Turtle is apparently cooked alive

From The Times see full article

Ofcom has censured ITV for editing a programme to make it appear that a turtle was being roasted alive by Bear Grylls, the “survivalist”.

ITV breached broadcasting rules during a family show by showing Grylls apparently biting the head off a live frog and cooking a turtle in its shell on an open fire.

Edited clips from the former SAS soldier’s Channel 4 show, Born Survivor, were included in the ITV1 satirical show, Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

Viewers raised concerns about the animals’ welfare, and several parents complained that their children had been upset by the scenes.

Harry Hill’s producers said that some viewers did seem to believe that the turtle had been ‘cooked alive’, which was of course not the case; however, unlike the programme makers of Born Survivor, we did not show the killing of this poor animal, which may have led to this confusion.

Ofcom rejected that argument and ruled that the clips were inappropriately scheduled. ITV compounded the offence by editing the clips so that viewers were not aware that the turtle had been killed before being cooked.

Adjournment Debate
House of Commons
26th July

   
Nutter Vaz has another Manhunt whinge in parliament

From Hansard see full article

Keith Vaz: I have raised my second point, which is about video games, on many occasions in the House. Since we last had such a debate, I am delighted that the British Board of Film Classification has banned Manhunt 2, the sequel to Manhunt 1, which was produced a few years ago and caused so much controversy. According to Giselle Pakeerah, the mother of Stefan Pakeerah, the young Leicester boy who was stabbed to death in a park in Leicester when aged only 14, the 17-year-old killer copied exactly scenes from Manhunt 1 to lure Stefan into the park and stab him 17 or 18 times with a knife.

Manhunt 2 is even worse because it shows graphic scenes of violence, including people being syringed in the eyes and bludgeoned to death. I was delighted when the BBFC decided to ban it. However, having banned the first video game in 10 years, it is important that the Government react much more proactively. I know that my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary is the mother of a young child. My children are 12 and 10 and I cannot supervise them every moment of the day. I see them at their computers—obviously, since I became interested in the subject, I check what they are doing there. However, peer groups of which young children are a part may result in their watching videos that are inappropriate for their age because they have access to those games.

A partnership between the retailers, the producers of the video games and the Government is therefore important to ensure, first, that labelling is clear. It is still about the size of a 10p piece, which is far too small. The content of some games is so serious that a warning should be splashed on the bottom that clearly states the age limit so that those games will not pass the retailers who sometimes sell them because inexperienced people operate cash registers and do not know that they should not sell them to someone who is under 18. Such labelling also means that, if such a game is lying around a house, people can see that it is inappropriate.

I welcome what the Government have done and the statement that Tony Blair made just before he resigned as Prime Minister. He said that there is a wider social responsibility, beyond the notion that the publishers should be able to make profits out of such games. A huge amount of money is made out of the production of such games, for which we have become the centre of Europe, but there is a wider social responsibility, too. I therefore hope very much that something can be done to ensure additional research. The Government can do that immediately, without having to wait for the publishers, although they ought to contribute towards the cost of the research.

 
Rush Hour 3 in the Chinese slow lane

From Variety see full article

The Rush Hour 3, with its clueless cops and international star Jackie Chan, seems like an unlikely political football.

But Asia is abuzz with talk of the slapstick comedy being slapped with a rumored ban in mainland China, even though star Chan is one of China's favorite sons.

The Film Bureau, the body that oversees the release approval procedure, told Variety the pic is still being considered by the censorship committee, and insisted it has not been banned. But sources close to the film and other distributors in the region say Chinese censors will likely not greenlight a theatrical outing in China.

The problem is apparently a scene featuring a Chinese organized crime family that Chan and Chris Tucker's characters take on during a visit to Paris. With Triad dealings so central to the plot, authorities possibly much higher than the Film Bureau have apparently decided the pic is fundamentally anti-Chinese and are not offering filmmakers a chance to recut.

   
Madonna fashion adverts cleared by ASA

Based on an article from ASA see full adjudication

A TV ad, for clothes designed by Madonna, showed a young woman being led up to Madonna, who was sitting at the head of a conference table, surrounded by fashionably dressed women. Madonna said How can I help you?.

One of the young woman's socks rolled down her leg and she pushed the other one down to match. Madonna said I like it. The shot cut to her striking a whiteboard, which had the word FASHION projected on it, with a riding crop saying "IT, IT, IT, IT, IT". She then slammed the crop onto the table and asked What is it?.

The young woman hesitated and said, Well I think it ... Madonna replied, Don't think it, you need to know it. The young woman was escorted into a dressing room by two men, who undressed and redressed her in more fashionable clothes while Madonna repeated Doesn't have it. Doesn't have it. Doesn't have it. The young woman then returned to the boardroom wearing the same outfit as Madonna, who said You made it. A designer rushed over and threw himself at Madonna's feet and cried No, no, no, no, no, you made it. Madonna and the young woman then strode away together and Madonna said And I love it.

The ad was given an ex-kids restriction by the Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre (BACC).

Issue
1. 18 viewers complained that the ad was offensive, because they believed it depicted a young girl being stripped by force by two men and under threat of physical punishment.

2. Seven viewers challenged whether the ad was harmful, because they believed the depiction of the young girl would appeal to, and encourage, paedophiles.

ASA Assessment

1. Not upheld:
Although the ASA acknowledged that some people had found the ad disturbing, we considered that the quick change of clothes undergone by the interviewee was likely to be seen as a reference to catwalk fashion and the riding crop as a symbol of Madonnas perceived artistic style, not a threat of physical punishment. Because of that, we considered that the ex-kids restriction for the ad was sufficient to avoid frightening young children and concluded that the ad was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence, or be seen to encourage or condone violence or cruelty.

