Censor Watch

BBC publicity described the scheduled TV programme Jerusalem: An Archaeological Mystery Story

The exile of the Jewish people has played a central role in Christian and Jewish theology for nearly 2,000 years, even being mentioned in Israel's national anthem and its declaration of independence. But what if the exile never actually happened?

This documentary by Ilan Ziv looks at new evidence that suggests the majority of the Jewish people may not have been exiled following the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Travelling from Galilee to Jerusalem and the catacombs of Rome, the film invites us to review and rethink our ideas around the exile, raising important ethical questions about its impact on present-day Middle Eastern issues along the way.

But now the programme has been pulled at the last moment with the unconvincing comment that the documentary would not fit editorially .

There has been no particular comment as to anything that may have been particularly controversial in the programme, so just down to religion, sensitivity and easy offence.

Update: BBC criticised for dropping film

30th April 2013. See  article from  dailymail.co.uk

The BBC has been accused of political naïveté after dropping a controversial documentary which called into question the mass exile of Jewish people from Jerusalem in AD70 after their failed uprising against the Romans.

Film maker Ilan Ziv accused the BBC of

incompetence and suggested they succumbed to conscious or subconscious political pressure after they decided not to broadcast it.

In a blog post, Ziv said the decision to axe the programme was:

Ultimately a sad saga of what I believe is a mixture of incompetence, political naïveté , conscious or subconscious political pressure and, I believe, a lack of courage of broadcasters when they are faced with the complexity of the Middle East issue and the intense emotions, fears and aggression it generates.'

A spokesman for the BBC claimed they may show Ziv's programme in the future, and added unconvincingly:

We originally acquired Jerusalem: An Archaeological Mystery Story to supplement BBC Four's season exploring the history of archaeology.

However, it was decided that it did not fit editorially so we did not show the programme as part of the season. Any future transmissions are under review.'

The Attack is a 2012 Lebanon/France/Qatar/Belgium drama by Ziad Doueiri.
With Ali Suliman, Evgenia Dodena, Reymond Amsalem.

Lebanese censors have banned the award-winning movie The Attack from being shown in the country because its Lebanese director shot part of the movie in Israel and used Israeli actors.

Director Ziad Doueiri explained the ban on his Facebook page:

I regret to inform you that the interior minister of Lebanon, Minister Charbel, has decided to punish us and the film by banning it. The reason for the rejection is that I, Ziad Doueiri, had spent time in Israel filming.

The Ministry [of Culture said it had nothing against the film, but that it wasn't 'Lebanese enough.' They also said they could not have a film with Israeli actors represent Lebanon at the Oscars. I knew from the start it was a lost cause.

All this does in the end is portray Lebanon in a negative light, and tell us, filmmakers, that we if think outside of the box, we 'll be considered pariahs and outlaws.

The film is about an Arab surgeon in a Tel Aviv hospital who finds out that his wife died in a suicide bombing. The film won the Special Jury Award at the 2012 San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain and the Golden Star at Morocco's Marrakesh Film Festival.

The Iraqi authorities have announced that they had revoked the operating licences of the broadcaster al-Jazeera and nine other satellite TV channels, claiming that they are promoting a sectarian agenda.

The move comes as Baghdad tries to quell rising unrest in the country after clashes at a protest camp last week. More than 180 people have been killed in gun battles since the unrest began on Tuesday. The violence follows previously peaceful protests by Iraq's Sunni Muslim minority against the Shia-dominated government.

Al-Jazeera, based in Qatar, said:

We cover all sides of the stories in Iraq, and have done for many years. The fact that so many channels have been hit all at once though suggests this is an indiscriminate decision. We urge the authorities to uphold freedom for the media to report the important stories taking place in Iraq.

The other nine channels whose licences were suspended by Iraq's communications and media commission are al-Sharqiya, al-Sharqiya News, Salahuddin, Fallujah, Taghyeer, Baghdad, Babiliya, Anwar 2 and al-Gharbiya. Iraq's media commission accused the stations of misleading and exaggerated reports, as well as of airing clear calls for disorder and for launching retaliatory criminal attacks against security forces . It also blamed the stations for promoting banned terrorist organisations who committed crimes against Iraqi people .

In a classic clash of cultures, Greece has found itself at odds with Qatar, a nation it is keen to woo financially, over the presentation of masterworks depicting athletes in an exhibition dedicated to the Olympic games.

The dispute broke when Greece's culture minister, Costas Tzavaras, arrived in Doha last month to discover the anatomically challenging treasures cloaked in cloth for fear of 'offending' female spectators. An official explained:

In a society where there are certain laws and traditions authorities felt women would be scandalised by seeing such things, even on statues,

The minister, of course, said while he totally respected local customs he couldn't accept the antiquities not being exhibited in their natural state. They were great works of art and aesthetically it was wrong.

The statues, an archaic-era Greek youth and a Roman-era copy of a classical athlete, were to be the centrepiece of an exhibition entitled Olympic Games: Past and Present . But the statues have now been returned to Greece.

Pankaja Thakur, the CEO of the Central Board of Film Certification, has said that a segment on the CBFC's website will now tell the user how many cuts have been given for a film, and the description of the cuts of all the latest films will be available there.

This is aimed towards making the board's workings more transparent. She added that they have also introduced an online method of applying for certification.

Sholay is a 1975 India musical action thriller by Ramesh Sippy.
With Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini.

GP Sippy had to change the original climax of Sholay at the insistence of the Indian Censor Board, that deemed it too violent , the filmmaker revealed at the ongoing Centenary Film Fest:

A long established cliché of Indian cinema is that a policeman pops up just at the very last moment to save the day.

And filmmaker Ramesh Sippy narrated an incident that indicated that perhaps, earlier, especially in the 60s and the 70s, the Censor Board had a lot to do with this perfect timing of the cops, rather than the filmmakers always going for this cliched formula. Sippy related:

These days, the board has begun to call itself the board of film 'certification'. Back then they were the censors, and how!.

Our hands were tied; we could show almost nothing. And going purely on merit, what the censors objected to in Sholay was that it had a lot of violence. But I argued. Do you see actual blood and gore anywhere in the film? It is in the context of the story, I told them. I also explained that when it came to Gabbar slicing off Thakur's hands, that scene wasn't even written, wasn't shot. It was written into the script that the point of revelation would be the shawl falling off; that the cutting off of the hands would be suggestive, and the actual scene would never be shown, because we did not feel showing it was necessary. We wanted the impact, we said. And they caught me there, they said, 'yes, it is the impact we are talking about'.

But I kept arguing. Finally, they accepted my arguments on this point. But I did not realise that they were conceding this point to reach a larger point. They wanted me to change the ending!

Again, we argued. It was Thakur fighting with his feet, one man wanting to take revenge - that was what the whole movie was about. So, in the end, how not to do the act? But the censors were adamant - they said the ending was very violent. The film was about to release, and I realized that if I keep fighting this point, my film's release will not be allowed. And then, with just a few days left for the release, we shot the ending again - and the CBFC said we will tell you how to end it. They said a cop could come and stop the killing in the nick of time.

So, we had to go back to Bangalore, where the sets had been erected. We had to hunt for a police officer who would come in the end and point out how Thakur himself being an ex-policemen, should know better than to take the law into his own hands.

Britain's libel laws have prevented the UK publication of Amanda Knox's account of the murder of Meredith Kercher, according to the book's publisher. Publication of the memoir, Waiting to be Heard , is due to go ahead as scheduled in the US, Canada and Australia on Tuesday.

HarperCollins UK had been due to publish the book early next month but has pulled out over fears of legal action. A spokesman said:

Due to our legal system, and relying upon advice from our counsel, HarperCollins UK will not publish a British edition of Waiting to Be Heard, by Amanda Knox, at this time.

The publisher is concerned that the UK's stringent libel laws mean that it could run into legal difficulties because a retrial of Knox and her ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, has been ordered by Italian authorities. In addition, the publisher is closely monitoring a number of libel cases in Italy where police and authorities are suing Knox and her parents for defamation for claims made in the press about how she was treated and and her interrogation about the murder.

UK readers will be able to buy the US book online.

Northern Ireland rockers Two Door Cinema Club have had their new video banned by MTV.

The video for their latest single Handshake was filmed at a bowling alley in London and features the decapitated heads of the band rolling down the bowling lane.

It was directed by Sam Piling and first aired on the music channel on Tuesday night. However it has now been unsurprisingly removed from the broadcast playlist.

Abruptly pulled from cinemas on its original opening day April 11, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is poised to return to Chinese screens with its nudity scenes expunged, according to local newspapers and microblogs.

Local media is now claiming a May 7 release after full-frontal nudity was cut. The film's distributor, Sony, has not confirmed the date though.

A post on the TNABO microblog, one of the more authoritative sources of film industry news and statistics in China, said Django Unchained will be returning to the big screens on May 7 after undergoing another round of censorship.

A TV ad featured various scenes from the film Bullet to the Head including Sylvester Stallone shooting a gun and blowing up vehicles. Another scene showed Stallone and another man preparing to fight each other with axes. Stallone was also shown kicking something aggressively and aiming and shooting a gun at something off-screen. The voice-over stated, On February 1st, it's killer versus killer. Sylvester Stallone is back to his best. Bullet to The Head. In cinemas February 1st. Issue

Seven complainants objected that the ad was inappropriately scheduled at a time when it might be seen by children.

Clearcast said the ad was given an ex-kids restriction and that this was achieved after a lot of editing of versions of the ad which had been given a post 21.00 or a post 19.30 restriction. They believed this was an appropriate restriction and was in line with offerings from other stars like Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwartzenegger which had recently been approved.

Assessment: Complaints not upheld

We noted the ad was given an ex-kids restriction which meant it should not be broadcast around programmes commissioned for, principally directed at or likely to appeal to persons below the age of 16. Whilst the complainants reported that their children had seen the ad during sports programming, football matches and other programming, audience figures for those programmes showed that the vast majority of viewers were over 16. We therefore considered that the given restriction had been correctly applied by the broadcasters.

The ad featured an actor made famous during action films of the 1980s. We considered that whilst the film might have been of particular appeal to viewers who had watched those films during that decade, he would be unfamiliar to any children who may be watching and therefore the film and the ad were unlikely to be of appeal to them.

The ad featured images of shooting, fighting and explosions and whilst they were presented realistically, the images were fleeting and no one was shown to be physically hurt through any of the actions. We acknowledged that some viewers found the ad unsuitable for broadcast when their children were watching, but concluded that the ex-kids restriction was sufficient.

We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rule 32.3 (Scheduling) but did not find it in breach.

The majority of the newspaper industry, made up of five of the country's largest press groups, have rejected cross-party plans for newspaper censorship and launched a bid to set up their own royal charter-backed body.

News International, the publisher of the Sun and Times, the Telegraph Media Group, the Daily Mail's publisher Associated Newspapers, Trinity Mirror and Express Newspapers published a draft royal charter saying they rejected the stitch-up put together by the three political parties.

The newspapers said the original government royal charter unveiled on 15 March and endorsed by parliament:

Has no support within the press. A number of its recommendations are unworkable and it gives politicians an unacceptable degree of interference in the regulation of the press.

David Cameron said he was very happy to look at the proposals and his aides said he needed time to examine the gaps between what the parties had agreed and the industry was proposing.

But a spokesman for the culture department stood firm by the original plans endorsed by the Commons and Lords:

We want to see a tough, independent self-regulator implemented swiftly. The royal charter published on 18 March followed 21 weeks of discussion and has cross-party agreement.

Google have reported that requests for Google to censor content or searches has risen by about a third since their last transparency report. 

From July to December 2012, Google received 2,285 government requests to remove 24,179 pieces of content, an increase from the 1,811 requests to remove 18,070 pieces of content that received during the first half of 2012. The report states:

As we've gathered and released more data over time, it's become increasingly clear that the scope of government attempts to censor content on Google services has grown. In more places than ever, we've been asked by governments to remove political content that people post on our services. In this particular time period, we received court orders in several countries to remove blog posts criticizing government officials or their associates.

Notable stats include:

• There was a sharp increase in requests from Brazil, where we received 697 requests to remove content from Google  platforms (an average of 3.5 court orders per day during this time period), up from 191 during the first half of the year.
• In Russia, a new law took effect last fall. In the first half of 2012, Google received six requests. But in the second half of the year, Google received 114 requests to remove content, 107 of them citing this new law.
• Google received inquiries from 20 countries regarding YouTube videos containing clips of the movie Innocence of Muslims . Google restricted videos from view in several countries in accordance with local law after receiving formal legal complaints.

The Chinese government's two main bodies of censorship, SARFT (State Administration for Radio, Film, and Television) and GAPP (General Administration for Press and Publications), are to merge and become one super administration.

Apparently the current split of responsibilities proved troublesome, lacking in flexibility for new media, and resulted in a lack of cooperation between GAPP and SARFT.

The title of the new body is unofficially translated as the General Administration of Press and Publication, Radio, Film and Television. It will be responsible for censoring and overseeing print media, radio, film, television, as well as the internet. It will also handle rights and contents.

The China Press and Publishing Journal reported that there will be three new rules for internet use under the new body: use of news reports from abroad on websites will be forbidden without permission; editorial staff must not use the Internet for illegal content; and the microblog accounts of news media must be supervised, and an account holder appointed.

Fahtum pandinsoong (Boundary) is a 2013 Thailand/Cambodia/France documentary by Nontawat Numbenchapol.

Thailand's film censors have banned a documentary about the country's long-running border dispute with neighboring Cambodia.

Boundary tells the story of the Thai-Cambodia conflict through accounts of an ex-soldier who lives near the border, as well as villagers from the two countries. The film also shows scenes from the 2011 political protests in Bangkok that left more than 90 people dead.

Director Nontawat Numbenchapol said that the Culture Ministry's film screening office informed him that they believe the movie's content is a threat to national security and international relations.

The border dispute is currently being considered in international court at the Hague.

Update: Unbanned

26th April 2013. See  article from  bangkokpost.com
See trailer from YouTube

The Thai government film censor has lifted its ban on a documentary film on Thai-Cambodia border conflicts. The reversal marks the first time a ban on a film in Thailand has been lifted.

Directed by Nontawat Numbenchapol, Fah Tam Pan Din Soon , or Boundary , was banned by the sub-committee of the National Film and Video Board on grounds that it was misleading and a threat to national security.

The censor board, however, has asked the filmmaker to cut a portion of background sound from the film. Nontawat agreed to their request to make a slight alteration by muting a few seconds of ambient soundtrack. The scene in question takes place at the New Year celebration at Ratchaprasong intersection. An announcer on stage can be heard saying: Let's count down to celebrate His Majesty the King's 84th anniversary.

The film has now received an age 18-plus rating.

The chief censor Pradit Posew said the sub-committee, which had previously banned the film, acted beyond its jurisdiction. He explained that only the main committee can decide on an outright ban. He also said that protocol should have permitted the director to defend his case in advance of a ban ruling by the committee. Nontawat was given no such opportunity.

A group of parents from the central Russian area of Ural wrote an open letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting a ban on the popular Japanese manga series Death Note . The parents are claiming that the manga series itself is harmful to children, and they claim as evidence a girl who committed suicide early this year, leaving four of the comic books at the scene of the incident.

According to local Russian media, a 15-year-old girl left Death Note comics and a suicide note before jumping from the window of their 13th floor apartment. Local police are now obliged to investigate if there is any connection at all between the suicide and the popular manga series.

In the open letter, the parents of the girl demanded of the Russian government that the books and related anime DVDs,  be banned. They argue that the Death Note manga series helps generate interest in death in children and in turn, has negative effects on their emotional development.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, has just announced that the Communications Data Bill is dead. He said on LBC:

What people dub the snoopers' charter, that's not going to happen -- certainly with Lib Dems in government.

Big Brother Watch commented:

Nick Clegg has made the right decision for our economy, for internet security and for our freedom.

Recording the websites we look at and who we email would not have made us safer, as some of the country's leading cyber security academics argued this week. It would have made Britain a less attractive place to start a company and put British companies in the position of being paid by the Government to spy on their customers, something that oppressive regimes around the world would have quickly copied.

Rather than spending billions on another Whitehall IT disaster that tramples over our civil liberties and privacy on an unprecedented scale, we should focus on ensuring the police have the skills and training to make use of the huge volume of data that is available. If small, technical changes to existing legislation are required, then they should be properly thought through before being subject to the widespread consultation and comprehensive assessment this plan sorely lacked.

