Censored or Uncensored?

How the media views censorship issues have been a topic of much debate over the years. Censorship has ignited a great deal of controversy and like all things, there seems to be both sides to the story.


Media implementing Censorship? Yes please!

• it protects the moral values that are prevalent in society
• ensures the impact of negative influences from films are limited
• viewers receive messages from films, some of which they need to be protected from

Media Implementing Censorship? No thanks!

• affects the influence and inspiration intended in films
• the true intentions of the film artists, like actors, directors, screenwriters, is not fully conveyed
• how is it that certain people are capable of judging what others are able to see?

The argument over the good and bad of censorship rages in till today. They media have also been contributing factors of this. Plenty of stories circulated in the media have also discussed how useful, or useless censorship is. In an ironic way, the media have been adding fuel to the fire, raising arguments on a concept (censorship) that they themselves help come into prominence.

The following video helps describe some ways in which censorship has become a huge topic in the media, and because of the media.

However, what the media has done which has greatly changed the landscape, is slowly moving from censorship to classification.

Many countries now have a media organization which sets classification ratings for all films, thus giving the public the chance to watch the movies just as the filmmakers intended them to be. Thus, not taking away any creativity or art form which those in the film industry work so hard to showcase to the world. Film classification on the other hand also limits who, can watch what films, and when can they do so. This has been a hugely favorable change and has been viewed by many as a step in the right direction for both film and society. In fact the impact of classification ratings for films has been so great, that some countries, like Singapore has also started to implement such ratings for television programs in free to air channels.

The media's part to play is very straightforward but important. Society demands a fine balance to be struck, something which falls heavily on their shoulders.

Resources:
http://censorship.laws.com/censorship/pros-of-censorship
http://www.movies.com.au/movie-information/movie-classifications/