22-Dec-16

Political Influence on
Media (2)
Chapter 3

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012

Media Regulations
Last week:
Political systems
Regulation for ownership and content

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012

Media Regulations
Today:
Military content regulation (national
interest?)
Morality
Industry self-regulation
Advertising

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012

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Military Regulation
Military content
regulation
Vietnam onwards

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Military Content Regulation

Propaganda by any other name?

Post-Vietnam
Press pools are
established, which
Help the military ensure
safety
But they do so by
restricting press access
Information is censored
Embedded journalists
Closer to the action
Too close?

Regulating Content for Morality

Sex & violence = 1 concerns
1973 Supreme Court Decision
on sexually explicit materials
Obscene vs. Indecent materials
Obscene material is illegal
Indecent material is legal, but
limited
Controversies in definitions
3-pronged Miller test to determine
obscenity
SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012

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Industry Self-Regulation
avoiding external control
But not always good quality
New Zealand Press Motion Picture
Council Association of America
Mix of industry & public reps
Ratings System
Objectives
G
Considering complaints
PG
against the press
PG-13
Promoting freedom of
speech/press R
Maintaining professional NC-17
standards of the press
SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012

Government Imposed
Malaysia
Film Censorship Act 2002
film or film-publicity material which is
obscene or is otherwise against public
decency.
Very vague!
= LOTS OF SCOPE FOR CENSORSHIP!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_Censorship_Boar
d_of_Malaysia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_censorship_in_Ma
laysia

Not just films

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New Zealand
Office of Film and Literature Classification
Much more detailed legislation
Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act
1993
Very specific criteria for censorship
Ongoing research into community standards

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Regulating for Accuracy: Advertising

Various different national bodies
Protect the public against fraudulent or
deceptive advertising
Regulating ads for potentially dangerous
products
Regulating political ads particularly during
elections or other public interest issues
(fairness)
SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012

Influence from Nongovernment Sources

Political role played by other actors
Directly influencing the media
Prompting government to act on media
Players in the debates over the media
Media critics and think tanks
Citizen activists
Media advocacy organizations

SAGE Publications, Inc., 2012

Do the Dappan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPaKW6
geBeg

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Talkback show on Petronass Deepavali

advertisement: Were you amused or
offended?

But even though we get so worked up

about this kind of stuff
80% of R16+ films are marketed to
under-16s
Parental advisory stickers boost music
sales
Parental control technologies are rarely
used
However children are generally very good at
self-censoring
And how do we even begin to determine
global standards and monitor them?!

Why do we even care?

We are
worried
about the
medias
influence
over us
Their
EFFECT on
us

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Violence
16, 000
murders
witnessed
before 18
years old
(Beresin,
2010)

Aggressor Effect
Violent media consumption > violence

Evidence?
Exposure to violent media DOES have
long and short term effects on children

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But effects research is hard

Victim effect
Violent programming leads to fear of real
violence

Desensitisation Effect
Violent programming leads to a lack of
compassion for victims

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What about how we see

ourselves?
Body image + self-esteem

Effects THEORIES
Theory =
A set of statements or principles devised to
explain a group of facts or phenomena
A set of ideas explaining something
Abstract reasoning; speculation
Abstract knowledge or reasoning
Suggested explanations for HOW & WHY
effects happen.
VERY hard to study their application in media
effects.

Reminder for Essay

Question: Using concrete examples,
explain and theorise the various ways
in which media content/texts can be
affected by political and economic
factors.
Deadline: 10 December 2016 by 4pm via
Moodle (Turnitin)
Cite minimum 3 other references that are
not in your list already.

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