Dr Julian Huppert MP, Lib Dem spokesperson for Home Affairs and a member of the Joint Committee on the draft Communications data Bill, said:

I am delighted that Nick Clegg has stood up for the British public on this. He was right to demand that these proposals be published as a draft, which gave us all a chance to see just how badly thought through the Home Office proposals were. And he is now right to say that what the Home Office propose is unacceptable. Spending billions of pounds to keep track of every website we go to, and what we do on facebook or google, is simply wrong. If we want to actually cut crime, spend the extra money on the police.

The UK is being as equally shafted as the U.S. with the home video release of Texas Chainsaw Both sides of the pond are receiving the R rated cut of the film, with no sign of the extended / Unrated cut anytime soon.

HOWEVER, the movie's  official Facebook page reveals that the UNRATED version of TEXAS CHAINSAW will be released on Digital Download early April 30th. (TEXAS CHAINSAW available on DVD and 3D Blu-ray May 14th).

Whether this will be available to UK (Non U.S.) viewers remains to be seen.

So it looks like there now will be a new pecking order of formats. Digital downloads are the new top dog, with the earliest releases and the best versions.

Eleven TV ads, a radio ad, a poster and an internet display ad, for the film Texas Chainsaw 3D. Examples:

a. The first TV ad, which lasted 10 seconds, started with a record spinning followed by a close-up of a man's hands holding a needle in front of a desk. On the desk was a set of false teeth, and a mirror which reflected the lower part of a man's face. A clip showed a man pulling a mask over his face, followed by on-screen text which stated IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN . Footage showed a bloodied chainsaw being taken from a shelf, followed by a metal sliding door slamming shut. Text on a bloodied background stated TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D .

The ad was cleared by Clearcast with an ex-kids restriction.

i. The ninth TV ad, which lasted 20 seconds, began with a blonde woman running through a field and onto a road and attempting to flag down a car. A female voice sobbed He was trying to kill me . On-screen text stated 1974 . Footage showed the same woman with cuts and blood on her head, screaming, followed by a man holding a chainsaw over his head. On-screen text stated 2013 . A clip showed a metal sliding door slamming shut, followed by a man's figure silhouetted by the lights of a vehicle and the sound of a chainsaw. A man's voice said, Did you get a good look at him? A woman in a striped top said, He was wearing a face, a human face as clips showed a box containing wires being opened, a close-up of a man's hands holding a needle in front of a desk, and a man pulling a mask over his face. On-screen text stated THE MOST ... CELEBRATED ... HORROR FRANCHISE ... LIVES ON . A series of short clips, interposed between the text, showed: a close-up of a chainsaw; a man and a woman standing in front of a building, with the man saying Who is that? ; a vehicle being driven through the wall of a building where a woman and a man holding a spade were standing; a man with a chainsaw approaching a woman; a woman screaming; a man using a chainsaw to cut through a wire fence; the woman in the striped top standing against a wire fence looking scared; a policeman standing in front of a house which was on fire; a man dragging a woman along the ground; a figure with a chainsaw running through a crowded fairground at night; and a man using a bloodied chainsaw to smash in the window of a vehicle with two women screaming inside. The sounds of women screaming and a chainsaw were heard over the latter clips. Footage then showed a woman with her arms tied up above her, from behind, with a chainsaw being held against her shoulder, and then a clip of her from the front, gagged with gaffer tap and screaming. Text on a bloodied background stated TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D .

The ad was cleared by Clearcast with a post-9pm restriction.

The ASA received 73 complaints:

1. Complainants challenged whether ads were distressing, harmful, offensive and inappropriately scheduled.
2. One complainant challenged whether the poster ad was offensive, inappropriate for public display and likely to condone or encourage violence.
3. One complainant challenged whether the internet display ad was inappropriate for display on a webpage which advertised a PG-rated film.

ASA Decision: Complaints Upheld in Part

The ASA acknowledged that ads (a) to (d) did not include any scenes of interpersonal violence and did not include any sound effects of screaming or noises which suggested interpersonal violence. However, we noted ads (b) and (c) showed a close-up of a woman screaming in a darkly lit, enclosed space, that ad (c) included a voice-over of the woman stating He was wearing a face, a human face as footage showed a man putting a mask to his face, and ad (d) showed clips of a policeman standing watching a house which was engulfed in flames and a vehicle being driven through a wall towards two people (and towards the viewer). We considered it likely that those scenes could cause distress to young children. Furthermore, we considered the use of swift cuts, darkly lit scenes and eerie music and sound effects created a sinister, threatening and tension-filled atmosphere in all four ads which was likely to cause distress to young children. Whilst we noted the ads had been given an ex-kids restriction and therefore had not been broadcast around programmes of particular appeal to children, we considered that they were inappropriate for broadcast during the day when young children might be watching, and ads (a) to (d) should therefore have been given a post-7.30pm timing restriction.

Complaints upheld in relation to ads (i) and (j) only. We considered all three ads featured scenes of violence and terror and had a sinister and threatening atmosphere produced by the swift cuts, sound effects and largely dark and poorly lit scenes. We acknowledged that the post-9pm timing restrictions meant it was unlikely that younger children would be exposed to the ads. However, we considered that the scenes in ads (i) and (j) which depicted a woman who was bound, gagged and terrified, screaming as a chainsaw was placed on her shoulder, were likely to distress some older children, because of the implication of extreme violence and torture. We therefore considered ads (i) and (j) should have been given a post-11pm timing restriction. We also considered the scenes in ads (i) and (j) were likely to be more in keeping with programme content seen after 11pm and we therefore considered those ads should not have been broadcast before 11pm in order to reduce the likelihood of causing offence or distress to adults.

All other complaints were dismissed

Afgahanistan's President Hamid Karzai has ordered further censorship of supposedly un-Islamic and obscene televisions shows in response to lobbying by the country's religious council.

Karzai told the culture ministry to block programs which are vulgar, un-Islamic, obscene and violate social morality, and Islamic morality , according to a statement from his Council of Ministers.

It said the move follows a request from the religious council to ban televised drama seen as promoting vice and prostitution.

There doesn't seem to be any details of the type of programmes which might be banned as a result of the order.

A giant pink Barbie Dreamhouse is under construction near Berlin's Alexanderplatz, where you'll be able to cook cupcakes in the kitchen and explore the endless Barbie dream closet .

Christopher Rahofer, the man behind the enterprise, says the tourist attraction is just about having fun.

But Franziska Sedlak, a member of the youth wing of the German Left Party thinks otherwise and claims: The Barbie Dreamhouse is a symptom of women's oppression .

The Campaign against the Dreamhouse particularly whinges about the problems with Barbie as an impossible physical ideal for young girls. Sedlak spouts:

Barbie produces a completely unnatural beauty image. The figure would break in the middle if she were a real woman... Why do women learn that they have to be pretty all the time?

The Prime Minister is to announce a Government-backed censorship rules which will mean that all adult themed content is blocked in public spaces such as cafes and railway stations where children are likely to be present.

Cameron said:

We are promoting good, clean, WiFi in local cafes and elsewhere to make sure that people have confidence in public WiFi systems so that they are not going to see things they shouldn't.

Talks have been taking place for months between ISPs and government officials over the new censorship rules. It is not clear whether the internet firms will automatically impose the restrictions on access -- or whether it will be the duty of shops and other public areas used by children to bar adult content.

Industry sources said that the decision on whether to automatically restrict access in hotels could prove a more contentious issue.

Offsite Comment: Half Baked

25th April 2013. See  article from  lawandsexuality.wordpress.com

Laws that led to London being dubbed the libel capital of the world will be reformed after peers in the Lords voted to pass the defamation bill, ending a three-year campaign led by Liberal Democrat peers Lord McNally and Lord Lester.

Libel reform campaigners said they were delighted overall that defamation reform was finally passing into law, although they were disappointed by the failure of a bid to bar private companies contracted to run schools, prisons or healthcare from suing ordinary citizens who criticised the work they do for the taxpayer. In the end it was the Lib Dems and Tories that did the dirty and killed some of the valuable reforms.

However, the bill is a landmark piece of legislation and should provide more protection for individuals and organisations, including newspapers and broadcasters, which criticise big companies.

The new law will also stop cases being taken in London against journalists, academics or individuals who live outside the country, denting the libel tourism industry, but not ending it altogether, as foreigners will still be able to lodge claims in the high court.

The bill will now return to the Commons on Wednesday for formal approval with no possibility of fresh amendments.

Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of Index on Censorship said she was delighted that corporations will now have to prove financial loss before they sue for libel but added it was a pity the government voted against Labour's amendment to stop public money being used to stop citizen critics .

Comment: Victory for free speech as libel bill passes

25th April 2013. See  article from  indexoncensorship.org

Today, 24 April, saw history made. The UK parliament has passed a new Defamation Bill, which will now go on to Royal Assent. A major victory against censorship in Britain and beyond has been won, with England's notorious libel laws changed in favour of free speech.

The new law protects free speech. There is a hurdle to stop vexatious cases. We now have a bar on libel tourism so non-EU claimants will now need to prove that harm has been done here. For the first time there will be a statutory public interest defence that will ask defendants to prove they have acted reasonably (a better test than the more burdensome Reynold's test of responsible publication). There is also a hurdle to stop corporations from suing unless they can prove financial harm.

...Read the full article

Two posters and a website promoted an energy drink:

a. A poster, which appeared in various locations across the UK, stated pussy in large, bold text in the centre of the ad. Smaller text below stated The drink's pure, it's your mind that's the problem". Text on an image of the product stated "pussy natural energy" and text below the image stated "100% Natural Energy".

b. A second poster, which also appeared in various locations across the UK, stated "Outrageous" in large, bold text in the centre of the ad. Smaller text below stated "An energy drink that actually tastes good". Large text to the left of the headline stated "pussy" and smaller text below stated "NATURAL ENERGY 100% Natural Ingredients".

c. Claims on www.pussydrinks.com stated "THE DRINK'S PURE It's your mind that's the problem. 100% Natural Energy". Smaller text at the bottom of the home page stated "Our goal is Global Pussyfication and we aim to bring Pussy within everyone's reach" and invited those interested in distributing the product to contact them.

There were 156 complainants about the ads.

1. Most complainants challenged whether ad (a) was offensive, because they considered it implied a sexually explicit reference. Some complainants also considered it was derogatory, sexist and degrading towards women.
2. Some complainants also challenged whether ad (b) was offensive, on the same basis.
3. Two complainants challenged whether ad (a) was offensive to those with religious beliefs and was unsuitable to be displayed near to a church.
4. Many complainants also challenged whether ad (a) was unsuitable to appear where it could be seen by children.
5. Some complainants challenged whether ad (b) was unsuitable to appear where it could be seen by children.
6. Two complainants challenged whether ad (c) was offensive, because it implied a sexually explicit reference, was derogatory, sexist and degrading towards women.

ASA Assessment

2,3,5,6: Not upheld

1. Upheld

The ASA considered that some consumers would recognise that the term "pussy" had both a conventional and slang meaning and could therefore be understood to colloquially refer to the female genitals, as well as retaining the traditional meaning of 'cat or kitten. We noted that ad (a) stated The drink's pure, it's your mind that's the problem and considered that the ad consciously made reference to the dual meaning of the word pussy, including its colloquial meaning, which some would consider sexually explicit, as well as showing an awareness that the colloquial use of the term pussy might be considered impure or problematic, and could therefore cause offence.

We acknowledged that 63 complainants had objected that the term pussy was, in itself, a derogatory and sexist term, which was particularly offensive to women. Although we considered that the colloquial meaning of pussy could be understood to be a sexually explicit term, we noted that the way in which the term pussy was used in the ads did not make express reference to women, beyond its colloquial meaning denoting the female genitals. We did not consider that ad (a) made particular reference to the behaviour or portrayal of women and, therefore, did not consider that, in that context, ad (a) was likely to be interpreted by most consumers as referring to or portraying women in a derogatory or sexist way.

However, we nonetheless concluded that because ad (a) made express reference to the dual meaning of the word pussy , it would be understood to be intended as a sexually explicit reference which, in the context in which it appeared in ad (a), was likely to cause serious and widespread offence.

On that point, ad (a) breached CAP Code rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising) and 4.1 (Harm and offence).

4. Upheld

We noted that there were no restrictions on the placement of ad (a) and it would be seen by children of all ages, but considered that very young children were unlikely to be aware of the colloquial meaning of pussy . We considered, however, that some older children were likely to know and understand that colloquial meaning or be aware that the term had a secondary meaning which had a different connotation or impact than simply meaning cat or kitten .

We noted that the slogan in ad (a) stated The drink's pure, it's your mind that's the problem and considered that strongly suggested that the term pussy had a secondary meaning which was not pure and was a problem , and considered that slogan reinforced the colloquial meaning of pussy to those older children or implied that that secondary, colloquial meaning was in some way impolite or even offensive or sexually explicit.

We therefore considered that because ad (a) made express reference to the dual meaning of the word pussy , it would be understood by some older children to be intended as an offensive or sexually explicit reference, and concluded that ad (a) was unsuitable to appear where it could be seen by children.

On that point, ad (a) breached CAP Code rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising) and 4.1 (Harm and offence).

Sent to:

Neil Berkett, Virgin Media
Jeremy Darroch, Sky
Dido Harding, TalkTalk
Warren Buckley, BT
Jeremy Woodrow, Royal Mail
Ronan Dunne, O2
Richard Tang, Zen Internet

One year ago, it became public knowledge that the Government intends to introduce legislation relating to communications data. We did not learn of this in Parliament, but in media leaks.

It has become clear that a critical component of the Communications Data Bill is that UK communication service providers will be required by law to create data they currently do not have any business purpose for, and store it for a period of 12 months.

Plainly, this crosses a line no democratic country has yet crossed -- paying private companies to record what their customers are doing solely for the purposes of the state.

These proposals are not fit for purpose, which possibly explains why the Home Office is so keen to ensure they are not aired publicly.

There has been no public consultation, while on none of your websites is there any reference to these discussions. Meetings have been held behind closed doors as policy has been developed in secret, seemingly the same policy formulated several years ago despite widespread warnings from technical experts.

That your businesses appear willing to be co-opted as an arm of the state to monitor every single one of your customers is a dangerous step, exacerbated by your silence

Consumers are increasingly concerned about their privacy, both in terms of how much data is collected about them and how securely that data is kept. Many businesses have made a virtue of respecting consumer privacy and ensuring safe and secure internet access.

Sadly, your customers have not had the opportunity to comment on these proposals. Indeed, were it not for civil society groups and the media, they would have no idea such a policy was being considered.

We believe this is a critical failure not only of Government, but a betrayal of your customers' interests. You appear to be engaged in a conspiracy of silence with the Home Office, the only concern being whether or not you will be able to recover your costs.

We urge you to withdraw your participation in a process that in our view is deeply flawed, pursuing a pre-determined solution that puts competition, security and privacy at risk in an unprecedented way.

With best wishes,

Jim Killock, Executive Director, Open Rights Group
Nick Pickles, Director, Big Brother Watch
Sam Smith, Technologist, Privacy International

Update: ISPs respond

25th April 2013. See  article from  publicaffairs.linx.net

Responding to the letter, ISPA UK pointed out the active role of ISPs in criticising the draft Bill.

ISPs have been open in their approach, with a number of ISPs and ISPA giving evidence publicly to the Joint Committee that criticised the draft bill. It is for the government to publish its proposals, and when it does, we will examine the new draft bill closely alongside our members, parliamentarians and other stakeholders as part of the open parliamentary scrutiny the bill will receive. ISPA members recognise the needs of law enforcement, however want to see a bill that is workable and proportionate and takes into account the recommendations of the joint committee.

Erotica authors have hit out at Amazon claiming it is affecting their income and narrowing readers' choices by flagging and filtering adult titles so they don't show up in a basic search on Amazon.com.

The website is threatening authors' livelihood and punishing erotica fans by arbitrarily filtering content, writers have said.

Erotic fiction writer Selena Kitt, the best-selling author of titles like EcoErotica , Confessions , and Back to the Garden , said in a blog post:

Everytime one of these corporations decides to change the rules (again) without telling publishers (again) what or what isn't acceptable in their venue, they take food off my table. Yes corporations can sell what they like... but they should then have the cajones to tell publishers and authors what is or isn't okay with them.

She described how her book Girls Only: Pool Party - which features two scantily clad women embracing on the cover - was excluded by Amazon from its all department search. The adult flag imposed by Amazon meant readers would have to search within the books category or via its specific title in order to find it.

Britain may be forced to lift its ban on broadcasting political advertising when the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rules on its lawfulness tomorrow.

The campaign group Animal Defenders International (ADI) was told it could not run adverts highlighting the plight of caged primates. Because the organisation was not a charity, it was treated as a political group. ADI said this was a breach of its right to freedom of expression and appealed against the decision. The final ruling in its attempts to overturn the ban on its adverts will be handed down tomorrow.