2. Not upheld:
We noted the actress who portrayed the role of the interviewee was 24 years old and considered that most viewers would not infer from her style of clothing that she was a school girl. We also considered that it was clear, from the ad, that she was applying for a job within Madonnas fashion company and therefore likely to be past school age. We further considered that the quick change of clothes was likely to be seen to contain a sense of urgency, rather than being sexually suggestive or titillating. Because of that, we concluded the ad did not portray a child in a sexually provocative manner or contain material that could harm children by encouraging paedophiles.

 
Underwear adverts are banned as indecent, vulgar & suggestive

From Desi Babes Indian see full article
See banned advert on YouTube

The Indian government has banned two underwear advertisements — Lux Cozy and Amul Macho — claiming them to be indecent, vulgar and suggestive.

The Information and Broadcasting ministry has instructed all television channels to stop showing the advertisement with immediate effect. The ads have been considered "indecent, vulgar and suggestive" and thus violate the Advertising Code, the Ministry said in its order.

The advertisements were being shown on many channels including Star Plus, India TV, NDTV and IBN 7.

The I&B ministry has directed all channels to stop screening ads of Lux Cozy and Amul Macho. One of the ads shows a woman washing a man’s underwear at a ghat and progressively getting turned on. Her washing actions turn more suggestive, as she pounds the underwear.

In the other, a washerwoman calls at an apartment to pick up laundry and a man wearing a towel answers the door. As his towel drops, leaving him only in his undies, she eyes him flirtatiously.

Mario Party 8 withdrawn

Based on an article from The Times see full article

Nintendo has withdrawn a computer game from sale in the UK because it contains the word 'spastic' in its script.

Mario Party 8, a multi-player game for the Wii console, went on sale in the UK on Friday but was taken off the shelves after the mistake was discovered.

In the game, designed to be played by groups at parties, a blue wizard called Kamek appears on screen and intones: Magikoopa Magic! Turn the train spastic! Make this ticket tragic!

Nintendo said in a statement: Unfortunately we have discovered that a small number of games contain the wrong version of the disk due to an assembly error. We have therefore decided to recall all copies of the game from UK retailers so that this mistake can be corrected.

Games experts said that computer game translation – like film dubbing – was prone to errors because translation services often did not take account of the meaning of words in particular cultures.

Nintendo said that Mario Party 8 was developed in the US, where the word does not have the same offensive connotations as in the UK. The inconsistency was not identified early enough when the title was produced for the UK, the company said, and as a result, 2% of the first batch shipped to the UK contained the American wording.

Andrew Rickell, executive director of Scope, the disability charity, praised Nintendo for withdrawing the game, but said that games manufacturers needed to do more testing locally to weed out similar errors: Spastic' is an extremely offensive word. It is a medical term which refers to the inability – or limited ability – to control muscle movement, typically among people who have cerebral palsy, but the wider meaning is of someone who is incapable of doing something, either physically or mentally. It is simply not allowable in the UK.

Nintendo would not say when Mario Party 8 would be re-released.

Fighting school children on YouTube

From the BBC see full article

Police chiefs have urged websites to remove violent video footage of children fighting, following an investigation by the BBC. Police say the companies should monitor what is posted on their sites and remove any violent or criminal content.

Panorama found that films showing brutal fights between children are regularly uploaded to sharing websites. The investigation found films showing children as young as 11 and 12 punching and kicking other youngsters.

But YouTube, one of the sites found with footage, says it relies on users to "flag up" inappropriate films.

Deputy Chief Constable Brian Moore, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said it was the responsibility of internet companies to search their sites for videos of violence and crime. They should then pass the details to police.

He said: They are responsible for what is on their products - they are making a profit from this. We would question who is in a financially better position to police the likes of YouTube - those in the private sector, who are earning huge amounts of money, or police forces which are currently having to stretch budgets.

But YouTube, said it did not employ anyone to police what is posted. The site, which is owned by Google, claims pre-screening content is a form of censorship which is not the role of a private company. A spokesman said the website takes down videos but only if they are flagged by users and subsequently found to breach their guidelines.

The YouTube spokesman added the website would help police if they were approached for information.

Panorama: Children's Fight Club will be shown on BBC One on Monday, 30 July at 2030 BST.

From the Observer see full article

Teachers are demanding that YouTube be closed down for refusing to remove violent, threatening and sexual content involving children and staff.

Members of the Professional Association of Teachers have accused the company of encouraging cyber-bullying by ignoring their pleas to take down inappropriate clips.

In one case in Scotland, pupils filmed a teacher in the classroom and then posted it on the website alongside the caption 'you are dead'. Teachers claim that YouTube repeatedly ignored complaints about the footage, although it was eventually taken down.

On Tuesday delegates at the PAT annual conference will call for YouTube and similar sites featuring user-generated video content to be shut down and subjected to an investigation.

Many parents have also expressed concern. Margaret Morrissey, of the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said: Unless YouTube can assure parents as well as schools that if anything goes up of this nature it will be immediately removed, the PAT will get a lot of support from parents for this motion.

I propose fellow nutter Keith Vaz

 
Keith Vaz to chair Home Affairs Committee

From UK Parliament see full article

At a meeting on 26 July 2007, the Home Affairs Committee chose the Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP to be its Chairman.

Keith Vaz has been Member of Parliament for Leicester East since June 1987.

The motion that Vaz take the Chair of the Committee was proposed by Mr Martin Salter MP and agreed unanimously.

