Category Archives: Censorship

Porn research awarded $790,000 by Marsden Fund

Auckland researchers have been awarded almost $800,000 to study pornography. The $790,000 study by Auckland University staff will look at how it affects viewers and its impact on society. The research will include studies on young men and women, an art exhibition, an interactive website and a public symposium. The project is one of 88 [...]

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Video games linked with murders

A UK sailor has been jailed for 25 years after a shooting spree inspired by a violent video game. Able Seaman Ryan Donovan had been obsessed with the video game Grand Theft Auto – linked with murders in the US. After being disciplined for disobedience, Donovan told shipmates he was planning a killing frenzy based [...]

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Film and Video Labelling Body – censorship and charity

The Film and Video Labelling body (“FVLB”), like the Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc (“SPCS”), is constituted as an incorporated society under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908. Like the Society, which is a registered charity (registered with the Charities Commission on 17/12/2007 Reg. No. CC20268); it too is a registered charity (registered 28/01/2008 [...]

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Promotion of the “moral welfare” of children and young persons

In 1952 the Minister of Child Welfare in the McLarty government of Western Australia, Arthur Watts, introduced amendments to the Child Welfare Act to widen the definition of “neglect” to include children “living under such conditions as to indicate that the mental, physical or moral welfare of the chid is likely to be in jeopardy” [...]

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More than 1300 books banned by censor

There are more than a thousand books that you will never be allowed to read unless you leave New Zealand. Many are of a sexual nature, deal with violence, horror and crime and might have only been fully read by one person in New Zealand – and that person decided they shouldn’t be available to [...]

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To Train Up a Child – parenting book classified unrestricted

A book teaching parents how to smack, thump and pull their children’s hair was the latest considered for censorship. The Censorship Compliance Unit assessed the book, written by fundamentalist Christians Michael and Debi Pearl, and decided not to ban or restrict it.  A spokesman for the Department of Internal Affairs, which the office and unit [...]

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LA Zombie – Herald on Sunday reporter seeks responses

Here is the email received by the Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc. (SPCS) from Herald on Sunday reporter Andre Hueber on Friday April 29, 2011 at 10.38 AM regarding LA Zombie, a film we were told was that was prevented from being screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival in July 2010. The Festival organisers had proposed to [...]

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‘Sick puppy’ saw porn in prison before murder

It was an ”indictment” on the system [Dept of Corrections] that someone like [Malcolm] Chaston [now a convicted murder] could source objectionable material [pornograhy] while behind bars. ”It is hugely irresponsible and a disgrace,” he [Garth McVicar - Sensible Sentencing Trust Founder] said. WHITE SUPREMACIST Malcolm Chaston was allegedly able to watch soft-porn movies before [...]

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Networks appeal sex scene rulings – NZPA

The Broadcasting Standards Authority didn’t pay proper attention to context and its own previous judgments in ruling two scenes in television programmes breached standards, a High Court judge has been told. TVNZ and TV3 are appealing last year’s BSA rulings which said scenes in TVNZ’s Hung and TV3′s soap Home And Away breached standards. For [...]

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BSA Slams TVNZ’s Close Up Porn Promotion

Media Release by Family First NZ, a registered charity with the NZ Charities Commission. “The trend by the networks to sexualise news and current events is disturbing” – Family First NZ Family First NZ is welcoming a ruling from the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) demanding that TVNZ publicly acknowledge their breach of broadcasting standards for [...]

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Wanganui Gang Patch Bylaw Ban ruled “invalid” & without authority

Last week in the High Court, Justice Denis Clifford ruled the Wanganui District Council (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) bylaw “invalid” and  ultra vires (ie not authorised by) the Wanganui (Prohibition of Gang Insignia) Act” [2009]. He ruled in favour of the applicant in the Judicial Review of the bylaw, Phillip Ernest Schubert, a member of Auckland Hells Angels. This [...]

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Was Christchurch Earthquake Man-Made? – Uncensored Magazine launched by Steve Crow

The latest issue of Uncensored Magazine which was originally launched by “controversial businessman and publisher Steve Crow (best known for his popular Erotica Adult Lifestyle Expos)” back on 12 September 2005, makes the claim that the latest 6.3 magnitude Christchurch earthquake could have been man-made. The editor, Jonathan Eisen, in a posted website comment dated [...]

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Family First (NZ) Joins Call to Ban “Eroticised Violence against Women” Video

Family First (NZ), a registered charity with the NZ Charities Commission, has joined the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women International and the US-based Media Watch, in calling for a ban on an upcoming music video they say features “Eroticised Violence against Women”. The Society (SPCS), while not having viewed the “video teaser”, would like to [...]

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New chief censor appointed – Dr Andrew Jack

Public Servant and legal expert Dr Andrew Jack is the new chief censor. He replaces Bill Hastings who resigned in July 2010. Dr Jack, Customs’ legal and advisory services group manager, is currently chief legal adviser for the NZ Police. His three-year term as chief censor starts on 7 March 2011. See Media Release Wednesday, [...]

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Censors protecting the “public good” from morally toxic computer games

The just released 2009/10 Annual Report of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) has highlighted a computer game that the Office has recently banned. In its summary of reasons for the decision it states:  ”The game presents still images and text that legitimises sexual violation and rape in a manner that is intended to sexually arouse [...]

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John M Carr, Eden Digital Ltd, Banned Sex DVDs and the US-NZ Connection

John Malcolm Carr, director of the NZ registered company Eden Digital Ltd, resides in the United States, the country of origin of many of the DVDs containing sexually explicit content that his hardcore porn distribution company imports into New Zealand. A significant number contain “a high degree of degrading, dehumanising and demeaning sexual conduct which, [...]

