Latest News...        Summer 2008 Newsletter
Top Gear rapped for alcohol use

mediawatch-uk submission to Ofcom's PSB Review 2008

The BBFC's Director, David Cooke, today rejected criticisms from some quarters of the games industry of the Byron Report proposals for games classification. 

He said:  "We are disappointed and concerned about attempts by one or two video games publishers to pre-empt, through recent press statements, the forthcoming public consultation on video games classification. Their statements are misleading in several respects:  The BBFC's current average turnaround time for games classifications is eight calendar days. In terms of international comparisons, this is notably quick.

There is no reason why the increased role for the BBFC envisaged by Dr Byron should lead to delays.  BBFC classifications are already cheaper for many games than those under the Pan European Games Information System (PEGI). Because the BBFC currently deals mainly with the most problematic games, BBFC costs will fall if, as Dr Byron recommended, we take on all games, physical and online, rated ‘12' and above.  It is absurd to imply that the BBFC could not cope, or would need "a building the size of Milton Keynes".

The BBFC is a larger and better resourced organisation than PEGI, and is well used to gearing up, and to providing fast-track services where appropriate.  We reject any suggestions that the Byron proposals for dealing with online games are not future-proof. The games industry really does have nothing to fear from a set of proposals which would provide more robust, and fully independent, decisions, and detailed content advice, for the British public, and especially parents.

The Byron proposals, far from envisaging the collapse of PEGI, specifically provide for a continuing PEGI presence in UK games classification. They also provide significant opportunities to reduce duplication of effort and costs. And they would make wider use of a system, the BBFC's, which British parents recognize, trust and have confidence in."
BBFC News release 30/6/2008
BBFC: News and Reports     The Byron Review    Focusing on the Byron Review  Games/Internet

BRITISH PUBLIC DEMANDS ACCOUNTABILITY FOR FILM CENSORS
ComRes Public Opinion Poll

BURNHAM: WHY STANDARDS ARE IMPORTANT
My theme today is standards - and in some ways I want to rehabilitate the word. Call me old-fashioned, but for me standards are absolutely vital to everything we are considering - not just looking backwards but looking forwards as well. 

I will begin with broadcasting but will then apply some of the same thinking, same tests to the online world.  What do I mean by standards? I'm thinking of guiding principles like impartiality and accuracy in TV and radio news, the integrity of programme making and the 9pm watershed, protecting against harm and offence, that have stood us in good stead for years. These are principles that have stood us in good stead over the years.  

Why are these important? Standards are what have kept British broadcasting valued, celebrated and trusted in the UK and around the world.  And I think they are becoming more, not less, important to traditional print and broadcast media as we look to the future.  Being trusted has never been more important.

People are still relying heavily on TV news - despite the explosion in information sources. And trust is what people value most, particularly in news, as the Ofcom phase 1 PSB review recently found.  People, both at home and abroad,  look to British programming because they understand that it is produced to high standards, meaning they know they can trust what they are seeing and hearing. 

Lower standards and you lose the trust and the public support that goes with it.  Lose trust and you lower the quality, you lose innovation, you lose the ability of programme makers to take risks, you lose new possibilities, new talent goes undiscovered, and high quality programming is compromised. 

Another test of standards that is coming round the corner is product placement. As you know the Government is obliged to consider this as part of the implementation of the new Audio Visual Media Services Directive.  I can see the arguments and benefits of product placement and understand why people feel it is an inevitability given the pressures they are under. But applying the same test, I can also see the cost and the very high costs that might be paid in the long term. 

I feel there is a risk that product placement exacerbates this decline in trust and contaminates our programmes. There is a risk that, at the very moment when television needs to do all it can to show it can be trusted, that we elide the distinction between programmes and adverts.  As a viewer, I don't want to feel the script has been written by the commercial marketing director.
DCMS News release 11/6/2008
Read full speech     spring 2008 newsletter     Concerned about standards?

Speaking today, John Beyer, director of mediawatch-uk, welcomed Mr Burnham's remarks saying that it was a great encouragement to know he, too, is concerned about standards and attaches great importance to this aspect of broadcasting.  "We look forward to seeing how Ofcom and the broadcasters respond." 

U.S. ISP TRIAD AGREES TO BLOCK KIDDIE PORN NEWSGROUPS
Sprint, Verizon, and Time Warner cable agreed to a nationwide block on access to Usenet newsgroups that offer child pornography, wrapping up an eight month undercover investigation and complaint from the New York Attorney General's office. 