If ADI is successful, the Government will have to amend the laws regarding political advertising or even lift the ban altogether.

The ECHR has overturned similar bans in Norway and Switzerland. Jacob Rowbottom, a fellow in constitutional law at University College, Oxford, said:

It seems very likely that they will find the complete blanket ban on paid political advertising to violate freedom of expression.

Update: Political adverts will continue to be banned

23rd April 2013.  See  article from  independent.co.uk
See also 'political' chimp advert from YouTube
See also ECHR Judgement from bailii.org
See also Strasbourg ties itself in knots over advertising ban from  ukhumanrightsblog.com

An animal rights group has narrowly lost an attempt to end the broadcast ban on paid political advertising in the UK.

Human rights judges in Strasbourg ruled in a 9-8 test case verdict that Government refusal to allow Animal Defenders International to screen a TV advert promoting animal rights was not a breach of ADI's freedom of expression.

The Strasbourg judges declared:

The court noted that both parties (ADI and the Government) maintained that they were protecting the democratic process.

It found in particular that the reviews of the ban by both parliamentary and judicial bodies had been exacting and pertinent, taking into account the European Court's case law.

The judges said the ban only applied to advertising and ADI had access to alternative media, both broadcast and non-broadcast .

Rowan Atkinson's Archbishop of Canterbury sketch for Comic Relief is to be formally investigated by Ofcom after it drew more than 3,000 complaints.

In the three minute pre-watershed broadcast, Rowan Atkinson dressed up as a generic Archbishop mentioned shagging your neighbour , arsing about , and that prayer doesn't work .

The BBC received 2,819 complaints about its Comic Relief coverage, the majority of which centred on the Archbishop of Canterbury sketch. Ofcom heard a further 484 complaints. Three quarters raised concerns about the language used and the rest about the religious context.

TV censor Ofcom will now decide if the words 'arsing about' and 'shagging' acceptable before the 9pm watershed and whether the BBC applied generally accepted standards in its broadcast.

Ofcom will report on their decision within 50 days.

Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) is to urge ISPs to voluntarily block communications using anonymisation software Tor .

The move follows a case where PCs were remotely hijacked by computers using the Tor system, which allows users to mask their online identities and locations by routing connections through several servers. This case cause much embarrassment to the Japanese who incompetently arrested, detained and extracted confessions under duress from the innocent victims of the hijacked computers.

A panel ofthe NPA, which was looking into measures to combat crimes using the Tor system, compiled a report on April 18 stating that blocking online communications at the discretion of site administrators will be effective in preventing such crimes.

According to the NPA, while the IP addresses of site visitors are normally known to the visited sites, the Tor system enables users to visit sites or dispatch information without revealing their identities. Over the past several years, the Tor system was misused in a number of crimes including the posting of online murder threats on Internet bulletin boards, theft of money from accounts via illegal accesses to Internet banking sites, postings on dating sites by those seeking relationships with children, and leakages of security information from the Metropolitan Police Department.

The police somehow neglected to mention the other side of the coin where the Tor system is utilized by citizens in pro-democracy movements in the Middle East to escape government suppression.

The planned access restrictions are therefore expected to be opposed by the internet industry. Communication privacy is our lifeline. We won't be able to accept such a request, said an industry insider.

Farmer Alan Graham got noticed by the tabloid press when he turfed Rihanna off his land for being sexy in a music video. The final edit of Rihanna's video for We Found Love featured sexy images and references to drug use and violence.

Graham and his wife were inspired to start a campaign against sexy music videos. He lives in a dream world where musicians are successful for their musical talent, and points to Adele as an example of someone who has achieved success without the kind of raunchy images and semi-nudity. Graham claims the culture of raunchy music videos points to a lack of respect for women . Graham spouted:

It certainly wasn't appropriate for children. I don't believe that it's good for anybody to watch from my point of view, but this stuff is readily available to children.

You would think there was a competition between the performers to see who could be the most raunchy.

Anybody can attract attention by taking their clothes off. Ideally a performance of any sort should be something that a man and his wife and children can go to together and not feel embarrassed.

In a documentary, Rihanna's Farmer , aired on BBC One Northern Ireland on Monday, he whinged to figures from across the pop music industry, hoping for support for his unrealistic views.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has so far declined to explain a proposed snooping system that would allow officials to trawl through the public's private emails, text messages and other messages sent through the internet.

The Information Commissioner has now ordered the Home Office to publish advice ministers received on the design, cost and risks of the new snooping system by May 11.

If the Home Office does not comply with the Information Notice issued by the Commissioner last week it will be judged as being in contempt of court .

Dominic Raab, a Tory MP with an interest in human rights, requested the advice in a Freedom of Information request last summer, but May's department has refused to publish the guidance citing supposed national security concerns. Raab said:

This far-reaching scheme could drain the swamp of every email, text message and phone call made by every citizen, a tectonic shift in the relationship between the citizen and the state.

So, it's astonishing that Home Office bureaucrats are risking contempt of court by trying to cover up the most basic information on how the scheme will operate in practice.

In the wake of this week's passage of the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) by the U.S. House of Representatives, representatives from internet activists Anonymous are calling for an Internet Blackout Day on Monday in protest.

Specifically, Anonymous is calling upon website owners to take down their normal pages and replace them with a page that explains the reasons for the  protest.

CISPA is a US snooper's charter which would allow Internet Service Providers and other Web-themed companies to share information about their users with the government and one another under the guise of cyber-security -- with increased protection against any privacy lawsuits that their users might bring as a result.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation have explained in a FAQ:

Whenever these prerequisites are met, CISPA is written broadly enough to permit your communications service providers to share your emails and text messages with the government, or your cloud storage company could share your stored files

Although the bill passed the house, there are still some fairly significant hurdles before CISPA springs alive. Not only does the bill have to make its way through the Senate, it also has to survive a previously threatened veto by the White House.

Irn Bru bosses have scored another hit with their new TV advert, showing a mum flaunting her cleavage.

Viewers have been obligingly easily offended and  93 have whinged to the Advertising Standards Authority.

The advert features a woman bragging about her new push-up bra to her teenage son and his pals. The lad calms his embarrassment by taking a sip of the popular fizzy drink before she pulls his head to her chest.

The clip has had one million views since it was uploaded to YouTube.

The Scottish Sun dredged up a few trivial internet forum comments eg Mum Rashelle Reid wrote:

I see the innocence and purity of my children and TV is continually sexualising them. It is vile! It should be removed from the airwaves.

An Irn-Bru spokesman said:

Our advertising is well known for its cheeky sense of humour and this ad is no different.

Star Wars is a 1977 US space action film by George Lucas.
With Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.

Great news for Star Wars fans this week as Disney announced that a new film in the series will be released each year from 2015 to 2019.

Today it is perhaps one of the most recognisable films in the world, but in June 1977 BBFC examiners sat down to watch Star Wars with little idea of the film's destiny.

There was some concern noted about the level of violence and one examiner points out that the film was awarded a PG by the MPAA in America. However the universal appeal and adventurous tone of Star Wars won the team over and the film was passed at U.

...Read the full article

Dead End Drive-In is a 1986 Australia action drama by Brian Trenchard-Smith.
With Ned Manning, Natalie McCurry and Peter Whitford.

UK: Passed 15 uncut for strong language, sex and violence after previous BBFC cuts were waived for:

• UK 2013 Arrow/ArrowDrome R2 DVD at UK Amazon released on 15th April 2013

Reviews

• See review from  realmofhorror-blog.blogspot.co.uk : "The film is rather ridiculous, but thoroughly enjoyable at the same time"
• See review from  strangethingsarehappening.com : "While the film seems to revel in its trashiness, there's more going on in Dead End Drive-In than you might expect."

Censorship History
 

UK: Passed 18 after 16s of BBFC cuts for: ournal

 

• UK 1987 New World VHS

Summary review: Drive-In Lock-up

Society is going down the tubes and the authorities have the idea of keeping the kids locked up in drive-ins complete with junk food and 24 hour movies.

Generally enjoyed by most reviewers though noted for being a bit silly. But punks, violence, drugs and car chases keeps viewers interested

 

Promotional Material: The price of admission is the rest of your life...

From Ozploitation King Brian Trenchard-Smith (Turkey Shoot, Stuntrock) comes an Australian Grindhouse classic which pits the dregs of society against each other in a crazed battle featuring atomic punks, burnt out junkers and a totally corrupt police force.

In an apocalyptic future where crimes rates have spiralled out of control and the economy has permanently collapsed, those in charge have found a perfect solution to the rise of lawlessness... Lock away the undesirables, criminals and low down dirty scumbags in the old Drive-in movie theatres, now converted into violent concentration camps.

Now, two kids who thought they were only coming along to see the show are trapped by circumstance in the chaos of Dead End Drive-In, can they escape before they too become resigned to the crazed life in this hellhole like everybody else? . There's a party every day, a movie every night, and all the junk food you can eat. What more can a kid want... except to get out.

Also includes a collector's booklet

The Government writes about the need for bloggers and small media companies having to sign up to the proposed news censor:

Following the initial debate in Parliament, we have refined the clauses to make it absolutely clear that small blogs are outside of the scheme.

The amendments, which have cross-party agreement, make clear that small blogs will not be classed as relevant publishers , and be considered by the House of Commons on Monday April 22.

The provisions in the Crime and Courts Bill clauses detail the four tests that must be met to be considered a relevant publisher, which are:

• publish news-related material

• publish in the course of a business

• written by different authors

• subject to editorial controls

Micro-business blogs

The amendments clarify the government's position on small blogs by further defining the exemption for blogs that are classed as micro-businesses - business with fewer than 10 employees and an annual turnover below £ 2 million. This is the definition used by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Despite not falling under the definition of relevant publisher, any publication that is exempt as a micro-business as a result of these amendments could still choose to join a regulator and receive the legal benefits otherwise only available to relevant publishers in the regulator. That means protection from exemplary damages. It also means that use of the arbitral arm in the regulator will be taken into account by the court when awarding costs.

Additional exemptions

The clauses also list certain categories of publications which are exempt, even when those tests are met. These exemptions include special interest titles, scientific or academic journals, broadcasters and book publishers as as well as a public body, charity or company that publishes news about their activities.

A TV ad for a discount voucher website featured a group of young women exploring a dark old house. On-screen text stated 50% OFF GHOST TOURS whilst the girls, who appeared to be frightened, entered a room and saw a pale female ghost with her arms outstretched saying Wowcher in an eerie voice. The girls were shown screaming and running from the room. The ghost was then shown looking down at herself with a confused expression. On-screen text stated 80% OFF SPRAY TANS . The ad then showed a woman in front of her laptop and the voice-over stated, What will make you say 'Wowcher'? Join wowocher.co.uk for free and we'll email you a different deal every day. Get a wow a day at wowcher.co.uk .

Two complainants, whose young children had been upset by the ad, objected that it had been inappropriately scheduled at a time when it was likely to be seen by children.

ASA Assessment: Complaints not upheld

The ASA noted the ad presented the ghost, and the girls' reaction to it, in an exaggerated and theatrical way and that it was clear from the presentation that it posed no real threat to them and that they were not genuinely scared. Furthermore, any potential fear previously created from the ghost's initial appearance was removed when the character looked disappointed at its own appearance and the entire image was replaced with bright colours and a woman happily using her computer. We considered that many children would be used to programmes such as Scooby-Doo and therefore considered the comic presentation of ghosts and monsters, and the exaggerated fear of them, was something that they were likely to be familiar with.

Although we acknowledged that some very young viewers might find the theme unsettling, we did not consider that the content or scheduling of the ad was likely to cause distress to children.

We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules 4.1 (Harm and offence), 5.1 (Children) and 32.3 (Scheduling) but did not find it in breach.

A cartoon depiction of a busty woman has been deemed too sexy for Sweden's state run liquor store monopoly Systembolaget, forcing a brewery in Denmark to change the beer bottle's label for the Swedish stores.

The bottle features a cartoon image of a woman who is half submerged in water. Above her, the word Lust appears in capital letters. The beer is part of a Seven Deadly Sins Series, from Danish brewers Amager Bryghus, with each of the sins represented by a cartoon image on different bottles.

But Sweden's state-run liquor retailer has decided that the picture on the Lust bottle doesn't abide by Sweden's alcohol etiquette.

As a result, Systembolaget has told the brewers to remove or edit the picture if the beer is to be sold in Sweden. The brewers responded by simply blacking out the entire label so neither the woman nor the bath is visible at all.

However the Danish brewers are having the last laugh. Henrik Paps, head of communications at the brewery, told The Local:

There's been a flood of calls and emails from Swedes who think the decision is ridiculous, and they've been ordering copies of the uncensored beer from here in Denmark. We've gained a major following.

Morgue Street is a 2012 Italy short horror thriller by Alberto Viavattene.
With Mario Cellini, Désirée Giorgetti, Roberto Nali.

Morgue Street was slated for screening at the A Night Of Horror Film Festival in Sidney, but the Australian Classification Board banned it with a 'Refused Classification' rating, two days before the screening, claiming

its material that is considered to offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by reasonable adults.

Morgue Street is based upon the story The Murders in The Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe. It tells the story of two prostitutes, mother and daughter, struggling against a mysterious creature that breaks into their home.

Brian Yuzna called it An original artistic horror while cult author Jack Ketchum blessed it as impressive and perverse .

By the way of a hint about the reasons for the ban, as well as horror film festivals, it was also screened at the Berlin Porn Film Festival.

Noted Chinese Film Director Feng Xiaogang brought up a taboo subject in a speech when he accepted the honor of director of year from the China Film Directors Guild. A video of the event recorded his speech:

In the past 20 years, every China director faced a great torment and that torment is [beep].

The censored word, as anyone reading Feng's lips can surmise, is censorship. Feng choked up with emotion before he spoke about censorship, and as soon as he did, the attendees in the ball room let out a collective whoa, breaking into applause. Feng continued:

A lot of times when you receive the order [from the censors], it's so ridiculous that you don't know whether to laugh or cry, especially when you know something is good and you are forced to change it into something bad. Are Hollywood directors tormented the same way? ... To get approval, I have to cut my films in a way that makes them bad. How did we all persist through it all? I think there is only one reason -- that this bunch of fools like us love filmmaking -- are entranced by filmmaking -- too much.

The video of Feng's acceptance speech has gone viral on China's social media. One post containing the video was retweeted more than 10,000 times on Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

Repo Man is a 1984 US Sci-Fi comedy action film by Alex Cox.
With Harry Dean Stanton, Emilio Estevez and Tracey Walter.

US: Uncut and MPAA R Rated

• US 2013 Criterion [Uncut + Melon Farmers TV Version] RA-Blu-ray at US Amazon released on 16th April 2013
• US 2013 Criterion [Uncut + Melon Farmers TV Version] R1 DVD at US Amazon released on 16th April 2013

The Melon Farmers TV Version is the legendary variant, prepared by Alex Cox for a BBC showing which incorporates deleted material and surreal overdubs in place of profanity. In particular, 'melonfarmers' for 'motherfuckers'

There was a recent UK release on the Masters of Cinema label

Promotional Material

A quintessential cult film of the 1980s, Alex Cox's singular sci-fi comedy stars the always captivating Harry Dean Stanton (Paris, Texas) as a weathered repo man in desolate downtown Los Angeles, and Emilio Estevez (The Breakfast Club) as the nihilistic middle-class punk he takes under his wing. The job becomes more than either of them bargained for when they get involved in reclaiming a mysterious---and otherworldly---Chevy Malibu with a hefty reward attached to it. Featuring the ultimate early-eighties L.A. punk soundtrack, this grungily hilarious odyssey is a politically trenchant take on President Reagan's domestic and foreign policy.

Features:

New high-definition digital restoration, approved by director Alex Cox

Audio commentary featuring Cox and other cast

Interviews with Cox, Richardson, and Zamora and more cast

Deleted scenes

The complete "cleaned-up" television version of the film, prepared by Cox

Trailers

PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Sam McPheeters and more

lMediawatch-UK have just modernised their website.

The site now has a very American sounding strapline: for family values in the media

Evil Dead II is a 1987 US horror video by Sam Raimi
With Bruce Campbell and Sarah Berry.

