Censorship, defined as the act of destroying, suppressing or withholding information otherwise intended for the public, is detrimental to the community in a number of ways and has no place in a democratic society. Firstly it is detrimental to the progression of social ethics, morals and ideals and limits diversity in society while prolonging ignorance. Secondly it is a breach of freedom of expression, free speech and the free press. It will be demonstrated in this essay that censorship does happen in Australia, that it is not beneficial to society, and that it should be replaced with a system of management where members of the public will always have a choice as to whether or not they can view material intended for the public.
Censorship in Australia comes about in a few ways. In regards to videos, video games and feature films, the Australian Classifications Board (ACB) has control of classifications. Regarding the internet, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) maintains a blacklist of overseas websites for use with filtering software, and has the power to enforce restriction on content hosted within Australia. News and current affairs in Australia are exempt from classification however there are still problems with censorship by newsgroups and self censorship by reporters.
When a video, video game or feature film is released, if the Australian Classifications Board is unable to classify material or the material is refused then it is effectively censored. Refused material is categorised as refused classification (RC). Despite the fact that the ACB admits adults should be able to watch, play and read what they want, the sole criterion provided for RC classification is “content that is very high in impact and fa...
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...ily Tele and have been using their front pages to run a political campaign instead.
Their owner, US billionaire Rupert Murdoch, has an agenda to get rid of our current PM. Fair enough. We all have an opinion. But political bias dressed up as news is – well, misleading crap.
The man then uses the newspaper to scoop some dog droppings and puts it in a nearby garbage bin, then remarks “Thanks Rupert, but Australians can choose their own government.”
Channel Ten refused to run the advertisement giving no reason, incidentally Rupert Murdoch’s son Lachlan Murdoch was chairman of Channel Ten at the time. Channel Seven also refused on the grounds that the ad was “distasteful” and “potentially offensive”. Channel Nine did run the ad for four days, but then pulled the ad from their schedule citing “coding errors”. Both Fairfax media and ABC ran the ad in their news coverage.
A young mother has decided to take her children to see the latest blockbuster to grace the silver screen. Her two children, both boys, are aged 9 and 11. She is aware that the film they are going to see, the critically acclaimed Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, is rated PG-13 but sees no problem with her kids seeing it. The rating states that “some material may be inappropriate for children under 13” and that “parents [should be] strongly cautioned” (Ratings Posters). But what could be so inappropriate in a Batman film that would require her parental guidance? For the following two and a half hours, images of dead bodies, grisly gun violence, and murder as well as implied sex, numerous profanities ranging from damn to a partially enunciated use of fuck, themes of terrorism and a world absent of law and order are shown to the gleaming, action hungry eyes of pre-teens. The mother leaves in utter disbelief that she had just witnessed numerous neck-snappings, head shots, and brutal beatings alongside her children. Movies these days are not what they used to be. Even the modern superhero film can be filled with graphic violence, ear splitting profanity, an abundant amount of sexual material, increasingly dark themes, and still be given a PG-13 rating. As a result of the excessive tolerance exhibited by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), films are being allowed to contain more explicit material than ever before and younger generations are being exposed to mature subject matter outside of their understanding.
Although Valenti and the Rating System's advocates claim that parents should have the final choice in what their children view, the system may, in practice, obstruct that purpose for parents who decide that their children should see some films. For films with the controversial NC-17 rating, the theatre is prevented from letting young John Small and his under-aged ilk from seeing a film despite his parents' permission. In fact, had John actually been accompanied by his parents, the theatre would have had every right -- some would even say responsibility -- to refuse his admission. The printing of the NC-17 rating often does not read -- as would be reasonable -- "Intended for Adults Only" but rather the more rigid "Not to be Attended by Children Under Seventeen.
The MPAA rating system is outdated. The recent advances in technology allow children to see movies regardless of the rating. The rating system worked well for the early years, but recently “kids slip into the movies they want to see. . . . They also see them at home on widely available DVDs, on cable, and via popular streaming services like Netflix and Amazon” (Ebert 2). Even when kids go to the theater to see movies they can “theater hop” or buy a ticket to a low rated movie and slip into the R rated film of their choice. DVDs and the Internet both provide ways for kids to watch movies that contain objectionable material. Websites that offer the o...
