Brief for writing ethical

1. Ethics in the
TV Industry

2. Ethics
I’ve been looking through your legal and
ethical presentations, and we would all
benefit from doing some work on the ethical
presentation

3. What are “ethics”?

4. What are “ethics”?
The moral principles that
define how a person or
group acts.

5. Ethical issues & TV producers
What kinds of issues affect TV producers?

6. Ethical issues & TV producers
What kinds of issues affect TV producers?
- Trust
- Impartiality
- Truth
- Privacy
- Serving the publics interest
- And many more

7. Ethics & the Beeb
Today we’re going to look at the ethical
standards that guide the BBC.

8. Ethics & the Beeb
How do the BBC ensure that they are an
ethical organisation?

9. Ethics & the Beeb
What policies & procedures do they have
which outline how their producers should act
ethically?

10. The BBC Charter
The BBC Trusts Charter sets out the
purpose & inner workings of the British
Broadcasting Corporation.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/governance/regulatory_framework/charter_agreement.html

11. The BBC Charter
The charter states that….
“The BBC exists to serve the public interest.”
This is the BBC’s prime moral principle.

12. BBC editorial guidelines
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/

13. BBC Editorial guidelines
The BBC has editorial guidelines which tell its
producers the principles & practices of acting
ethically, in detail.
The editorial guidelines set out how producers
should deal with issues such as impartiality,
accuracy, privacy etc….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/guidelines/

14. Eg/ Impartiality
The principles

15. Eg/ Impartiality
The practice

16. What if someone wants to make a
complaint about the ethical
standards of a programme they
appeared in, or which was about
them or featured them in some
way?

17. Complaints
What was I
thinking, going
on The Trisha
Show….
The BBC’s
Editorial
OFCOM
Standards
Committee

18. Editorial Standards Committee
The BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee
will investigate certain complaints (see their
guidelines for more details).
I have stored the ESC’s guidelines as a PDF
on the rooms hard-drive.

19. Editorial Standards Committee
The Committee will consider appeals concerning
complaints which allege that:
• the complainant has suffered unfair treatment either in
a transmitted programme or item, or in the process of
making the programme or item
• the complainant‟s privacy has been unjustifiably
infringed, either in a transmitted programme or item, or
in the process of making the programme or item
• there has otherwise been a failure to observe required
editorial standards

20. TASK 1
You will need to write a case study on the
BBC’s ethical guidelines.
You will need to comprehensively explain how
the BBC’s policies, procedures and code of
practice ensure their productions are ethical.
You should explain each individual guideline
and how this affects content producers.

21. Answer each of the following
How do the ethical guidelines affect how producers
represent subjects (for example people, religions,
abortion etc…)?
How do the BBC balance access (in the publics
interest) with privacy? What examples can you find
to support this?
Does the editorial guidelines / charter state that
producers should be objective or subjective? Why is
impartiality & balance important to producers? Why
shouldn’t producers be biased?

22. Answer each of the following
Explain the role that accuracy has in
producing programmes at the BBC.
Does accuracy relate to truth & trust?
Can bias & opinion really be truthful?

23. Important
You must explain & not just describe.
Explain:
to give reasons; what it is and why it is like
that, how it affects people.

24. Important
You must include examples for each of the
ethical issues you talk about if you want to
get higher than a pass.
The link to the newsletter (on the final page
of the .PPT) is a treasure trove of examples.
Use them to highlight your findings.

25. BBC editorial guidelines
The editorial guidelines contain all the rules which state how BBC
producers must act ethically.

26. BBC Charter
The BBC charter sets out the BBC’s core
values.

27. Newsletter
The BBC’s newsletter has some GREAT EXAMPLES about how the issues affect
their producers. Read some articles and use them as examples to aim for the
merit & distinction grades.

28. Useful links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguid
elines/newsletters/7/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/pag
e/guidelines-editorial-values-charter/