UK: Passed 15 uncut for strong bloody horror for:

• UK 2013 Studiocanal RB Blu-ray at UK Amazon released on 15th April 2013

Reviews

• See review from  realmofhorror-blog.blogspot.co.uk : " Exceptionally gory, and hilariously funny"
• See review from  starburstmagazine.com : "One of the greatest sequels of all time"

Censorship History

US: From IMDb. The film was cut in a failed attempt to get an R Rating. The full version of the film is considered lost, but nonetheless behind-the-scenes photo and video of some scenes have been found and are included on laserdisc and DVD editions:

• As Henrietta is in her rocking chair while the professor is reading the incantations, she rocks into the light, which reveals her demonic eyes. Linda's severed head throws up black bile on Ash when it's trapped in the vice (which is why black slime suddenly appears around her mouth in the final scene).
• A gorier version of Ash cutting off his hand with a hatchet rather than the usual chainsaw. During the "blood flood" the blood not only changes to black, but to red, green, and orange. This scene was altered in theatres in an attempt to get an R-rating, which the film never received.
• After hitting the possessed Ed with the axe, the scene continues as a "half-headed" Ed runs after them and eventually is chopped to pieces. The body parts flop on the floor.
• A possessed Ash eating a squirrel as he runs after Annie.

UK: Passed 18 after 2s of BBFC cuts for:

• UK 2000 Universal VHS
• UK 1999 BMG VHS
• UK 1987 Palace VHS
• UK 1987 cinema release

See pictorial cuts details from movie-censorship.com . BBFC cuts:

• We don't see Ash (Bruce Campbell) being kicked in the head by Jake. This has been cut from 2 scenes

UK: Passed 18 uncut with previous cuts waived for:

• UK 2001 Momentum R2 DVD

UK: Passed 15 uncut for strong bloody horror for:

• UK 2008 Optimum RB Blu-ray
• UK 2008 Optimum R2 DVD

Summary Review: Hands Off

In this sequel to The Evil Dead , a young couple chance upon the same remote Tennessee cabin as in the original, unleashing the forces of evil with horrific consequences for themselves and their friends. The only survivor, Ash (Bruce Campbell, who also starred in the first film), deranged after having to dismember his possessed, dead girlfriend, fights back with a chainsaw.

Raimi and company (armed with a bigger budget and over the top special effects) bring us the second instalment of the Evil Dead series.

This film focuses more on black humor and camp instead of shock and horror. Technically this film is far superior to the one that was released a few years back and in many ways it's a better film.

A fun movie. Highly recommended!

The supreme court has thankfully ruled that opening newspaper articles in a browser via a website link is not somehow a breach of the newspaper's copyright.

The ruling comes after a three-year legal between the Newspaper Licensing Agency and a media monitoring company, Meltwater, which charges PR companies for alerts about their clients. After a dispute over fees that has already been through the high court and court of appeal, the supreme court was asked to look at the narrow question of whether the copyright of newspapers was infringed when a user browses content online.

Five supreme court judges led by the president, Lord Neuberger, found against the NLA's arguments that browsing would constitute a breach of copyright because the newspaper article would be temporarily stored in the users' computer.

The supreme court said it could not be a breach of copyright as it was a temporary page and the European Court of Justice had already ruled this would be an exception to copyright law, because it was a necessary part of the technical process supporting the internet experience. The supreme court said if it had found otherwise, it would have been:

An unacceptable result, which would make infringers of many millions of ordinary users of the internet across the EU who use browsers and search engines for private as well as commercial purposes.

But the supreme court has decided that the copyright issues surrounding web browsing are so important that it has referred the case it was examining to the European Court of Justice to ensure that the ruling applies uniformly across the EU.

Jorn Lyssegen, chief executive of Meltwater, said he was

Very pleased that the supreme court over-ruled the previous rulings by the court of appeals and the high court that the simple act of browsing the internet could be copyright infringement.

At a debate in the House of Commons on Tuesday 16 April 2013 the Government rejected attempts to reform the libel laws to limit companies' ability to use sue individuals. The reform would have asked companies to show they had been harmed before they would be allowed to take it case. It would also have put the Derbyshire principle, which prevents public bodies from suing individuals for libel into law, and would have extended this principle to private companies performing public functions. Labour pushed the Government on this clause and forced a vote which the Government won 298 to 230.

But Minister for Justice Helen Grant MP said the Government would "actively consider" amendments to the Defamation Bill that would require corporations to show financial loss before they can sue for libel, following pressure from Shadow Minister for Justice Sadiq Khan MP. The Defamation Bill will be debated in the House of Lords on Tuesday 23 April.

Tracey Brown, Sense About Science:

We are pleased that so many MPs recognise the need for corporations to show actual financial harm and grateful to the MPs who worked for this. While it is deeply disappointing that the corporations' clause has been removed, their efforts have at least led the Government to concede that this should be revisited in the Lords. It cannot be right that the court is not asked to consider whether companies have faced loss, or are likely to, before a case can go ahead. It cannot be right that citizens can't criticise delivery of public services whether by private companies or by the Government.

Kirsty Hughes, Chief Executive, Index on Censorship:

It is a very unwelcome blot on an important bill that the Government voted to allow corporations to continue to pressurise and sue in ways that chill free speech

Jo Glanville, Director, English PEN :

The Government needs to do more than "actively consider" amendments.  Ministers in the House of Lords should now table an early amendment, requiring corporations to show financial loss before they sue.  We're depending on the Lords now to deliver the reform that all the parties signed up to. It's essential that companies are no longer allowed to exploit libel law to bully whistleblowers into silence. This has always been a key demand for the campaign.

Simon Singh, defendant in British Chiropractic Association v Singh:

The majority of the cases that galvanized public support for libel reform involved corporations, so the final Defamation Bill must include a clause that limits the powers for corporations to bully their critics into silence. The proposal on the table is reasonable, modest and fair. Ignoring this proposal on corporations would leave the door open to further abuses of libel law by those who want to block the public's access to information concerning everything from consumer issues to medical treatments.

Film4 is pulling a comedy about a group of hapless terrorists from its schedule in the wake of the deadly Boston Marathon bombings. Channel 4 was planning to air the movie Four Lions on its film channel next Monday.

The 2010 film is a dark comedy about four incompetent British Muslim jihadists who undergo terrorism training before trying to attack the London Marathon.

Film4 said it has decided not to proceed with the broadcast in light of recent tragic events.

A state lawmaker in New Jersey, Linda Stender, is planning to introduce legislation that would prohibit public spaces such as amusement parks, movie theaters, bowling allies, or restaurants from making video games rated mature [17 rated] or adults only available to play.

Under the proposed legislation, business owners could face fines of up to $10,000 for the first offense and $20,000 for repeated offenses.

In a statement introducing the proposed legislation, state Assembly Stender claimed that while violent video games don't necessarily cause violent behavior, they can play a role:

Children today are exposed to violent images more than ever. Violent video games can desensitize children to violence and give them a warped version of reality where violence and death have no consequences outside their TV screens.

However her proposed legislation could face legal problems not only because video games are considered a form of speech protected under the first amendment, but also because the mature ratings she is appealing to have not historically been applied to the arcade games she is specifically targeting anyway

The Committee to Project Journalists condemns a recent decision by the Nigerian government to ban the exhibition and distribution of a documentary film on corruption in the state's management of oil wealth, Fuelling Poverty.

The government-run National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) called the contents of the 30-minute film by Ishaya Bako:

Highly provocative and likely to incite or encourage public disorder and undermine national security.

The board, whose members are all appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan, warned Bako that all relevant national security agencies are on the alert to ensure that he does not exhibit or distribute the film.

CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita said from New York:

Instead of banning the documentary 'Fuelling Poverty,' authorities should look into the important questions it raises about corruption and impunity in the country's oil sector and at the highest levels of government. We urge Nigeria's National Film and Video Censors Board to overturn this censorship order.

The Advertising Standards Authroity (ASA) has launched an investigation into publicity for a critically acclaimed play currently staged in London, after one tube traveller whinged that the sexually suggestive imagery was somehow offensive .

Mies Julie has become the most successful play at west London's Riverside Studios in the past five years. Advertising for the play shows a topless man straddling a woman who appears to be clothed.

William Burdett-Coutts, director of the Riverside Studios, said the claim was extraordinary , adding:

It's emblematic of the show. It's not offensive. It's bizarre. It's the first time I've had a complaint like this in 35 years.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has announced presentation changes to its movie rating system.

The new system, rolled out as the Check the Box campaign, will include prominent descriptions explaining why a movie received its rating. Films that might previously have been stamped PG-13 with a sentence beneath the rating will now feature those same descriptions in large type next to the ratings code.

The White House has called on the movie industry help parents monitor violence in media since the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

CEO Chris Dodd announced the industry's plan at the annual movie-theater convention CinemaCon and spoke generally about the need to help parents: so they can make the best choices about what movies are right for their children to watch.

MPAA spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield spoke about the change in presenting rating descriptions eg, An intense scene of war violence, some images of carnage, brief strong violence. She said: We're changing the way they're presented so that they're easier to read.

The MPAA now requires that:

• a public service announcement is to be shown before movies,
• posters in theaters across the country will adopt the new ratings description format
• green band trailer screens will clarify that the trailer is approved for the audience viewing the main feature.

Nutters had hoped Dodd might use his keynote address to signal to the industry that the MPAA would begin assigning R ratings to a wider spectrum of violent movies, but this was not to be.

UK: Cocaine Cowboys 1 and 2 passed 18 after 48s of BBFC cuts for:

• UK 2013 Universal [Cocaine Cowboys 1 + 2] R2 DVD at UK Amazon released on 15th April 2013

Cocaine Cowboys is a 2006 USA crime documentary by Billy Corben.
With Jon Roberts, Al Sunshine, Sam Burstyn.

UK: Passed 18 uncut for real images of strong bloody violence for:

There are no censorship issues with this film

Cocaine Cowboys II - Hustlin' With the Godmother  is a 2008 USA crime documentary by Billy Corben.
With Nelson Andreu, Jorge Ayala, Griselda Blanco.

UK: Passed 18 for real gory crime scene images, drug use and strong sex after 48s of BBFC compulsory cuts for:

The BBFC Cuts were:

• A compulsory cut was required to remove a segment presenting a step-by-step guide to the preparation of crack cocaine.

Promotional Material
 

Bringing Billy Corben's remarkable documentaries together for the first time in the UK, this incredible double film set shows the true stories of the gangster-fuelled drug business that swept the USA in the 80s and 90s.

Cocaine Cowboys
In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago--and it put the city on the map. Cocaine Cowboys is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen.

Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin' with the Godmother
Set in 1991 on the inner-city streets of Oakland, California, cocaine dealer Charles Cosby has his life changed forever when he writes a fan letter to the Cocaine Godmother Griselda Blanco. Six months later, Cosby is a multi-millionaire, Blanco's lover, the head of her $40 million a year cocaine business, and in way over his head...
Bonus Features:

• Hustlin' With The Godmother featurette
• Behind the Scenes Of Cocaine Cowboys 2

An ad for Esselle Pole Repairs seen in Match Fishing magazine was headed BROKEN YOUR POLE? and featured an image of a woman, seen from behind, wearing only a bra and thong. Her hands were placed on her buttocks, and half of a broken pole was in each hand. A red CENSORED sign was placed over part of the image to obscure the woman's buttocks. Further text stated DON'T DESPAIR WE CAN REPAIR! Crushed or broken sections, split or worn joints, full pole refurbishment. All repairs using high-grade carbon cloth and fully guaranteed .

One complainant challenged whether:

1. the ad was offensive, because it was overtly sexual and demeaning to women, particularly those who were interested in angling, and because it bore no relationship to the service advertised; and

2. the ad was irresponsible, because it was inappropriately placed in a magazine that might be read by children.

Esselle Pole Repairs said they covered up the image in the ad with the word CENSORED after a previous complaint about the ad, without this word, had been Upheld by the ASA. They did not believe the ad or the image was offensive. They said the placing of the word meant it was difficult to make out the image of the woman behind it, you could not clearly see what she was wearing, and the only parts of her body on show were her shoulder and leg. They did not believe the word censored could be overtly sexual, demeaning to women or irresponsible.

ASA Assessment: Complaints Upheld

1. Upheld

The ASA considered that, although large text stating CENSORED was placed vertically across it, the image in the ad was clearly of woman wearing only a bra and thong shown from behind. We considered that the text drew attention to the woman's bottom and that, although it was not sexually explicit, the image had sexual connotations. It bore no real relevance to the advertised services, and we considered it was likely to be seen to degrade and demean women by linking pole-dancing to fishing-pole repairs. We concluded the ad was likely to cause serious offence to some people.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code rule 4.1 (Harm and offence).

2. Upheld

We noted the complainant had previously purchased the magazine for her young daughter, who was involved in a junior angling club. We considered it likely that children would represent only a small proportion of the readership of the magazine but nonetheless considered that the ad was not suitable to be published in a magazine where it could be viewed by children. We therefore concluded the ad was irresponsible.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code rule 1.3 (Responsible advertising).

A Family Guy Episode at Center of Boston Marathon Conspiracy Theory has been pulled from the Web by Fox.

It all started when some heartless troll saw fit to combine two disparate parts from a single episode of Family Guy to make it appear as through Peter is using a cellphone to remotely detonate two explosive devices, thereby securing his victory in the Boston Marathon. In actuality, the two scenes occur many minutes apart from each other and belong to two unrelated gags.

Alex Jones, never one to bother with facts that get in the way of his conspiratorial ravings, presented the doctored clip to his readers as proof that the media knew in advance about the government's plans to bomb the Boston Marathon in order to generate a convenient excuse to take our civil liberties and promote homeland security.

Obviously.

But now it seems that someone is going to great lengths to censor the episode and remove it from the internet. The Episode is Turban Cowboy , Season 11 Episode 15.

Perennial Hindu whinger, Rajan Zed, has had a knock at Selena Gomez for donning a Bindi on her forehead during her performance of Come and Get It at Sunday's MTV Movie Awards.

Traditionally, the area between the eyebrows (where the bindi is placed) is said to be the sixth chakra, ajna, the seat of concealed wisdom . According to followers of Hinduism, this chakra is the exit point for kundalini energy. The bindi is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration. It is also said to protect against demons or bad luck. The bindi also represents the third eye. In modern times, bindis are worn by women of many religious dispositions in South Asia and Southeast Asia, and is not restricted to Hindus.

Officials at the Universal Society of Hinduism have referred to Selena's use of the religious symbol as insensitive, with spokesman Rajan Zed telling WENN:

The bindi on the forehead is an ancient tradition in Hinduism and has religious significance... It is not meant to be thrown around loosely for seductive effects or as a fashion accessory aiming at mercantile greed.

Selena should apologize and then she should get acquainted with the basics of world religions.

A Japanese court has ordered Google to delete search terms related to a Japanese man who claimed that searches for his name autocompleted to include defamatory phrases. Google has also been ordered to pay 300,000 yen ( £ 2,000) in damages for supposed mental anguish .

The ruling comes a year after Google rejected the court's initial demands to censor its autocomplete function in 2012, in part arguing that it wasn't subject to Japanese regulations.

The man has not been named, but his lawyer, Hiroyuki Tomita, said that Google's autocomplete function suggested searches that led to over 10,000 defamatory results suggesting his client had been involved in criminal acts. The man claimed that this resulted in the loss of his job, and his failure to find further employment.

Google has previously been quoted saying:

These searches are produced by a number of objective factors including popularity of search terms. Google does not determine these terms manually -- all of the queries shown in Autocomplete have been typed previously by other Google users.

Have I Got News For You,
12 April, 2013 BBC One
 

Complaint

We received complaints about this broadcast - some viewers were disappointed by the comments made about the late Lady Thatcher.

The BBC's Response

HIGNFY s agenda is set by the biggest news stories of the week. Given the enormous amount of TV and newspaper comment on the life and achievements of Lady Thatcher, it was impossible to ignore the story.

HIGNFY's purpose is to be entertaining as well as satirical and it has a tradition of irreverence and sailing as close to the wind as possible on the subjects it covers. The very fact that the programme covered the death of Lady Thatcher was always going to infuriate some viewers, however they should know what to expect from the show after 23 years.

If you look closely at the content of the show you will see that at no point did we make fun of Lady Thatcher herself or put forward a critique of her record -- everything was based around the reaction to her death by other politicians and public figures, and the row over the cost of the funeral.

The conviction of a renowned Turkish pianist for denigrating Islam on Twitter sends a chilling message to social media users in the country, Amnesty International said.

Fazil Say, who has played in some of the world's leading orchestras, was given a 10-month suspended sentence for posting tweets mocking religious individuals and Islamic conceptions of heaven in April 2012.

Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International's expert on Turkey said:

The conviction of Fazil Say is a flagrant violation of his freedom of expression, made possible by one of Turkey's most draconian laws.

This case sends a chilling warning to anyone using Twitter or other social media in Turkey. Namely, that if you express an opinion the authorities don't like, you could be next.

An example re-tweet from the 9 cited in charges was:

I am not sure if you have noticed, but where there's a louse, a non-entity, a lowlife, a thief or a fool, they are all Islamists. Is this a paradox?

