Thursday 16th June 2016
To whom it may concern,
I am writing about the Apprentice Digital Video
Production Producer advertisement. I am concerned that in your job offer you
have advertised for appilcants to create about a documentary on rape and showing it to high
school students. The job title advertised is a good place to start as a job and it isn't explicit job title but the topic you want the applicant to create on the topic of rape is quite explicit to show to that age group
of 11-16 year old pupils as they do not turn of age until the last year of high
school.
However, there are also legal
points I wish to bring to your attention. A contract is a written or a verbal
agreement, usually concerning employment. This is there for the new employee to show how many them how many hours they will be working and how much they will be paid . A confidentiality clause is when both
parties agree on what is said and they should not break the rules on what has
been said. This is put into place by the employer to help keep the clients and journalists sources quiet/ protected if they do not want them to be announced publicly.
The Equality Act is for people within the work
placement so they are not to discriminated against. It is illegal to employ
when you are discriminating. This is broken because you say you would like
Christian views which discriminates against other religious views. You said you
want people under the age of 30 that means you are limiting yourselves and you
are also being ageist and not conforming to the ideals of equality and
diversity. In fact, people over the age of 30 maybe able to that job better
that a 16 year old who is still studying for GCSEs. You are not being an equal
opportunities employer as you have stated what age and religion you are looking
for; these characteristics are protected under the Equality Act in chapter 1.
At this stage the people who have applied for this job do not have employees' right which could leave them open to legal action if there is something in this documentary which is breaking copyright law. People who have applied have not got health and safety training before hand and therefore may not be able to identify people who may be at risk of mental and physical abuse because of this production so the applicant will not be able to give appropriate help and guidance if said person has any complications.
Trade Union will only protect the employees'. A potential candidate at this point is not protected by the Trade Union. BECTU's is a Trade Union that will protect freelance people for a membership which is about £120. The candidate could be prosecuted for copyright as you have asked for a popular soundtrack which is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and with the budget of £20 you have given that is not enough to buy the rights to use a certain song.
I understand that the codes of practice are not the
law but they are there for good working within a company to protect the citizen
and consumer. For filming you need to have the parent permission to film their
son/daughter as you have said to interview teenagers who could be a minor.
Do you really think you are promoting
good practice? If not, you may find there are legal issues later on.
The way you have represented the
individuals/group is wrong as you have said 'female victims and male offenders':
This suggest that only women are victims and male are offenders but this is
wrong as you can get female offenders and male victims this is one being
discriminative and offensive. If they have seen a documentary on rape and it is
only showing female victims, male victims may not come forward about being
raped. Also the fact you have only given one religious view which is
Christian which excludes any other religions it could be shown to.
The social concerns on this topic is if it is shown to high school student they may be immature about the topic of rape and then go and say they have watched a film on rape. Parents may get very annoyed about that. There are age restrictions to protect children for a reason. I will discuss the age ratings from the BBFC more when I get to the legal issues.
The way rape is portrayed by the media is that it is a
topic that is quite frequently covered. They almost always represent males as
aggressive and the show the female as helpless and weak. This topic may upset
and frighten female but also the male victims embarrassed to come forward and
report if they have been attacked.
The Ofcom broadcasting code of practice states that '1.1
Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development
of people under eighteen must not be broadcast.' and 'broadcasters must take all reasonable steps
to protect people under eighteen' and consider 'the nature of the content'; Your advert that it will be' shown to children at high school' Ofcom
was set up to protect viewers and is stated legally because of Communications
Act (2003) and the Broadcasting Act (1990). Ofcom also states from the harm and
offence section that '2.2 Factual programmes or items or portrayals of
factual matters must not materially mislead the audience.' and ' 2.3 In applying
generally accepted standards broadcasters must ensure that material which may
cause offence is justified by the context'...including such material as, 'offensive language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human
dignity, discriminatory treatment or language'.
You want to with your documentary include 'Re-enactments,
dramatization' This may be
acceptable in the context of the no means no campaign but with this you should
take the re-enactment up to a certain point.
The topic of rape may seem obscene to the
age range of the audience. This may mean a Lawyers would have to check the film
to see if it breaks The Obscene Publication Act (1959) which states that it is ' an offence to publish, whether for
gain or not, any content whose effect will tend to "deprave and
corrupt" those likely to read, see or hear the matter contained or
embodied in it. This could include images of extreme sexual activity such as bestiality,
necrophilia, rape or torture.' and if you go too far with what
you would like to include in your documentary it could be classed as por*#?aphy
which could mean you face a fine or prison.
With the age rating certification from the BBFC with the topic of rape and what sort of content you would like the applicant to do I would rate your documentary with the minimum age rating of a 15 because the 15 certificate rating say sexual activity may be portrayed but without 'strong detail' ... 'verbal references to sexual behaviour' unless 'justified by content' and the maximum of an 18. The 18 certification note that where 'sex material genuinely seeks to inform and educate' about 'safer sex and health explicit images of sexual activity may be permitted' but remember this is being presented to school children, therefore they are under 18 with what is defined from the BBFC.
You have asked candidates to create this documentary for the 'No Means No' campaign. Even though your company may want show to children round school, the video documentary itself is still owned by the candidate and the copyright remains as his or her intellectual property. If you show it to make money/try passing it off as your own before you hire them, you are breaking copyright laws as it is still owned by the candidate. With the song you have asked them to use a popular sound track which is owned by the artist music company/ the artist themselves, the candidate would be fined if they use the song.
In conclusion I would change your job advert to make it more friendly for people who are older than 30 so they have a chance, maybe up the age group to college and uni studentsto show it to as they should be more mature about that topic. If you don't want to change this job task for said application it can be taken into more serious matters such a court.
I hope you take your time to read this letter and take into action what has been said.
Yours Sincerely,
Miss F.A. Yaxley
