Announcing Society’s 2009 Members’ AGM
May 18, 2009 by SPCS
Filed under Announcement, Censorship & New Technology, Television Violence
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).” Read more
Employment Relations Authority suggestion on role of Chief Censor’s Office is laughable says employer lobby group.
October 14, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censor, Censorship & New Technology, Moral Values
The Society points out that the recent judgment (8 October) by Employment Court Judge Coral Shaw, overturning the July 2007 ruling by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) that awarded $9,000 for hurt feelings to an employee, Jessica Wood, for unjust dismissal by her employer for her breach of company policy involving emails; highlights the bizarre nature of that flawed ERA decision. ERA member Dennis Asher who wrote it, was quite wrong to have suggested that an employer has to secure a classification decision from the Chief Censor’s Office confirming that an email is “objectionable”, before dismissing an employee for disseminating offensive and sexually explicit content in breach of company email policy.
Media Release by Arthur D Riley & Co Ltd
October 13, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censor, Censorship & New Technology, Moral Values
13 October 2008
The General Manager of Arthur D Riley & Co Ltd, Garth Mickell, says a level of common sense has been applied in the decision by the Employment Court which has found that his company was justified in dismissing an employee.
The case, which was originally an appeal against a decision from the Employment Relations Authority, involved the dismissal of an employee for forwarding offensive images by e-mail to internal and external recipients.
Ms Wood forwarded an email containing pictures of naked people, having twice previously been warned about similar behaviour.
Mr Mickell says his company has only applied the terms of employment and policies that Ms Wood had signed, and she had been warned about on more than one occasion.
“It has been a long and costly process, but we could not let the ERA ruling stand as is, due to the ongoing impact it may have on employment disputes. Each and every employment environment is different and this ruling allows this to be taken into account.” Read more
Landmark Court Decision on Misuse of Internet in Workplace. Dismissal by Company of Employee Upheld.
October 11, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censor, Censorship & New Technology, Moral Values, Pornography
Media Release 11 October 2008
The Society is delighted that the Employment Court in Wellington has recently issued a robust landmark decision that defends the rights of employers to enforce any company rules they have prohibiting their employees from accessing, downloading, uploading, saving, requesting, transmitting, storing or purposely viewing sexual, pornographic, obscene, racist, profane or other offensive and inappropriate material, using the workplace internet or intranet. The Court’s decision overturns a determination of the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) issued last year that was extensively covered in the media and featured in July 2007 on John Campbell’s TV3 Nightline programme.
“Employers have always had a right to dismiss employees who breach company policies relating to conduct in the workplace,” says Society Executive Director David Lane. “However, this Court decision, Arthur D Riley & Co Limited v Jessica Sharon Wood (WC 18/08; WRC 25/07) issued by Judge CM Shaw on 8 October 2008, underlines in case law, for the first time I am aware of, the rights of employers to tie their company policies to their own community/workplace standards in relation to objectonable/pornographic or offensive content, without relying on the liberal and flaky definition of what constitutes offensive and obscene content issued regularly by the Chief Censor’s Office – the so-called enlightened ‘objective view’. Of course companies must set out fair and reasonable procedures that allow an employer to effectively deal with breaches of conduct in the use of the internet, clearly define inappropriate content and notify and warn employees of the consequences of all misconduct.”
Employment Court Judge Coral M Shaw has overturned an earlier determination that was issued by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) that upheld a wrongful dismissal claim by a Wellington woman Miss Jessica Sharon Wood against her employer Arthur D Riley & Co Lts (ADR). The substantial financial compensation awarded her by the ERA, made against ADR, has now been negated by the Employment Court which has ruled that all of it (paid in full by ADR into the Court, pending appeal result) – 75% of her lost wages from 18 September 2006 to January 2007 and $9,000 damages for humiliation – must be returned with interest to the plaintiff (ADR). The Court has reversed the decision of the ERA by now reserving costs in favour of the plaintiff, which has 28 days from the date of the Court’s decision, 8 October, to submit its claims against Miss Wood.
The Society Director David Lane praises Mr Garth Mickell, Director of a private electricity and water metering business, Arthur D Riley & Co Ltd (ADR), the plaintiff, for challenging the appallingly incompetent and flawed decision issued last year by Mr Denis Asher of the ERA.
In an email dated 10 October Mickell wrote to the Society:
“First thank you for your support, and advise. Attached for your reference is the employment court determination. We are thankful that commonsense has prevailed, and there is now the ability of places of work to be able to determine their level of morality and ethics, without influence from central government.”