Update: Retrial

27th April 2013. See article from bloomberg.com

A Turkish court has canceled the conviction of Fazil Say, ordering a retrial. The court ruled that Say, who was given a suspended sentence of 10 months in prison on April 15 by a lower court, was not fully informed of his rights regarding the verdict and there were procedural errors. The decision was taken in response to an appeal by Say's lawyer Meltem Akyol.

Update: Re-sentenced to 10 months jail, hopefully suspended

21st September 2013. See  article from  commentarymagazine.com

World-renowned Turkish pianist Fazil Say, who was sentenced to 10 months in prison for blasphemy in April, was again sentenced to 10 months by an Istanbul court in a retrial. Say had received a suspended 10-month prison sentence on charges of insulting religious beliefs held by a section of the society, for re-tweeting several lines, which are attributed to poet Omar Khayyam... Say was convicted after tweeting the following lines:

You say its rivers will flow in wine. Is the Garden of Eden a drinking house?

You say you will give two houris to each Muslim. Is the Garden of Eden a whorehouse?

Update: Acquitted

7th December 2016.

An Istanbul court acquitted pianist Fazil Say on 7 September 2016 of blasphemy charges after a four-year legal battle stemming from a 2012 post he re-tweeted consisting of lines written by 11th century Persian poet Omar Khayyam.

The pianist went to trial in October 2012 after three people filed a criminal complaint against him. Blasphemy charges carry a potential 18-month prison sentence, but Say was later handed a suspended ten-month sentence in 2013 since he had no previous criminal record and was ordered to be monitored.

In late 2015 Turkey's Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the sentence saying his social media posts should be regarded as freedom of expression and thought. The recent court decision upheld the appellate court's decision, thus ending the pianist's lengthy legal ordeal.

Stanislav Govorukhin, head of the Russian parliament's committee on culture has said that books containing swear words should be sold in plain covers displaying warnings, just like pornography:

We should consider selling such literature in cellophane covers like pornographic publications, with the warning -- Caution - uncensored language.

President Vladimir Putin recently signed on a law making the use of obscene language by media outlets punishable by fines.

The Daily Mail enjoyed Britain's Got Talent immensely and had a good rummage around in their Scrabble bag of random hype words:

Britain's Got Talent has been hit by a 'huge backlash' [= a few tweets] from viewers after broadcasting a performance from an 11-year-old schoolgirl singing a song about a one night stand, and a 'highly sexualised' [=marginally sexy] lapdancing performance - all before the 9pm watershed.

The first episode of this year's ITV talent contest, which was shown at 7pm on Saturday night and watched by more than 13 million people, was branded totally unsuitable [= carefully edited for a family audience] by 'outraged parents' [= Daily Mail hacks].

Contestant Keri Graham, whose performance saw her stripping down to her 'underwear' [=shorts], writhing 'semi-naked' [=modestly costumed] on a chair and 'gyrating on Simon Cowell' [= put a leg over his shoulder], is a professional stripper.

A second act featured 11-year-old Arixsander Libantino performing a rendition of Jennifer Hudson song One Night Only , which features the lyrics:

You've got one night only,
that's all you have to spare,
let's not pretend to care,
come on, big baby,
come on,
we only have 'til dawn.

The Daily Mail then dragged up half a dozen trivial tweets to justify the 'huge backlash'.

Vivienne Pattison, director of Mediawatch UK said:

Having an 11-year-old girl sing an adult song like this is simply sexualising children. It's incredibly damaging because this show is marketed at primary school children.

ITV appear to have completely ignored the Ofcom guidelines - I don't even know why they put the guidelines out. This kind of thing is not what families want to see.

We are sleepwalking into a situation where pornography is the norm.

A spokesman for ITV said :

Mindful of our family audience, the performance was carefully edited to ensure it was suitably inexplicit.

Ofcom said that it was too early to tell if they had received any complaints from the public.

Update: Independent takes up the Twitter Trawl

16th April 2013. See  article from  mediasnoops2.wordpress.com

Dan reports that the Independent is trawling Twitter for complaints about the show. It seems it's not just the Daily Mail and right-wing tabloids which do this.

You would think The Independent would have more sense. Obviously not.

See Britain's Got Talent draws complaints over lap dance and child singing about one-night stand from independent.co.uk

The European Union is quietly pouring millions of pounds into initiatives and groups seeking state-backed censorship of the press, including key allies of the reprehensible Hacked Off campaign.

Said to be angered by the British media's coverage of Brussels, the European Commission says it wants to be a moral compass against supposed press misconduct, seeking new national and Europe-wide censorship powers over journalists.

The EU has spent £ 2.3 million on the previously unpublicised Mediadem project claiming to reclaim a free and independent media . In a policy brief co-authored by its lead British researcher, Rachael Craufurd Smith, Mediadem says it is simplistic to see state influence [over the press] as inherently stifling .

Mediadem recently produced recommendations for the UK demanding the imposition of sanctions beyond an apology or correction on errant media outlets and the co-ordination of the journalistic profession at the European level .

The recommendations call for the press to be controlled by the same body and on the same basis as broadcasters, who are currently tightly regulated with statutory balance obligations that do not apply to newspapers.

...Read the full article

India's National Commission of Women (NCW) have been irked by film producers who ignored the NCW call to  defend their film from a complaint against use of the word daayan and derogatory portrayal of women in the film.

Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj and producer Ekta Kapoor were asked to answer comments about their film, Ek Thi Daayan (There Once was a Witch) ), but declined .

The NCW has now written to the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) asking for its intervention in the matter, but is seems unlikely that they will be too bothered as they have just given the film a U/A rating (parental guidance).

A complaint against the film was filed by Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, a Wiccan priestess, stating that it showed women [witches?] in a very regressive light. She had also written to President Pranab Mukherjee requesting him to ban the film as it promotes witchcraft.

Nirmala Samant Prabhavalkar, the NCW member handling the case, said:

Women being branded as 'daayan' and subjected to various atrocities is a common and dangerous practice that still happens in several parts of the country. Such films being introduced into the society without adequate checks and balances, we fear, will further weaken the position of women.

US: Double Feature is Uncut and MPAA Unrated for:

• US 2013 Vinegar Syndrome R0 DVD at US Amazon released on 9th April 2013

Anatomy of a Psycho is a 1961 USA crime thriller by Boris Petroff.
With Ronnie Burns, Pamela Lincoln, Darrell Howe.

UK: Banned by the BBFC for:

• UK 1961 cinema release

The Lonely Sex is a 1959 USA crime film by Richard Hilliard.
With Mary Gonzalez, Karl Light, Jean Evans.

There are no censorship issues with this film

Promotional Material

ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO: In this early exploitation classic, the brother of a convicted murder set to be executed takes revenge against the people he believes were responsible for his brother's demise.

THE LONELY SEX: In an odd blending of psychodrama, thriller and light sexploitation, a lonely outcast kidnaps a young woman and holds her hostage in a rural shack while a violent peeping tom goes about his daily routine.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a 2012 USA/New Zealand adventure fantasy by Peter Jackson.
With Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage.

UK: The Theatrical Version was passed 12 for moderate violence for:

• UK 2013 Warner Steelbook R0 Blu-ray at UK Amazon released on 8th April 2013
• UK 2013 Warner [3D + 2D] R0 Blu-ray at UK Amazon released on 8th April 2013
• UK 2013 Warner R0 Blu-ray at UK Amazon released on 8th April 2013
• UK 2013 Warner R2 DVD at UK Amazon released on 8th April 2013

There is also an Extended Version with 20-25 minutes of additional footage. This is being held back for future release.

There is also a US release.

Promotional Material

The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Sorcerers. Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of ingenuity and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's precious ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.

Features:

• New Zealand: Home of Middle Earth
• Video Blogs
  - Start of Production
  - Location Scouting
  - Shooting Block One
  - Filming in 3D
  - Locations Part 1
  - Locations Part 2
  - Stone St. Studios Tour
  - Wrap of Principal Photography
  - Post-production Overview
  - Wellington World Premiere Theatrical Trailers
  - Dwarves
  - Letter Opener
  - Bilbo Contract
  - Gandalf Wagers
  - Gollum Paths

Are You A Teenager Who Reads News Online? According to the US Justice Department, You May Be a Criminal

Disturbingly, the Departments of Justice (DOJ) of both the Bush and Obama administrations have embraced an expansive interpretation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) that would literally make it a crime for many kids to read the news online. And it's the main reason why the law must be reformed.

The DOJ has taken the position that a violation of a website's Terms of Service or an employer's Terms of Use policy can be treated as a criminal act. And the House Judiciary Committee has floated a proposal that makes the DOJ's position law, making it a crime to access a website for any impermissible purpose. For a number of reasons, including the requirements of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, many news sites have terms of service that prohibit minors from using their interactive services and sometimes even visiting their websites.

Take, for example, the Hearst Corporation's family of publications. If you read the terms of use for the Houston Chronicle, the San Francisco Chronicle, or Popular Mechanics websites, you'll find this language, screamed in all-caps:

YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE COVERED SITES OR ACCEPT THE AGREEMENT IF YOU ARE NOT AT LEAST 18 YEARS OLD.

In the DOJ's world, this means anyone under 18 who reads a Hearst newspaper online could hypothetically face jail time. But Hearst's publications aren't the only ones with overly restrictive usage terms. U-T San Diego and the Miami Herald have similar policies. Even NPR is guilty, saying teenagers can't access their services (including the site, NPR podcasts and the media player) without a permission slip.

We'd like to say that we're being facetious, but, unfortunately, the Justice Department has already demonstrated its willingness to pursue CFAA to absurd extremes. Luckily, the Ninth Circuit rejected the government's arguments, concluding that, under such an ruling, millions of unsuspecting citizens would suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the law. As Judge Alex Kozinski so aptly wrote:

Under the government's proposed interpretation of the CFAA...describing yourself as 'tall, dark and handsome,' when you're actually short and homely, will earn you a handsome orange jumpsuit.

And it's no excuse to say that the vast majority of these cases will never be prosecuted. As the Ninth Circuit explained, Ubiquitous, seldom-prosecuted crimes invite arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement. Instead of pursuing only suspects of actual crimes, it opens the door for prosecutors to go after people because the government doesn't like them.

Are you a minor with a thirst for information? You, and your parents who vote, should together tell Congress to fix CFAA.

Update: Demand Justice for Aaron Swartz

6th April 2013. See fixthecfaa.com

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is the law under which Aaron Swartz and other innovators and activists have been threatened with decades in prison. The CFAA is so broad that law enforcement says it criminalizes all sorts of mundane Internet use: Potentially even breaking a website's fine print terms of service agreement. Don't set up a Myspace page for your cat. Don't fudge your height on a dating site. Don't share your Facebook password with anybody: You could be committing a federal crime. Read more here .

It's the vagueness and over breadth of this law that allows prosecutors to go after people like Aaron Swartz, who tragically committed suicide earlier this year. The government threatened to jail him for decades for downloading academic articles from the website JSTOR.

Since Aaron's death, activists have cried out for reform of the CFAA. But members of the House Judiciary Committee are actually floating a proposal to expand and strengthen it -- that could come up for a vote as soon as April 10th! Read more here .

Update: Major Victory In Stopping Bad CFAA Bill, But Good Reforms Still Needed

13th April 2013. See  article from  eff.org

We have great news on the last day of our week-of-action aimed at Congress over the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the draconian computer hacking law. Huffington Post is reporting that House Republicans put the brakes on an awful expansion to the CFAA that threatened Internet rights.

Even better, Huffington Post is crediting pressure from Internet activists for this major victory:

A House subcommittee with jurisdiction over the law, chaired by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), had planned to vote on a reform of the bill next week as part of a House Republican legislative flurry they dubbed Cyber Week, according to both Republican and Democratic aides on the panel. However, the bill was pulled back because of pressure from the Internet community.

All week, EFF and a host of other groups have been engaged in a week-of-action aimed at stopping this bill in its tracks. We started the week with a letter signed by EFF and organizations from across the political spectrum, but it's you, the Internet users, who have emailed, tweeted, and called Congress to make sure your voices have been heard. As Huffington Post reported:

The move to pull back plans to change CFAA is another indication of the growing strength of the cyber community, which first flexed its muscles in a public way to block SOPA, a bill that would have handed much more control of the Internet to government and its corporate allies.

It's important to remember, this fight is far from over. Even though the CFAA expansion has been tabled and there's reportedly no timeline for bringing it back, legislators could revive it at any moment. The Justice Department has been lobbying for these expansions for years, and there's no indication it will stop.

Some recent activism has left me wondering what the latest generation thinks feminism even means.

Canadian Association for Equality is a group that's been hosting events on men's rights, the idea that males aren't getting a fair shake in certain aspects of society.

One event last month featured Professor Janice Fiamengo arguing women's studies isn't real scholarship but activism.

Some may take issue with these ideas, but ultimately they're just public lectures featuring serious academics. Anyone can attend and critique!.

But instead of letting free thought prevail, feminist agitators barricaded the doors, harassed attendees, pulled fire alarms, chanted curses at speakers and more. Police had to get involved.

On a related note, the University of Toronto Student Union, funded by student levies to represent all students, held a town hall on shutting down men's rights events on campus. Some attendees reportedly wanted to expose where men's rights advocates lived and worked. Other student unions have since moved to ban the creation of men's groups and one student group called for physical confrontation.

Vatican Quest is a video game that depicts a cartoon version of Pope Benedict XVI acting as a pimp for pedophile cardinals.

The game has sparked 'outrage' in Spain with critics saying it makes fun of sexual abuse victims and the Catholic Church.

Religious campaign group Mas Libres (Maslibres.org) has launched a petition demanding the free arcade game is removed from the Web, reports Huffington Post in Spain.

The game's main character is a doll, resembling the recently retired Pope, who has to collect young children for cardinals waiting at the gates of the Vatican.

Apple have blocked an iPhone bookstore app from the Chinese app store in an apparent attempt at appeasing censors, according to the app's developer.

The freemium app, Jingdian Shucheng , gave access to 10 books banned in China. Hao Peiqiang, the developer, told the Financial Times that he believes that his criticism of the Chinese government's policy on Tibet prompted the ban.

In a letter sent to Hao, Apple said that the app was removed because of content that was illegal in China . Hao suspects that content in question is three books written by Wang Lixiong, the dissident thrown out of Beijing during the National Congress.

Apple's App Store Review rules do indeed state that app's must comply with local laws:

Apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer's obligation to understand and conform to all local laws.

Jingdian Shucheng remains available outside of the Chinese mainland.

A group of young people from Liverpool visited the Ofcom headquarters in London to deliver 10,000 postcards from people calling for a ban on TV smoking.

SmokeOff, promoted by D-MYST, is a campaign which targets Ofcom asking them to ban smoking on television.

Ofcom rules already state:

Smoking must not be condoned, encouraged or glamourised in programmes likely to be widely seen or heard by under-18s unless there is editorial justification.

Yet many programmes like Coronation Street and Eastenders regularly contain smoking scenes, at times when young people are watching.

D-MYST spokesperson Lilly Mae Paulucci, 15, said:

When programmes like The Simpsons and Friends show people smoking, it encourages young people to start. We believe the media should stop showing tobacco images in TV programmes viewed by under-18s before the watershed.

We want to make sure that all future pre-watershed programmes are smokefree and we're really pleased with the support we've received so far.

Themed university parties and pub crawls with titles such as geeks and sluts or rappers and slappers could soon be banned if PC gender extremists get their way.

At next week's National Union of Students annual conference, a motion will target the lads' culture particularly the behaviour of university sports teams. Un PC fun seekers should face disciplinary action, claim union members, who will be meeting in Sheffield to debate the horrific normalisation of sexist attitudes and sexual pressure on female students.

The motion, reported by The Times, also calls for the promotional companies which organise the events to be vetted so they comply with rules that ensure a safe space for women. Although the vote if carried will not be binding on student unions, it is expected to pressurise them into falling into line.

The move follows a report by NUS PC campaigners claiming widespread sexist behaviour by heavy-drinking male students who indulge in a pack culture.

Offsite Article: Prudes, Objects and Lads

7th April 2013. See  article from  blogs.telegraph.co.uk by Jack Rivlin

The prudes of the National Union of Students hate boozy, popular lads. So what do they do? Smear them as rapists

Offsite Comment: The NUS's prissy war on lad culture

13th April 2013. See  article from  spiked-online.com

Not content with trying to control what students say, the NUS wants to police how they play, too.

...Read the full article

Django Unchained will play in China with the same running time as elsewhere. However Chinese film censors have asked Tarantino to turn down the blood.

