Media Studies.

Introduction:

This report is about censorship. It will show how censorship affects not only a one production, but media as a whole. This means that when an item is censored it will create a response from mediums such as newspapers, current affairs magazines and news bulletins. When something is less harshly censored, it will effect the production of new items as society’s expectations of media changes.

In order to fully show this, the report will go into details of what exactly censorship is. This requires a compact history of censorship and a description of how it works in New Zealand. Only after understanding these points can we understand how censorship affects us at the moment, and how it will likely affect us in the future.

Many sources of information needed to be collaborated in order to fully show the implications of censorship and to make sure this report is not effected by biases contained by its predecessors. Sources used include many different internet sites, magazines, newspapers and direct correspondence with the Office of Film and Literature Classification.

What is Censorship?

Censorship has a wide variety of meanings; in the broadest sense censorship is a suppression of information by any body of power. These bodies of power can include but are not limited to religious organisations, government departments, parents, teachers, or the people who produce the controversial material themselves and decide to edit it to avoid controversy such as speakers, writers, directors and artists. When someone holds more power than someone else and they forbid the release of information, they are censoring.

The justification for censorship is so as society will not be affected by the release of material that contains information that might make them act out. In a wider context this could mean forbidding the public knowledge of government procedures or historical events, but in the media sense it simply means making films, television shows, books, magazines, newspapers, and computer data unavailable to the general public. An example of the effect of censorship is how normalised swearing has become in society and the media. This is because it has been normalised to the point where it is inoffensive to the majority of society. This is reflected by cuss words commonly appearing after the time period considered acceptable to show adults only programming. Juxtaposed to this is blatant sex, rather than implied, which depending on the severity will result in a restriction being placed upon it immediately. Whilst sex considered to be normal won’t result in a ban abnormal sex acts such as urination or under age sex will result in an immediate objectionable classification inturn making it intentionally view.

The Office of Film and Literature Classification is the government body that is enabled to make censorship decisions in New Zealand. Its chief censor Bill Hastings is responsible for every decision made for the duration of his leadership. The Office of Film and Literature Classification can restrict any publication it deems unfit for a section of the public. The publications they can restrict are outlined as films, videos, DVDs CD-ROMs, books, magazines, posters, music recordings, computer discs, video games, screen-printed tee-shirts, jigsaws, playing cards, billboards, paintings, photographs, weekly news papers, and any computer file. Last year 2721 of these publications were submitted for classification or approval, and only 53 of these publications were made unrestricted or made available to general audiences. At the other end of the scale 1033 were outright banned or restricted to persons over 18 years of age. The majority of the publications submitted are films or video clips.

Because the Office of Film and Literature Classification can restrict any mediums availability it is made it an especially relevant to media in New Zealand as censorship dictates the availability of media to its consumer. A publication such as a film will often need to make adjustments as its target audience will demand the most controversial material, but in showing them the most controversial material the film is at risk of being made unavailable to the audience. This is why the relationship between censorship is such an important aspect of media in New Zealand; it not only effects media production but also alters and limits the effect media has on a society or at the very least has the ability to slow change.

What is the history of censorship?

"Who neither can nor will may hold his peace. What can be more just in a State than this?"

Euripides (480 -406 BC)

Censorship has a history as long as quests for freedom have been fought. Through lack of information it is hard for people to challenge the way they live as they know no other way.

An early example of censorship is the way in which Christians in the Roman Empire were forbidden to come together to worship for fear of execution and all Christian manuscripts were ordered to be burnt. In 202 AD Clement of Alexandria said, "Many martyrs are daily burned, confined, or beheaded, before our eyes." This reflects the very anti Christian feeling there was in the Roman Empire at the time and reveals how the bloody execution of open Christians was a popular entertainment for the people. From this we can gather that the government feared the new religious uprising that was occurring as it threatened to undermine their power over the populous, and so did anything in their power to extinguish the ways it could be spread. The writings of Christianity were destroyed as were the people carrying the messages вЂ" all that could be done to destroy the message. The way in which Rome tried to quell the Christian message shows how censorship in earlier times was mainly used to maintain control. As the popularity of Christianity increased, the Roman Empire had to match this by converting in order to save itself from being destroyed. Even in early society censorship had to meet public demands or it would be over-ridden as it was beyond the capabilities of the law to enforce it.

The once persecuted Christians provide us with another excellent example of earlier censorship. That is the law of heresy which was once considered justification for execution. After the advent of the printing press literature could be spread widely and therefore distributing anti papal texts was made exceptionally easier. This meant a list of books to be banned was soon made by the pope; the most