M3 - First Draft

Omniya Tajni

M3: Describe legal and ethical considerations required to comply with regulatory bodies for an original media programme

Before I record any audio, I need for my radio segment, I need to make sure that I take legal and ethical considerations in order to steer clear of any legal issues that may arise in the production of my radio segment.

The first legal issue that I need to address was the release forms. Before I record any audio of the interviewees, I would need to make sure I have consent forms ready with me for them to sign. The reason for this is because they will be able to give me their consent to use and edit their voice and to distribute it when necessary. The reason why getting the interviewees to sign the consent form is so important is because if they didn’t sign anything and they hear their voice in a public platform and they feel uncomfortable with this, they have every right to fine/sue me against this as they didn’t sign anything and this would then lead to the radio segment being taken down.

These are evidence of the consent forms that I got the interviewees to sign:

The client brief has stated that I must film 5 extra pieces of audio for my radio segment, I have decided that the 5 audio I will be recording is ‘chattering/laughing, children playing, café busy atmosphere and coffee machine at a café’. With the audio of the café busy atmosphere and coffee machine at a café, I will need to ask for permission to record this as these are sounds recorded in someone’s business and I would require permission to record audio inside their business. I will also be needing permission to recording the children playing, as they will be my cousins playing, and under the age of 16 therefore I require permission from their parent’s in order to record them.

The client brief has also stated that I must have an intro and outro music for my radio segment. I will be looking for music online that will work well with my product. When it will come to finding music, I need to make sure that the music is copyright and royalty free, as I would have a right to use the song. Although I do this, I need to make sure that towards the end of my radio segment I credit the company/individual that created this music. The reason why this is a legal issue is because if I was to use a music that is copyrighted without permission and the artist found out, they have every right to fine/sue me and will lead to my radio segment to be taken down.

Due to the fact that I will be talking about businesses, I need to make sure that my interviewees don’t speak bad about the business. This is defamation which is speaking badly about a person or business and due to the fact this will be recorded for a radio station it would be considered as slander. Although the idea of my radio segment is about the love for dessert/café restaurants. I need to make sure that they don’t speak badly about the business and give information that is not true. As the employers could fine me against this which will lead to my radio segment be taken down.

Overall, taking legal and ethical considerations is really important for my radio production as anything that I don’t follow would lead to my radio segment being taken down and legal issues would arise for me and my clients.