Q. Should the Media be regulated?
The UK has one of the most highly regulated media industries in Europe. In this essay I shall be exploring why this is so, and indeed whether or not this regulation is warranted. In order to do this I shall explain the current status quo with regards to the regulation of the media, the laws that apply, the official bodies responsible and the ethical issues attached to these things. In order to explore these issues I shall be explaining the major media theories concerning audiences and the possible effects the media might exert over them. To back this up I shall give examples of cases both reported in the media and via academic study.
When talking about media audience you have to look at the legal side of things and how these laws and regulations have been put into place to protect the minds of the public whether they are young, old or just mentally unstable. When watching a video or playing a game all of these have been given ratings for which age a person should be when they are able to watch such videos, for example the regulation body for films would be BBFC, this is so that before purchasing a film or even broadcasting a film on TV, the person behind the counter will have to ask for ID so that no one under age will be influenced by sex, drugs or violence. These regulations have been put in place as some children are not able to tell between what is fact and what is fiction which may cause them to copy what they have seen on TV which may lead to violence.
The UK has one of the most highly regulated media industries in Europe. In this essay I shall be exploring why this is so, and indeed whether or not this regulation is warranted. In order to do this I shall explain the current status quo with regards to the regulation of the media, the laws that apply, the official bodies responsible and the ethical issues attached to these things. In order to explore these issues I shall be explaining the major media theories concerning audiences and the possible effects the media might exert over them. To back this up I shall give examples of cases both reported in the media and via academic study.
When talking about media audience you have to look at the legal side of things and how these laws and regulations have been put into place to protect the minds of the public whether they are young, old or just mentally unstable. When watching a video or playing a game all of these have been given ratings for which age a person should be when they are able to watch such videos, for example the regulation body for films would be BBFC, this is so that before purchasing a film or even broadcasting a film on TV, the person behind the counter will have to ask for ID so that no one under age will be influenced by sex, drugs or violence. These regulations have been put in place as some children are not able to tell between what is fact and what is fiction which may cause them to copy what they have seen on TV which may lead to violence.
Legal regulations
There is a wide range of legal acts that have been put into place to protect the innocent minds of the world. For example before broadcasting a film or television programme you have to consider the content and whether is should be shown as it might cover the Video recordings act which was put in place in 1984, this is also joined into with 'Cool violence' as these are caused from moral panics within society as people were to be found as copycatting what they had seen in films. There is also the Watershed act which is used to decided whether a programme should be broadcasted after a certain time. Another regulation would the Obscene Publications act which was put in place back in 1959 this was born from the religious up right as some were to find things too sexualised to be published to the public.
The Video and Recording act which was released back in 1984 is the act for a film that is for sale or to hire should be given a certification for the age rating the video has been made for the purposes to keep the young minds away from such violence and drug abuse in films. This is so that people with mental health or without an understanding of what is fake and what is real will not be tempted to copy what they have seen in a video. An example of this would be the Jamie Bulger case where two children who were 10 years old had taken Two year old Bulger
The Watershed act. This is an act where certain television programmes will not be able to be shown when broadcasting at a certain time in the day as it might be seen as inappropriate for a child to watch so they would broadcast the programme after 9 'o'clock at night as this is then seen as adult TV as it will have contents only seen for an adult. Everything that will be broadcasted before this time will be seen as a family orientated programmes which are suitable for the eyes of a child as they will not be opened to such a world with violence, sex or drugs.
The Obscene publications act which was released back in 1959 is an act which was made by the member's of Parliament from a religious up right when people had thought that the book Lady Chatterley's Lover was was too sexual for a person to read as it went into great detail about how a woman was having an affair with her driver. There was no ban put into place for this book as it was seen as beautiful to the human mind within literature allowing the minds of the world to be able to create their own vision as they weren't actually seeing any sexual actions happening. This act is made to restrict media from being able to publicate things that may be too absurd for some people's minds.
Video Nasties
Video nasties is a very popular term used in the media that was formed in the United Kingdom back in the 1980's. As certain videos had uplifted a moral panic to the country as people were starting to gather ideas from films that they have watched and copycatting what they have seen and imitating it within the real world. A famous Video nastie would be the James Bulger Case which is linked with the film Child Play 3. This case had a massive impact on the country and they way the public looked at things when the two year old boy was taken from a shopping center in Liverpool by two ten year old boys when he was out with his mother back in 1993. The two boys were first spotted on CCTV walking young James Bulger through and out of the shopping center, holding his hand as if they were gonna look after him. It was as a surprise to the nation when they found of that Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were revealed a couple of days after Bulger was spotted leaving the shopping center to have taken the toddler to railway only 2.5 miles away from where he was taken, to have then been beaten by throwing stones and also throwing paint over his body which created the link to the film Childs Play 3 where Chucky had thrown blue paint over one of his victims. It was then found later on when questioning that the one of the fathers had rented the film from a rental store a few days before to the boys finding the film and watching without any permission put into place. This then leads to the Video and Recordings act as children at a certain age should not be revealed to such violence as they still don't have a full understanding from what is real and what is fake.
