Television Production & Broadcast Journalism PDF

# Television production & broadcast journalism ## Introduction This text does not offer legal advice; none of the information in this chapter should be construed as legal advice. Most of the legal information contained in this chapter was obtained during an extensive interview with an attorney at th...

# Television production & broadcast journalism ## Introduction This text does not offer legal advice; none of the information in this chapter should be construed as legal advice. Most of the legal information contained in this chapter was obtained during an extensive interview with an attorney at the Student Press Law Center, and is offered as general guidelines. In this country, a lawsuit can be mounted against an individual or a school for any reason—with or without merit. Once a lawsuit is filed, legal counsel must be retained, which costs money. Even defendants who are successfully cleared of wrong-doing must pay legal fees for their attorney's time, work, and expenses. This chapter addresses many legal topics that affect broadcast journalism and television production, and includes: - Talent and property releases - How copyright applies in broadcasting - Other rights and permissions, and how to obtain them - Forum and free speech issues ## Releases A release is a grant of permission that is commonly provided in written form with signatures of all the people involved. While legal release documents have a variety of applications, property releases and talent releases are commonly used in the broadcasting industry. ## Property Release A property release, also known as a location release, grants the video team permission to shoot on private property. It may be difficult to determine whether a video team has a right to be present at a location when the difference between public property and private property is not clearly defined. ### Public property Public property is property owned by local, state, or national government organizations, and generally includes parks, streets, and public sidewalks. It is usually legal to have a video crew shooting on public property. If the production involves many people, vehicles, and pieces of production equipment, there may be a negative impact on the property or to other people on the property. Most localities require that a permit be obtained before location shooting begins. The cost and process involved in getting a permit varies by location and may be based on the production's overall impact on the public property. A permit typically holds the production company responsible for the cost of handling any resulting traffic problems, property clean-up, security issues, etc., instead of leaving those expenses to the public property operators. A public sidewalk is usually the sidewalk that runs parallel to a public street. However, walkways or driveways that lead from the sidewalk to a house are not public property—these are private property (Figure 12-1). Additionally, not all streets are public streets. A public street is maintained by the city, county, or state transportation department. During a snowstorm, for example, large, publicly funded Department of Transportation **Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.**