Letter of complaint

To whom it may concern,

The purpose of this letter is to point out the contractual, legal and ethical issues with the job advertisement hiring an apprentice digital video production producer for Flipside Media. A contract is a legal agreement between employee and employer and when considering to agree to one or not taking special care to consider what you are being asked to do (Job role), when you are being asked to do it and the payment that is going to be received and how it will be received. Also sometimes featuring in contracts are confidentiality clauses which are agreements that if signed mean that certain specified information is not allowed to be shared with people unless permitted. These are commonly used within the film and television industry. An example of why one might be used is to ensure a film plot isn't leaked before release. Also featured are exclusivity clauses meaning a person cannot work for companies within the same sector, this can only feature in a contract and not a job application form.
In this job advertisement some infringements of law can be found and would need to be amended to make the advertisement legal. Firstly we can see the Equality Act 2010 is broken within this advertisement as we see it request applicants be "aged below 30" and have "Christian" beliefs. This doesn't comply with the Equality Act 2010 which encompasses the former Equal Pay Act 1970, Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Race Discrimination Act 1976, Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Employment Equality (Religion or belief) Regulations 2003, Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. We also see towards the bottom of the advert that it says " As we are a Christian lead organisation, you should promote the ideals of the Christian faith and try to encourage young people to contact us". This again could be seen to infringe the Equality Act 2010 on the basis of not allowing religious freedom.
Employees are responsible for the safety and well being of their employees and are liable for any physical or emotional harm as well as any employee acts or omissions whilst in their employment. This may cause problems for any applicants in regards to the application tasked mentioned in the advert. Applicants are required to make a short documentary to be shown to children at a high school to promote a "no means no date rape campaign" which should include "interviews with teenagers as well as victims and offenders". As the the documentary is of a sensitive nature and is going to be shown to children, you as the applicant wouldn't be protected by the potential employer if any issues were to arise from displeased parents as you would not yet be an employee nor would you be protected if any laws were broken because of proper permissions not being obtained before shooting. It also asked the applicant to utilize a popular soundtrack. This may also cause problems because most popular music will require the purchasing of a copyright for use which would be very expensive which you would not be covered for as again you would not be an employee. Although the advertisement does say the applicant will be recompensed this is only to the value of £20 which probably wouldn't cover the cost. Employees are also responsible for the health and safety of their employees while they are at work. If injured or if an illness is caused from work employees or former employees may claim compensation and The Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969 ensures a minimum level of insurance cover against any such claims. Trade unions also exist to protect employees within the media industry, the most prominent being BECTU which provides a wide range of services to its 25,000 members, including:

• Negotiating pay, conditions and contracts with employers
• Personal advice and representation for individual members
• Advice and representation on health and safety
• Benefits and services for BECTU members
• Training support and courses
• Networking events and career development opportunities
• Union journal, Stage Screen and Radio, published six times a year.
• Website designed to improve access to the union's advice and support.

Codes of practice are not law however exist to protect usually the consumer and citizen and feature heavily within the film and television industry. Employers in this case Flipside media are responsible for drawing up such codes of practice for them selves individually. These are made to promote good practice and avoid legal issues. Applicants here could be helped out by being given some codes of practice to help them avoid some issues that may arise with the application task. Such an issue may me misrepresentation. The task requires the interviewing of "female victims and male offenders". This may be seen as bias and trying to insert a stereotype rather than using facts. This may offend some people and could be seen as manipulating a story or subject to make it more interesting.Because of such representation this can lead an audience to favour or reject certain people or places. This has lead some to say that the media can exacerbate social issues and problems instead of just bringing them to our attention. |Here in this case the fear would be that males would be seen as the sole offenders of sexual assault and that they couldn't also be victims.
We also have issues concerning the protection of children regarding the application task which asks the applicant to "plan and produce a short documentary that can be shown to children at a high school promoting the No means no date rape campaign. You should interview teenagers and other individuals who might be/have been affected by the topic, including female victims and male offenders".. The permission of parents would be needed to allow the filming of them as well as permission to allow students to watch the film. Regulatory bodies such as Ofcom have broadcasting codes designed to protect children. The applicant would have to be extremely careful also to not identify any victims or offender unless given permission as also stated by Ofcom  which states "Where statutory or other legal restrictions apply preventing personal identification, broadcasters should also be particularly careful not to provide clues which may lead to the identification of those who are not yet adult (the defining age may differ in different parts of the UK) and who are, or might be, involved as a victim, witness, defendant or other perpetrator in the case of sexual offences featured in criminal, civil or family court proceedings:
by reporting limited information which may be pieced together with
other information available elsewhere, for example in newspaper reports (the ‘jigsaw effect');
inadvertently, for example by describing an offence as "incest"; or
in any other indirect way."
It is also stated in the ofcom code that "Due care must be taken over the physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of people under eighteen who take part or are otherwise involved in programmes. This is irrespective of any consent given by the participant or by a parent, guardian or other person over the age of eighteen.
 People under eighteen must not be caused unnecessary distress or anxiety by their involvement in programmes or by the broadcast of those programmes."
Ofcom is required by The communications Act 2003 and The Broadcasting Act 1990 to draw up a code which they then enforce and so breaching this code may have consequences for the applicant.
Also a potential problem due to the requirement of "re-enactments" that are to be included infringe The Obscene Publications Act 1959 due the target audience of the documentary and lawyers may be required to determine whether any re-enactments were deemed legal.
The BBFC would also have to certificate the film to label it suitable for a certain age. Due to the sexual and violent topic. Due to this an the possible featuring of these in the film I would expect the film to be rated either a 15 or an 18. The BBFC states that films with:

• strong violence
•  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•   portrayals of sexual activity
•   strong verbal references to sex
•   sexual nudity
•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•   discriminatory language or behaviour
•   drug taking

Would be classified as a 15 certificate making it illegal for anyone under the age of 15 to view such a film at a school. Which the applicant and company would have to be made aware of, this film could also be and 18 depending on how graphic and strong the scenes included are with BBFC stating 18 certificates can include:

• very strong violence
•   frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***') and / or very strong language (e.g. ‘c***’)
•   strong portrayals of sexual activity
•   scenes of sexual violence
•   strong horror
•   strong blood and gore
•   real sex (in some circumstances)
•   discriminatory language and behaviour.

If the film included these then it would not be suitable for high school children and therefore wouldn't be able to be shown.
We also have a potential problem in the use of " a popular song" as this would require an expensive copy right for it to be used legally. Any intellectual property is protected and can include a brand, an invention, a design, a song or any other intellectual property which can be bought, sold and owned. In this case the song would be owned by a record label which would have to be paid in order to purchase a copy right. This would be very expensive and much more the company have stated they will recompense.

In reading this I hope you will amend this job advertisement as to comply with all legislation, codes of practice and regulations mentioned previously.


Yours sincerely,



Adam Hunter.