To reiterate: employers now have a right, recognised by the Employment Court, to enforce company policy relating to what they consider constitutes objectionable/pornographic or offensive content without having to get an “objective” determination from the Chief Censor’s Office. Employers can also determine what constitutes “serious misconduct” relating to such material without having to have the liberal Chief Censor’s Office effectively negate the fair and reasonable community standards they seek to uphold in the workplace.
Grand Theft Auto IV: Who is the NZ distributor profiting from this offensive “Crime-Promoting Game”?
May 19, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censorship & New Technology, Computer games, Violence, Youth Crime
Grand Theft Auto IV (also known as GTA 4) – a computer game formatted for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – was launched on April 29, 2008 and sold nearly 2.9 million copies in the United States in its first five days.1 The game – made by Two’s Rockstar studio – with first-week worldwide sales forecast of up to $US400 million, was submitted to the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) on the 4th of February 2008 by the Film and Video Labelling Body Inc (FVLB).
The computer game’s distributor, the applicant to the FVLB, recorded on the application form, its identity as “TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE”. All other details relating to the company were deleted from the form by the Chief Censor, Bill Hastings, when he provided the application form to the Society, in response to its Official Information Request (OIR). The applicant’s contact person, return street address for the publication and contact telephone number, were all deleted.
The Society Investigates……..
Society’s Submission to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage
May 9, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censorship & New Technology
Submission Re: Consultation Paper: “Broadcasting and New Digital Media: Future of Content Regulation”
Ministry of Culture & Heritage January 2008
Society’s responses to Ministry Questions submitted 11 April 2008
Q 1 What concerns are appropriate to be addressed through content regulation.
These concerns should include all content that could be considered “objectionable” and/or “injurious to the public good” …. all the matters covered under Sections 3(1), 3(2), 3(3), 3(3)(A) and 3(3)(B) of the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act (1993), which was amended in 2005. Concern should also include all matters related to issues of fairness, accuracy, balance and personal privacy, as well as others currently dealt with in Section 4(1) of the Broadcasting Act (1989). Consideration also needs to be given to the current set of principles established by the Press Council as well as matters dealt with in s. 21 of the Human Rights Act 1993 relating to the treatment of classes of persons.
Chief Censor’s Office Report on Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA 4)
May 9, 2008 by SPCS
Filed under Censorship & New Technology, Computer games, Moral Values, Uncategorized, Youth Crime
BSA Report on Children’s Television Viewing: Cause for Alarm
Media Release: 8 May 2008
The Society is not surprised that over half the sample (56%) of more than 600 adult “primary caregivers” of children aged between six and 13, who were interviewed as part of a report into children’s television viewing habits; were unable to identify 8.30 p.m. as the time after which programmes that are NOT suitable for children are shown on television The report containing this statistic entitled Seen and Heard, dated 6 May 2008, was commissioned by the BSA – the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
In response, the Families Commission issued a media release, calling for the 8.30 p.m. “watershed time” – to be more widely publicised by broadcasters. But is this an adequate response if the Commission is truly concerned about certain so-called “adult-only” material – pornography, sexual violence, graphic violence, blasphemy and obscenity – being viewed, or potentially viewed, by tens of thousands of our country’s children and young persons every night of the year from 8.30 p.m. onwards? Society president John Mills says the Society says “it is a totally inadequate response” and notes “we have written to the Chief Commissioner, Dr Rajen Prasad, pointing this out and called for more effective solutions from him to the problem of children and young persons being exposed to unsuitable, morally corrosive and corrupting television content.”
Dr. Craig Anderson: Violent Video Games and Aggression
December 9, 2007 by SPCS
Filed under Censorship & New Technology, Computer games, Family, Violence, Youth Crime
Dr. Craig Anderson from the University of Iowa is one of the most frequently cited and published researchers in the field of video game violence. Anderson’s work has been used in a variety of venues from scholarly publications to State Supreme Court arguments. Anderson research was used in the Illinois video game legislation defense where he was described as, “The nation’s pre-eminent researcher on the effect of exposure to violent video games.” Anderson’s work has been published in a multiple books, from Children in the Digital Age: Influences of Electronic Media on Development (2002) to his own Violent Video Games Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research and Public Policy (2006).
Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents Theory, Research, and Public Policy (Oxford University Press, 2006)
December 9, 2007 by SPCS
Filed under Censorship & New Technology, Computer games, Violence, Youth Crime
by Craig A. Anderson, Douglas A. Gentile and Katherine E. Buckley
Description
Violent video games are successfully marketed to and easily obtained by children and adolescents. Even the U.S. government distributes one such game, America’s Army, through both the internet and its recruiting offices. Is there any scientific evidence to support the claims that violent games contribute to aggressive and violent behavior?
Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley first present an overview of empirical research on the effects of violent video games, and then add to this literature three new studies that fill the most important gaps. They update the traditional General Aggression Model to focus on both developmental processes and how media-violence exposure can increase the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both short- and long-term contexts. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents also reviews the history of these games’ explosive growth, and explores the public policy options for controlling their distribution. Anderson et al. describe the reaction of the games industry to scientific findings that exposure to violent video games and other forms of media violence constitutes a significant risk factor for later aggressive and violent behavior. They argue that society should begin a more productive debate about whether to reduce the high rates of exposure to media violence, and delineate the public policy options that are likely be most effective.
Chief Censor’s Annual Report on Hardcore Porn ‘Control’ Cause for Alarm
November 15, 2007 by SPCS
Filed under Censor, Censorship & New Technology, Films, Pornography
Report 15/11/07
The latest Annual Report of the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) tabled in Parliament yesterday, raises serious issues about its use of tax-payer funds ($3,458,777 held at 30 June 2007) and its lack of disclosure regarding its classification processes, particularly in relation to its clearance of well over 1,000 degrading and gratuitous hard-core pornographic DVD and video publications for “adult entertainment” (R18). Chief Censor Bill Hastings, his deputy, Ms Nicola McCully, and their team of over about 17 censors regularly view and pass this putrid and toxic moral filth for adult viewing. Hastings receives a salary package of between $200,000 and $210,000 and his deputy receives between $180,000 and $190,000 and both have been in the porn watching censor business for over a decade. Both are “openly gay”, hold statutory positions, and are executive members of the OFLC – a Crown entity that receives Crown revenue of $1,960,000 each year. Read more
Society Raises Concerns Over Dissemination of Objectionable Internet Content
August 13, 2007 by admin
Filed under Censorship & New Technology, Computer games, Moral Values, Violence
Media Release 13/08/07
On Thursday night last week The Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced a A$189 million package to deal with the growing problems of internet porn and dissemination of, and availability of, objectionable content to minors via Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The tough measures adopted by the Howard government to stamp out two evils – accessibility to hardcore porn and alcohol abuse in Northern Aboriginal communities – because of their injurious effect on the “public good” and links to child abuse, has been matched by his latest measures. Every Australian public library as well as individual family will be provided with free software to filter internet content to prevent children downloading pornography and other offensive material, service providers will work alongside the government to filter pornography at its source, a ‘black list’ of pornographic sites will be established, and privacy laws will be altered so that sex offenders cannot ‘hide’ on the internet and chatroom sex predators will be rigorously hunted down and prosecuted. In addition a seven-day-a-week hotline will help parents put filters on their computers to block material that is passed on to home computers via ISPs.
Minister of Justice Hon Mark Burton On Objectionable Internet Content
August 8, 2007 by admin
Filed under Censor, Censorship & New Technology, Pornography
Copy of Correspondence between Minister of Justice Hon. Mark Burton and Society
On 6 September 2007 the Minister replied to the Society’s email dated 1 June 2007 (copied below) requesting basic information on steps taken by the government to control the tidal wave of objectionable content (hard core pornography, gratuitous sexual violence and graphic violence etc.) flooding the Internet, much of which is accessible to children and young people via home and workplace computers.
Society Wants Obscene ‘Police Baton’ Sex Video Approved by Chief Censor, Banned
March 11, 2007 by admin
Filed under Censor, Censorship & New Technology, Pornography, Rape statistics, Uncategorized
‘Ban baton sex video’
Sunday Star-Times
11 March 2007, A4
A COMMUNITY standards lobby group is asking for a porn video featuring police batons used as “sex toys” to be banned in light of public outrage over historic allegations against police officers.
The Society for Promotion of Community Standards has applied for leave from the chief censor to have the classification of Big Boob Lesbian Cops II reconsidered.
This film – which features group sex and “humorous” role-plays involving police officers using batons as penetrative sex toys on women – was cleared for R18 release with no cuts in 1994.
Censorship & New Technology
January 30, 2006 by David
Filed under Censorship & New Technology
Monday, 30 January 2006
Censorship in New Zealand: The Policy Challenges of New Technology
by David Wilson, Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Internal Affairs
Social Policy Journal of New Zealand Iss. 19, Dec. 2002
http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/papers/ks/exhibits/52/NewZealand_Policy.pdf
