vostok 1 Wrote:Thanks for the link wazo.
However the article seems to be scaremongering and is a little inaccurate.
These are the proposals:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/...9/main.pdf
(parts 4 and 6)
There will be a separate consultation for the babe shows in the autumn, postponed from the initial consultation last spring.
Here is the response from the Participation Broadcasters Association, which is the trade body that represents various "anonymous" channel owners:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/...tv_ass.pdf
Ofcom considers consultations to be a vital way of helping it to make the right decisions based upon the right evidence. Consultation starts with their publishing a document (all of which are published on their website), asking for views and responses. If the document is perceived to be long and complicated, a plain English summary is usually published. They then allow a period of around ten weeks for interested persons, companies or organisations to read the document and send in their responses.
If you don't agree with what they propose then let them know!
Problem is, these consultations are a waste of time PR exercise, to give that impression of accountability etc. They do as they want to, irrespective of what respondents say, and the broadcasters just sit back & accept it, hence the disgracefully censorial regime that exists in UK broadcasting, whether mainstream, babe channel, or what are laughingly described as ‘adult channels’.
Ofcon are fundamentally pro-censorship, as their current broadcast code, and subsequent actions, have proved – they talk a good game about the ECHR, TWF, but, in reality, ignore both. They can’t even live up to their own stated aims of operation, such as ‘light touch’, ‘proportionate’, ‘evidence based’ ‘regulation’. Though, to be fair (not that they deserve it), this goes back to the Communications Act 2003, and its ridiculous notion of 'offence'; by definition, offence is subjective, which means that pretty much anything has the potential to offend someone, so it should have no place it a situation that involves freewill, the ability to switch off, parental responsibility etc.
Sadly, this is symptomatic of the UK as a whole, whether it’s the BBFC censoring R18 material, Customs stealing imported, uncensored porn, councils hassling sex shops & lap-dancing clubs, or the greatest increase in modern day censorship, in the form of the so-called ‘extreme’ porn legislation that came into effect earlier this year in England & Wales, the whole issue being subject to typical propaganda, ‘consultations’ etc., while, in realty, making it illegal to merely posses material featuring consenting adults that the Westminster Government considers extreme, despite lack of evidence of harm, incompatibly with the ECHR, House of Lords finding the legislation unreasonable, unnecessary & unjustified etc. Also, typically, the adult entertainment industry in the UK was complicit is this; as they are only interested in maximising their profits, the prospect that those who seek uncensored, original titles, as freely available throughout much (all?) of the mainland EU, thinking twice about doing so, and therefore, potentially, turning to the often censored & overpriced R18 alternatives, was to be welcomed.
Remember, also, that the Adult Industry Trade Association actively supported R18 censorship in broadcasting.
There are many other examples, but you get the point.
Disclaimer: Some of the above is IMO, of course.
Still, it won’t do any harm to respond to the ‘consultations’, so I would encourage as many people as possible to do so. If nothing else, it will show them that not everyone thinks the same as Mediawatch, The Daily Mail etc.
IMO, however, Ofcon has made it perfectly clear that the only way to stop them is legal action, and the broadcasters, to their shame, have made it equally clear that they would rather accept ever greater amounts of censorship, and paying the occasional fine, rather than go down this road.