Legal and ethical issues

Constraint	Describe the details of constraint	Explain how the constraint will directly impact on your work
voice artist release forms- Clearances and permissions	A release form is a legal document that is designed to prevent you from getting sued for the unauthorized use of someone’s image or the voice. Without this, producers could be forced to delete any audio that contains the voice of a party who says that they don't want to be part of the production anymore.	We won't be required to pay the actors for their work as the release form states that they will receive no monetary compensation for the use of their voice. This will benefit us as it won’t affect our budget for this radio show. However, if this was a Radio show on BBC, the voice actors would get paid per episode that airs as a way to give credit to them for using their voice acting really well.
PPL	A Phonographic Performance Limited is a British music copyright collective. It is a company that is limited in the UK. The purpose of PPL is to grant a license to the copyrighted sound recording for Radio broadcasts and consumers.	We may not be able to use music that is originally from someone else and record our own sound content if we are unable to get a license. This would limit us to any piece of audio we may want. If this was a radio show that aired somewhere, else, such as BBC Radio 4, we would be required to record our own piece of audio.
PRS	PRS is the Performing Right Society. They pay royalties to their members when their works are broadcasted. They collect royalties through licensing agreements with music users.	We may be able to get a lot of attention from people in regards to getting people to listen to our radio show. As it is a If this was a radio show on BBC, we would easily get recognition as they are a big company.
Royalties	Royalties are payments that buy the right to use someone else's property. For radio, royalties are paid when  song is played on a radio station.	We may not have enough money to buy someone’s property or to pay to use someone’s content for the radio show, resulting in there being limited options in terms of what we could add. If this was a show for BBC, we would kindly ask them to give some money so that we can use someone else's property.
Copyright	Copyright is when someone has control over who uses their material and how they use it. There are different types of products which are covered by copyright, such as books, music, paintings, sculpture, radio and film.	We may need to get permission to use some audio content, which could delay the production as it could take a bit of time for the material owner to agree to it. However, we may be denied of use of any audio material we want to use, limiting our choices to some audio content that could be useful for our radio show.
Offensive content	This is content that could harm or cause an offense to someone. There are different type of ways these content would be distributed, such as films, articles, photographs and websites. For a radio show, even if the content is not visual, there may be some topics that are discussed which would spark an outrage from the listeners.	If we swear, say bad or controversial things in our radio show, people may take personal offense to this, resulting in our show facing backlash. This could result in people not wanting to listen to our radio wanting our radio show to be suspended, or even to go off air permanently. If this was for BBC, it would be unlikely that our show would get renewed for more episodes.
Slander	This is when someone makes a false spoken statement that could damage someone's reputation. In terms of being in a workplace or being in production of a media product, this constraint would make someone lose their job. If someone was to slander someone in any way, the person or company being slandered can file a lawsuit against this.	When we are talking about information to do with sports, we may get in trouble for saying information that may not be true. If this was on BBC, we would be in a risk of getting sued by someone of a company.
Defamation	The action of damaging  someone's reputation, which would be based on false information. This is something that can be used as a reason to sue someone. The only way this can be possible is if someone provides evidence of the material or words that caused harm to someone or their business	We would need to make sure that we state that our characters are fictional and that they are not a direct representation of any real person in any way. This is so that no one would take offense to any part of the storyline.
Representation	This is when you speak or act  on someone's behalf. This may be the description or portrayal of someone or something in a certain way	There are characters portrayed that may have a Scottish accent, which someone may not like as they would think that it is used for mockery. We must not stick to the usual stereotypes of people. If this was a show for BBC Radio, we would possibly mention that there are different characters with different background so that the listeners know in advance.

  

Regulatory Bodies

OFCOM is the office of communication. They regulate TV and Radio. They make sure that people get the best from their broadband, home phone and mobile service and also make sure that people enjoy what they watch on tv and what they listen to on the radio. One of their rules is that all communication providers should make sure that a customer’s concerns are taken seriously and be dealt with in the right way. 

Section 1 is protecting the under eighteens. This section states that the content for this media product must be appropriate to people under the age of 18. This includes the scheduling of the radio show as it is important that it is set at the time that this audience are able to access the show. For this radio show, we have scheduled the program to be at 6pm, which is a reasonable time as a lot of people under 18 are not working and would most likely be at home. 

Section 2 is harm and offence. This section states that any radio or tv show should provide content which doesn't harm of offend any audience member. This includes having any form of information that shouldn't mislead the audience. For our radio show, we would need to make sure that we state that the show is fictional at the beginning of the programme. 

Section 3 is crime, disorder, hatred and abuse. This section states that no content should glorify any form of criminal activity. This section covers material that is likely to incite crime or disorder. This includes content which directly or indirectly amounts to a call to criminal action. It also includes content which promotes or glorifies engagement to any criminal activities which can lead to a negative effect to a lot of people. For our radio show, we must ensure that we do not glorify any form of violence in the situation that is covered in the storyline. 

Section 4 is religion. This section states that radio and tv shows should not disrespect any religion. This section also states that religious programmes do not involve any abusive treatment of the religious views and beliefs of those belonging to a particular religion. For our radio show, we won't have any comments directed towards any religion and so that's how we prevent offending people of religious belief.

Voice artist release forms