The previous Chairman of the Committee was the Rt Hon John Denham MP, who withdrew from participation in the Committee after accepting ministerial office on 28 June.

   
First cut of Saw IV is NC-17 rated

From First Showing see full article

Producer Mark Burg, director Darren Lynn Bousman, and star Tobin Bell were on hand Comic-Con to discuss the latest details on Saw IV. The juciest detail of them all: they submitted to the MPAA and (as expected) got an NC-17 on their very first attempt.

Mark Burg and Darren Lynn Bousman announced that they had just got an NC-17 rating on the very first cut of the film. When asked if they would just leave it that way (and the audience cheered), Mark Burg stated about the MPAA that one day we'd love to have the guts to leave it as is and tell them to… where he cut himself off before saying too much.

TV channel banished to cable now to be booted off cable

Based on an article from IFEX see full article

Ten days after the embattled Venezuelan broadcaster RCTV, now called RCTV Internacional, resumed broadcasting via cable and satellite on 16 July 2007, a new threat emerged that could result in its being removed from cable service distribution by 1 August. The government had previously stripped RCTV of its terrestrial broadcast licence on 27 May.

Mario Seijas, president of the Venezuelan Chamber of Subscription Television, said on 26 July that RCTV Internacional had five days to register as a national broadcaster under a provision of the National Commission for Telecommunications (CONATEL) that was introduced by the Radio and TV Social Responsibility Law of 2004.

This provision in theory requires any broadcaster operating in Venezuela to be formally registered as a "national broadcasting producer." The authorities have said that if RCTV Internacional does not comply, its programming will cease to be available by cable on 1 August. National broadcasters are expected to simultaneously retransmit the president's speeches and other government government propaganda when they are broadcast by the state media

RCTV Internacional responded with a statement disputing that it has to register as a national broadcaster. Legally, it said, RCTV Internacional is an international TV station producing programmes to be broadcast worldwide, just like Telesur, Warner, HBO, Sony, History Channel, Sunchannel, E! Entertainment Television and A&E Mundo. The stations cited are all available by cable in Venezuela.

Currently available by cable and satellite in Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and part of the Netherlands Antilles, RCTV Internacional is going after international Spanish-speaking viewers, not only in Latin America but also in the United States and Europe.

 
Morality in Media harp back to the last generation

So who can remember the times when morals weren't actually declining? You'd they would have hit rock bottom by now.

Based on an article from USA Today see full article

X-rated entertainment is the profit center hotels don't like to talk about. It's big business, making hundreds of millions for hotels and vendors.

Anti-porn nutters have unsuccessfully tried to stamp out raunchy hotel room entertainment. Morality in Media released a letter from its president, Robert Peters, to Marriott CEO Bill Marriott Jr. Peters writes that he tries not to stay at Marriotts, despite their quality, because the chain offers porn.

I realize that Marriott is not the only major hotel chain that distributes pay-TV pornography, the letter says. Marriott is, however, the only major chain whose founder (your father) was honored by Morality in Media for his efforts to fight pornography.

   
Nutters senators look to filtering the internet

From Press Esc see full article

US senators today made a bipartisan call for the universal implementation of filtering and monitoring technologies on the Internet in order to protect children at the end of a Senate hearing for which civil liberties groups were not invited.

Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel K. Inouye and Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Vice Chairman Ted Stevens both argued that Internet was a dangerous place where parents alone will not be able to protect their children.

While filtering and monitoring technologies help parents to screen out offensive content and to monitor their child’s online activities, the use of these technologies is far from universal and may not be fool-proof in keeping kids away from adult material, Sen. Inouye said. In that context, we must evaluate our current efforts to combat child pornography and consider what further measures may be needed to stop the spread of such illegal material over high-speed broadband connections.

The measures they are calling for include directing the Federal Trade Commission to form a working group to identify blocking and filtering technologies in use and identify, what, if anything could be done to improve the process and better enable parents to proactively protect their children online.

Beyer Recommends... Malcolm and Barbara: A Love Story

 
Beyer recommends Malcolm and Barbara: A Love Story

Thanks to Dan
From The Telegraph see full article

A documentary is to be broadcast which shows the moment a man suffering from Alzheimer's disease dies.

Malcolm Pointon, a pianist and lecturer who developed the disease aged 51, was the subject of an award-winning programme eight years ago which chronicled his battle against illness and the devotion of his wife, Barbara.

Now filmmaker Paul Watson has returned to the family to make a sequel which ends when Mrs Pointon calls him into a room in Thriplow, Cambs, where her 66-year-old husband is dying.

It is only the second time a person has been filmed for British television passing away from an illness.

But John Beyer, of Mediawatch-UK said: There is a certain dignity in death that is not appropriate for people to gawp at on television. The way that broadcasters seem to want to intrude on every human activity undermines that dignity. We are entitled to privacy and dignity, and television destroys all that.

Watson, whose documentary will be shown on ITV1 on August 8, said It is only Barbara's fortitude that keeps me from weeping for Malcolm. It was she who asked me to film 'to the bitter end. The film includes his moments of happiness and love for Barbara up to his death surrounded by his family. I don't want our ITV audience to be frightened of death.

   
ISP filtering trials continue

So if Australia sets up one size fits all filtering what age should it target. Is the net cleaned up so it is suitable for 8 year olds, 12 year olds or 15 year olds?

From ZDNet Australia see full article

The government has squashed speculation that its Internet content-filtering trial had been brought to an end prematurely.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan yesterday made that announcement, despite statements by the Family First senator Steve Fielding that the three-month trial, scheduled to have been carried out in Tasmania, had "been quietly scrapped".

