LO2: Legal and ethical

Obscene Publications act:
An article could be deemed to be obscene if its effect or the effect of any one of it's items is taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely , having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it. Acts such as Violence, Drugs, Language, Sex/Nudity, Racism, Sexism, Religious viewpoints could be told of if in use in the magazine. My magazine will not find itself under the obscene act as I want to aim my magazine at the younger generation of teens so should not use any content that may cause them offence as in a fashion magazine this could easily cause offence by having models with less clothes on than you would see them out in the street wearing, for example having a topless male model would be seen to be under the obscene publications act, which is why I will not include things like that.

Libel law:
Is the law which is written in print and its impact on the audience and subject. The basic principal of the libel is that nothing will appear in print that damage the image of a person in the eyes of a reasonable adult and/or causes them to lose earnings.

One example of this would be the Scarlett Johansson case:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/10830209/Scarlett-Johansson-sues-author-of-novel-that-stole-her-image.html

To avoid being sued for libel I will not talk about anything that is untrue and could cause a bad image for the person I am talking about within the article.

Copyright:
-As a magazine often uses images taken by professional or other photographers copyright is a big issue.
-Print and images that you haven't obtained rights to and the owner can claim damages
-Print and Image and miscredit it and the same can happen.
-Print an image which shows copyrighted material without permission and the owners of the subject can claim damages.

Copyright:
Use of images - I will take all the images myself so that there is no copyright issue towards the images as well as asking the models that I will be using in my pictures for permission to use their image and the pictures. I will get other peoples permission if needed to use their images/words within the magazine so their is no copyright issue the same goes for brand names as it is rather important to get the brands permission to use their name in your magazine.

Law of contempt
Under the contempt of court act 1981 it is criminal contempt of court to publish anything which creates a real risk that course of justice in proceedings may be seriously impaired
It only applies where proceedings are active, and the Attorney General has issued guidance as to when he believes this to be the case and there is also statutory guidance
The clause prevents the newspaper and media from publishing material that is too extreme sensationalist about a criminal case until the trial is over.

Official Secrets act
The official secrets act is working with sensitive information are commonly required to sign a statement to the effect that they to abide by the restrictions of the official secrets act. It is also referred to signing the official secrets act. If this is signed it has no effect on what is legal as the act is a law not a contract and individuals are bound by it weather they have signed it or not. Signing it is intended to be the pupose of more of a reminder to the person signing it that they are under this law and should follow the obligations. It is common to sign this sort of document before and after employment that involves access to secrets for example MI5/MI6.