Hypodermic Theory
"The magic bullet theory is based on assumption of human nature and it was not based on any empirical findings from research. Few media scholars do not accepting this model because it’s based on assumption rather than any scientific evidence."
The Hypodermic theory is where the media has directly sent a message to the public without the audience knowing that it has happened. This causes the public to have an instant reaction to the information which had been received and changing the way how they now thinking about a subject. This is also called the 'Magic Bullet theory' as they are threading a magic needle into the minds of the world causing to have change in behavior and more out going towards what has been said. This was researched back in the 1930's when Orson Welles and Mercury Theater had planned to create as say a 'Bulletin' which would be sent out to people in America about an alien invasion which would take place in New Jersey. This had caused millions of people in America to believe this story as the had plotted this story in between both radio sequences 'The War of The Worlds' and 'Panic Broadcast'.
Cultivation Theory
The Cultivation theory was developed in 1960's by Gerber and Gross, this theory was to see whether watching the television would be able to change a persons perception on things and if the media was about to effect the human mind on how much a person was to watch television, this was to see if a person would react differently to than a person that doesn't watch as much television. This theory was seen as if a person with a high intake of television would be more exposed to violence and could then cause them to think more outrageous towards the world and may think that what they were watching was real. "The theory suggests that television and media possess a small but significant influence on the attitudes and beliefs of society about society. Those who absorb more media are those we are more influenced." This shows that people with a low intake of television would not be as highly influenced by what they see but by what they do instead.
Desensitization Theory
Desensitization theory is where the audience of television would be no longer afraid of what they would see in the outside world as they have been involved in many views within a film or a television programme to the point where their emotions would now become weaker to the thought of violence, sex and drugs as they have a high level of exposure, this could cause them to change their thoughts on how the real world works within their daily lives when it comes to harming others. An example of this would be the Columbine High School Massacre back in 1999 when two students at the school decided to go on a rampage killing 13 people and injuring a further 20 people when trying the escape from the scene. Once escaping they then committed suicide leaving this being one of the most awful cases now known. Rumour has it that they were bullied at the school for being part of a certain social culture. When investigators looked further into the case they had to question if the attack was caused by the influence which they have seen on gun violence within a video game, or in a film.
Copycat effect
The Copycat effect is a scientific experiment that had taken place by practicing on people who had a violent background and people who were non violent, this was to see how each person would react when watching a violent film. The copycat effect shows that when a person is watching lets say a horror film they would be influenced by the violence which is show giving them the confidence and boost that they might need, by doing so they would usually copy the main character which they had watched, copying different moves that had taken place. An example of this would be the film Saw, as in Salt Lake City a mother had handed her own child and his friend to the police when she had over heard them talking about kidnapping people and creating different games that they could torture people with, when handed over they had also confessed that they had set up camera to film each 'game' like what was shown in the film Saw. They were also planning on kidnapping a police officer as that was what happened in the movie. This plan was to hurt the people that had harmed others in the past.
Why do we believe in the power of media?
Why do we believe in the power of the media? This question leads back to our original question 'Why should the media be regulated?' From the research that I have done, you will see that there are many drastic cases where people have either thought that they were a character in a film thinking that they needed to make the same sacrifices as a character made in a film or whether a person has watched a film without the mental instability to realise what is real and what is fake and implied similar ideas from what they have watched into their own form of violence. My conclusion is that the media should be censored and regulated to a point where people that are mentally unstable or a certain age should not watch such graphic videos as they are unable to understand the fears and horror from what they have watched. I believe that the power of the media has a massive hold on people and because people are starting to watch more television with graphic viewings this is causing them to be emotionless to what they have seen compared to when a person is to first watch a horror film. I am going to use myself as an example here, as when I watched a scary film as a child 'The Ring' lets say I was so terrified of what I had watched and believed that the girl from the ring was going to come out of the television and get me. As when I am to watch a film now I have a deeper understanding that when I watch a film with horrifying views I wouldn't be left with a state of fear.
Bibliography
Communication Theory, (2010), Magic Bullet or Hypodermic needle Theory of Communication,
http://communicationtheory.org/magic-bullet-or-hypodermic-needle-theory-of-communication/
Mass Commuications Theory, Cultivation Theory,
http://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/cultivation-theory/
The Obscene publications act which was released back in 1959 is an act which was made by the member's of Parliament from a religious up right when people had thought that the book Lady Chatterley's Lover was was too sexual for a person to read as it went into great detail about how a woman was having an affair with her driver. There was no ban put into place for this book as it was seen as beautiful to the human mind within literature allowing the minds of the world to be able to create their own vision as they weren't actually seeing any sexual actions happening. This act is made to restrict media from being able to publicate things that may be too absurd for some people's minds.
