research into censorship

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other groups or institutions. The reason it is used is to prevent explicit material being viewed by a certain type of person, for example minors. The most common use of censorship within music is explicit language that is either completely excluded from a song or "bleeped out" per se, within music videos there also certain scenes that are blurred during the day in order to avoid the inappropriate scenes being viewed by any underage.

There has been a lot of controversy based around censorship within music videos and the music itself. We had a classroom debate and students within my class were playing the roles of the artists, fans, recording label, parents and radio stations. The debate was based on Eminem and the type of music he uses within his music videos and way he presents his music. This should allow me to understand all the opinions of the people that listen to offence music.

 The law on censorship that Ofcom enforce is that they make sure people in the UK get the best from their communications services and are protected from scams and sharp practices, while ensuring that competition can thrive. There was a communications act that was introduced in 2003, the act says that Ofcom’s general duties should be to further the interests of citizens and of the consumers. Ofcom make sure that people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offense material. People are protected from being treated unfairly in television and radio programmes, and also from having their privacy invaded. However Ofcom do not deal with disputes between people and the telecom provider and they do not deal with the content of television or radio adverts.

A music video that has been censored is the Robin Thicke ft I.T Pharrell- blurred lines. The music video has been banned from YouTube after the bosses deemed it was too sexually proactive for the video sharing website. The video features naked models dancing with the artists. It was removed after You Tubes executives confirmed it was outside of the websites censorships guidelines. There are too versions of the music video the censored version and the original. Everything has been covered up and cut in the censored version of the music video.

A second music video that was censored was Katy Perrys music video ‘Firework”. As the clip shows a firework shooting from her chest and two men kissing in a club., it was classed as inappropriate for a young audience. The video goes on to show a boy being mugged on the street and a cancer patient watching a women giving birth in hospital. The video could be watched on You Tube by on the private viewing only so the details that were shown in the video would not offend a younger audience.

In class we had a debate about Eminem, people within the class were representing different characters that were associated with the artist. The character that played Eminem explained how he had a hard life growing up in a caravan. Therefore the music should not be censored as it is about his life and he has overcome many things, so his song relate to his life experiences and people can learn from his mistakes. 

Both of the fans agreed that his music should be able to be played as it educates teenagers but he could do it with out being too explicit, however at the same time they also argued that the explicit language was also needed in a lot of areas as it allows the artist to further express his emotions. The explicit lyrics used have also become some what of a trademark for Eminem so trying to completely censor his music would in a way ruin the persona that he has in fact become famous from. They feel as if it should not be censored but there could be more done to make sure that he does not swear or talk about violence as much as he does. 

 Eminems record label supports him, as they are representing the artist. They said that he has sold many albums world wide therefore his music is respected, his album Marshall Mathers LP sold over 10 million copies, which shows how well he followed.  This therefore shows that his music should not be censored as people like what he doing with his music, which is evident from this amount of copies that his album sold. They also admitted that the censorship issue is not really of much concern to them as ultimately as a record label their main is to make the largest profit from their signed artists, so as long as eminem 

The parents have mixed views about the artist as some are for and some are against. The parents that are for his music explain that it is down to the parents whether or not they allow their kids to listen to that type of music. It would also be up to the parents of the children to teach them right from wrong therefore they cannot say that the music has an effect on the children. It is how they have been brought up and what impact this has had on the child. Children can draw positives from his music as he has overcome many obstacles and he is where he today, which shows to the children that listen to it they can reach any goal that they set or themselves. However, the parents that are against his music explain that the explicit language and music that he has often offends young children therefore it should be censored. Also they parents explain that his attitudes may be adapted by children and they may look up to him as a role mode. They may follow his attitude of not really caring about society.

The radio station radio 1  disagree with his music. They dont agree with the language that he use and they also don't agree with the lyrics that explain about him killing people.As they are apart of the BBC they have a certain reputation to uphold being part of a quite a family orientated viewing station, so as previously mentioned when it comes to censorship they have to be very strict.Capital Xtra have quite the opposite view to radio 1 as the genre that they primarily broadcast is Rap and UK Grime which often has large amounts of profanity, in order to conform to the rules of Ofcom all songs broadcasted throughout the day are censored however after the 9pm watershed the radio channel may allow some profanity in lyrics to be broadcasted depending on the severity. Overall Capital Xtra are not strongly apposed to censorship however for a popular radio station they can be be seen as quite lenient

MTV support the censorship as they don’t want to offend any of, their large audiences and lose viewers. They don’t want complaints from audiences, as they are the biggest music channel in the world and of course that again comes with a certain reputation that they must uphold especially with the wide variety of ages that watch their channel so they have to be careful in what they show so they are not seen to be influencing younger viewers with the more adult related songs/ music videos.The radio station AKA want to represent the true artist and what they represent therefore they disagree with censorship to a certain extent, they see themselves as a channel that is very orientated towards the artist as that is where their main focus is, they have been a key part in helping UK Rap/Grime artists become famous and reach a wider audience then what was possible. In order for them to be accommodating to the artist as possible they have to ease on the censorship after 9pm which is known as watershed, this allows certain profanity to be shown at TV depending on the nature of the lyrics, it is used very often on channel AKA as it allows them to achieve the amount of censorship that they want. 

I think that artists should not be censored as they educate people on their experiences and they help people not to make the same mistakes they did. However, I think that they can still educate people but they can do it without being to explicit as children listen to the music and they may adopt the views of the artist. For example if a artist talks about rape or mugging then the child may adopt this if they are not educated by their teachers, parents or music.

In conclusion, the various music videos that i have looked at are just trying to express their artists song through the music videos they have made. The artists are telling the story behind the song through the music video, therefore i feel as if they should be shown to some extend. Finally, if some music videos do show violence or drug use then these music videos show be shown at a later time, so children will be asleep and therefore they are protecting them but still showing the music video after a certain time.