1. Unit 8 3A
Contracts and Ethics
Stefan Constantinou
Employment Contracts
There are many different types of employment contracts in the film and TV industry. A typical one
would be a Fixed Term, this is where workers will receive a contract from the organization they are
working for that reiterates how long they will work for the company for. For example, an office
worker at the BBC will tend to have hours along the lines as this and can work overtime if they
wanted.
Another is Full Time, this contract refers to when someone would work for roughly 35 hours as week
(7/8 hours a day – 9am – 4pm/5pm). If an employee chooses to work later than their designated
shifts, this is called Over-time, their salary will not be increased, on the other hand, they will be paid
extra wages hourly.
Whereas, a Part-Time follows the same rules in terms of being paid by the hour, but the contract
entails that a smaller amount of hours must be worked in comparison to the whole 35 hours. In
addition to this, the law in the UK ensures that Part-time workers will not be treated any less
favourable than a Full-time worker.
The most risky employment contract to be a part of is Freelance, this is someone who is selfemployed and therefore doesn’t work for one specific employer. They build a reputation for
themselves through the work they do, and others are notified through word of mouth as the
employers will tend to be friends or family. For example, a Freelance architect for the BBC may be
asked to create a model building that they will hope to build; they will receive payment hourly.
However, if that work runs out they will have no other secured income.
An On Completion contract would be an employer giving the client a specific amount of time to
complete the project they’ve been asked to do. The contract entails that the project must be
completed in the time allotted or the payment may be postponed or cancelled. For example, if the
BBC needed a new interactive media product, they would offer the person time to create it.
A Causal contract consists of an employee working when the company is in need of an employee.
The work is not permanent so the employee can decline the shifts if they do not want it. If they are
not needed they can get dismissed and stop the contract as they are only needed for small roles.
http://toma9696.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/types-of-contracts.html
Confidentially and Exclusivity
Confidentiality is necessary in a legal contract between a minimum of
two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge or
information shared between the two companies that they don’t wish to
share with a third party. A Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) contract is
presented to both parties ensuring that their shared and private
information is protected. In an employee’s situation at the BBC, they
would sign an NDA with an employer; this would bind the contract so
the information exposed by either of the parties will remain
confidential. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-disclosure_agreement

2. Unit 8 3A
Contracts and Ethics
Stefan Constantinou
An exclusivity agreement is a contract between two or more parties to maintain dealings with only
one another in a specific area of business. An exclusivity contract/agreement stabilizes a business
relationship; this leads to making the marketing process more predictable, therefore making the
strain on both parties a lot easier.
http://mobiledevices.about.com/od/carrierfaq/tp/Answers-To-5-Common-Queries-On-ExclusivityAgreements.htm
Codes of Practice
There are numerous Codes of Practice for the BBC; however these codes are categorized into 13
headings which all stand out in their own way. Significantly, Commissioning Guidelines, Editorial
Control and Rights are the most important and stand out the most.
Commissioning Guidelines is about the network and what they can and cannot do. It refers to
guidelines that the BBC must stick by to be the massive company it is today. An example of the
Commissioning Guidelines would be section 1.4; this involves the editing department’s process of
the offer and acceptance of program ideas for the BBC public television services. Gathering these
ideas will provide details the BBC use for organisational purposes.
Another Code of Practice for the BBC is Editorial Control. This section refers to the final editorial
control over the BBC versions of programs. This is done so numerous people look at the final cut so
it’s at a mutual professional standard.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/how-we-work/business-requirements/code-ofpractice.shtml
BBC Policies on Programming
The BBC aim to strengthen their performance in the regions of the UK. This will be done so by
improving the quality and diversity of the services they offer. In addition to this, they’ll plan a new
network of specialist reporters to improve the BBC’s coverage of local government; their main
priority is to ensure better programming in Scotland and Northern Ireland. They also hope to
introduce arts and culture, as they want that to be a key theme to BBC. They’re hoping for
collaboration between BBC Two and BBC Four, these are two documentary based channels, they
hope to offer eight hours of prime-time ‘Poetry Season’ to try and make the company seem more
coherent. They’re hoping to add new scientific shows to BBC One to make it more formal and
factual, one of the shows being introduced is ‘The Science Show’, this will intend to bring in a family
audience who will regularly watch the show. The BBC are hoping to be more diverse and reach out
to a wider range of partner organisations, this will build on the BBC’s reputation and make them
seem like a company that is willing to co-operate. BBC iPlayer is a huge feature for the BBC as it
allows films and TV shows played on a majority of BBC channels to be viewed again for a fixed
amount of time. They’re trying to make BBC iPlayer available to be viewed on a wider range of
formats so people can have the full viewing experienced.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/statements2009/

