Representation is how something is portrayed by other people and the media in certain way to make them seem a certain way. This can effect the person either negatively or positively. an example of this is Stirling Moss'es comments saying that women lack the mental capacity to compete in top level Motorsport these comments represent women as being unable to compete in Motorsport and that men are more intelligent and have a higher mental capacity than women.
Ofcom legal and ethical rules for gender representation.
the Ofcom broadcasting code states in section 2.1 that broadcasters must make sure that the audiences are adequately from harmful or offensive, this includes content that includes things such as racism and sexism. in section in section 2.3 the code states that harmful and offensive material may be used when the context of its use is justified. material covered by this may include things such as offensive language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human dignity, discriminatory treatment or language (for example on the grounds of age, disability, gender, race, religion, beliefs and sexual orientation) if any content containing any of this is used the context it is used in must be justified. also appropriate information should be included to minimise any offence or harm caused to audiences
Race Relations Act
The race relations acts purpose is to protect people from being discriminated against because of their race and ethnic backgrounds. This means that media organizations cannot publish or broadcast material that can be deemed offensive to ethnic or racial groups. This means that a TV broadcaster such as the BBC cannot produce a program representing people of a certain ethnic background as weaker than another.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/74
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emire/UNITED%20KINGDOM/RACERELATIONSACT1976RRA-EN.htm
below is a link to an article in the telegraph that talks about a jewish school breaking the race relations act by not allowing a pupil to start at the school because their mother was not "officially jewish" this is because she was not originally jewish but converted to being jewish.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5638119/Jewish-school-breaks-Race-Relations-Act.html
this act only applies to foreign ethnic cultures and diversities and does not apply to british backgrounds.
Obscene Publications act
The Obscene Publications acts makes it an offense to publish obscene material that Corrupts likely readers of the publication. this means that material cannot be published that contains acts such as beastiality, rape and pornography. also this means you can't intentionally produce such content.
There is a way to show such content in the media this is by displaying it after the watershed which is a period between 9pm and 5:30am where adult content is allowed to be shown you are not able to show adult content before the watershed as it is not suitable for children. The watershed applies to television but not radio which means that radio stations are not covered by this.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/7-8/66/introduction
http://www.eradar.eu/2011/05/obscene-publications-act-1959-1964/
http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/television/watershed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1738_respect/page9.shtml
the Representation of People act
this act is an act of parliament that means that no single political party can be represented in the media more than another and they must represent each party equally and not show one party more than another. this means that a broadcaster cannot be biased towards a particular political party. it is guidelines about how much time is given to each party and how they use it
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/elections/
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/2
Public order act
the public order acts purpose is about controlling violent and offensive material. this is to prevent the broadcast of material that can offend or harm ethical and national group. this means that it protects british people form offensive material being broadcast. this covers acts such as violence, abuse, discrimination, sex, drugs and offensive language.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/introduction
Sexual discrimination act
the sexual discrimination act is to prevent people from being discriminated against because of their gender this means that you cannot reject a job applicant because they are a woman.
http://www.diversityjobboard.co.uk/The_Sex_Discrimination_Act_1975.html
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/65
broadcasting act
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/42/contents
