LO2 Legal and Ethical

Obscene publications Act- illegal to publish content that may negatively influence readers for example overly explicit content on sexual acts, drug abuse and dangerous lifestyles. The audience for One Twenty could be negatively influenced by the nightlife being glamourised in the body copy, therefore it would be important not to dwell upon the abuse of alcohol as the magazine also targets those under the legal drinking age. To adhere to these laws i would have to ensure that the language used in the magazine is appropriate for a younger audience of sixteen, commenting frequently on the drink aware campaign and not giving competitions to win nights out too much presence in the majority of the magazine. When talking about live music and venues, it would be important to include age restrictions for certain places such as The Leadmill which is renound for being a venue appropriate for 14+. What with my star persona being female and the percentage of women readers being higher than male, it is crucial that the images are fairly representing young women, therefore no images in comprimising positions will be published in the magazine. With music and indie artists comes a stigma with bad attitudes and inappropriate language therefore when conducting the interview, should the artist use any bad language - it will be censored as to not encourage an impressionable audience.




Libel Law - illegal to publish defamatory content about a person or publish untrue information

- Not making false or defamatory statements about venues, artists.
- Ensuring that any information regarding sexual/ mental health is backed up with reliable sources such as the NHS as to not distribute false information

- giving a copy to the star persona that has been interviewed so that they can check for anything unsuitable therefore protecting yourself from accusations of defamation

To ensure that my magazines content adheres to this law it would be important to ensure that all content is truthful and in no way harmful to any other magazines or artists' reputation. For example , some of the content in my magazine is about sexual and mental health , where you can go for support or recieve medical attention therefore it would be important that all information on medical matters is factual and not misleading to the young, impressionable people reading it (reliable sources such as the NHS or mental health charities such as MIND). In the interviewed section of my magazine it will be crucial to ensure the subject of the interview does not make any comments that could be seen as damaging to the reputation of another band or venue in the city. Any Factual information must come from reliable sources for example .GOV .ORG .AC and should this not be possible, then all content needs to be referanced.


Copyright,Designs and Patents act:

Allows the producers of content to protect their intellectual property and for it not to be used without permission. For my magazine i would need to ensure that all models sign a release and content form so that i can use their image for the purpose outlined in the form - in  my case in various sections of the magazine. Another thing i would need to gain permission for is using clothing lines with branding in images in the magazine, if this isnt possible then items of clothing that feature large branding as part of the design need to be censored. I would also need location permission from the independent photography studio i intend to use for the main cover images, any other images need to be taken on public property as to not require location permission. The majority of the design work will be done by myself therefore i would have to ensure that the intellectual property rights for all of these designs belongs to me for example the masthead and branding of the magazine.


Laws of Contempt:

It is a criminal offence to publish content that poses a risk to justice in proceedings. Prevents magazines from publishing anything that is too sensationalist about a criminal case.


http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/children-help-police-crackdown-on-underage-drinking-in-sheffield-1-8381478

At present in sheffield there has been a crackdown on underage drinking which comes stereotypically with the lifestyle of those who go to gigs and concerts, until this investigation has come to an end and in the instance that someone was convicted for supplying alcohol to those underage - it can not be reported upon in the content of my magazine as to not effect court proceedings. In my magazine any information on nights out or images featuring those under the influence of alcohol shall not be given much presence as to not glamourise the lifetyle, there will also have to be significant presence of the Drink Aware campaign.



Ethical Issues-

It is important that my magazine features models of all abilities, religious background,genders and sexual preference as to not be in breach of serious ethical issues. Ethical issues cover various different things but generally means being aware of not causing offense when it comes to the above topics. For example when discussing sexual health, it is important to give advice on both homosexual and heterosexual relationships as to not discriminate against those with different sexual preferences. Knowing Sheffield is a multicultural society, it would be key to feature models of all diversities as to help the content of the magazine relate more clearly to all the different prospective readers.



Legal issues -

To ensure that I can use the likeness/ words of the artist I have chosen for my magazine, it would be important to get them to sign a consent and release form as to ensure that they give me full permissions to feature them in my publication. I also need to ensure that any content of the magazine does not breach libel law, whether that means checking any content given by the main cover star in interviews making thorough checks on any content using other artists names whilst also examining that anything said about the cover star of the magazine is not untruthful.