Family First has been campaigning for mandatory filtering at ISP level to prevent children getting access to pornography online and announced on Tuesday the government had ditched the filtering trial after both Telstra and Optus would not participate.

Coonan said one privately funded trial had been cancelled, but the planned pilot managed by the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) will go ahead as planned. The tender for companies wishing to take part closed last week and three bids were received, according to the government.

Under the ACMA scheme, ISP-level filtering products will be tested on blocking "inappropriate and illegal content", whether such products would clog ISPs' networks and if such products have improved since the government last examined their capabilities in 2005-2006.

The federal government has already examined the potential ISP-level filtering three times; firstly in 1999, a CSIRO technical trial; in 2003-04 as part of the review of the Online Content Scheme; and in 2005 during a trial conducted by NetAlert, involving RMIT and ACMA.

Following the most recent trial, Coonan acknowledged problems with the concept saying: Each report has found significant problems with content filter products operating at the ISP-level ... The Australian trials have also found the effect on performance of the Internet by ISP filtering to be substantial and a lack of scalability of the filters to larger ISPs.

Coonan also announced this week that the government will reveal details on the AU$116.5 million NetAlert -- Protecting Australian Families Online initiative in the coming weeks, which will include an AU$18.3 million Internet safety education campaign and the provision of free online content filters to every Australian household and public library to help block unwanted content through the AU$93.3 million National Filter Scheme.

 
Iran group opposing repressive Iranian internet filtering 

Based on an article from Payvand see full article

More than 10 million websites are currently being "filtered" in Iran, according to the state Information Technology Company. Reporters Without Borders ranks Iran's press situation as "very serious"

At a time when the country suffers from what human rights defenders describe as a severe "information crackdown," a group of young Iranians inside the country is determined to battle the dominant policy of online censorship imposed by the Iranian leadership.

The group Iran Proxy is formed by some Iranian youngsters who believe that this "new dictatorial barrier" must be fought from inside of the country -- and that they must remain underground to be able to do so.

Iran Proxy describes itself as the first anti-filtering group inside Iran. It says it is focused on introducing and promoting simple -- and yet technologically advanced -- ways of helping Iranian users skirt web filters.

Iran Proxy tries to teach to the Iranian users the advanced methods of getting around this new dictatorial barrier, which is the result of false policies of governments and religious extremists, in a simplified and understandable way through publication of a series of articles, one of the underground group's members tells Radio Farda on condition of anonymity.

Iran Proxy has so far created tens of proxy websites with search ability and also featuring fixed links to news websites that are currently being blocked by the Iranian government. The proxies, which get updated constantly and can be e-mailed to users, help surfers to enter the restricted pages.

According to the results of the worldwide research carried out between the years 2004 and 2005 by the OpenNet Initiative, Iran was filtering around 30 percent of the target websites, Iran Proxy tells Radio Farda. The results revealed that Iran was practicing one of the most strict methods of Internet filtering.

In recent months, the Iranian state-run telecommunications center has begun the launch of an entirely new filtering system that includes a software robot able to observe viewed web pages and block them after drawing a comparison with the defined algorithms, Iran Proxy tells Radio Farda.

From The Nation see full article

Malaysia has warned web bloggers not to write on "sensitive issues" relating to religion or politics, threatening to arrest wrongdoers using a security law that allows detention without trial.

Minister in the Prime Minister's department, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, said the government would not hesitate to use the draconian Internal Security Act, as well as the Sedition Act, against irresponsible bloggers. Both laws allow for indefinite detention: I want to issue a warning that the time has come for us to take action against them (bloggers). We have the right and we will do it. We have been very patient.

Mohamad Nazri's comments, which came in parliament late Tuesday, were in response to several articles on a local blog which the government claims contained disparaging comments against the king as well as Islam, the country's official religion.

The article on Malaysia Today, a popular and widely-read blog site dedicated to anti-government political articles, prompted the ruling United Malay's National Organisation party to lodge a police report against the writers.

Police have yet to comment on action to be taken against the blogger

   
Manhunt 2 to be released uncensored after cuts?

From The Scotsman see full article

Take Two, the company behind Edinburgh games designers Rockstar North, has vowed to release the controversial game Manhunt 2 uncensored.

Take-Two said it would stand by the title, though it suggested some cuts would be made.

Speaking to shareholders, chairman Strauss Zelman said: We have hundreds of extraordinarily talented people who have worked on this title for three years. Supporting their creative vision and bringing it to consumers as unvarnished as possible is crucial to us. We don't see ourselves in the 'adults only' business.

   
Condemned 2 game self censored

Based on an article from Kotaku see full article

In an interview with Condemned: Bloodshot producer, Constantine Hantzopoulos, Hantzopoulos admits that the ESRB 'AO' rating on Manhunt 2 has caused Sega to censor their content:

I worked on [Indigo Prophecy] and had to cut the sex scenes out of the game for the US...It sucked because I don't believe in that, right. But you've got to do what you've got to do. We're working closely with the ESRB to make sure everything goes through okay but there's stuff we've cut already. There were things we were doing that even I couldn't believe we were going to those places....An example of what we cut would be putting someone's head in a vice. That was too much, you know.

 
Foreigners criticising Venezuelan government to be deported 

From The Guardian see full article

President Hugo Chávez has announced that foreigners who visit Venezuela and criticise his government will be escorted to the airport and expelled.

In a televised address the Venezuelan leader ordered cabinet ministers to monitor statements by visitors and deport them if they "denigrated" his leadership: How long are we going to allow a person - from any country in the world - to come to our own house to say there's a dictatorship here, that the president is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it? No foreigner, whoever he may be, can come here and attack us. Whoever comes, we must remove him from the country. Here is your bag, sir, go.