3. Unit 8 3A
Contracts and Ethics
Stefan Constantinou
Racism in Football
On December 28th 2013, West Brom player Nicolas Anelka made a supposed anti-Semitic Nazi salute
after scoring against West Ham, which was seen as incredibly offensive by the FA and especially
Zoopla. Zoopla is a property searching company, their co-owner Alex Chesterman is Jewish and took
immediate action toward this. The Frenchman joined this season in late 2013; his actions resulted in
Zoopla ending the deal with West Brom, which he did not intend. The BBC and Anelka claim that the
Quenelle was a gesture to his good friend Dieudonne M'bala M'bala and is a popular trend in France.
The BBC is very unspecific with their sources as they aren’t fully direct with the serious quotes they
use. For example, ‘player’s actions were branded “disgusting” by France’s sports ministers.’ They are
not using names of the people who said it, which could indicate the report may have been doctored
and changed slightly which makes a big difference. The fact that the France sports ministers is a big
area to look into, they wouldn’t research to find out which specific person said it unless it was an
outrageous claim or something offensive, partly due to them all sharing the same opinion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25810659
Another BBC page relating to the story is consistently talking about people slandering him and rare
remarks about people supporting him, which there are. For example, former Chelsea player Lukaku
said he did not deserve the ban. They are yet again unspecific and use terms such as ‘Jewish groups’
and talking about them complaining to the president of France. The BBC also keep referring to West
Brom’s situation and how they are becoming increasingly weaker due to the absence of striker
Anelka.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25837998
Representation of Muslims
December 2013, Marks & Spencer apologised after a Muslim member of staff on the till refused to
serve a customer trying to buy alcohol. A customer complained about the anonymous employee, as
he was unable to buy the alcohol from the specific employee. This is seen as a problem as it affects
the company’s image and work rate as it prolongs the purchase. The BBC felt the need to mention
‘Consuming alcohol is forbidden in Islam, and some Muslims refuse to handle it at all.’ This was a
controversial moment because it nears a point of racism as they cannot say anything discriminative
about the religion but about how she approached the matter. An unnamed customer told the
newspaper they had tried to buy a bottle of champagne, but the member of staff “was very
apologetic but said she could not serve me”. This was a controversial moment as the employee is in
a tough situation as the company is receiving negative recognition because of her. The news report
was very demanding for answers and wanted the executive for the company to give slandering
information so the BBC has something to report. “If I turn up at the till of one of your colleague and I
have some pork and some alcohol in my shopping basket and she says sorry I can’t serve you
because I’m a Muslim, please go to another till. And then I complain to you, you’d say that’s ok?”
The BBC reporter is intentionally trying to be misleading by making the public think that’s what they
do. The reporter later interrupts the executive like it was an open debate, as the executive says ‘No, I
don’t think that would happen in our business…” He then interrupts saying “So there are rules!?”
This is a form of interrogation and not allowing the conversation to flow freely, they are trying to
avoid the inevitable fact that they have to bring the religion into this and the BBC reporter wants to

4. Unit 8 3A
Contracts and Ethics
Stefan Constantinou
make the company look bad. This is a very biased approached due to the fact that the reporter is
giving an unfair advantage to the other side. Another story looks at Syria and the war. The group of
‘Arabs’ accused of being apart of an army are also said to all be ‘Muslim’. Regardless if the majority
are Muslim, them all being branded one religion due to that majority is not fair and bias. It makes
the religion as a whole look bad and emphasizes the seriousness of the accusation. The way they’re
being reported is very unenthusiastic and unconstructive which causes harm to the religion itself,
which enlarges the stereotypes. From these reports, I can conclude that Muslims are predominantly
portrayed through a negative representation and rarely given good recognition. The BBC likes to
make the audience/public see things for what they aren’t as the distortion of truth and exaggeration
is very misleading.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25488259
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15625642