A multi-disciplinary approach to Australian censorship

Censorship has always been a major bone of contention for most governments and regulating authorities around the world. While on one hand, the requirement for freedom of art, speech and expression is solicited, the society also needs a moral fabric and a certain set of rules describing what is to be allowed and what is to be rejected for the proper upkeep of human culture itself. However, the major issue has also been the thin line of permission and refusal with regards to censorship. The issue of censorship could be sorted out by rather authoritative or monarchy based government earlier but with democracy being the fundamental principle of rule in the modern world, censorship has become an even tougher job to administer.

While in yesterday’s world, most topics that came under the realms of censorship were religious, political and new radical ideas; the present day notion of censorship covers a bigger frame of reference. The electronic media in the form of TV, movies, Internet and computer video games has made the entire subject of censorship even more heated and prone to debate.

Australia has a long and controversial issue of government censorship. The whole concept of rating magazines, music videos, movies and computer games in not a new phenomenon in Australia. Amongst these, the biggest issues facing the Government are television and Internet censorship. Both of them attract large audiences and every single new amendment or rule in that regard is met with both praises and brickbats.

The current laws governing TV Censorship in Australia are set up by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Television censorship has always been a major issue due to its easy availability. Current media estimates suggest that an average Australian spends about 21 hours every week on the Television and it’s wide range across Australians young and old make it a powerful medium of projecting views, opinions and ideology. The current laws mention that R-18 material should not be covered on a free to air TV. However, commercial channels are allowed to cover R-18 shows although the criterion for shows are much stricter and often parts of a R-18 show are cut down making them akin to regular MA15 standards on cinemas or videos. Movie standard R-18 shows may be broadcasted on Pay to View channels subject to the condition that they are broadcasted between 11 P.M to 4 A.M and with the mandatory added safety measure that the viewer has to enter a Pin number in order to view.

In the case of Internet laws, the issue is far more complex due to vast realms of the Internet. The net has affected us in more ways than one and with technological advances being made by the day, it is much tougher regulating the World Wide Web. While Australia prides itself on being one of the most developed countries around the world, most critics are of the opinion that the Australian Internet censorship rules are draconian and totalitarian in nature. Online censorship in Australia is among the strictest in all developed countries and that has sparked massive debates all around the country. The Commonwealth Censorship Act also mocked by critics as the Net Oppression Act became active in Australia in early 2000. Although the legislation has t been implemented in an abridged form as compared to he plan originally intended, this censorship law makes information that is legally available to adults off-line, illegal to host on Australian sites. A government regulatory agency has been given the authority to order ISPs and content hosts to takedown content deemed not suitable for children.

This plan has been modified in recent months to also include other realms of Internet usage such as 3G and GPRS mobile phones. The ruling Australian Federal Labor Government, which was elected on 24 November 2007 has been contemplating a new Internet law that will force Australian ISPs to implement server-based filtering systems to block access to child pornography, X-rated material, violence and other inappropriate material that are on a blacklist compiled by a government agency. The ruling Labour party is of the opinion that the plan will ensure that children are protected from harmful and inappropriate online material.

Those in favour of even more stringent censorship norms seek a major review of the current laws. Although intensive research on the issue of relation of television and Internet with real world violence has failed to set up any permanent relation between on screen and off screen behaviour, it is common thought that violence and sex abuse on TV and the Internet promotes a similar approach in a real life scenario. This situation is even truer in the case of children and teens who have the tendency to fall in for the media gimmicks and the pointless violence and sex show in television. While Television broadcast can be controlled and monitored to a large extent, it is Internet censorship, which has taken on new boundaries and realms. In the current scenario of working parents, it is virtually impossible for parents to monitor each and every activity of their kids all the time. With time to spare and resources to keep to watch content on their television sets or the Internet, children all over the country pick up ideologies and behaviour exhibited on the big screen. Most pro-censorship protesters banter that current framework of censorship in the country is far too loose and should be tightened to protect the moral fabric of the Australian society. In the shooting range are reality shows, which have provoked a lot of heated debate, obscene music videos and rather open scenes of violence and sex on the Internet. The Internet in particular has grown as a medium of communication and a window of learning for kids all over the country and pro-censorship protesters demand a major look up of the current Internet laws as they aim to upkeep the moral fabric of the nation. While the exact relation between shows and programmes online and real life violence is rather inconclusive for now, most protesters look up to the increasing rate of violence and sexual abuse all over the country to justify their stance on a more stronger approach to censorship.

As with most other things in human society throughout the ages, a view on censorship has been met with a radical anti-thesis against it. TV broadcast and Internet are a growing form of learning and communication for kids and teens all around the nation, for that matter the entire world and restrictions on them tantamount to restriction on human freedom. This is the primary basis for those seeking to cut down on the rather draconian censorship laws governing Australian. The anti-censorship flag bearers point to the well documented fact that the censorship norms in Australia are far more stringent and totalitarian as compared to most other developed countries and suggest that unless a rather more lenient approach is maintained, underground viewing of porn and violence over the Internet will take a hike in the times to come. What has irked the protesters even more is the rather inconsistent stance maintained by the Government with regards to censorship. While mindless sex and violence is portrayed on television without much complaint, many thought provoking movies and documentaries were scraped out by the Government as it opposed it’s given line of ideology. In addition, there is no conclusive evidence of relation between online broadcast and real life behaviour and with the World smaller than ever before, kids and teens all around the world will find a recourse to see exactly what is not available to them in the open. It is in this context, that modern censorship laws governing the Internet and Television need to be loosened and it is the duty of the parents and the society to make sure that their young ones to take on screen matter in a just manner and not get perplexed into knee jerk reactions.

Most of the finest democracies throughout the history of human mankind have argued about basic freedom of speech and action and how much limitation should be put into place by the ruling power. With millions of dollars thrown into television and Internet entertainment, it is foolish to underestimate it’s growing power on teens all around the World and the censorship body in charge should take a mid-way approach so that a fine balance between freedom and moral fabric is maintained

Bibliography: -

· http://libertus.net/censor/auscensor.html by Australia's Censorship System created on 8 July 2005.

· ‘The portrayal of violence in the media : impacts and implications for policy’ from http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/tandi/tandi55t.html by Australian Government and Institute of Criminology last modified on 14 June 2005.

· http://libertus.net/censor/ispfiltering-au-govplan.html by Internet Censorship in Australia last modified on 20^th February 2008.