Fact Sheet

Dylan Massey Unit 1

Regulatory Bodies

Regulatory bodies
A Regulatory Body is an organisation that sets and maintains rules
that magazine and newspaper companies have to follow. A regulatory
body is often set by the government to establish national standards
and to ensure consistent compliance with them.

IPSO
IPSO stands for Independent Press Standards Organisation. The
IPSO was first established in September of 2014 after the windup of
the PCC (Press Complaints Commission), which closed down after they received extensive
criticism for its lack of action in the News of the World phone hacking affair. The purpose of
the IPSO is to hold magazines and newspapers accountable for their actions to help protect
individual rights and maintain freedom of press.
https://www.ipso.co.uk/

How they do it
When the ipso receives a complaint they will see if it is something that they can handle and if
the issues that have been raised and if the issue raised has broken the code. The way that
the IPSO sets and monitors the rules and standards is through complaints made against
publications that might have breached the Editors Code and so they can set up
investigations to see where the magazine has caused complaints.The IPSO makes sure that
member newspapers and magazines follow the Editors' Code. They investigate complaints
about printed and online material that may breach the Editors’ Code. The IPSO is run by a
board which has 12 members including IPSO’s Chairman. The IPSO's Board is responsible
for the oversight, vision and strategic direction of IPSO. They monitor performance and
provide advice, challenge and support. They are responsible for appointing the Complaints
Committee, but do not make decisions on complaints. The was the IPSO receives money

Editor’s Code of Practice

The Editors Code of Practice is a set of rules that the magazine and newspaper companies
set by the ISPO have agreed to follow. The Editors Code of Practice sets the standard so
that magazines and newspaper companies can be held accountable for their actions if the
complaint does have good reason to it.
Code application - https://www.ipso.co.uk/editors-code-of-practice/

Clause 1 (Accuracy)
The purpose for this clause is so the press don’t publish inaccurate information about people
such as misleading information or images.This would apply to magazine production because
editors are supposed to make sure that their magazine's information is accurate. This would
apply to Empire Magazine because it is a film magazines contain information about films and
actors so a film magazine would have to have good and credible information about the films
they are promoting or about actors they are talking about

Clause 2 (Privacy)
The purpose for this clause is so editors respect people's private and family life and not
invade their privacy so photographers can not photograph individuals without their consent,
in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. This applies to
magazine production because magazines usually contain photos of people and
photographers are not allowed to take photographs of people without their permission and
editors wouldn’t be able to use the photos either. This would apply to Empire Magazine
because it is a film magazine and film magazines contain photos of celebrities so Empire
would not be able to use photos of anybody in their private and family life without their
consent

Clause 12 (Discriminaton)
The purpose for this clause is so the press avoids publishing any thing that could be seen as
prejudicial reference to an individual's race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual
orientation or to any physical or mental illness or disability. This applies to magazine
production because magazines could contain articles where something that could be seen
as discriminatory against someone. This would apply to Empire Magazine because they
must ensure that all their content, including images and text, is fair and does not
discriminate. They must also ensure that they don’t support any discriminatory ideas.

Judgement- The IPSO independently investigated whether Taltler magazine had breached
clause 16 of the laws of practises. Clause 16 is payment or offers of payment for stories,
pictures or information, which seek to exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorise
crime in general, must not be made directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals
or to their associates who may include family, friends and colleagues.is payment to
criminals. However, in conclusion the complaint was not upheld by IPSO. This could relate to
Empire because they might use payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or
information, which seek to exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorise crime in
general that might of been committed by celebrities or film directors or producers
ASA
The ASA ( Advertising Standards Authority) is an independent advertising
regulator that operates in the UK. They make sure that adverts across UK
media stick to the advertising codes. The Committee of Advertising
Practice (CAP) are the ones responsible for writing the advertising
Codes.The ASA and CAP are committed to regulating in a way that is transparent,
proportionate, targeted, evidence-based, consistent and accountable. The ASA have been
doing this for more than 50 years and their remit was further extended in 2011 to include
claims made by companies on their own websites and in social media spaces under their
control and in 2020, they managed to resolve 36,342 complaints relating to 22,823 adverts.

How they do it
The way that the ASA holds people accountable for breaking the CAP code is by responding
to concerns and complaints from consumers and they take action to ban adverts which are
misleading, harmful, offensive or irresponsible. They also monitor adverts to make sure that
they are following the rules

CAP code- The CAP code is a set of rules that advertising companies set by the ASA have
agreed to follow. The CAP code sets the standard so that magazines and newspaper
companies can be held accountable for their actions if the complaint does have good reason
to it, specifically the non-broadcast code for print adverts.
Code Application -

3 Misleading information:
This rule is so that marketing communications do not materially mislead their audience, such
as obvious exaggerations or claims that the average consumer who sees the marketing
communication is unlikely to take literally are allowed provided they do not materially
mislead. Also, marketing communications must not mislead by hiding material information or
presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner. Material information
is information that the consumer needs to make informed decisions in relation to a product.
This applies to magazine production because magazines contain advertisements for
products that their target audience want. The adverts in the Empire magazine must not
mislead the audience by telling them false information about the product.

4 Harm and offence:

This rule is to make sure that marketing communications must not contain anything that is
likely to cause serious or widespread offence such causing offence to someone because of
their age; disability; gender; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy
and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. Also any references to
anyone who is dead must be handled with particular care to avoid causing offence or
distress.This applies to magazine production because magazines could contain adverts
where something that could be seen as discriminatory against someone. This would apply to
Empire Magazine as it contains adverts and the content of these adverts must not cause
harm and offence.

6 Privacy:
This rule is to make sure that marketers don’t unfairly portray or refer to anyone in an
adverse or offensive way such as referring to or portraying a member of the public or his or
her identifiable possessions; the use of a crowd scene or a general public location may be
acceptable without permission. Also prior permission might not be needed if the marketing
communication contains nothing that is inconsistent with the position or views of the featured
person. This applies to magazine production because magazines usually contain adverts
and those adverts would not be able to unfairly portray anyone in an adverse or offensive
way in the advert. This would apply to Empire Magazine because it is a film magazine and
contains advertisements for films and tv shows so they would not be able to represent a
member of the public or his or her known possessions in an adverse or offensive way in their
adverts.
Judgement - An ad for Strasse Garage, seen in the 911 and Porsche World Magazine on 28
February 2019 featured an image of the lower half of a woman’s body wearing a black fitted
mini-dress and brightly coloured high heels positioned underneath a car, surrounded by car
tools and a handbag. Text positioned across the image stated “ATTRACTIVE
SERVICING”.The complainant believed that the ad was degrading and sexist towards
women, challenged whether the ad was offensive and irresponsible. Then after the
complaint was made the ASA upheld it and now the ad must not appear in its current form
and Porsche World Magazine was to ensure their advertising was socially responsible and
did not cause serious offence by objectifying women. This could be relevant to Empire
magazine because it could feature and advert for a film with a female lead and it could say
something sexist about the film or the actress