He did not name any critics but the immediate target was believed to be Manuel Espino, the head of Mexico's conservative ruling party, who on a recent visit to Caracas questioned the president's democratic credentials.

Foreign journalists and NGOs operate freely in Venezuela and about 80% of the domestic media is in private hands. But the climate is changing. The only critical TV channels, RCTV and Globovision, are confined to cable, leaving most viewers to choose between private channels that soft-pedal journalism or state channels that provide fawning coverage of the president.

   
No industry support

From Australian IT see full article

The results of Australia's only live commercial internet content filtering trial will never be known because the exercise, championed by the federal Government, was quietly abandoned.

The trial was expected to go ahead in Tasmania last year but the major internet filtering technology supplier for the project, Internet Sheriff, has revealed that it was abandoned because Australia's two largest ISPs, Telstra and Optus, refused to participate.

Internet Sheriff chief executive David Ramsay said the project was commercially risky without support from the two carriers: Without having them involved to supply the bandwidth at no cost it would have been quite expensive with no guarantee of any outcome for me. To go and spend upwards of $600,000, I needed some sort of idea what would have happened if this was successful and no one could really give us any assurance as to what the next steps may or may not have been.

The trial was expected to show if it was feasible for ISPs to take steps to stop pornographic and offensive internet content reaching their customers.

Tasmanian Liberal senator Guy Barnett, a strong champion of the trial, said he was disappointed it didn't go ahead.

Communications Minister Helen Coonan has, however, directed Australia's communications regulator, ACMA, to conduct a new ISP-level internet content filtering trial and report its findings to the Government by June next year. ACMA last week closed its tender, seeking experts to conduct the trials.

 
Indian films are banned in Pakistan...mostly

Note that Awarapan is listed as an Indian film on IMDb

From Malaysia Sun see full article

Awarapan, a movie starring Bollywood actor Emran Hashmi, has triggered a fierce court row between Pakistan's government and a movie producer who wants the film banned.

The ministry of culture and the Censor Board, in a joint reply to the Lahore High Court, have justified the screening of Awarapan, saying it was produced in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and not India.

The reply was submitted on the petition of producer Younas Malik, who challenged the movie's exhibition.

The government told the court that Al-Alam Plastic Factory LLC in the UAE had produced the movie and its distributor, Sohail Khan, had applied for permission to screen the movie in Pakistan. The movie was mainly shot in Hong Kong and partly in Pakistan.

The government also explained that there were three categories for Indian film or films with Indian artists in Pakistan.

1. Films produced in India are banned in Pakistan since 1965.
2. Films produced in Pakistan containing Indian artists were also not allowed under Martial Law order 57.
3. Films produced in foreign countries except India, even though having Indian artists, could be shown in Pakistan in view of the amendment carried out in Rule 10 of Censorship of Films Rules of 1980.'

Awarapan' had been allowed under a third category. The Censor Board had issued a certificate, clearing the film as suitable for public exhibition with certain cuts.

While Bollywood movies are not allowed into Pakistan, there is a huge thriving market for Indian cassettes, CDs and DVDs, allegedly smuggled from the Gulf.

Travelodge to eject adult pay channels

From The Telegraph see full article

Budget hotel chain Travelodge is expected to announce the removal of all pornographic pay-per-view TV channels from its 20,000 bedrooms, in an effort to become more family-friendly.

The plans - likely to cost Travelodge millions of pounds per year in lost revenues - were revealed by a senior management source last night.

Travelodge's pay-per-view televisions will be replaced by a £10m roll-out of new flat-screen, digital TVs with 18 free, family-friendly channels such as CBeebies and Film Four.

Travelodge has doubled the number of families staying in its hotels since 2003. Leisure breaks account for 70% of sales with the rest generated by business customers - thought to form the main market for television pornography in hotel rooms.

A hotel industry source said UK hotel guests spend hundreds of millions of pounds every year on adult television services in their rooms.

The company is expected to claim that the loss of income from removing the porn channel will be compensated for by the attraction of more customers in the long term.

 
A ban of false and offensive information

From the BBC see full article

Tajikistan's parliament has approved legislation making it a criminal offence to publish false or offensive information on the internet.

The bill must be signed off by President Emomali Rakhmon before becoming law.

Under the proposal, anyone who publishes statements that "offend dignity" may face imprisonment.

Tajik media are largely state-run and human rights groups say the country lacks freedom of expression.

Human rights groups have criticised Tajik authorities for using legislation against slandering the president to restrict political debate.

In practice, the defamation provisions are often applied not only to factually false attacks on reputation, but when the media criticises politicians, the London-based human rights group Article 19 said in a report published on Friday.

A fight impeded by their own internet filters

If all nutters would use internet filters then it would leave the rest of the internet free for normal people.

From The Telegraph see full article

A head teacher has criticised YouTube after footage of two girls fighting at his school was posted on the video-sharing website.

The clip, which was filmed on a mobile phone, shows the two teenagers wrestling on the ground and exchanging blows. One of the girls is seen having her head banged on to the concrete as crowds of children cheer them on. The fight was allegedly filmed by a boy on his mobile and posted on YouTube.

Max Bullough, the head teacher of Hayling College, near Portsmouth, Hants, said the website was "completely unregulated". He said it was difficult for the school to have the footage removed and in the end the police had to be called.

We are a county school, and the county council firewall prevented us from looking at YouTube, because it is a banned site, so we had to ask someone to look on their home computer to establish that the clip was there.

