Censorship - Miss Miller

Within media studies censorship generally refers to the examination of communication media for the purpose of suppressing and controlling what is said or shown in order to keep audiences safe from potentially harmful or offensive content. Censorship is becoming an increasing issue amongst fans and concerned parents worldwide and debate as to whether networks should be able to censor content. Censorship within the music video industry is used to 'protect' audiences by preventing the artist from saying particular things that the network deems inappropriate. When an artists work is being censored, for example a swear word is said you will hear the noise in the bellow YouTube video over the swear word, this is censorship. 

Ofcom is the communications regulator and is responsible for regulating TV, radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles and postal services, plus the airwaves over which wireless devices operate. Within music videos as well as the other forms of communication media detailed above,they are responsible for protecting audiences from material that they perceive as being harmful or offensive, however there has been debate as to how far they can go in censoring an artists work and some have begun to argue that unnecessary content is being censored for no reason, devaluing an artists work. An popular example example of this would be Chris Brown-Loyal. Where instead of the lyrics "these hoes aint loyal'

"These girls aint loyal" was used as Ofcom viewed the word "hoes" as inappropriate. While there argument for this particular example of censorship may be justified as the audiences listening to this song are young and should not be exposed to this language. There are times however where it issued when its not needed. 

We had a class debate in which we took on roles as the following, artists (Eminem) , the record label, parents both for and against, fans British music channels (MTV/AKA), British radio stations (BBC radio 1/Capital Xtra) and voiced our opinions and concerns about the growing area of debate, censorship. 

Artist- The artist (Eminem) argued that censorship limited how he could express himself through lyrics and visuals on his music video. He says "its unfair that I'm being criticised for the content on my music video, I am just expressing my views and opinions and i think its up to the parents to either trust their kids to not watch me if they don't want there children watching me instead of censorship my work". Eminem is arguing that him and his music are being persecuted against unfairly and believes that parents should trust there children not to act upon the themes and lyrics within the music video. 

Record Label - The Record label maintains that their record sales are not affected by censorship, saying that "We release both a clean version of the song and an original to audiences, so parents are given the ability to purchase the clean version if necessary"  Explicit or music that may be viewed as inappropriate will have the bellow label on it. This then allows parents to easily see if the music they are buying for their kids is appropriate

Parents for- Parents that where for censorship strongly believed that it was an appropriate measure to be taken and that most modern music contains hurtful or inappropriate content that they did not want their children to see. "The music we had when we where kids was so much better than the music our kids listen to today. There is far to much swearing and violence its just not needed and i don't want my children listening or watching it! OfCom is there for a reason, to protect our children !"

Parents against-The parents on the other side however argued that regulating what was being showed and said on music videos was unneeded. They argued that censorship unneeded and that children would still find a way to view then censored versions. They also argued that it was given their children a bad message in that its okay to stop people from expressing themselves. "Censorship is unnecessary. We as parents should be responsible for teaching our children what's wrong and right and censoring music is stopping the artists right to free speech, its just contradictory"

Fans- The fans obviously argued that censorship was unneeded. They said that "In allowing censorship to continue artists are becoming increasing under pressure to produce music witless content that viewers/listeners may perceive as hurtful. "Eminem's music isn't even targeted at a young audience however his music's being persecuted against for content that impressionable young kids may act upon!its up to the parents to stop there kids from watching it ! not go after the artist" 

British music channel MTV- MTV argued that censorship restricted them from playing particular music videos until after the watershed at 21:00. "Censorship restricts us as channels to show particular music until after 9. As well as this being an inconvenience for us as a channel it is also upsetting as we won't be able to show this music to younger viewers who may appreciate Eminem's music as they may be in bed. This music having to be played after this time also shrinks the viewers as many might have gone to sleep therefore less people are watching the channel and the music video". 

 British Radio Station BBC Radio 1- "Censorship has been and continues to be a major problem for us as a radio station, the censoring we have to do over the music when it is being played takes attention away from the actual music, we do our best to make it as unnoticeable as possible however it is still distracting for the viewer and you can't help that the song has lost its edge". BBC Radio 1 believe firmly that censorship's destroying music by taking away its original feel and that it needs to be stopped.

As you can see many people see censorship as a negative and acknowledge that it is damaging the music industry by restricting artists such as Eminem from fully expressing themselves. The majority of people argue that Ofcom should not be able to censor artists as they are withdrawing their right to free speech or alternatively they should be given a restricted among of power in censoring an artists work. 

I would argue that artists should be able to express themselves through there music without being persecuted for material that people could potentially view as offensive or harmful. I believe that it is up to the parents to educate there children and to trust them to not view music that there parents don't want them to. However to an extent. If the music is just swearing and violence with no meaning or thought then these should not be allowed to be created, you either allow it to bevelled censorship free or you don't allow it to be played at all.

I myself will not following the censorship rules within my own video production as i think being constrained by these rules would potentially restrict me from expressing myself fully, i would not be able to emphasise emotions of anger or love as they would be perceived as inappropriate by Ofcom,  and it is through emphasising these emotions i hope to create a more intense and therefore better music video and so complying by these rules would therefore have a negative impact on my music video.

We are still waiting for for a response from Paloma Faith's record label but we understand that they are extremely busy so my group and I are continuing to plan and create our music video for our chosen song.