Democracies encourage freedom of speech. However, with freedom comes responsibility. This book explores the on-going debate about a wide range of issues relating to censorship in the UK and how it is regulated. Topics examined include ownership and control of the media, objectivity and bias in reporting the news, and censorship of Internet content. Chapter two looks at how we regulate TV, film and video game content.
The information comes from a wide variety of sources and includes government reports and statistics, newspaper reports, features, magazine articles and surveys and literature from lobby groups and charitable organisations.
Table of Contents
Chapter One: The Free Speech Debate
A free press, Timeline: a history of free speech, Freedom of expression, Media ownership and control, The most trusted news brands – YouGov poll, UNESCO and World Press Freedom Day, Grey area, The Danish cartoon controversy, When speech offends, Your right to protest, Double standards in freedom of expression, The blasphemy law, The government and the media, The Internet, Internet companies ‘must respect free speech’, Backlash as Google shores up great firewall of China.
Chapter Two: Regulation and Censorship
Censorship and regulation, Classified material, Video and children, Remote, no control, Bullying and screen violence, Film classification, The letter of the law, Children and video games, Violence and video games, Violence in the media, Children and screen violence, Are we too frightened of fear?, The soaps full of filth.
Key Facts
Additional Resources
Index
Acknowledgements
• Media don’t exist just to entertain us. In a democracy the media provide us with important information. They can give us a range of opinions which we might not otherwise hear. (page 1)
• In the UK, a handful of companies own most of the media. The biggest company is the News Corporation. (page 5)
• 75% who took part in an online poll by AOL felt freedom of speech was a right. 25% felt that it was sometimes wrong. (page 18)
• The British Board of Film Censors (BBFC), an independent non-profit-making body (funded by fees), was established by the film industry in 1912 to bring consistency to classification. (page 23)
• Though it might seem to the contrary, arguments with film distributors over cuts and classification are apparently extremely rare. (page 25)
• A survey found that more than a third of parents feel guilty about their inability to monitor what their children are watching. And a similar proportion admit that they do not trust their youngsters to restrict themselves to programmes suitable for their age. (page 27)
• Males in the UK spend an average of 175 minutes per day watching television, video and DVD. Females spend an average of 161 minutes per day on these activities. (page 31)
The Censorship Debate Study Guide
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.50
ISBN: 978 1 86168 372 4
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