The problem then was getting it removed. If you are not registered you can see the clip, but you have no access to the flag symbol that you can click on to suggest that material is unsuitable. So we could see it, but could do nothing about it. If you look on the 'contact us' connection it does not offer you a telephone number or an email address to log a complaint. In the end we had to call in the police and they got it removed.

We had no sooner got the clip removed than it was placed back on there from a different source. So we had to go back to the police to have it removed a second time.

The 49-second clip was watched by 1,159 people after being uploaded on Tuesday.

From Media Helping Media see full article

The royal government of Bhutan has blocked the Bhutan Times, from being viewed from within the country because, officials say, the site has been covering ‘controversial issues’.

The Bhutan Times has been seen as a popular sites for forum discussions where people can register and express their opinion on important national issues.

The editorial policy of news organisation has been to offer balanced and in depth news, covering both sides of the story.

However, some forum discussions were seen to be critical of the minister Sangey Nidup, who is maternal uncle of the present Crown King.

21st July

Do you realise that if you get pregnant . . . It will be the closest thing to work I’ve done in my life?”

Spanish order ban on cartoon of royal

From The Times see full article
see also El Jueves

A Spanish cartoonist faces a possible jail term for insulting the Crown Prince in a graphic drawing that has shattered one of the country’s greatest taboos.

Spain’s National Court ordered police to seize all 400,000 copies of the weekly satirical magazine El Jueves from newspaper kiosks, as well as the “printing plates”. Judge Juan del Olmo also ordered the magazine to identify the cartoonist responsible for its latest cover, which was met with disbelief in a nation where even the smallest criticism of the Royal Family is deemed off-limits.

It depicted the heir to the throne, Prince Felipe of Asturias, having sex with his wife, Princess Letizia, and saying: Do you realise that if you get pregnant . . . It will be the closest thing to work I’ve done in my life?

The drawing referred to a recent decision by the Government to award mothers €2,500 (£1,680) for each child they bear. Insulting royalty or “damaging the prestige of the Crown” is a crime in Spain, punishable by up to two years in prison.

The public prosecutor’s office said in its writ that the cartoon was clearly denigrating and objectively libellous. The court also planned to issue an injunction to stop websites or other media from reproducing the cartoon.

   
Committee approves of FCC pedantry

From AVN see full article

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has approved the Protecting Children from Indecent Programming Act (S. 1780), a piece of legislation that would allow the FCC to levy fines against broadcasters based on the broadcasts of a single "indecent" word or image.

I am pleased to see the Commerce Committee swiftly approve this bill, said Senator Stevens. It is important to give the FCC the tools it needs to continue to protect the American public from indecency on radio and broadcast television.

The committee's website states, This legislation would specifically allow the FCC to establish that a single word or image in a given context may be considered indecent and levy fines against the broadcaster. It does not address or change the law regarding whether a word or image in a particular context is actually indecent.

Screenings continue of canned South African TV documentary

From the BBC see full article

South Africa's national broadcaster, SABC, has dropped a court action to halt the screenings of a documentary about President Thabo Mbeki.

The latest screening of the documentary then went ahead in Johannesburg followed by a discussion.

SABC originally commissioned the film but had not broadcast it on editorial grounds. It now says it will broadcast the film at a future date.

The controversial documentary is called Unauthorised: Thabo Mbeki.

Despite cancelling the screening twice, SABC rejects accusations that it has been practising self-censorship.

The film has already been screened a few times but was due to be shown more widely later this month.

   
Video game detractors should grow up

From The Telegraph see full article by Nick Cowen

When a piece of art or entertainment is the recipient of a ban, one can't help but begin to build up a grisly mental picture of what it holds in store for its audience. Usually, this perception is far worse than the reality.

I fell foul of this before being allowed to play a copy of Manhunt 2, published by Rockstar Games, which was recently judged too gruesome for release by the British Board of Film Certification (BBFC). As I entered a Rockstar HQ's darkened play-area, kitted out with a couple of wide-screen TVs and Nintendo and Sony consoles, I was nervous about the kind of gaming experience I was in for. I expected to be shocked and appalled. Possibly terrified and nauseated.

So is Manhunt 2 as bad as is implied by the BBFC's refusal to grant it a classification? It is a macabre and graphically violent game – even though the graphics aren't photo-realistic. It also differs from its predecessor with a stronger narrative, more fluid controls and players are able to use parts of their environment to dispatch opponents (such as drowning them in a barrel of water). Playing Manhunt 2 is admittedly an exciting and visceral experience.

But overall, one would be hard-pressed to point to a single visual, plot-driven or thematic aspect of the game as proof that it's deserving of an outright ban. Yes, "stalking and brutal slaying" are key game-play features and the action is vicious and violent throughout – but these are criticisms that could easily be aimed at the first Manhunt game, which the BBFC saw fit to release into circulation (albeit with an 18 rating).

There might someday be a game deserving of a full-blown ban, but Manhunt 2 is not that game. In light of the fact that the BBFC cleared its predecessor for public consumption, it's hard to understand their decision to refuse a classification for Manhunt 2 when the game's core elements, (which the BBFC say offer a "sheer lack of alternative pleasures"), remain unchanged from the original.

Why it is necessary to ban games intended for players 18+?

From Game Politics see full article

Rockstar have written to GameIndusty.biz

We are still exploring our options for Manhunt 2, but how does banning our game support the industry or further the development of the medium? …

a ban is a triumph for the industry’s harshest critics, not an act of diplomacy. A ban is only likely to encourage those who believe video games, already the most regulated medium in entertainment history, should be further restricted.

