Unit 1, Section 6: Regulators

Unit 1 Section 6 Task 3

Regulators. 

Censorship: When speech, public communication or other content is considered objectionable or harmful by regulators and is then cut or edited from media products. 

Classification: The decision made about the suitability of a media text for a particular age range after the content has viewed by regulators. The classification will be in the form of an age certificate (Film and video games), warning signs (Music, video games or broadcast time (TV,film)

IPSO: Independent Press Standard Organisation.

They are the independent regulator for newspapers and magazines in the UK. They have to ensure that all newspapers and magazines follow the editors code, they investigate complaints about any articles that may have violated the code. They also operate a 24 hour anti-harassment service. 

ASA: Advertising Standards Authority. 

This organisation is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media. The service applies advertising codes in which any media that wishes to advertises must follow to avoid offending anyone, being misleading or even being unethical. They have many values that need to be respected by advertisers.

OFCOM: Office of Communications. They regulate the TV, radio and video-on-demand sectors, fixed-line telecoms as well as mobiles and postal services. They're jobs include protecting people in the UK from scams and make sure that they get the best from communication services. The organisation also has a wide range of duties to follow such as ensuring that television viewers or radio listeners are protected from harmful content. 

PEGI: Pan European Game Information. It was launched to help european parents to help parents make decisions on buying computer games. For the games that they regulate, there are 5 age rating categories: PEGI- 3,7,12,16,18. The ratings are provided based on the type of content and the amount of violence, bad language or other harmful types of in-game scenes. 

BBFC: British Board of Film Classification. This is the board in the UK that regulate all films being shown in UK cinemas or sold on DVD. They have 6 main age categories. U, PG, 12A, 12, 15, 18. There is also an R18 category for other circumstances. The rating that they provide is based on how appropriate the film is. For example, if its rated 12A that means that a child under the age of 12 should not see the film unless they're accompanied by an adult. If its rated 12 then they should not see the film at all unless they are 12 or over.