectors (radio, print, film, animation, TV, Interactive Media, and Games). They also have subsidiaries in the music industry.

Independent media companies are any company which isn't influenced by the government or corporate interests. An advantage of being an independent company is that you have a niche target audience and can create the films you want. 

Cross media ownership is the diversifying of a company to begin to create different products. An example of this is Disney creating a record label for the soundtracks of their films. 

Mergers are the combination of two media companies coming together to create a bigger media company.An example of merging within the larger creative media industry is the merging of Virgin records and Mercury records to create the record label Virgin EMI. An advantage of a merger like this is that both companies originally had artists signed, so these artists became a shared product when the companies were merged. 

During a Takeover one company gains control over another company. An example of a media takeover is when Virgin Media was sold to Liberty Global.