Letter of complaint

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter regarding the Apprentice Digital Video Production Producer job advert that has recently been released. The job description for part of a factual programme production team has a variety of discriminating terms that states must be met in order to apply. For example, stating that applicant must have religious views of a Christian. This violates The Equality Act 2010, which states that it is illegal to discriminate against any individual based on their religious beliefs, which is classed as a protected characteristic under the act. In the advertisement, it states that any application can be handed in at the front desk of your Norwich office or sent to the HR of your department HR@liverecruitment.co.uk. However, this does not state that personal information will not be shared, as there is no confidentiality clause. A confidentiality clause is a clause in the contract of employment that states that personal information will not be shared to other companies and employers. This causes the job to lack security. However the section below where it states that you must not apply for any other job of this nature incorporates an exclusivity clause that no two production companies conflict with another and market the same brand, which adds legitimacy to the job advert.

The Equality Act 2010 incorporated previous equality acts of parliament into one single piece of legislation. For example this includes:

- The Equal Pay Act 1970

- Sex Discrimination Act 1975

- Race Relations Act 1976

- Disability Discrimination Act 1995

By incorporating this into one single document, the Equality Act has simplified the extent to which discrimination takes place. This ensures that all individuals including employees and employers are protected under the act.

Another piece of legislation is the Equal Opportunities. This outlines a code of practice of equitable treatment by complying to the The Equality Act. There are many areas in how the individual can be discriminated against, for example direct discrimination. This is where the individual is treated differently from the other staff and in a sense the non-favored one due to a protected characteristic. Indirect discrimination is where a practice or certain task applies to everyone equally, however has a disproportional effect on those who posses a protected characteristic, for example an individual that finds it hard to comply because of their age. This is also included in your job advert where it states you must “below the age of 30 years old” to apply. This is breaching the Employment Equality Regulations on age 2006, by discriminating against someone of an older age to take part in the production.

The Employers Liability Act 1969 ensures that the employers are responsible for the health and safety of their employees while they are in the working environment, also if an employee falls ill due to working in a certain environment, for this to occur there is insurance to cover any claims. The Employee Rights Act 1996, when an employee begins employment the employer must give them a written statement of what the employment entails, with all health and safety information and when the employee begins and ends, this protects the employee from exploitation from and employer. An example from your job advert is the 'hours' section where it declares the hours to be worked 'between 10-45 per week (variable)' this does not state how many hours the individual will be contracted to because it can vary, therefore violating the Employee Rights Act 1996 by not giving clear information. Trade unions are also available to protect workers rights and ensure that they will back up the individual if exploited or their contract is breached by the employer or even by the individual. BECTU, Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematography and Theatre Union is a trade union that supports employees in the media industry. A small sum of money each month is paid and adds up to the protection needed for legal aid. BECTU works for the employee by using the influence to persuade employers to treat and pay their staff fairly, they can stand up for improvements to pay and work conditions of employment, additionally hours, sick pay and job confidentiality.

The representation of your advert creates of a specific ideology and stereotype. For example, you stated that 'You should interview teenagers and other individuals who might be/have been affected by the topic, including female victims and male offenders who will talk candidly to the camera'. This shows the representations of males as being the sexual offenders and the females as always being the victims. This is misleading the audience and therefore the 'factual' side of this is questionable, this is also relating to social concerns and how the media portrays those in the spotlight. This could also create a moral panic, which is a feeling a large group of society expresses against a certain 'type' of individual. It is unrepresentative how the media portrays certain parts of society and if this were to be produced it would be harmful to those that are categorised in the 'dangerous' in society on the basis of how the media has stereotyped them, which manipulates the audience.

There is also legal issues that surround this subject, the regulators exist to enforce the law on broadcasting issues and make sure every broadcast complies with the rules when it comes to the media. The Broadcasting Act 1990 created this and made it law that there must be a regulatory body that enforces this. The act states that 'the rules to be observed with respect to the showing of violence or the inclusion of sounds suggestive of violence including licensed services, particularly when large numbers of children or young people may be expected for viewing. In your job advert it states it is a 'short documentary that can be shown to children at a high school promoting the No Means No campaign', and the brief is to document an issue regarding rape which could be documented in an inappropriate way therefore this would be difficult to show a campaign like this to a high school full of under-age pupils. This could be argued as a breach of The Broadcasting Act 1990 for the protection of those under age against exposing footage, in a high school the ages can range from 11-16 which is a large gap to be showing the same footage that could potentially be psychologically harmful to those who are younger than the age of consent which is 16. The most commonly known regulatory body is Ofcom, they have a code that applies to protecting the under 18's, an example from the code:

“Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of people under eighteen must not be broadcast.

This could damage the minds of the underage by painting males in the picture as the only ones who would be involved with an activity as such as this could affect not only how they see the males in their life but how they see males in general. 

 This gives Ofcom the authority to be regulators and to report and carry through any issues relating to a broadcasting issue in which they have the power to.

Intellectual property applies to the job advert as well, 'you should use a popular music soundtrack that will appeal to the target audience'. In much smaller text, you add that 'you will be recompensed up to the value of £20 for he production of the video'. This violates the Copyright Act 1988 that states you cannot reproduce sounds from which are owned by an individual and that you do not have the rights to. Therefore, much of your intentions are directly breaking the law.

I hope you take responsibility for the issues that have been addressed in this letter. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely,

Ehren Harris