What about games make them deserve special treatment from the authorities? …Yes, we have responsibilities as an industry… Creative industries have always faced harsh political and legal criticism…

We believe in a well-run ratings system. With the best rating system in history and the future of the industry and medium at stake, we don’t understand why it is necessary to effectively ban all games intended for players 18 and older.

   
Stinging criticism from New Zealand nutters

Based on an article from NZ City see full article

New Zealand's Hell Pizza chain has upset Christian-based nutters again, this time with its latest promotional magazine.

The 20 page glossy publication includes photographs of Nicky Watson in underwear, comments relating to the use of condoms, and an article on the death of Steve Irwin, where the magazine claims to have an "exclusive" interview with the stingray who killed him. It also claims the Prime Minister is planning to adopt 192 children.

National director of lobby group Family First Bob McCoskrie says the magazine is offensive and Hell Pizza has gone too far. He says the pictures used are more suited to a soft porn magazine. McCoskrie intends to make a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Hell Pizza is laughing off the criticism. Spokesman Matt Blomfield says he is surprised by Mr McCoskrie's reaction: I made Bob aware of the magazine before it even went out, and he joked with me and told me he would look at doing an interview for the magazine. But he is twice the weight of Nicky Watson.

   
Swearing on Radio offends Ofcom

From The Times see full article

Ofcom has found BBC Radio 2 in breach of broadcasting rules after a lunchtime f-word outburst from Jack Dee during a comedy programme. The BBC admitted that it had not checked for offensive material before the broadcast.

Listeners complained about the programme, The Green Guide to Life, a sketch show about the “complications and confusion of modern-day living”, broadcast at 1pm in April. Dee was heard to say: What do you mean, fuck off, during the Saturday show.

The BBC said that the language was completely inappropriate for broadcast and apologised.

The prerecorded programme was made for the BBC by an independent production company. It had been intended for a late-evening broadcast but the producers did not indicate that it contained strong language.

Ofcom Said: It is the clear responsibility of the broadcaster to ensure that all material, irrespective of who originally produced it, is suitable for broadcast and appropriately scheduled.

University morality police snoop on Facebook

From The Guardian see full article

The Oxford University staff are logging on to Facebook and using evidence they find on student profiles to discipline students.

Photos on the social networking website of undergraduates celebrating the end of their exams have been emailed to students by the proctors, Oxford's disciplinary body, as evidence of breaches of the University's code of conduct.

Students now face fines of up to £100 after proctors collected evidence of students celebrating the end of exams by "trashing" their friends, covering them with champagne, confetti, flour, and even foodstuffs including raw meat and octopus. Students may be unable to graduate until the disciplinary hearings are resolved.

Proctors emailed third-year mathematics and philosophy student Alex Hill with links to photographs of her on Facebook on Friday: I have been charged by the proctors for breaching rules and being 'disorderly', on the basis of photographic evidence from Facebook, she said.

Oxford University Student Union has advised students to limit their Facebook privacy settings to "friends only" to prevent proctors viewing their accounts.

A spokesman for Oxford University said University proctors had warned students that students indulging in antisocial behaviour would be disciplined: The proctors wish to take the steps available to them to identify and discipline the culprits.

   
Concerns about the Fairness Doctrine

Based on an article from The Conservative Voice see full article

Republican Mike Pence has introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act, a bill that would prevent the restoration of the Fairness Doctrine by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

There has been growing speculation on Capitol Hill that Democrats will seek to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine under the guise that conservative talk radio is disproportionately dominating American radio.

Pence’s bill places a one-year moratorium that prohibits any funding to the FCC for the enforcement of the Fairness Doctrine.

The fairness doctrine, overturned by the FCC in 1987, was part of a 1949 FCC regulation requiring broadcasters to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of public importance.

Democrats would like to level the playing field of the radio airwaves through government action, largely because liberals have been unsuccessful in challenging conservative and conservative-leaning radio icons such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neal Boortz and several others.

The return of the Fairness Doctrine would also affect Christian radio. Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice is concerned about an effort to codify speech on the national airwaves, especially for Christian broadcasters. In a recent commentary, he said that: 30 minutes of religious or conservative broadcasting would have to be balanced with 30 minutes of the opposing viewpoint, even if it aired on Christian radio.

Writing on WorldNetDaily.com, Ron Strom quoted NRB president Frank Wright as saying that giving equal time to the opponents of Christianity by Fairness Doctrine legislation could mean the end of Christian broadcasting as we know it. Christians need to be prepared to go to battle to guard against any future efforts aimed at silencing or diluting conservative and Christian radio broadcasts. The Bible tells us clearly in Mark 16:15 … Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

 
Indian censor talks about the easily offended

From The Age see full article

As India's chief film censor, there are films Sharmila Tagore enjoys to watch but will not allow the Indian public to see.

She describes the Mike Nichols film Closer, which starred Julia Roberts and Jude Law, as beautiful, brilliant and well-performed.

But the producers would not agree to cut some sexually explicit dialogue, and so the film did not get its certificate for release in India.

She said she feared that the wordy sex talk of the film's neurotic Londoners, once hastily dubbed into Hindi, might not be well-received by Indian audiences - especially those outside the big metropolises, who are typically more conservative, less educated and, she says, less "media-literate".

Films can corrupt, she said, particularly when it comes to how men view women. At the same time we have to know the pulse of the people. We don't want to be too restrictive.

Her team sits through about 1,000 feature-length films each year. They order cuts to be made in roughly two out of every three films, and deny a distribution certificate to about a dozen films each year, often for inciting violence against minorities.