Video Nasties
Video nasties is a very popular term used in the media that was formed in the United Kingdom back in the 1980's. As certain videos had uplifted a moral panic to the country as people were starting to gather ideas from films that they have watched and copycatting what they have seen and imitating it within the real world. A famous Video nastie would be the James Bulger Case which is linked with the film Child Play 3. This case had a massive impact on the country and they way the public looked at things when the two year old boy was taken from a shopping center in Liverpool by two ten year old boys when he was out with his mother back in 1993. The two boys were first spotted on CCTV walking young James Bulger through and out of the shopping center, holding his hand as if they were gonna look after him. It was as a surprise to the nation when they found of that Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were revealed a couple of days after Bulger was spotted leaving the shopping center to have taken the toddler to railway only 2.5 miles away from where he was taken, to have then been beaten by throwing stones and also throwing paint over his body which created the link to the film Childs Play 3 where Chucky had thrown blue paint over one of his victims. It was then found later on when questioning that the one of the fathers had rented the film from a rental store a few days before to the boys finding the film and watching without any permission put into place. This then leads to the Video and Recordings act as children at a certain age should not be revealed to such violence as they still don't have a full understanding from what is real and what is fake.
Hypodermic Theory
"The magic bullet theory is based on assumption of human nature and it was not based on any empirical findings from research. Few media scholars do not accepting this model because it’s based on assumption rather than any scientific evidence."
The Hypodermic theory is where the media has directly sent a message to the public without the audience knowing that it has happened. This causes the public to have an instant reaction to the information which had been received and changing the way how they now thinking about a subject. This is also called the 'Magic Bullet theory' as they are threading a magic needle into the minds of the world causing to have change in behavior and more out going towards what has been said. This was researched back in the 1930's when Orson Welles and Mercury Theater had planned to create as say a 'Bulletin' which would be sent out to people in America about an alien invasion which would take place in New Jersey. This had caused millions of people in America to believe this story as the had plotted this story in between both radio sequences 'The War of The Worlds' and 'Panic Broadcast'.
Cultivation Theory
The Cultivation theory was developed in 1960's by Gerber and Gross, this theory was to see whether watching the television would be able to change a persons perception on things and if the media was about to effect the human mind on how much a person was to watch television, this was to see if a person would react differently to than a person that doesn't watch as much television. This theory was seen as if a person with a high intake of television would be more exposed to violence and could then cause them to think more outrageous towards the world and may think that what they were watching was real. "The theory suggests that television and media possess a small but significant influence on the attitudes and beliefs of society about society. Those who absorb more media are those we are more influenced." This shows that people with a low intake of television would not be as highly influenced by what they see but by what they do instead.
Desensitization Theory
Desensitization theory is where the audience of television would be no longer afraid of what they would see in the outside world as they have been involved in many views within a film or a television programme to the point where their emotions would now become weaker to the thought of violence, sex and drugs as they have a high level of exposure, this could cause them to change their thoughts on how the real world works within their daily lives when it comes to harming others. An example of this would be the Columbine High School Massacre back in 1999 when two students at the school decided to go on a rampage killing 13 people and injuring a further 20 people when trying the escape from the scene. Once escaping they then committed suicide leaving this being one of the most awful cases now known. Rumour has it that they were bullied at the school for being part of a certain social culture. When investigators looked further into the case they had to question if the attack was caused by the influence which they have seen on gun violence within a video game, or in a film.
Copycat effect
The Copycat effect is a scientific experiment that had taken place by practicing on people who had a violent background and people who were non violent, this was to see how each person would react when watching a violent film. The copycat effect shows that when a person is watching lets say a horror film they would be influenced by the violence which is show giving them the confidence and boost that they might need, by doing so they would usually copy the main character which they had watched, copying different moves that had taken place. An example of this would be the film Saw, as in Salt Lake City a mother had handed her own child and his friend to the police when she had over heard them talking about kidnapping people and creating different games that they could torture people with, when handed over they had also confessed that they had set up camera to film each 'game' like what was shown in the film Saw. They were also planning on kidnapping a police officer as that was what happened in the movie. This plan was to hurt the people that had harmed others in the past.
Why do we believe in the power of media?
Why do we believe in the power of the media? This question leads back to our original question 'Why should the media be regulated?' From the research that I have done, you will see that there are many drastic cases where people have either thought that they were a character in a film thinking that they needed to make the same sacrifices as a character made in a film or whether a person has watched a film without the mental instability to realise what is real and what is fake and implied similar ideas from what they have watched into their own form of violence. My conclusion is that the media should be censored and regulated to a point where people that are mentally unstable or a certain age should not watch such graphic videos as they are unable to understand the fears and horror from what they have watched. I believe that the power of the media has a massive hold on people and because people are starting to watch more television with graphic viewings this is causing them to be emotionless to what they have seen compared to when a person is to first watch a horror film. I am going to use myself as an example here, as when I watched a scary film as a child 'The Ring' lets say I was so terrified of what I had watched and believed that the girl from the ring was going to come out of the television and get me. As when I am to watch a film now I have a deeper understanding that when I watch a film with horrifying views I wouldn't be left with a state of fear.
Bibliography
Communication Theory, (2010), Magic Bullet or Hypodermic needle Theory of Communication,
http://communicationtheory.org/magic-bullet-or-hypodermic-needle-theory-of-communication/
Mass Commuications Theory, Cultivation Theory,
http://masscommtheory.com/theory-overviews/cultivation-theory/
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