LO2 - Legal and Ethical considerations

Ways the magazine could break the law:

• Could violate copyright laws
• Could accidentally include a person in a photograph
• Slander - could make a false statement

Obscene Publications Act 1959 and 1964

This law makes it 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.

How I will avoid violating the Obscene Publications Act:

• I won't use any images that could be considered pornographic.
• I won't use any images or language that could be considered very distressing to the target audience, for example reference to death
• I won't use any language or images that could be considered offensive, for example reference to racism or homophobia.

The Defamation Act 2013

This act states that a publisher has broken the law when it publishes content in which:

• A statement is defamatory when its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the reputation of the claimant.
• For the purposes of this section, harm to the reputation of a body that trades for profit when it has cause or is likely to cause the body serious financial loss.

How I will avoid violating the Defamation Act

• I won't write false or undermining statements about anyone who might feature in the magazine.
• I won't downgrade any company that may be affiliated with the topic of the magazine.

Copyright Law

At its heart copyright law covers the publication of content (written or image) without the permission of the author/copyright holder.

• Under the 1995 Regulations of the period of author's copyright was extended, to the lifetime of the author and 70 years thereafter.
• The publisher's (separate) copyright, in the typographical arrangement of a printed work, lasts for 25 years from the end of the year in which publication occurred. This protects a publisher's copyright in all printed works: including books, magazines, newspapers, and other periodicals

How I will avoid infringement of copyright laws:

• I will produce all material that will be included in the magazine myself, or I will gain a company's permission to include their copyrighted material in my magazine.

I contacted the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust to gain permission to use their logo in an advert on the back of the magazine.

Negligent Publication

The author and/or the publisher under certain circumstances, either individually or jointly, could be found liable for "incitement" or "negligent publication" if a reader of their publication is seriously injured, dies or suffers damage to their personal property after acting upon or using the content contained in the publication.

How I will avoid breaking Negligent Publication law:

• I will not produce any material that might advise a reader to do anything potentially harmful, without a warning

Ethical Issues

• Ethical issues are those not covered by law, for example if a fashion magazine uses real furs in a shoot some may say this is unethical.
• Use of models and their treatment is the likely most common ethical issue to arise from magazine publication.
• Also content can cause ethical issues as well e.g. long term effects of gaming, body shaming, fad diets, fitness regimes etc.

How I will avoid ethical issues:

• I won't portray any sensitive ethical matters in a negative way.
• I won't use too much Photoshop or other editing software on my images; they will be as much the state they started in as possible.