"A Global History of Censorship." Guarding Public Morality: A Global History of Censorship. N p.g., 20 Mar. 2010. Web. 03 Nov. 2013.
Thesis: Although some people believe that censorship is adequate to select what things does the society will be good and can live around it while others believe that there should be no censorship because it takes away your right of expression of freedom.
Taylor, Charles. "Censorship is Not an Effective Way to Protect Children." n.d. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 8 April 2012.
With an understanding of the theoretical links between economic structures, relations of production, and political systems that protect economic structures in society this case study examines media as a contributor to democracy in Australia as well as a business with economic objectives. This section will provide a short explanation of Fairfax media history and position in 2012 prior to explaining Gina Rinehart’s role in the company. The print sector in Australia has historically exhibited relatively high levels of concentration, dominated by News Corp Australia, Fairfax and APN. The Australian print news media have experienced a long-term trend of a decrease in titles and owners. According to Geoffrey Craig, ‘in 1923 there were as many as
During the last decade, media ratings have been used as a means of addressing concerns about "objectionable" or potentially harmful media content. Politicians, entertainment industry leaders, and parents alike have turned to media ratings as a "middle ground" to such concerns somewhere between direct government censorship and not addressing the issue at all. While movie ratings have been in place for several decades, there was a trend in adoption of a rating system for media such as television. The advent of content blocking categories technologies, such as the V-chip, which requires some form of attendant rating system to be useful, has furthered spurred this trend. There is substantial evidence that shows that the rating system together with the V-chip is not going to be beneficial to the audience it hopes to protects, the children.
Censorship has been a big part of the world’s history and especially America’s history. One of the most quoted amendments to the United States constitution is the first amendment; “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ...” This amendment guaranteeing free speech, press, and religion is still heavily debated and contested today. Censorship, as a challenge to free speech and press has been allowed many times and has been heavily debated itself. Many people censor for many different reasons and in many different forms. Censorship itself is not always a bad thing and has in some cases been used for protection of the general population.
Censorship is the practice of concealing parts of a book, movie, show, or any other form of media. Media can be censored in many ways; one of these is to block out the offensive sections of the content. This is generally done when the content of said media is not considered overall offensive or inappropriate but has derogatory and/or blasphemous language. Another way Media can be censored is to have it banned completely. For a book to be banned, it must first be challenged. According the American Library Association, a challenge “is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.” The question over censorship has been debated for years: Should we be allowed to ban Medias we deem unfit and/or inappropriate from our children?
a story does not fit in with their agenda they do not print it and
Censorship is detrimental to society. People can’t learn from their mistakes if we hide them. People can’t decide the best option if we say there are no options. People can’t understand each other if they don’t know what anyone is thinking. People can’t mature when they are “protected” from mean words.
Murdoch is a wealty man. Documentary didn't talk much about Murdoch as i wanted. He has the support of the government, companies etc. This factors makes media one-sided. Most importantly they make comments about the news.
Ever wondered the reason behind racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, children committing crime or violence? The main reason is that censorship is not properly imposed or there is a need of censorship in the society. Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain people, individual, groups or government officials find it objectionable, offensive or dangerous on others. There are varieties of other definitions but all have in common the concept of withholding information and/or resources from those who seek it. Hence censorship is essential in society to eliminate discrimination on basis of race and sex, protect children, maintain stability and restore what censor sees as lost moral values. Censorship occurs when expressive materials like books, magazines, movies, videos, music or work of art are restricted to particular audiences based on their age or other characteristics. (http://www.ala.org/oif/intellectualfreedeomandcensorship.html)
Censorship according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press can be defined as, “To remove anything offensive from books, films, etc., or to remove parts considered unsuitable from private letters, especially ones sent during war or from a prison”(Cambridge Dictionary). Censorship in the news and in the media takes many forms in todays fast paced world. Even with the slightly leak in information or even misleading information could cause todays world to be turned on its head and can cause people to interpret the issue in many ways which could have numerous implications. This is why such information is filtered by some governments around the world before it is aired or printed. There are countless arguments as to why or why not information should be censored as each individual is entitled to their own opinion. Censorship impacts people ability to choose freely as it is controls ideas and thoughts and thus influences their freedom of expression or their to express their views on issues, ideologies or even practice their faith.