Media Regulation Notes

Task 1: How has technology development made media regulation harder?
(Livingstone and Lunt)

• Regulation sets limits to freedom, and is motivated by a desire to control or mitigate against negative consequences
• In the film industry (UK) the BBFC is the regulatory body responsible for censorship and regulation
  
  
• Since media regulation no longer applies to just films, but also internet and newer forms of media, regulation is harder as there is more to filter, and what rules should be put in place in different media industries to protect the audiences from harm
• Since these are mainly made in regards to protect younger audiences, it also causes problems for adults, since they feel once they are 18 they feel they can make the choices on what movies they watch and what video games they play
  
  
• There is a fine line between protecting the audience and giving them the choice and freedom to choose what they watch
• Regulators have to try balance protecting people with offering choice
  

• Since the advancement of technology, it is easier for younger people to access more media. Unlike previous years when daily life was centered around technology, if you weren't 18 you'd need parents permission or and ID to access movies etc.
• Now people can access most things on the internet without being ID'd as well as people being able to pirate videos and access them illegally
• Downloading, streaming, piracy, YouTube etc. means people can bypass controls like age certificates
  
  
• Government offices such as OfCom are responsible for regulating the TV industry, however they have no power when it comes to  streaming sites such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, and therefore are more controversial
  
  
• With piracy and online streaming, ads that have been taken down could still be published to YouTube, and since there is as many as 30,000 videos uploaded per day, regulators can't keep up with this to go through all the complaints and reports
• The vast nature of the internet (millions of users) makes it impossible to control
  
  
• Since the advancement of technology, someone can share something illegal on social media and it can be shared to millions of people before it is even noticed

• Livingstone and Lunt believed that companies developing a large amount of power has also made regulation difficult
• Powerful companies can avoid regulations (e.g. large conglomerates)
• E.g. NewsCorp, a large conglomerate which flows vertically down to the subsidiary Times Newspaper which has broken laws and regulations in the past
• -have they gotten away with this because of the amount of power they have? Were they punished enough or not enough due to the power they hold?

Task 2:

1) How does the article describe what the censorship process was like in NZ 100 years ago?

• A century ago, the chief censor of NZ would go the port where ships came into mooring. These ships had movies made on celluloid packed inside tins as well as physical magazines and books never viewed by the NZ public
• The chief censor would then cut out what was considered inappropriate from the magazines, and sometimes ban books entirely