BEN DAVIS

Legal & Ethical Issues in a Documentary

What is Slander?

Slander is where somebody makes a false statement to one or more people that will damage the reputation of the person they are making the statement about. These can vary from not very significant to extremely severe, depending on what is said and who it is said to. Slander is a civil wrong and can be the basis of a lawsuit for the slanderous, depending on the severity. It is sometimes difficult to resolve a case of slander, due to the fact that there is normally little evidence to prove that the slander was with malicious intent, however if the slander is to do with an untrue accusation of a crime, or a disease, or being unable to perform their occupation then it can be treated as slander, as the malicious intent is evidently present.

Within a documentary slander can be ranging from subtle indications that the director/maker is being offensive towards a single person, or in some cases a large number of people. There have been several instances where this has occurred and it has sometimes led to lawsuits and in very severe cases it has ended up with prison convictions. An example where slanderous activities have occurred within documentaries is Martin Bashir’s documentary on Michael Jackson. He made statements that were severely offensive towards Michael Jackson, the statements being false, meaning he was branded a slanderous interviewer.

What is Libel?

Libel is similar to slander, but rather than being through oral communication it is through written/published information. If it is a false statement and it offends the person that it is directed at then it is considered Libel and can be punished in the exact same way as slander. An example of this could be in a documentary that is about Hitler, and the documentary maker displays a note on screen that is said to have been published by Hitler himself but it isn’t. This would mean that the information being shown by the documentary is false and can then be viable for a lawsuit.

5 Examples of Slanderous behavior within documentary

1. Martin Bashir’s documentary on Michael Jackson. He made statements that were severely offensive towards Michael Jackson, the statements being false, meaning he was branded a slanderous interviewer.

2. “Film-maker Umida Akhmedova was convicted of slander after making a documentary, The Burden of Virginity, about difficulties faced by women in Uzbekistan.” This documentary was defined slanderous due to the fact that it was too offensive to the entire Uzbek nation and as a result she was convicted for 3 years in prison.

3. Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 has been argued to be borderline slanderous, with several statements that prove to be offensive, however he has never been sued or convicted with anything to do with that.

4. Louis Theroux is another film maker who has very very controversial documentaries, that have actually been branded somewhat slanderous by numerous people, however, similarly to Moore he has never been sued or convicted, this could be due to the fact that he is always very clever with what he says and doesn’t ever directly insult or offend anyone.

5. Another documentary that is considered Slanderous is Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing” this is a brutal representation of the gangsters of Indonesia and the genocide of 1956-66. The reason this was said to be Slanderous is because at times he appears to be insulting the people that were at one point being threatened by this tyrannous regime.

What are Ethics?

Ethics are the moral principles that display a persons behavior, these can be good or bad, good being ethical, and bad being unethical. Something that is ethical would be perhaps a memorial for a loss, for example, the numerous memorial documentaries regarding 9/11, however unethical would be something that is not regarded as right, or fair. An example of this is Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, a documentary that appears to be coming across very unethical and somewhat disrespectful.

5 Examples of Unethical Documentaries

1. Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, a documentary that appears to be coming across very unethical and somewhat disrespectful. It has been branded as both borderline slanderous and unethical.

2. Another documentary that is considered unethical is Louis Theroux’s “Louis and the Nazis” this is seen unethical due to the fact that he is broadcasting a political party that is clearly frowned upon heavily by they majority of the world, the fact that the party are heavily linked to Hitlers actions really sparked controversy and it has been defined Unethical.

What I will do to ensure my documentary is Ethical and Slander Free

To ensure that my documentary is ethical and slander free I will make sure that I do not use any offensive jokes that are directed at any single person. I will only make comedy out of something that has happened on screen and make sure that it isn't too harsh. I will avoid using any published written material that I don’t know exactly where it came from and I will never refer to it as something I know its not. I wont be disrespectful to either academy of the documentary, being unbiased and fair to both sides.