Media regulation Research

Task 1:

Choose 5 major censorship and regulatory events from the list in the link that impacted NZ media regulation in our history, that you feel are significant and write a brief summary of what they were;

1.) 1892: The Offensive Publications Act 1892 was New Zealand's first censorship legislation

- Before 1892 customs was the one regulating indecent material coming into New Zealand but in 1892 the first censorship legislation was enacted.

- The act banned any picture or printed or written matter which was of an indecent, immoral, or obscene nature, which included advertisements relating to such matters as venereal disease. 

- Act was later replaced by the police offenses act in 1908 and revised again 2 years later.

2.) 1916: From March 1916 the Government had the power to ban films about the war in Europe

This act banned any films of the wars, especially WW2 because it discouraged people from recruiting for the military. A film in Timaru depicting the deaths and wounded was the reason for this movement to commence.

3.) 1920s: A system of graded age recommendations was introduced

"The 1916 Act also made provision for films to be restricted to specified classes of persons. This provision was rarely used before the 1950s, when age restrictions, such as R16, became common. In 1920 however, a system of recommendary classifications was introduced."

- Back before R ratings, G and M ratings were used a 'U' rating was used if the media was suitable for anyone, and an 'A' rating was used if it was only suitable for Adults or a more mature audience, and it was up to the parents to censor their children's media. 

"In 1920 the Legislative Council, Parliament's upper house, debated the need to 'strengthen and make more drastic the censorship of cine-films ... with the object of eliminating the noxious elements which are tending to destroy the moral sense of so many young persons.'

4.) 1938: Comics banned under the new import licensing regulations

"Comic books were initially reprints of newspaper comic strips. During the 1930s, these became orientated more towards action, violence, romance, and adventure with the likes of Buck Rogers becoming popular. Action and violence became more predominant from 1937, when comic books started to feature original material, thus removing the restrictions imposed by the family orientation of most newspapers. Superheroes such as Batman and Superman appeared on the scene..."

- In 1938 a deputation met with the Ministers of Customs and Education to discuss their concern about comic books. Later that year several comics were banned under the new import licensing regulations, which restricted publications placing 'undue emphasis' on sex, obscenity, horror, crime, and cruelty.

5.) 1976: The Cinematograph Films Act 1976 introduces the idea of 'injury to the public good'

"When introducing the 1976 Bill to Parliament, Internal Affairs Minister Alan Highet made it clear that his intention was to liberalize film censorship. He hoped, he said, that New Zealand would 'move towards the maturity of attitude whereby the abolition of censorship for adults can eventually become a reality."

The fundamentals of the Act as they relate to censorship still stand. Out went the references to 'public order and decency' dating from the 1916 Act. The sensor was required to determine only whether a film 'is or is not likely to be injurious to the public good'. In determining injuriousness to the public good, the censor was required to take into account a number of specific criteria. These included:

-the likely effect of the film on its audience; 

 -its artistic or other merits;

-the way in which the film depicts anti-social behavior, cruelty, violence, crime, horror, sex, etc;

-the 'extent and degree to which the film denigrates any particular class of the general public by reference to the color, race, or ethnic or national origins, the sex, or the religious beliefs of the members of that class';

-other relevant circumstances, such as likely time and place of the exhibition'.

https://www.classificationoffice.govt.nz/about-nz-classification/history-of-censorship-in-new-zealand/

 Task 2:

1.)  Write down some key points about who is in control of censorship in NZ

- Censorship in NZ has been around since 1850 and is now being run by the "office of film and literature classification". Under the act in 1993 called the "Films, videos, and publications classifications in 1993". (OFLC) is the government agency that is currently responsible for the classification of all films, videos, publications, and some video games in New Zealand. It was created by the aforementioned Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 and is an independent crown entity. The head of the OFLC is called the Chief Censor, maintaining a title that has described the government officials in charge of censorship in New Zealand since 1916.

2.) Write down what the first video game banned in NZ was and why

- Manhunt was the first game banned in New Zealand for graphic violence and depictions of cruelty.

3.) Write down the main points to note about the films, videos, and publications classifications act of 1993 and how that changed things in NZ for media regulation.

- The passage of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993 merged the previously separate Indecent Publications Tribunal, Chief Censor of Films, and the Video Recordings Authority into a single agency, the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). This agency presides over censorship in New Zealand to this day.

- Under this Act, films, videos, DVDs, and video games have to go through the OFLC for classification and labeling, while books, magazines, music, and newspapers are only processed when a complaint is raised about them by a third party. While it was always mandatory for a film to have a physical label displaying its classification, similar rules for print media were not put into place until 2005, where an amendment to the Act required that print media given a restricted classification have a physical label denoting this classification.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_New_Zealand