"The pervasiveness of child pornography on the Internet is horrific and it needs to be stopped," said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, speaking in a press release.  "We are attacking this problem by working with Internet Service Providers to ensure they do not play host to this immoral business.  I commend the companies that have stepped up today to embrace a new standard of responsibility, which should serve as a model for the entire industry."

Usenet - one of the internet's oldest applications - dates back to a time long before the World Wide Web. Its popularity died down as web sites and web-based message boards came into vogue, relegating it to a forgotten "back alley" frequented by niche crowds. One thing Usenet hasn't been forgotten for, however, is its ability to store and distribute files such as music and, in this case, pornography.
Daily Tech 11/6/2008
Read more...     New Treaty Needed

PM URGES MORE KNIFE PROSECUTION
Anyone of 16 or over who carries a knife should be taken to court, the prime minister has told prosecutors.  In a breakfast meeting with police and legal chiefs, Gordon Brown discussed his plans to extend the "presumption of prosecution" in knife cases.  Current police guidance in England and Wales is to prosecute adults caught with a knife, but caution under-18s. 

On Monday a 15-year-old girl who was stabbed became the 16th teenager to be fatally attacked in London this year.  Mr Brown met representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) and the director of public prosecutions at an early morning meeting in Downing Street on Thursday.
BBC News online 5/6/2008
Read more...

In a letter to the Prime Minister, John Beyer, director of mediawatch-uk said:

"Bearing in mind that the Government has itself launched an advertising campaign through the media, thus recognising the power of the media to influence behaviour, we believe that the time has come for the Government to make it clear to broadcasters and film-makers that the gratuitous portrayal of the use of guns and knives, merely for entertainment, is no longer tolerable given the situation we all face. 

If the necessary changes in attitude and culture are ever to be achieved we believe tackling the entertainment industries is essential no matter how contentious the task may seem."

REAL KNIFE WOUNDS USED AS WARNING
Graphic images of real injuries inflicted by knives feature in a new £3m government advertising campaign against youth violence.  The hard-hitting adverts - which were designed by teenagers - aim to show the true consequences of carrying a knife.  One shows a man with a knife and a screwdriver in his chest, while others are of deep, gaping wounds to the body. 

The Home Office said it wanted children who carry knives to see what could happen if a weapon was turned on them.  Minister Vernon Coaker said that the adverts' message was conveyed by young people the same age as would-be victims to maximise their impact.
BBC News online 29/5/2008
Read more...

MOST OF US AGREE - THERE IS TOO MUCH VIOLENCE & SWEARING ON TV!

THE MAIN FINDINGS OF A 'TASTE AND DECENCY' SURVEY CONDUCTED BY
Radio Times ARE THAT:

- 74% think there is too much violence on TV;

- 69% think there is too much swearing on TV;

- 52% think there is too much sex on TV;

- 40% think there is too much nudity on TV;

- 95% think the watershed is necessary.

Radio Times 24 - 30 May 2008
Read more...    

For four years running, the Office of Communications, the regulator, has found that the majority of people believe there is too much violence and swearing on television* but has done little to respond to these expressions of public concern. For these reasons, we launched an online petition to the Prime Minister calling for a substantial reduction in violence and swearing on TV.

The Communications Market 2007, published in August 2007, for the first time analysed separately figures for UK, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.  For the UK as a whole:

• 55% believed there was too much violence and
  
• 53% believed there was too much swearing and
  
• 56% too much intrusion into people's lives (page 123).

The Communications Market 2006, published in August 2006, stated: "Over half believed there was too much:

• violence (56%),
  
• swearing (55%) and
  
• intrusion into people's lives (56%). 
  
• These fell by three, two and three percentage point respectively compared to the previous 12 months" (page 268).
  
• Only 1% said there was "too little" violence and swearing (page 269)."

The Communications Market 2005, published in July 2005, stated: "Clear majorities felt that there was too much:

• violence (59%),
  
• swearing (57%) and
  
• intrusion (59%) on TV, a similar pattern to last year" (page 264).
  
• Only 1% said there was "too little" violence and swearing (page 265)."

The Communications Market 2004 - Television, published in August 2004, found that:

• 48% of viewers said that standards of taste and decency had got worse (page 95),
  
• 56% said there was too much violence,
• 
  
• 54% too much swearing and
  
• 63% too much intrusion into other people's lives (page 97).

What are the Politicians saying...?
The solution IS in Government, says mediawatch-uk
Cameron: What kind of society do we want?
Smith Lauds Gun Crime Crackdown
New Powers on Gun and Knife Crime
ASA Violence in Advertising Seminar  >  ASA considers the issue
 
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