LO3/M3 Legal and Ethical

 Which regulators regulate the content on our radio programme?

One of the regulators that will regulate the content on our radio programme is OFCOM (office of communications). This regulator has several broadcasting codes that we will need to follow to make sure that it meets OFCOMs standards. The first is that it will need to protect the younger target audience, meaning that the content we have on the radio show needs to be carefully thought about so that it protects those who may be of younger age. Another is the fact that everything we say on the radio programme needs to make sure that it does not cause offence or harm to the listeners, otherwise we will get complaints. As well as this we also need to make sure that we don't cause offence to any religious people or their beliefs. 

Another is that we will want to think about the fact that when we are creating our show we need to make sure that we protect the privacy of anyone that may be included in our programme. Finally we will also need to make sure that everything we are saying about the Racecourse is fact checked first. This is so we don't mislead anyone that could listen to our radio programme and so that they will know about everything that is happening without being told false information.  

Which regulators regulate our radio Advertisement?

The regulator which will regulate the advertisement is the ASA which stands for Advertising Standards Authority. The ASA is used to make sure that all advertisements are appropriate and do not have any legal or ethical issues as this could have the advertisements taken down by the ASA. There are many broadcasting codes that the ASA will expect us to follow such as misleading information as advertisements aren't allowed to have any information on them that are incorrect or is misleading to the listener. The second code is that advertisements should not create harm or offence such as using shock tactics or epilepsy. 

Another code is that if children are used in the advertisements they shouldn't be in or doing unsafe practices and there shouldn't be an unfair amount of pressure put on them. There is also a ban on political opinions and matters as well as there being certain products which cannot be found on advertisements at all. There are many other codes which relate to many different topics such as alcohol which we will not be using in our radio programme. There are also rules on social responsibility on gambling and betting this makes sure that nobody under the age of 18 is able to bet or gamble. This will also not be found in our advertisement.

Pick three elements of the content of your content script:​

How are you adhering to the broadcast OFCOM codes specific to radio broadcasts?​

In terms of ethical – how are you ensuring fair representation and non-offence to a wide variety of audiences?​

The way that we are making sure we adhere to OFCOMs broadcasting rules is by first going through each one and checking whether our radio programme is at the standards that OFCOM are asking for all the other radio programmes. An example of one of these would be the fact that it needs to make sure that it doesn't offend anyone that may be listening to it. This means that as we are planning our radio programme and writing the scripts for the advert and the main programme, we need to make sure that the content within it doesn't offend anyone that is listening to it. It will mean that we will need to carefully consider what will be on our script before reading it. 

Another example would be the fact that we need to make sure that the content on it is age appropriate for everyone listening. It will mean that again as we write our script we will need to adhere to the regulations that OFCOM have made in order to make sure that our content on the script is appropriate for all ages to listen to. Due to our radio programme being about Doncadter racecourse events and the advert being about the Hilton hotel, it will mean that all the content on the script should be appropriate for everyone anyway. 

In terms of the ethical consideration for out radio programme we will need to make sure that for things like the representation of people or offence we will need to make sure we dont target any specific groups of people while we are creating our script as well as when we are reading it and discussing about the different events that are taking place at the Doncaster racecourse. As well as this we will also need to make sure that there is no offence caused to anyone that might be listening to the radio programme. This will mean that when we are writing things like the script, everything will need to focus on the events and what's happening and not contain segments that might talk about people that may want to go or include anything that we seem like it is targeting groups of people. 

Pick two elements of the content of your advert:​

How are you adhering to the broadcast ASA codes specific to radio broadcasts?​

In terms of ethical – how are you ensuring fair representation and non-offence to a wide variety of audiences?​

The way that we will make sure our advert adheres to the broadcasting codes of ASA (advertising standards authority). This will mean that when creating our script we will need to make sure that we don't include things that may be bias or political as ASA do not allow for political content in the adverts as well as to make sure that we don't included any political views in our advert, though this will not happen due to our advert only focusing on the Hilton hotel and why people should stay/visit it while at the Doncaster racecourse. As well as this when writing our script we will need to make sure that the advert does not include any content that could be gamberling. This means that in the advert we cant talk about gamberling in a place like the Hilton hotel due to ASA not allowing it as well as not wanting under 18s to gamble.