Zhang Miao, the director of Sony Pictures' office in China, has announced that Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained has been approved for release in China by the national rating and censorship board, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

In order to get approval for the Chinese release, Tarantino agreed to modify the film's dramatic violence, muting the color of the blood in some sequences and making the spray of the gore less intense.

Zhang said in an interview: 

What we call bloodshed and violence is just a means of serving the purpose of the film, and these slight adjustments will not affect the basic quality of the film -- such as tuning the blood to a darker color, or lowering the height of the splatter of blood.

Update: Cinema release cancelled

12th April 2013. See article from nytimes.com

Django Unchained was abruptly pulled from theaters in China on Thursday, its opening day, a surprising move that underscored the fragility of Hollywood's evolving relationship with the Chinese movie industry. No reason was given for the decision to suspend the release .

Chinese media and film blogs were filled with speculation that the movie had been withdrawn because state censors somehow missed a brief scene with nudity. That explanation seemed unlikely, however, given the careful vetting the film is said to have undergone before it was approved for release.

Whatever the reason, the last-minute nature of the decision was surprising. Potential problems with Chinese censors are usually identified and addressed long before the film's opening.

Tarantino's representatives and financial backers in Los Angeles and New York on Thursday were still scrambling to learn what had gone wrong, and looking for a way to reopen their movie. Sony have indicated that Django Unchained may be rescheduled suggesting that problems could yet be rectified.

SIR -- We want to see an immediate end to all advertising aimed at children of primary school age and younger. We have sleepwalked into a situation where the advertising industry, worth £12 billion a year in Britain alone, is allowed to turn techniques designed to manipulate adult emotions and desires on to children as young as two or three. This is wrong.

Almost all children under 11 depend on their parents for money. So advertising makes heavy use of "pester power", as it is more effective than targeting parents directly. Yet a civilised society should require advertisers to sell to parents, not to children. When children are learning about the cost of material things, and about managing small quantities of money, they should be free to do so without the pressures put on them by advertising.

As things stand, we are in danger of turning out young consumers rather than young citizens -- people who define themselves more by what they buy than by what they can contribute to society. Children should be free to channel their energies into forming friendships, discovering their talents and unleashing their imaginations; things that cost little but whose value is immeasurable.

Bans on advertising aimed at young children are already working in places such as Sweden, Quebec and Greece. It's time for a similar ban here.

• Jonathan Kent, Co-founder, Leave Our Kids Alone
• Rupert Read, Co-Founder, Leave Our Kids Alone
• Bel Mooney, Writer
• George Monbiot, Author, journalist and campaigner
  Natalie Bennett, Leader, Green Party of England and Wales
• Caroline Lucas, Green MP
• Sue Palmer, Author, 'Toxic Childhood'
• Claude Knights FRSA, Director of Kidscape
• Pippa Smith, Co Chairman, Safermedia
• Miranda Suit , Co Chairman, Safermedia

And many others

Comment: I Have No Time For Fucking Self Serving Middle Class Authoritarians Posing As Liberals

17th April 2013. See  article from  mediasnoops2.wordpress.com

Images on the advertising page of the American Apparel website www.americanapparel.net included:

a. Under the heading Bodysuits and Thigh-Highs , six images of a female in a black lycra bodysuit and blue thigh high socks. The model was on a bed and her face was not shown. One of the shots showed her from the chest down and the other five were from the area around the waist or lower. In two of the shots the model was depicted from the front and had her legs open and another showed her from behind in a kneeling position. The other three images showed her from the side, either in a kneeling or reclining position.

b. Along with the text Meet Trudy. Trudy is a St. Louis native who has been travelling for the company since 2009 as a store consultant. Her hobbies include vintage buying as well as singing and dancing to 90's R&B. She is photographed here wearing the Unisex Oversized Fisherman Turtleneck Sweater . The model was shown from the side wearing only a jumper. Her bottom half appeared naked and she was reclining on a bed with her legs in the air.

A complainant, who believed the models appeared vulnerable, challenged whether:

• ad (a) was offensive, because she believed it was overtly sexual and objectified women; and

• ad (b) was offensive, because she believed it was overtly sexual. CAP Code (Edition 12)

ASA Assessment: 1. & 2. Complaint upheld

The ASA noted ad (a) did not show the model's face and that the scenes, which showed her on a bed, emphasised her groin and buttocks as well as focusing on her breasts, albeit they were covered. Although we considered it was reasonable for ads for hosiery to feature women in limited clothing, we considered the images and the model's poses were gratuitous. We considered the images were overtly sexual and that they demeaned women by emphasising the model's groin, buttocks and breasts and by not including her face.

We noted the woman in ad (b) was fully clothed on her top half but that she was also on a bed and her bottom half appeared naked. Her buttocks were visible, with her legs raised. We considered the image to be gratuitous, particularly in an ad for knitwear. We also considered the model's facial expression appeared blank, if not unsure, and were concerned that she appeared vulnerable. We considered the image was overtly sexual.

We considered there was a voyeuristic quality to the images, which served to heighten the impression that the women were vulnerable and in sexually provocative poses. For the reasons given, we considered the ads were likely to cause serious offence to visitors to American Apparel's website. We concluded that they breached the Code.

The ads breached CAP Code rule 4.1 (Harm and offence).

Update: American Apparel respond

12th April 2013. See  article from  racked.com

An anonymous source from AA's corporate team told racked.com they think the ASA is looking for publicity by singling them out:

We'd like to shoot down the idea that American Apparel is trying to make ads that get banned for publicity. It's the other way around. The ASA grandstands on the AA name to get publicity and that's why they repeatedly come after the company. I think the fact that the 'ads' in this case weren't even ads but images on our website makes that pretty clear. How can this agency have any say over what a company displays on its site? We've been doing these ads for 10 years. Who are they to say what is and isn't appropriate?

From what we hear, the ASA is stepping stone for politicians and such in the UK. So it's a nice way to get press, going after things no one would really want to defend. If you think about it, it's a pretty alarming precedent. A non-government agency decides not only what is or isn't ok, but they decide what is or isn't an ad. In this case, americanapparel.net is an ad, and their means of enforcing the rules are quarterly press releases. The media LOVES this stuff and the ASA knows it. We don't even run into this kind of trouble in China with our ads. It's nuts.

US moralists of the Parents TV Council have issues a call to action against the lyrics of song being played on US radio stations:

Radio stations across the country are playing a song called U.O.E.N.O. that talks about drugging a woman and taking her home to rape her. Millions of teenage boys and young men are hearing---and absorbing---this message condoning date rape.

Take action below to call on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate every radio station that chooses to promote date rape by airing this song.

Put molly all in her champagne
She ain't even know it I took her home and I enjoyed that
She ain't even know it.

The song is released from a selection of Rocko's Gift of Gab 2 mixtape , featuring Future and Rick Ross. Ross is claiming the controversy to be a misinterpretation of the lyric.

One radio station, WUVS-103.7 in Muskegon, Michigan, has pulled all Rick Ross songs.

Update: Rick Ross Given a Kicking by Reebok

12th April 2013. See  article from  reuters.com

Sports shoe retailer Reebok has terminated its relationship with rapper Rick Ross, whose song lyrics have kicked off a little 'outrage'. Ross had been promoting Reebok shoes in print and TV adverts. The company said in a statement:

While we do not believe that Rick Ross condones sexual assault, we are very disappointed he has yet to display an understanding of the seriousness of this issue or an appropriate level of remorse.

At this time, it is in everyone's best interest for Reebok to end its partnership with Mr. Ross.

An e-mail from retailer Urban Outfitters, stated SORT OUT YOUR SH!T FOR 2013 with NEW AWESOME EVERYTHING ... . Further text stated WATCH THIS SH!T next to an image of a cat peering into its litter tray in which 2013 was written in excrement. Issue

A complainant challenged whether the language and imagery of cat excrement was offensive.

URBN UK Ltd, trading as Urban Outfitters, said they were a trendy and fashionable clothing line with a street style attitude brand and that their customers were trend setting, creative individuals with a sense of humour and who liked to experiment. They also said customer surveys had ascertained that their key demographic was between the ages of 18 and 25 years.

The ad was sent to their mailing list, which customers had to have signed up for and which they believed were likely to consist entirely of their core demographic. They said, although SH!T was a clear reference to the word SHIT , it was a less offensive spelling. The phrase SORT YOU SH!T OUT FOR 2013 WITH NEW AWESOME EVERYTHING! Referred to the common slang phrase get your shit together which meant getting yourself organised and that shit, in this context, referred to belongings or thoughts. They said their core demographic would not find the phrase offensive, because they believed it was commonly used in their everyday language and frequently appeared in other media.

ASA Assessment: Complaint not upheld

The ASA considered that the references to SH!T were obvious derivatives of the swear word shit and that their intended meaning was clear. We considered that, while the language may have been considered distasteful, it was relatively mild. We also considered that readers were likely to interpret the image of cat excrement as a visual reference to the claims SORT OUT YOUR SH!T... and WATCH THIS SH!T and, while some may have considered it distasteful, it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

We had not seen any data regarding Urban Outfitters' mailing list but several press articles suggested that their core demographic were students and young adults and we noted that their website, which was one of the means of signing up to the mailing list, clearly targeted a young adult audience. Although we considered that consumers generally would not expect to receive material that included expletives by virtue of signing up to a clothing retailer's mailing list, we considered that the e-mail was unlikely to seriously offend recipients who had signed up to the Urban Outfitters' mailing list or to cause widespread offence amongst them.

We investigated under CAP Code rule 4.1 (Harm and offence) but did not find it in breach.

Ireland's TV censor has proposed controversial new censorship rules for television and radio stations.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) has proposed a new code governing news and current affairs. It introduces a ban on presenters from stating their personal view on air. Another proposal to establish a register of financial interests of presenters has been put on hold by the BAI due to legal difficulties.

In a submission to the BAI, TV3 accused the broadcasting censor of attempting to extend Draconian controls over the media:

The State now seeks through its regulator to control content on channels it does not own, limiting news and current affairs programming to arid lists of facts

It prevents non-State broadcasters from having a different view from the State and thereby restricts essential roles of media as watchdog, as court of public opinion and as provider of informed analysis. At best this is unnecessary 'regulatory creep', more harshly it could be called state censorship.

TV3 said if such a code was introduced in countries like Russia or China it would be regarded as an attack on free media.

Russian MPs have given initial approval to an anti-blasphemy law with extreme jail terms or fines for anyone found guilty of offending religious feelings.

The bill was drafted last year after the punk band Pussy Riot performed a protest song against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.

The bill says blasphemy could incur up to three years in jail or a fine of up to 300,000 roubles ($9,700). It was passed by the Duma - Russia's lower house - in a first reading on Tuesday. To become law it has to pass two more readings in the Duma, then a vote in the upper house.

The text refers to offences against religions that are an integral part of Russia's historical inheritance - implying that it covers Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.

Human rights activists and some critics of the new anti-blasphemy bill say its wording is too vague and could lead to unjustified prosecutions. Some human rights activists warned that insults to believers might include the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution or the Big Bang theory about the universe.

As an exercise in propaganda to support film censorship, India's government have organised a unique film festival featuring works cut by film censor.

The Cut Uncut Film Festival, being organised by Information and Broadcasting ministry, will screen films, most of which had been rated adult by the censor board.

The three-day event, a part of Centenary Film Festival, to held from April 25 at Siri Fort auditorium in New Delhi will screen Anurag Kashyap's Gangs of Wasseypur and Tamil movie Subramaniapuram among others in the section dealing with violence and cuss words.

The screenings will be accompanied by discussions on violence, cuss words and sexual content in movies by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) members and other eminent film personalities, officials said.

Yash Chopra's Dharmaputra and Telugu film Khadgam is likely to be screened in We, the offended section, dealing with depiction of communalism and religious identity.

Kisses are still considered sensational in India but there are scenes in an old pre-independence movie Karma where Devika Rani and Himanshu Rai are shown engaging in a long kiss. Officials explained that kissing in film could be screened at that time as the British Film Censor code was followed.

Eraser is a 1996 US action film by Chuck Russell.
With Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vanessa Williams and James Caan.

Channel 5's sister channel 5 USA, has just screened the full version of (arguably) Arnold Schwarzeneggers last decent action film. Eraser .

While it's not unheard of for channels to do this while a censored version sits on public shelves, it would be interesting to know where the channel got the copy they aired. As it was way too low res to be DVD, and 5 USA doesn't have a HD alternative, so it wasn't a poor upscale either. Food for thought, as the UK still does not have an official release of the original film, whereas most countries have had releases on all major home formats of the last 20 years.

While it may not be the most sought after film in the world, it is a poignant 90's echo, of the halcyon days of James Ferman and his band of scissor friendly conservatives.

Note that Eraser was passed 15 uncut in 2009 with previous BBFC cuts waived. However this version hasn't yet been released on DVD or Blu-ray.

The Australian Government wants to make some changes to how the classification system works in Australia, and one of these is to make the computer games censorship process cheaper for small developers.

Jason Clare, Australia's minister for home affairs presented a raft of changes last week at the Standing Council on Law and Justice meeting. One of which was to Enable the use of automated classification decision making systems, starting with a pilot for mobile and online computer games.

What this means is that the Australian Classification board and their classifiers will not need to rate every single video game or app  that is released in Australia. There is a tremendous cost for this classification and it's stopping a lot indie developers getting their games into the marketplace.

The pilot program for automatic classification may only start with online and mobile games (which currently don't have classification) with the program to be extended to all digitally distributed titles such as the ones released on the eShop.

A few easily offended viewers have whinged to the advert censor about an Irn Bru TV advert that has fun with a Scottish father who's daughter introduces a new English boyfriend.

The Advertising Standards Authority received 67 complaints about the ad showing a Scots dad meeting his daughter's England football supporter boyfriend.

In the clip he almost boils over as the Cockney wideboy reveals he's wearing a 1966 World Cup top. His pet bulldog named Wembley proceeds to fart on a rug designed as a Scottish flag. Each time the raging father calms down after taking a sip of Irn-Bru.

Complainants have claimed that the advert is racist.

An Irn-Bru spokesman said:

We've not set out to cause offence. Our ads are known for their cheeky sense of humour.

Executives at the Hollywood studio, Paramount have been worrying about a minor plot point in the $175 million zombie film, World War Z , which stars Brad Pitt.

In the 'offending scene', characters debate the geographic origin of an outbreak that caused a zombie apocalypse and point to China, a Paramount executive told TheWrap.

The fast-rising prominence of the Chinese market, state censorship and the tight quotas for U.S. releases, the studio advised the movie producers to drop the reference to China and cite a different country as a possible source of the pandemic, an executive with knowledge of the film told TheWrap.

The change was made in recent days in the hopes of landing a deal for one of Paramount's biggest summer movies to play in China.

India's I&B Ministry responsible for the media had a meeting with film producers and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to consider amendments to the Cinematograph Act 1952.

If the Ministry has its way, films will no longer be certified as U, U/A, A (adults only). Instead, they will fall under any one of the following categories:

• Universal U
• Above 12 years of age (Under Parental Guidance)
• Above 15 years of age (Under Parental Guidance)
• Above 18 years of age

Filmmakers are not too happy with the proposal as they feel it will limit their audience. CEO of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India, Kulmeet Makkar, said:

Yes, there is a proposal by the I&B Ministry but it would be very subjective in a country like ours, where children face different levels of exposure in different cities. One needs to understand India's diversity to understand the perspective of filmmakers. We hope the new certification is not enforced.

The proposals will have to be formalised and passed into law by Parliament before changes can be made to the issuing of film certificates.

Russian media outlets now face fines of about $6,300 for strong language, the Kremlin announced.

The law also mandated individuals found distributing any media that contains 'obscene' language will be fined $95 while officials will be given fines of $634, The Moscow Times reported.

However, the law does not say what words or phrases are banned. Sergei Zheleznyak, a deputy from the ruling United Russia party and a co-author of the bill, said adding such a list would have been senseless.

The bill, claimed to be about protecting children, faced little opposition in both the Duma and the Federation Council.

The box office returns for the weekend are in. While many expected G.I. Joe to hold firm in the top position but Fede Alvarez's reboot of Sam Raimi's beloved 1981 classic, Evil Dead chopped through the competition over the weekend.

Evil Dead , which was reportedly shot on a $17 million budget, pulled down $26 million domestically, to clear the top slot by a clean $5 million.

Alvarez's thrilling rendition pretty much disregards the comedy that Raimi's original infused, instead leaning on a very dark mood. The film moves at a terrific pace, offers outstanding loads of gore and, in the end, proves to be a completely unforgiving picture. In short, it's the horror film we've all hoped for.

Juan Jose' Bigas Luna was a Spanish art house film director.

