Censorship, Effects & Moral Panic

This weeks lecture we discussed censorship, the effects and moral panic that is created with images in the media, which is what this weeks blog post will be about. I learnt how effective images can be in the media which can provoke either a positive or negative outcome from it's audience.

The first reading I read was by Jonathan Bignell, he discusses censorship around television and the semiotics of how the images can be meaningful to the viewers , this can lead to many assumptions can be made from this which leads to the media effects. Due to this censorship is important as the media is concerned about what response these image will receive from their audience, this is the reason why censorship is put into action to prevent negative responses. The reason why they are media effects can be through the viewer’s ideology of television as the decisions lies within them as in what images are correct and incorrect.

The second reading is taken from Jill Nelmes which also discusses censorship focusing on the US and the UK. It firstly discusses the United States as since 1952, film has been protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the US. This means that the states have control to sensor adult material if it is seemed as ‘obscene’ material. This is the reason that the ratings system was then established in 1968 as a way to protect children from seeing these images due to the effects that these images could have on a more vulnerable audience. The reading also mentions about a debate that there is more of an age classification on films, rather than censorship. The UK is similar to the US as the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has a primary concern to classify films to protect children. However films that are produced for an adult audience are subject to broad legal censorship, as well as classification, unlike the US. This could be due to the Freedom of Speech that the US has.

I have found a journal article discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using censorship in television and film which agrees with both readings above on what advantages they are such as the protection of children. However I found the disadvantages are more interesting, as my reading discusses the effect that censorship causes and the moral panic that can arise from it, rather than the effect of showing. One of the key things that I noticed was that it states that the use of censorship withholds key information, for example “If sex-related topics are completely censored it becomes difficult to teach children and teenagers about the dangers of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS.” (Pillai, 2012) I found this example of a disadvantage good as it slightly disagrees with Nelmes reading, as not showing material such as this example can perhaps not protect children.

In terms of my own academic research, the methodology that I would apply to undertake further research into the censorship, effects and moral panic would be a rhetorical analysis. I would conduct a rhetorical analysis on a television show that has caused a moral panic such as "My Big, Fat, Gypsy Wedding" and   programmes where it's inappropriate language has cause a stir like "Mock the Week".

References

Bignell, J (2004) An Introduction to Television Studies, London: Routledge. pp 229-252

Nelmes, J (1999) An Introduction to Film Studies, 2nd Edition, London: Routledge. pp. 48-53

Pillai, P., 2012.  Pros and Cons of Censorship [online] Available from: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-censorship.html. [Accessed 01 March 2013].