Censorship

ESSAY ON CENSORSHIP

Censorship is an elaborate form of restriction used to protect those who are considered vulnerable in society, it is used to moderate and restrict those underage or disabled from viewing content that could are labelled as inappropriate or harmful to the mind and the disable. This is done by organisations who put age limits and damage labels to contents that appear on Television, internet and buyable and sellable products (from magazines to cigarettes).

A good example of censorship is in film. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an organisation that determine the suitable age to view the film. The age rating assigned to the film will control what time plus what channel the trailer and film airs on television. The make this judgement based on if the film content features bad language or acts of violence or any detectable sexual connotations.

The Human Centipede movie franchise was banned from UK cinemas and television in order to prevent people from attempting to imitate what was seen in the movie also to keep those who can’t deal with that level of horror and gore from watching it. Horror movies would never air on channels such the BBC’s “Cbeebies” because that channel target audience is to babies and toddlers. The American organisation that monitor age restriction on film and movies are called Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Each country has their own age restrictions which go according to their laws and regulations and government policies in order to protect their citizens and public from getting access of what their society considers inappropriate content.

Age restriction on internet isn’t monitored by a said organisation however it is controlled and monitored by parental figures in the household, they can do this through the home internet provider. Certain website featuring pornography, social media and games are controlled by the parent and internet provider. Websites that aren’t censored are educational and productivity category websites also if allowed, safe entertainment websites.

Censorship regarding the prevention of prejudice such as racism, homophobia and controversial opinions on religion and other forms of prejudice in Britain are done in order to not offend. However certain forms of media have gotten away with censoring these, for example the television shows such as “South Park” because they place warnings at the beginning of every show. The television channel airing “South Park” also have to abide by the watershed laws and place their program after ten post meridiem which is the time most of the eighteen plus content air on television.

The media’s Censorship also caters for the need of the disabled by placing warning at the start of each program. An example is those who suffer from epilepsy need protection from flashing images. Some programs contain warning informing to not watch that program.

Ultimately censorship is a system of preventing the vulnerable from being affected by harmful or inappropriate content in the media. This is done to protect and make the United Kingdom’s media content age appropriate and ethically clean.