His first film to reach a wide audience was Las edades de Lulu (The Ages of Lulu) . However this film also came to the attention of the BBFC who lopped off 2:55s.

His most well known films were from the Trilogia Iberica with Jamon Jamon (1992), Huevos de Oro (1993) and La teta y la luna (1994).

He died of leukemia on 5 April 2013.

Filmography

• Tatuaje (1976)
• Historias impúdicas (1977)
• Bilbao (1978)
• Renacer (1981)
• Caniche (1983)
• Lola (1986)
• Anguish (1987), writer and director
• Las edades de Lulú (1990)
• Jamón, jamón (1992)
• Huevos de oro (1993)
• La teta y la luna (1994)
• Lumière et compagnie (1996)
• Bámbola (1996)
• La camarera del Titanic known in English as The Chambermaid on the Titanic (1997)
• Volavérunt (1999)
• Son de mar (2001)
• Yo soy la Juani (2006)
• Di Di Hollywood (2010)

Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina has firmly rejected demands by muslim extremists for a new anti-blasphemy law to punish those who defame Islam and and the religious character Muhammad.

In a BBC interview, she said existing laws were sufficient to punish anyone who attempted to insult religion. Hasina said:

They have demanded it. Actually, we don't have any plan to [bring in the law]. We don't need it. They should know that existing laws are enough.

This country is a secular democracy. So each and every religion has the right to practice their religion freely and fair. But it is not fair to hurt anybody's religious feeling. Always we try to protect every religious sentiment.

The Islamists have given a three-week ultimatum to the government to meet their demands, including extreme punishment to those who they describe as atheist bloggers, who are also accused of making derogatory comments against Islam.

A Greek television advert is being withdrawn after both the country's truckers and the gay community took easy offence.

The ad for AirFastTickets shows a hitchhiker boarding a truck for Turin. As soon as the door shuts, the driver flicks a switch, a neon-lit pink divan with bears and pillows appears in the cabin, and he blows the passenger a suggestive kiss. The punch line is:

Do you want to travel cheaply, and end up paying for it dearly? 

The Hauliers Association whinged:

You have ridiculed Greek truckers brutally and without provocation

Greece's main gay association, OLKE, whinged that the ad typecasts gay men:

Gay men are presented as devious and sex-obsessed people trying to seduce unsuspecting youths. Once again, the easy road of homophobia and stereotypes is chosen to advertise products.

AirFastTickets produced a new version of the ad, in which the driver keeps a skull and electric candles in the back of the cabin and wants to take a detour through the Carpathian mountains. But the truck drivers was still 'outraged':

The new ad presents us as necrophilliacs. We will file a complaint about this one too.

Alex Cross is a 2012 USA crime action mystery thriller by Rob Cohen.
With Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox, Rachel Nichols.

A flight was diverted after a young family objected to the plane's violent and supposedly sexually explicit in-flight film. The United Airlines service was scheduled from Denver to Baltimore, but ended up in Chicago after the pilot changed course due to supposed security concerns .

The flight was showing the 2012 crime thriller Alex Cross , which is PG-13 rated in the US. In Britain it is 15 rated for strong violence and threat. The film was shown on drop down main screens rather than individual video screens.

The main scene of violence is described by the BBFC in its BBFCInsight from bbfc.co.uk :

The main scene of violence and threat establishes Picasso's nature as a sadistic killer. After seducing a woman and tying her to a bed for what appears to be consensual sex, Picasso injects the woman with a paralysing agent and proceeds to cut off her fingers. The cutting of the fingers occurs offscreen and the clippers are only shown to touch the woman's skin. A severed finger is briefly seen as it is dropped into a bowl but there is no visible blood and no focus on the woman's injuries.

The parents of two children, aged four and eight, first asked flight attendants for it to be turned off at the monitor, then asked if the captain had the means to do so. Nothing happened for more than an hour, they claimed, leaving them trying to divert their children's attention from scenes they described as horrific . The pilot then announced the plane would be landing at Chicago due to security concerns.

At the airport, the family were briefly interviewed by police and border protection officers, before being placed on a later flight.

The father accused the captain of abuse of power , and criticised the airline for showing grossly inappropriate cinematic content.

The Boat Race
BBC One, 31 March 2013

Complaint

We received complaints from viewers who were offended by bad language in our live coverage of The Boat Race.

The BBC's response

We are very sorry that our live coverage of The Boat Race included two instances of audible swearing from one of the coxes, as we recognise that this offended some viewers. On both occasions, in accordance with the BBC Editorial Guidelines covering live output, our commentators immediately apologised on-air, and we subsequently removed the offending language before making the programme available on BBC iPlayer.

BBC Sport take such matters very seriously and, as in previous years, the production team had spoken with both coxes beforehand to emphasise that they should not swear because their voices would be picked up by on-board microphones. We would like to reassure our audiences that we will be looking at ways to ensure we can avoid a repetition of these unfortunate incidents in future years.

A day before its release, the Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana governments banned the film Sadda Haq as considered it to have glorified the Khalistan (separate Sikh homeland) movement and its leaders.

The movie is based on events in Punjab during 1980-90s and portrays alleged police torture and other inhuman practices that were reported during that period.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal justified the ban saying the state government was committed to maintain peace and harmony:

It is our priority to maintain peace and communal harmony in the state... we don't want that the movie should vitiate the communal atmosphere of the state,

Meanwhile, in Amritsar, radical Sikh outfit Dal Khalsa condemned the Punjab government for banning the film on frivolous charges and demanded a rethink on the move. According to reports, other protests were held against the film at Phagwara and Hoshiarpur on Friday.

Update: Unbanned but Cut

27th April 2013. See  article from  tribuneindia.com

India's Supreme Court has cleared the release of Punjabi movie Sadda Haq (Our Rights) in Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi on the recommendations of a four-member panel of senior advocates that watched it at a special screening in the court complex.

A three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir passed an order asking the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to consider revising the classification of the movie, based on the Khalistani movement in Punjab in the 1980s, from U (universal viewing) to A (restricted to adults) as recommended by the lawyers' panel.

The Bench also asked the producers and distributors of the movie not to make use of the controversial promotional song Baggi in any manner whatsoever.

Update: Unbanned in Haryana

17th May 2013.  See  article from  timesofindia.indiatimes.com

The Haryana government has lifted the ban on the exhibition of film 'Saada Haq' in the state subject to the condition that the observations of Supreme Court and provisions of other applicable laws are compiled with in letter and spirit, a state government spokesperson said here.

Only the duly corrected version having certification from Central Board of Film Certification would be exhibited in full conformity to law, the spokesperson added.

The Media Reform Coalition has launched a consultation for small publishers, online bloggers and journalists to speak up on the new press regulation deal.

On April 15 the House of Commons will return from Easter recess, and soon after that will consider the Crime and Courts Bill -- a crucial part of the statutory backing to the new Royal Charter which provides for independent media self-regulation.

But the Bill as currently drafted has some big problems : it doesn't adequately protect small publishers from punishments intended for media moguls and it doesn't provide the legal backing for them to join or form a regulator further down the line.

Click here to take our survey without further ado!

The House of Lords has shown clear intention to solve these issues by adding a holding amendment excluding "small-scale bloggers", but we need to lobby the Commons to transform this into something clear, versatile and workable. That's why we want your input.

Maria Miller, the relevant Secretary of State, has made noises about consulting with the 'newspaper industry' over the Easter recess. She has said nothing about engaging with other kinds of news organisations -- hence this consultation.

We hope to rally small publishers, online news sites and bloggers behind a set of proposal so that we can collectively lobby all three parties to make sure the C&C Bill does the job it should.

The consultation comes in three parts:

• An online survey which you can access by clicking here . Your answers can be submitted anonymously but we ask you to identify the type of publication on whose behalf you're responding.

• A comprehensive briefing document which clarifies the current legal situation, entitled Small publishers, online journalism and the new system of press regulation [pdf].  We know the Royal Charter and its associated laws have been the subject of serious misreporting by the mainstream press, and our document provides a clear, detailed summary.

• Supporting information for your reference, including extracts from the Bill's current drafting.

The survey focuses primarily on who you think should be liable for exemplary damages and cost penalties, and who you think should get the benefits It lists several options for the protection of small publishers, such as excluding non-profit organisations or setting an income threshold for inclusion as a "relevant publisher".

It also asks whether the costs benefits of joining a recognised self-regulator should be available to anyone who joins, regardless of whether they are a "relevant publisher" -- and whether respondents would join an affordable regulator if it made costs protection available to them.

The responses to the consultation will be used to provide the political parties with input on the clauses going through Parliament after the Easter recess that will affect small news organisations.

If you are a small publisher, online writer, or blogger of any kind, we want to hear from you. Please do look over our documents and take our survey -- and spread it around to as many people as you can!

Wearing of miniskirts could soon land one in jail or attract heavy fines if Uganda's Parliament approves a new piece of legislation that defines anything sexy to be illegal pornagraphy.

In its current form, it is proposed that those found guilty of abetting pornography face a fine of Shs10 million under the draft law or a jail stint not exceeding 10 years, or both.

But the draft law ran into early turbulence in the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee after some members expressed concerns about its wide reaching implications for freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution. MPs in the committee also criticised the government's attempts to legislate for sex, a course of action which could see it labelling some age-old cultural practices as pornographic.

The Bill defines pornography as any cultural practice, form of behaviour or form of communication or speech or information or literature or publication in whole or publication in part or news story or entertainment or stage play or broadcast or music or dance or art or graphic or picture or photography or video recording or leisure activity or show or exhibition. Lawmakers said the Bill's definition of pornography was too broad and that it went against Uganda's tradition of being tolerant of cultural diversity.

Members, however, flatly rejected the minister's proposal to establish an Anti-Pornography Committee, observing that the police would enforce the law.

It also prohibits any combination of the preceding that depicts unclothed or under clothed parts of the human body such as breasts, thighs, buttocks and genitalia, a person engaged in explicit sexual activities or conduct; erotic behaviour intended to cause sexual excitement and any indecent act or behaviour tending to corrupt morals.

'Ethics' Minister Reverend Simon Lokodo, an extremist noted for a string of repressive law proposals, presented the proposed law backed by Deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi. He claimed the Bill was needed to protect women and children against exploitation and curb increasing immorality. Lokodo spewed:

The need to put in place a law that prohibits pornography is necessitated by the dangers it poses to moral fabric of the society

While the Bill seeks to outlaw indecent dressing among other social behaviours deemed pornographic under the legal parameters of the Bill, other lawmakers said the lack of definition for what constitutes "decent dressing" makes the Bill awkward and asked the government to stop curtailing freedoms in the country which could scare away tourists.

Update: Acquitted

12th April 2013. See  article from  monitor.co.ug

The Uganda Law Reform Commission (ULRC) has asked Parliament to throw out the newly-tabled Anti- Pornography Bill 2011, arguing that the government can fight pornography without enacting a new law. Patrick Nyakana, a ULRC commissioner told Parliament:

We conclude that the provisions of the Anti-Pornography Bill 2011 are already catered for in the Penal Code Act, the Computer Misuse Act, Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2009 and other laws and thus, there is no need for this law.

Today's charges against yet another comedian for defaming religion are part of an alarming new escalation of politically-motivated judicial harassment and arrests, Amnesty International has said.

In the latest arrest, stand-up comedian Ali Qandil was interrogated at the public prosecutor's office on charges of defamation of religion on Bassem Youssef's satirical television show. Qandil denied insulting Islam, emphasizing that he poked fun at the exploitation of religion, rather than the religion itself. He was released on bail.

In a mounting crackdown on freedom of expression, up to 33 people have been targeted within the last two weeks, with arrests and charges.

Some have been charged with what seem to be politically motivated or trumped-up criminal charges. Others are charged with insulting the President or defamation of religion for actions that should not be criminalized as they merely amount to the peaceful exercise of freedom of expression.

Ann Harrison, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa said:

We are seeing arrests and charges for literally nothing more than cracking a few jokes. This is a truly alarming sign of the government's increasing intolerance of any criticism whatsoever.

There is no sign of this campaign of judicial harassment coming to an end. The government is seriously redoubling its efforts to stamp out freedom of expression.

...Read the full article

A billboard poster promoting a gentleman's club stated Bar & Club ... Club Oops ...! Corporate Gentleman's Entertainment ... Attitude & Class Does Matter ...! ... www.cluboops.co.uk . The ad included images of women in negative. One woman was shown in her underwear and another was naked with her body in profile. The ad also showed an image of a naked woman from the waist down with underwear pulled down around her thighs. Issue

Three complainants challenged whether the ad was offensive, demeaning to women and unsuitable for public display where it could be seen by children.

Club Spice Ltd t/a Club Oops spoke to the ASA by telephone and said they believed that their agency, which had designed the ad and chosen the locations where it was displayed, was at fault. They said they would remove the poster and assumed that would resolve the matter

ASA Assessment: Complaints upheld

The ASA acknowledged that Club Oops intended to remove the ad from the site in question. We noted that one woman was shown in her underwear and the other two women were shown naked, one in profile and one from the waist down with her underwear around her thighs. We considered that the poses of all three women, and in particular the image of the woman from the waist down, were provocative and likely to be seen as sexually suggestive. In addition, we considered that a number of consumers were likely to believe that the image of just the lower half of a woman was unduly explicit and degrading to women. We considered that the ad was overtly sexual in nature and was likely to cause serious and widespread offence. We therefore concluded that the ad was unsuitable for public display, especially where it could be seen by children.

The ad breached CAP Code rules 1.3 (Responsible advertising) and 4.1 (Harm and offence). Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form.

Jesus Jess Franco was a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. He died aged 82, a few days after suffering a stroke.

His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff , which received wide distribution in the United States and the UK. Though he had some American box office success with Necronomicon (1967), Ninety-Nine Women (1968) and his two Christopher Lee films, The Bloody Judge and Count Dracula , he never achieved wide commercial success.

Franco moved from Spain to France in 1970 so that he could make more violent and sexual film. He turned to low-budget filmmaking with a heavier accent on adult films. He produced a number of well-received, low budget horror films in the early 70's ( Dracula vs Frankenstein, Vampyros Lesbos, A Virgin Among the Living Dead ) and a huge number of X-rated adult films.

UK film maker, Nigel Wingrove, has penned a great obituary revealing exactly how his his work was held in utter abhorrence by the BBFC:

These are two quotes from the BBFC to my solicitors which show just how close to having criminal proceedings issued against Redemption we were for trying to champion Jess Franco:

SADOMANIA:

... it is grossly unsuitable for viewing in the home. Few, if any, of the sex scenes are consenting,... women that persistently refuse to succumb to the sadistic prison regime are systematically tortured, humiliated or degraded, often for the purpose of arousing the impotent male governor and through him the male viewer of the video work. ... There is no doubt in our minds that the erotic presentation of such scenes would be found depraving and corrupting by a British jury .

DEMONIAC:

... The Board has never granted a BBFC certificate to any film or video which seeks to encourage sexual sadism, and this film is clearly sadistic in that it seems to have no purpose or justification other than to reinforce or sell the idea that it can be highly pleasurable to inflict injury, pain or humiliation (often in a sexual context) on others.

...The work of this particular film maker has often fallen well outside the parameters of BBFC standards because of the manner in which it presents scenes of vicious sexual violence or of violence to women in a sexually arousing context, offering little pleasure to the viewer other than a conscious vicarious gratification of misogyny. Where such emotions focus on the harming of others, the Board must always consider drawing a line, as we have in refusing a video certificate to DEMONIAC .

...Read the full obituary from nigelwingrove.blogspot.com

The Man with the Iron Fists is a 2012 USA/Hong Kong action by RZA.
With Russell Crowe, Cung Le and Lucy Liu.

UK: The Director's Cut/Unrated Version was passed 18 uncut for strong bloody violence for:

• UK 2013 Universal [Theatrical + Director's Cut] RB Blu-ray at UK Amazon released on 1st April 2013

UK: The Theatrical Version was passed 18 for strong bloody violence without BBFC cuts for:

• UK 2013 Universal [Theatrical + Director's Cut] RB Blu-ray at UK Amazon released on 1st April 2013
• UK 2013 Universal [Theatrical] R1 DVD at UK Amazon released on 1st April 2013

See pictorial cuts details from movie-censorship.com . The additional 12:14s of extra material for the Director's Cut includes some extra nudity and violence. It is worth having but doesn't make a lot of difference to the film

There is also a US release

Reviews

• See review from  cine-vue.com : "This tactless portrayal of warriors and warlords will be forgotten in an instant."