She regrets that at the back of everyone's minds are India's small band of conservative zealots who react noisily, often for political gain, whenever they believe Indian values are threatened, organising mobs that break and burn objects in front of television cameras and beat people up.

The fear of what Tagore calls street censorship has forced the film board to be more strict than it might otherwise be: In India everybody is in the mood to get offended right now.

She reckons things have become worse since she was the target of angry conservatives in the 1960s when she appeared on a film magazine cover wearing only a bikini - an unprecedented level of public skimpiness for an Indian woman at the time.

Bikinis are now more than acceptable, and some Bollywood stars have even started kissing and performing sex scenes onscreen in recent years. Tagore is not impressed: I've seen actors kissing and they're still not very comfortable with it. They're trying to be progressive. But India is very superficially modern. In these films the dresses are modern, the dancing is modern, the hairstyles are modern, but when it comes to thinking, then they're very conservative.

   
Ofcom warn of frequent watershed lapses

Based on an article from Broadcast Now see full article

Ofcom has issued a warning to broadcasters after a rise in the number of supposedly inappropriately edited programmes being aired before the 9pm watershed.

The concerns centre on material originally produced for a post-watershed timeslot that has been transmitted unedited - or inadequately edited - before 9pm when children are likely to be listening or watching.

A statement from Ofcom said that in such cases broadcasters frequently blame the failures on scheduling problems and/or human errors.

But the regulator said that broadcasters are under a clear duty to ensure that robust procedures are in place, supported by a sufficient number of appropriately qualified and trained staff, to ensure full compliance with the [Broadcasting] Code.

Ofcom warned that regulatory action would be taken if compliance procedures were not in place.

Mother instinctively deflects blame from murderous son and herself

Based on an article from News of the World see full article

The parents of Britain's most violent teenage murderer claimed that violent computer games turned their son into a twisted killer.

Stuart Harling got life for stabbing nurse Cheryl Moss to death while she was on a cigarette break.

Now, two weeks after he was convicted at the Old Bailey, his mother Lorraine Harling has confessed she and husband David had no idea of the well of savagery that had quietly built up in their son: I knew he was playing the video games but we didn't really know what went on in them, how brutal and graphic they were.

One of Harling's favourite games was the notorious Manhunt. Lorraine, said: I know these games are played by kids across the world, but some are truly horrific. And if they can cause a trigger to be pulled in someone's head they should be banned.

The trial was told how police discovered that, before the murder, Harling spent days on the internet talking to paedophiles and researching serial killers such as the infamous Dennis Nielsen.

Lorraine said: Stuart was 11 or 12 when I bought him the PlayStation. For a long time I didn't even realise games had age limits on them. We'd just buy him the game that all the other kids had. I didn't really know what they were about. I think most parents are the same. I was his mother, but I'd no idea what was happening.

   
Nutters claim blasphemy and art exhibition is cancelled

Based on an article from Art Forum see full article
Spotted by MediawatchWatch

Vado Retro —an exhibition with 150 works about art and homosexuality, from Da Goeden to Pierre et Gilles—has been cancelled at Milan's Palazzo della Ragione.

The exhibition was already installed when protests were voiced about a "blasphemous" sculpture of the Pope made by the Milan artist Paolo Schmidlin. The sculpture—titled Miss Kitty—features a likeness of the Pope dressed in pantyhose. Another piece showed the Italian Premier Roman Prodi’s spokesman talking to a transvestite.

The Miss Kitty exhibit prompted the Catholic Anti-Defamation League to complain: It is a vulgar offence against Christ’s Vicar and the feelings of the Roman Catholics.

To calm critics, Vittorio Sgarbi, the city's councilperson for culture who is responsible for the exhibition, had already announced that visitors under the age of eighteen would not be allowed to visit the exhibition. But the measure was not enough. The opening was delayed after Miss Kitty and two other works were taken out the exhibition. That measure was also insufficient, at least for Milan mayor Letizia Moratti, who requested that another twelve works be removed from the show, due to their pornographic and pedophilic nature. Sgarbi refused—a refusal that led to the cancellation of the exhibition.

Vado Retro will be shown in its entirety in Naples.

From IFEX see full article

A Malaysian blogger has been arrested under the Official Secrets Act for comments posted on his blog that pointed to a corrupt internal security system in Malaysia.

SEAPA protests the detention of the 26-year-old blogger, Nathaniel Tan, and shares the concerns of the Kuala Lumpur-based Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) that the arrest may be symptomatic of an emerging clampdown on online expression in Malaysia.

This year alone, two bloggers and one news site are being sued for defamation and a task force has been set up to look at how existing laws can be used to circumvent Malaysia's Bill of Guarantee against Internet censorship.

On 13 July 2007, Tan, who is also a webmaster of the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat, was taken from his office in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, by three plainclothes policemen, according to Tan's colleagues. He was remanded for four days in connection with Section 8 of the Official Secrets Act on suspicion of possessing "official secrets". A link posted on his blog ( http://jelas.info ) connects to a website that accuses Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum of accepting bribes in exchange for the release of people detained under Malaysia's Emergency Ordinance that allows for detention without trial.

Interestingly, on the same day Tan was remanded, national news agency Bernama reported that Johari had tasked the police to track down writers who "spread lies through websites" - specifically those who direct criticisms against government leaders.

Band on trial for lyric railing at exams

From Courier Post see full article

A rock song lashing out against Turkey's equivalent of the SAT has landed a band in court.

The troubles besetting the five-man group called Deli (Crazy), as they head to trial Thursday are typical of the extremes endured by a country hi