Unit 30 LO2 – Legal and Ethical

A Legal issue that I need to address is copyright. I need to make sure that I only use images that I either own the copyright to or have a specific permission from the copyright holder to use. This might mean buying the right to use the picture from the copyright holder or buying a more general user license from an agency. Copyright is a big issue in photography now, with many photographers complaining that people think that once a photo is online is free to use when it really isn’t.

Another legal issue is releases and permissions from models. I’m not sure this is going to be relevant for my work on this issue because I’m focussing on landscape photography but generally you need to ensure any models sign a release to appear in your magazine.

For landscape photography a third legal issue might also be about permissions, this time to not trespass but only go onto public land or onto private land only if you have permission from the landowner.

Although my current issue plans are about nature photography, an ethical issue that often comes up in magazines is about representations of different people, particularly:-

Representations of unhealthy body weight in (particularly women) models

Representations of diversity – ethnic diversity but also age and disability

There are also questions of privacy – not taking photographs of people without their consent – and as my magazine is focussing on landscape photography in the country there is an ethical issue about responsible behaviour in the countryside and following the country code.

Magazines are regulated by the Press Complaints Commission who monitor magazines and press within the UK, they would check; Accuracy, Opportunity to Reply, Privacy, Harassment, Intrusion into Grief or Shock, Children, Children in Sex Cases, Hospitals, Reporting of Crime, Clandestine Devices and Subterfuge, Victims of Sexual Assault, Discrimination, Financial Journalism, Confidential Sources, Witness Payments in Criminal Trials and finally Payment to Criminals, These are all the things they look into when looking at a newspaper or magazine and it will be these guidelines I will follow when creating/publishing my magazine even though the majority will not apply to my magazine. They can also order magazines to publish a reply/apology but they cannot press charges against the magazine itself.