Essay Plan June 2014 How well does contemporary media regulation protect the public?

How well does contemporary media regulation protect the public?

Detailed plan:

• *Introduction to the BBFC and PEGI.*
• The BBFC is the British Board of Film Classification and regulates films within the UK. It is a non-governmental body which has exercised responsibility in the cinema for just over 100 years. The BBFC looks at films and assesses their impact and whether or not they may cause harm to viewers. Since 1984, with Video Recordings Act, the BBFC is now also responsible for classifying films for sale and hire, and the BBFC is the sole body responsible for this regulation within the UK.
• It was decided that the BBFC could not keep up with the regulation of video games, and so the Video Standards Council (VSC) was made the sole statutory in July 2012. The VSC uses the PEGI rating system to employ a form of regulation on (most) video games in the UK.
• The process for both the BBFC and PEGI is quite similar, in that a producer must submit a copy of their work to the board, where it assessed and criteria is in place which it must follow in order to be classified a certain age-category. The producer has little say in what their work will achieve, however they are still able to make edits and resubmit their work if they want to achieve a certain classification, such as with A Serbian Film. However, this process can be timely – although it is a necessity in order to achieve a decent sales performance.
• Regulation is a tricky procedure in this day and age, where the public often have access to computers and there are often a multitude of techniques available in order to gain access to a certain product. This diversity has enhanced the difficulties faced by regulatory bodies significantly. Piracy is an example, where there can be no physical gatekeeper and therefore anybody who can pirate content can access pretty much any content they desire. A recent survey conducted, produced results which estimated 28% of UK citizens have previously pirated content. This would mean that nearly 18 million people in the UK have pirated content, which is of course, a considerably large number.
• FILM CASE STUDIES – The BBFC and regulation examples
• A Serbian Film case study – cuts made in order to protect people from harm. The BBFC strives to try and classify all products, and they want to give adults the liberty to view content they wish to consume.
• Human Centipede II – work is sometimes refused classification and so the BBFC does have a lot of say, if they wish to protect the public from certain content.
• 12 Years A Slave – The BBFC has a difficult job, although they have to make exceptions to certain content, such as racism found within a film about slavery if it is historical in content and not in bad taste.
• VIDEO GAME CASE STUDIES – PEGI and regulation examples
• GTA V – May include violent content and cause harm to certain individuals, but regulatory bodies are only aiming to protect the man on the Clapham omnibus. 45 million copies of GTA V have been sold worldwide, and in the UK, there have been only a few cases of incidents which may have been related to the game. Arguably, the people who are responsible for these incidents would have done them anyway.
• Dark Souls II and the Mrs Maguire school teacher killing case study. Examples of how the press often try and blame something which is less complicated and easier to understand, creating moral panics.
• Hatred case study, where producers are more frequently trying to exercise what they can get away with, and the difficulties faced by regulatory bodies such as PEGI to try and regulate these sorts of games.