Promotional Material

 

Quentin Tarantino presents The Man with the Iron Fists , an action-adventure inspired by kung-fu classics as interpreted by his longtime collaborators RZA and Eli Roth. Making his debut as a big-screen director and leading man, RZA--alongside a stellar international cast led by Russell Crowe and Lucy Liu--tells the epic story of warriors, assassins and a lone outsider hero in 19th-century China who must unite to destroy the clan traitor who would destroy them all.

Since his arrival in China's Jungle Village, the town's blacksmith (RZA) has been forced by radical tribal factions to create elaborate tools of destruction. When the clans' brewing war boils over, the stranger channels an ancient energy to transform himself into a human weapon. As he fights alongside iconic heroes and against soulless villains, one man must harness this power to become saviour of his adopted people.

Blending astonishing martial-arts sequences from some of the masters of this world with the signature vision he brings as the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and as one of hip-hop's most dominant figures of the past two decades, RZA embarks upon his most ambitious, stylized and thrilling project to date.

Blu-ray Includes both unrated and theatrical versions. The DVD only includes the theatrical version

Bonus Features:

• Deleted Scenes: The Saga of Gold Lion; Jack Knife Journey Through Wolf Mountain; Zen Yi and Chan Make Camp; Blacksmith Doctors Zen Yi; Mirror Maze
• A Look Inside The Man with the Iron Fists
• A Path to the East
• On the Set with RZA: The Journey Begins; Casting Legends; Respect The Classics; Visualising the Story; First Person Shooter

A leaflet, for Chilli White bar in Leeds, featured 12 different images including: a monkey smoking a cigarette; a man wearing an American flag shirt and baseball cap; a woman in a bra taking a photograph of herself; a woman in a bear costume with her breasts exposed; a woman in an open baseball jacket that revealed her cleavage; the thighs and stomach of a naked woman whose crotch was obscured by a martini glass; a woman with her mouth open pouring a clear liquid into her mouth from a bottle; the head and torso of a naked woman with her back (which was tattooed) to the camera; and a woman wearing denim shorts and riding a skateboard. Text stated FREE BOMB WITH EVERY DRINK little miss EVERY TUESDAY 10:30 - LATE Chilli WHITE No curfew .

A complainant challenged whether:

1. the image of the smoking monkey was offensive, because it showed animal cruelty; and

2. the images of women in the ad were offensive and unsuitable for a circular which could be seen by anyone, including children.

The ASA challenged whether:

3. the image of the woman pouring liquid into her mouth was irresponsible, because it showed alcohol being handled irresponsibly;

4. the images of woman in various states of undress were irresponsible, because they linked alcohol with sexual activity;

5. the leaflet was irresponsible, because the images collectively were likely to appeal particularly to people under 18 years, by reflecting and being associated with youth culture;

6. the statement FREE BOMB WITH EVERY DRINK was irresponsible, because it encouraged excessive drinking; and

7. the images, and particularly the image of the woman pouring liquid into her mouth, were irresponsible, because the models appeared to be under 25 years old.

ASA Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA understood that the leaflet had been delivered to the building where the complainant worked and we therefore considered that, although it promoted an event aimed at students, it had been distributed to members of the general public (not only students). We recognised that all of the images were intended to capture the attention of students but we considered that the image of the monkey smoking was likely to cause serious offence to some people, whether students or members of the public.

2. Upheld

We considered that the image of the woman in a bra taking a photograph of herself was not explicit, the model was not topless and her pose was only mildly sexually suggestive. Although the leaflet could be seen by anyone, we considered that that image was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.

We considered that the image of the woman in the bear costume was explicit and gratuitous as her breasts were completely exposed and the rest of her was covered (by the costume), drawing particular attention to her breasts. Similarly, we considered that the placement of the martini glass in front of the naked woman's crotch and the way the image had been cropped (to include only the area from her thighs to her stomach) made that image explicit and sexually suggestive. We also considered that the image of the woman in an open baseball jacket that revealed her cleavage was sexually suggestive. Because of those images, we considered that the leaflet was likely to cause serious or widespread offence to an untargeted audience and was therefore unsuitable for distribution in a manner that allowed it to be seen by anyone, including children.

3. Upheld

We considered that, although only the neck of the bottle was visible, the impression was that the clear liquid pouring out of the bottle was a type of alcoholic drink, most likely a spirit. We noted that the woman was pouring the liquid towards her mouth with her tongue sticking out in an apparent attempt to catch the drink, which could be seen flowing in a continuous stream past her outstretched tongue. We considered that her casual and careless style of drinking, in the context of an ad for a night club event which offered a FREE BOMB WITH EVERY DRINK, implied that she had no regard for the volume of alcohol she was drinking. We concluded that the ad portrayed a style of drinking that was unwise and that it showed alcohol being handled irresponsibly.

4. Upheld

We considered that the images of the woman in a bra taking a photograph of herself; the woman in a bear costume with her breasts exposed; the woman in the baseball jacket that revealed her cleavage; the naked woman whose crotch was obscured by a martini glass; the woman pouring liquid into her mouth from a bottle; and the head and torso of the naked woman with her back to the camera alluded, to varying degrees, to seduction and sexual activity. We considered that those images had been linked to alcohol by virtue of the drinks promotion (FREE BOMB WITH EVERY DRINK), and we concluded that the leaflet breached the Code.

5. Upheld

We considered that the majority of the models looked young, appearing to be of student age, and that the fashions shown were representative of those generally worn by younger people. We considered that the images, and particularly the image of the woman riding a skateboard, were likely to appeal to young people, which was the leaflet's intended audience.

We considered that the images cumulatively were youth orientated, and that the leaflet would have particular appeal to young people, including those under the age of 18 years. Because the ad promoted a club event night and included reference to the promotion on alcoholic drinks, we concluded that that approach was irresponsible and in breach of the Code.

6. Upheld

We noted that the leaflet stated FREE BOMB WITH EVERY DRINK, and we understood that the offer was not restricted in terms of duration or in terms of the number of free bombs that each person attending the event would be entitled to (upon the purchase of another drink). We considered that the implication was that the free drinks were to be consumed in addition to the purchased drinks, as opposed to acting as an alternative to a second or subsequent purchased drink, and we noted that the event ran from 10.30 - LATE. We considered that the drinks promotion encouraged excessive consumption of alcohol, which was irresponsible and in breach of the Code.

7. Upheld

The Code required that marketing communications that referred to alcoholic drinks should not show people who were, or appeared to be, under 25 years of age in a significant role. The leaflet included reference to the promotion on alcoholic drinks at the event (FREE BOMB WITH EVERY DRINK) and we considered that all of the people pictured in the leaflet featured prominently. We had not seen evidence that they were over 25 and the majority of those whose faces were visible seemed to be under 25, including the woman pouring a liquid that appeared to be alcohol into her mouth.

The leaflet must not appear again in its current form. We welcomed NoCurfew's decision to withdraw the leaflet and we told them to take more care when preparing marketing communications that referred to alcoholic drinks in future.

Three 'atheist bloggers' were arrested and paraded at a news conference following muslim extremist demands to kill the blasphemous bloggers.

Deputy commissioner of Dhaka police, Molla Nazrul Islam said that the three had hurt the religious feelings of the people by writing against different religions. He added that the three could face 10 years in jail if convicted under the country's cyber laws which outlaw defaming a religion.

Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan said the three arrested men were among 84 atheist bloggers named in a list handed over by an Islamist group to a government panel probing alleged blasphemy against Islam on the Internet.

Meanwhile, a group of bloggers protested the overnight arrests of the three men and said their detention meant the government is caving in to pressure from Islamist groups. Scores of bloggers held hands to form a human chain in Dhaka to protest the arrests. Fahmidul Haq, a blogger and Dhaka University professor said:

We demand their release. The future of Bangladesh is bleak if the freedom expression of the bloggers is curbed.

The Irish low budget airline Ryanair is being prosecuted by gender extremists in Spain over the production of their 2013 calendar featuring female cabin crew in bikinis.

Groups in Spain's Malaga province claim the calendar is 'offensive' and exploits female employees. They claim that the public use of these images is illegal.

The case is set to be heard before a three-judge panel on April 30.

The calendar is sold on all Ryanair flights for $12 and all proceeds go to the Polish TVN Foundation, which helps children suffering with cystic fibrosis. The company expects to raise $128,508 for the charity.

A new Playboy app promises a bespoke Playboy lifestyle for guys into travel, clothes, food, cars, girls and beyond.

Given that Apple prudes have banned anything remotely porny, then Scott Flanders, CEO of Playboy Enterprises had to do some careful spinning:

We've rebuilt Playboy for iPhone from the ground up to attract the new generation of Gen Y fans who enjoy the indulgences of the artisanal good life and modern culture.

iPhone users across the globe can enjoy the new app, now found in the App Store. The three subscription options offered to consumers include: a recurring monthly subscription for $1.99, a recurring six-month subscription for $10.99 and a recurring yearly subscription for $19.99.

There will be app-only content, as well as material selectively chosen from the current issue of the magazine, ie selecting only that suitable for Apple censors.

The opening video of the app will star Miss February 2011, Kylie Johnson. The Good Life's Food section of the app debuts with a conversation with Chef Eddie Huang, owner of BaoHaus restaurant in New York's East Village . Under Drink, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, bar manager at Clyde Common in Portland, mixes up a classic Easter Day cocktail. An exploration of the resurgence of the station wagon's popularity in Cars. For Girls, Miss November 2004, Cara Zavaleta, makes a striking appearance in Playmate "Redux".

Josh Schollmeyer, Playboy's Director of Digital Content noted:

We're taking everything that has made Playboy great and re-imagining it for the iPhone, while reinventing our aesthetic with exclusive pictorials and a beautiful, image-heavy navigation. It truly is Playboy 2.0.

Which all translates to: "no tits".

Deadly Blessing is a 1981 US horror by Wes Craven.
with Maren Jensen and Sharon Stone.

UK: Unconfirmed on the BBFC database, but seems to have been passed 15 uncut for:

• UK 2013 Arrow RB Blu-ray/R2 DVD Combo at UK Amazon released on 25th March 2013

Reviews

• See review from  strangethingsarehappening.com : "Craven certainly piles on incident -- to keep the audience from nodding off between killings"
• See review from dvdbeaver.com : "A superior work to Wes Craven's eighties and nineties studio works"

Version History
 

UK: A shortened version was passed X (18) without BBFC cuts for:

• UK 1981 cinema release

The demonic ending was left out as it was simply considered confusing and not a good ending.

Summary Review: A Good Effort

A good effort from Wes Craven, having an eerie and at times claustrophobic atmosphere. It is set in an Amish like community but altogether more menacing.

Two women outsiders join their friend, the wife of a suspiciously killed member of the mysterious community. Strangers aren't appreciated in the community and any minor moral transgression seems to to cause nasty things to happen courtesy of a local incubus.

There are some scary moments in this film but also some well-worn cliches.

The demonic ending seems a bit tagged on, and has in fact been left off in the past out of choice.
 

Promotional Material

Wes Craven unearths the darkness that festers beneath an isolated community in Deadly Blessing, a rural tale of mistrust and bloody murder from the director of Last House on the Left.

When Martha marries into a close knit sect she finds herself shunned as an outsider by its fanatical members, but when her husband dies mysteriously while riding a tractor expressly forbidden as a tool of the devil, things take a darker turn. Marked as an incubus by her neighbours, time is running out for Martha and her visiting friends, as plagued by nightmares and fearing for their lives, they face the violent fury and retribution of old time religion.

One of Hollywood's masters of terror presents a tale of rural horror and simmering evil from the golden age of video terror.

Disk Features:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the main feature
• Optional English SDH Subtitles
• Audio commentary with Wes Craven
• Introduction by star Michael Berryman
• Craven Images: The Horror Hits of Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes Series, Cut and Run, Weird Science) - An interview with Deadly Blessing's iconic star
• Deadly Desires: An interview with screenwriter Glenn M. Benest
• Easter Eggs
• Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Rue Morgue art director Gary Pullin
• Collector's booklet featuring writing on the film by author and critic Kim Newman

After the US Supreme Court's decision in FCC v. Fox Television Stations in September 2012, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has initiate a review of the Commission's broadcast indecency policies and enforcement to ensure they are fully consistent with First Amendment principles.

In the interim, the Chairman directed the Enforcement Bureau to focus its indecency enforcement resources on egregious cases and to reduce the backlog of pending broadcast indecency complaints.

The Bureau has reduced the backlog by 70% so far, more than one million complaints, principally by binning them on the grounds that it had taken so long to process them that they were too stale to pursue.

The FCC now seek comments on whether the full Commission should make changes to its current broadcast indecency policies or maintain them as they are.

Update: American Family Association have their two Penneth

5th April 2013. See  article from  christianpost.com

The American Family Association, a major pro-family group, has announced that Americans should petition the FCC to uphold high television, radio decency standards.

In addition to the overarching negative impacts of indecency in media on children, a more immediate issue exists: radio 'shock jocks' that thrive on shocking even the most hardened of sensibilities will have even greater latitude to express even more profanity without the worry of FCC censure, states AFA.

The family values campaigners of Morality in the Media have just issued their Dirty Dozen list commendations for top notch facilitators of adult sex entertainment:

Attorney General Eric Holder

Mr. Holder refuses to enforce existing federal obscenity laws against hardcore adult pornography, despite the fact that these laws have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and effectively enforced by previous attorneys general.

Comcast

Major cable and satellite TV companies such as Comcast, Time Warner, Verizon, DIRECTV and DISH provide hardcore pornographic premium channels and pay-per-view movies to tens of millions of American homes. Comcast is the largest of these. With the growth of the Internet, pay TV pornography does not sell like it once did, but it still sells and pollutes countless minds.

Facebook

The world's most popular social networking site has become a top place to trade pornography, which we have reported on numerous occasions. According to reports, even child pornography is regularly shared on Facebook and women and children are trafficked on the site.

Google Play

Google has essentially no restrictions on the types of apps allowed in their app store, Googleplay. Pornographic apps are in every category and in many of the categories there are countless porn apps available.

LodgeNet

This is the company that provides most of the in-room TV pornography to major hotels and motels. Despite the federal and many state laws, which prohibit obscene materials on cable and satellite TV, LodgetNet has made untold millions by providing hardcore pornography to its customers. Children have also been exposed to this material.

Hilton

This hotel chain, like Hyatt, Starwood and many other top hotel chains, provides hardcore pornography movie choices; and it's "adult" channels that are often the first thing advertised when you turn on the TV.

Twitter

Twitter's policy reads: "We do not regulate Tweets that link to content on external websites, including pornography." For this reason, Twitter has become the new 'micro-porn' service with tens of thousands of porn tweets an hour. Of course, there is no way to keep this from children.

American Library Association

For years, this self-styled champion of First Amendment freedoms has worked to encourage public libraries to keep their computer unfiltered. The ALA's misguided campaign has resulted in countless patrons of all ages being able to access or being inadvertently exposed to hardcore adult pornography and even child pornography on library computers.

Wikipedia

The popular encyclopedia-type website houses thousands of pornographic images within its articles. According to news reports, even child pornography has been found on Wikipedia. Despite this problem, Wikipedia leadership refuses to monitor the site or to code the pages as having "adult content" so that filters can block the pages.

Cosmopolitan

This staple of the supermarket checkout line may be as pornographic as Playboy magazine, but without the pictures. This publication has steadily declined from a somewhat inspirational women's magazine to a verbally pornographic "how-to" sex guide, further desensitizing young women and girls to the pornified culture around them.

Barnes & Noble

This Fortune 500 company, operator of 689 retail bookstores and a very active website, is a major supplier of adult pornography and child erotica. Nearly two dozen porn magazines are currently for sale at one store we randomly checked.

US Department of Defense

The Pentagon has a serious pornography problem, and it is doing next to nothing to combat it. In fact, it seems to be embracing pornography. Morality In Media receives a steady stream of comments from servicemen and women and their spouses regarding the widespread availability of pornography in the US Military.

Private daily newspapers are being sold in Burma for the first time in almost 50 years. Sixteen papers have so far been granted licences, although only four have started on the first day of the new regulatory regime.

This is another important milestone on Burma's journey away from authoritarian rule, the BBC's Jonathan Head reported from the commercial capital, Rangoon.

Egypt is ready to start blocking pornographic websites. Sherif Hashem, deputy head of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority said:

The companies providing Internet service in Egypt have installed filters in their networks since January to block any content demanded by the judicial authorities in Egypt,.

Hashem now asks that concerned authorities specifically define what websites should be blocked so that the government can ask Internet providers to block them. He explained:

There is no such thing as blocking such sites as a whole, but they must be specified.

In November, the former prosecutor general sent official letters to the communications and information technology minister, the interior minister and the head of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority ordering that they block pornographic websites.