Flipside Media
15th June 2016
To whom it may concern,
I am writing to express my anger in regards to the recent job vacancy for a Digital Video Production Producer. I personally feel that it is completely wrong how this role is advertised as it conveys your company as really judgmental in terms of people they hire for a job. I will be discussing legal and ethical issues with this advert. The contracted hours listed are extremely misleading and would come with so many problems, for example someone that works 45 hours a week could potentially earn much less than someone that only works 10 hours a week. Surely something should be clearly stated about a fixed contract or at least make it clear that people that work less hours will earn less than those who work more. How you have said this is not fair at all and should immediately be changed, along with other things I have also seen to be wrong with this advert.
Referring back to the contract, the Equal payout act was introduced in 1970 ensuring all workers, no matter of their age or gender will get paid equally, therefore setting the pay as you have in the advert is also going against this legal act. Also being a video production producer requires no sort extreme movement or hard labour which is why I am also enraged with the suitable age being 30 years old. You have also written that you are looking specifically for a Male or Female aged below which is actually going against the Equality Act of 2003 and 2006 (Sex and Age). It is only right that you should target this job to anyone of any sex, gender, religion or age to give everyone an equal opportunity. Where you have stated that you are looking for someone with Christian views on religion is also out of order no one should have to follow a religion for a job in this industry, religion shouldn't be forced, it is optional. The employment equality act for religion and belief was introduced in 2003 also, meaning that there should be no discretion when choosing to hire someone depending on what they believe. This job requires me to shoot scenes at a high school without any sort of liability insurance meaning that everything is taken under my own belt as there is no contract set in place for me. I am entitled to liability rights which will ensure if anything is to go wrong whilst at location either injury or damages etc. I will be covered legally by Flipside Media. Along with this error I have also noticed that there are no signs of health and safety in place to keep me safe whilst shooting, as for any type of training too. It will not be possible to turn up and know what you are doing straight off without any hands on training to get used to the camera. Any applicants that are employed by this company should be covered by a legal trade union such as BECTU which costs around £100 for the year.
In the part where you have mentioned what we will actually be doing, you said that we will have to shoot re-enactments of previous experiences of rape or other serious cases which are known. In my eyes I think that this could have a seriously negative effect on the victims of these cases, also incase anything was to happen to them, they wouldn't be protected as you have not evidentally shown any Codes of Practice anywhere on your advert. As fairly large media company surely you should be putting down legal policies and procedures in place to protect anyone in the making of a production. You stated that you want this to show female victims and Male offenders even though Females aren't the only victims of rape, this goes against the equality act, just like the part I mentioned at the start of this letter. You want this production to show a positive view to both genders, where as having just Males as offenders and Females as victims, this will give a huge negative affect towards males which is a false representation as it is not true. both genders should have to have an equal representation so both are perceived as balanced to the audience.
Ofcom is a company that set the standards for Broadcasting inside the UK. There is approximately 10 or more sectors which are there to inform you of their policies and procedures. Sections One and Two, named: "Harm and Offence" and "Protecting the Under-Eighteens" are the ones I will be discussing in regards to the job advert. The regulation on the Ofcom website (www.ofcom.org.uk) is as follows; "1.8 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." So now if I compare this statement to the production brief of your advert, you can see that you're not abiding by Ofcom's rules and regulations, showing individuals on camera talking about their horrific previous experiences along with re-enactments of themselves going through what they have been through before is extremely illegal , which can infact lead to issues such as court cases; "you should interview teenagers and other individuals who might be/have been affected by the topic".
You request in the advert that you want us to shoot a re-enactment of a previous experience which would include explicit nudity of people under-age, which without me having to tell you, you know is against the law. There are no rules to abide by when recording a production meaning you do not care what we are to feature in the film, in this case there are high chances that we are to film such things that go against the Act of 1959, the Obscene Publications Act. Lawyers have to review the media and look for any signs of infringement that goes against the act, suggesting audience ages and whether or not the footage is deemed obscene. If in any case there are explicit scenery or other obscene imagery, it is up to the BBFC to limit the film or TV show to a specific audience range, in case it is not appropriate for viewing of a younger audience. Now the last thing is that you have asked to use a popular music track with only a £20, however to use a popular music track you will have to pay at least around £200, otherwise you will be breaching the Copyright Law of 1988 which restricts the use of using other people music for free. You will have to supply people with a higher budget if you want a more popular soundtrack. Using free online sound libraries is an easy way around this however the music is not usually as good quality and not normally what you would be looking for.
I hope you take the time to amend your advert so it is not mis-leading for others that wish to apply for this role.
Yours Sincerely,
Liam Culham
Sources:
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/harm-and-offence/
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadcast-codes/broadcast-code/protecting-under-eighteens/
https://www.iwf.org.uk/hotline/the-laws/criminally-obscene-adult-content/obscene-publications-act-1959-and-1964
https://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/uk_law_summary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Pay_Act_1970
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Equality_(Religion_or_Belief)_Regulations_2003
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/liability-employees-and-agents
https://www.bectu.org.uk/about
http://btecmediaen1.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/E.%20Assignment%204%3A%20The%20Industry
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