Contemporary Media

Regulation- the control or guidance of mass media by governments and other bodies- films/music/videos and games are examples, regulated to not cause psychological harm

Regulatory practices- 

BBFC- British board of film classification- THG, originally rated a 15 and reduced to a 12A due to the violence and gore

Pegi- pan European game information-GTA V, controversial due to intense violence, rated 18

Ofcom- UK communications regulator, serves the radio, ofcom receive complaints for controversial programmes 

Desensitisation- becoming immune to the effects of certain factors that could be considered disturbing e.g video games that depict violence 

Moral panic- public anxiety in relation to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society e.g 9/11 panics shown in the media

Media effects theory/hypodermic needle- the ideas of the media are injected into a passive audience

Scapegoat- someone blamed for the wrongdoings or faults of others unjustly

Uses and gratifications and catharsis- the act of being pleased by being able to get daily frustrations out in a virtual act of anger or violence

Adorno- the idea that in today's society, we inhabit a media culture that is driven by product consumption

Whitehouse- an activist against liberalism and blamed the media for a decline I social morality

Petley- professor of journalism and screen media and the chair of the campaign for press and broadcasting freedom- argues against censorship and says is a class based issue 

Byron report- 2007 review on the safety of children in a digital world- says that BBFC should play larger part on classifying video games

Pre emptive- censorship undertaken to deter an anticipated outrage

Direct- reacts in defence of the law (Obscene Publications Act 1959)

Indirect- filmmaker decides to censor their film on the advice of institution as it will be cut on submission 

Proactive reg- organisations set up to regulate the media before public access

Reactive- to regulate situations that are already made public 

Statutory- set up by act of Parliament in the interests of the public

Self- industry that doesn't want the gov to interfere with the way it operates and sets up a system where people in industry regulate each other

Why?

*  (CoD/GTA) Violence-protect the vulnerable

*Bad Language Prevent immoral being shown positively 

Sexual Content- protecting the vulnerable 

* Fear/Horror- horror movies 

Uphold the law

* Take into account the message of the work in its entirety

* Protect against harmful messages

* Avoid perpetrating real life criminal acts

BBFC- hunger games

-intense threat/moderate violence/ gory moments/use of weapons

-glamorised violence and realistic scenes 

-adult themes with teens

-was a 15 but cuts made for 12A

blue is the warmest colour 

-sex scenes that are graphic 

-intimidated actresses by the director 

-very realistic 

PEGI- hatred

-genocide crusade killer

-violence within the trailer for game is intense and excessive

-PEGI have remained silent about the game

-will not however outright ban the game and will leave it to local govs to ban the game

GTA V

-violence and depiction of women

-18 very as well as warnings

-predecessors have created controversy so audience know what the game will be like

-added first person perspective

-31st December 2014, sold 45 million copies 

Effective?

Why we should regulate- protecting the vulnerable- children find it hard to make their own decisions and therefore need regulations in order to help provide some semblance of control

Protecting society- soxiety easilt influenced by the media and so need regulations in order to keep harsher content from certain audiences 

Negative shown as positives- regulation is there to stop negatives in society becoming norms and positive- desentisation 

Against

Internet access- due to the Internet, it is difficult to enforce regulations as sites such as YouTube and illegal movie streaming sites do not need age clarification to access content