Ethical and legal considerations in media

Legal considerations in media:

There are many things that people have to think about before releasing their work to the world. One of those things is copyright. Copyright is in place so that the original creators can have their work credited and have less people try to falsely claim it as their own. In the UK, copyright is an automatic right and you do not have to apply for your work to be copyrighted. All you have to do is put the universal copyrighted symbol, followed by your name, and the year of creation. People may get a warning notice if they have unknowingly infringed on someone's copyright, if this person continues to ignore the warnings and carries on using/advertising or profiting from someone's work, they can face legal fines and/or imprisonment. YouTube is an example of this and if you have used another creator's sound, then your video will be taken down by YouTube for infringing someone's copyright and not abiding to YouTubes policy.

Ethical considerations in media:

Ethical considerations are when you take into account the content of your work and whether it will have a harmful impact on others. This applies to primary research in particular. First you must make sure each participant has fully consented and that they know they can withdraw from the study at any time. Once you have collected your data from others (their experience, info etc) you need to protect the participants privacy, anonymity and data. You should avoid using discriminatory language at all times. Practice confidentiality and do not exaggerate, downplay or alter the information you were given, as this will harm people. Overall, ethical considerations are in place to protect someone's privacy and wellbeing throughout the study, without directly or indirectly harming them. An example in media would be to prevent harm in the videos/movies/books/posts created and uploaded.