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John M Carr – director of Eden Digital Ltd – porn promo company that degrades and dehumanises women

Porn King’s Billboard Banned. Wiliam Mace. BusinessDay.co.nz Porn king Steve Crow’s latest affront to society – a moving billboard displaying an image of a “woman’s naked pelvic area with a halved melon” positioned in front of it – has been banned by the Advertising Standards Complaints Board.  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4238566/Porn-kings-billboard-banned The woman appears to be “simulating female [...]

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BSA decisions welcomed by Family First NZ

Complaint over ‘raunchy’ soap opera upheld Kirsty Johnston Stuff News 20/09/10 A “raunchy and sexually charged scene” from an episode of Home and Away has earned TV3 a slap on the wrist for breaching standards of good taste and decency…. Full story: http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv/4146025/Complaint-over-raunchy-soap-scene-upheld

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TV sleaze backlash gathers steam [as community groups express concerns]

TV sleaze backlash gathers steam By John Drinnan Sep 17, 2010 Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10674013 Pressure is building on television networks to reduce the amount of sleaze in early prime time. The Broadcasting Standards Authority is expected to announce a decision next week that will set the new tone. There is particular concern about sexual content on [...]

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Sex creeps into early prime time TV

NZ Herald Friday Sep 3, 2010 A respected children’s media expert is lamenting that kids have been sacrificed to sleaze under New Zealand’s TV standards system. Ruth Zanker is a lecturer at Christchurch Polytechnic and a researcher who has specialised in children and the media. She has noted a change. “There is a general sexualising [...]

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New appointments to Film and Literature Board of Review

Internal Affairs Minister Nathan announced on 29 June three new appointments to the Film and Literature Board of Review. Dr Don Mathieson has been appointed as President of the Board with Andrew Caisley as Deputy President. Dr Laurence Simmons also joins the Board. Wellington lawyer Dr Mathieson is well qualified for this role. He is [...]

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“Salo – Decision goes so low” says Family Voice Australia

FamilyVoice Australia: Media Release, 6 May 2010 “Yesterday’s confirmation of the R18+ rating for the DVD of Salo – Pasolini’s  film revelling in teen torture and sex abuse – hits a new low in Australian classification decisions,” FamilyVoice national policy officer Richard Egan said today. FamilyVoice Australia was the only community group to make a [...]

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Rapper Derty Sesh ‘exhausted’ from backlash over his video

The fallout over a music video depicting the stalking and killing of women is taking a toll on New Zealand rapper Derty Sesh, his record label says. The video, for Derty Sesh’s second single, Forever, was pulled from YouTube by Move The Crowd Records this week, at the same time the censor’s office began a [...]

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Nathan King’s graphic hip-hop video taken down (NZPA report).

A music video depicting the stalking and killing of a woman has been removed from YouTube by its record label, at the same time the censor’s office has begun a classification process at the request of the Department of Internal Affairs. The video for rapper Derty Sesh’s second single, Forever, has been pulled from YouTube [...]

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Time to Reform NZ Censorship Law? – Article (The Press)

The first steps are being taken towards a possible overhaul of New Zealand’s ageing censorship legislation. Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs officials have been meeting key stakeholders and industry and government body officials during the past fortnight to gather submissions for a “tightly targeted review” of the current laws. However, that scope may widen, [...]

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Censorship Compliance refers Nathan King’s video to Chief Censor

The Society is pleased to learn that following its complaint earlier today, Censorship Compliance has now submitted the Nathan King video clip, which compliance officers have now watched, to the Chief  Censor’s Office for classification. If is is classified “objectionable” under the Films, Videos and Publications Act 1993, the distributor of this publication can be [...]

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Society refers Nathan King’s Video to Censorship Compliance

The Society is joining with a number of anti-violence groups that are calling for a New Zealand taxpayer-funded music video, featuring the son of comedian Mike King, to be banned. The slasher-style clip has been described as “violent, misogynist pornography”. The Society has made a formal complaint to the Censorship Compliance Office of the Department [...]

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Expelled – No Intelligence Allowed: Paramount Theatre, Wellington.

SPCS commends film commencing 8.30 p.m. Thursday 17 December 2009, Paramount Theatre, Courtney Place, Wellington. The new American  movie Expelled – No Intelligence Allowed, directed by Nathan Frankowshi and hosted by Ben Stein, currently on its theatrical release in NZ, highlights a fundamental problem that is inherent in the NZ Science curriculum. In the section [...]

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$420,000+ p.a. (estimate) to fund salaries of Censors Bill Hastings and Nicola McCully for 2009/10

After over 15 years being paid big bucks by the tax-payer to watch hardcore adult porn, the perversions of child sex offenders and rapists, and gratuitous violence, Chief Censor Bill Hastings and his deputy Nicola McCully – want a further 3 years in the “dirty job” watching more objectionable content, 80% of which is hardcore adult porn. What [...]

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Announcing Society’s 2009 Members’ AGM

The Society’s 2009 (Members Only) AGM will be held on Monday night from 6.45 pm to 7.20 pm 8th June 2009 at Connolly Hall, Guilford Tce, Thorndon. The Public Address commencing at 7.30 pm, following the AGM, will be given by John Terris, former Mayor of Lower Hutt, former Labour Party MP for Western Hutt, Former Acting Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of Media Matters. All members of the public are warmly invited to attend this lecture, the discussion that follows and the supper. The Lecture Topic is: “New Zealand’d Media Landscape – It’s like the Wild and Woolly West. (Our value-averse little country is fast becoming the Sleaze Capital of the Universe).”

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Also posted in Announcement, Censorship & New Technology, Television Violence | 2 Comments