{"id":3719,"date":"2011-08-21T10:13:51","date_gmt":"2011-08-21T00:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelwyres.com\/?p=3719"},"modified":"2011-08-21T10:13:51","modified_gmt":"2011-08-21T00:13:51","slug":"why-our-classification-system-is-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/2011\/08\/why-our-classification-system-is-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Our Classification System Is Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t think that anyone in their right mind denies the need for a system of classification for media content. Such a system provides a valuable tool for anyone to understand the content of material, as part of the decision process of whether or not that material is for them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In Australia, we have had a long debate over the last couple of years in regards to our classification system, and the recent addition of the R18+ category for computer games<\/a> shows that we can make progress.<\/p>\n

Over on the internet side of things, the debate has been heated in regards to the so-called “RC” or “Refused Classification” category – which of course is a classification, even though the name suggests it is not.<\/p>\n

Our federal communications minister, Stephen Conroy, tells us quite clearly in this press release on his own website<\/a> that “RC” is about:<\/p>\n

“Child sexual abuse imagery, bestiality, sexual violence<\/b>, detailed instruction in crime, violence or drug use and\/or material that advocates the doing of a terrorist act.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Care to explain this one, Senator?<\/p>\n

\n\n \n
Film Banned in Britain Approved Here<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/center>\n<\/p>\n

“A film banned in Britain for its graphic portrayal of sexual violence<\/b>, forced defecation and mutilation will be screened in Australian cinemas after the censors approved it in a decision that has surprised its distributor.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) will screen in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth after the Classification Board gave the film an R18+ classification without demanding any scenes be removed.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly some “sexual violence” is less “classification refusable” than other “sexual violence”.<\/p>\n

This is getting beyond a joke. RC does not work. If an example like this does not demonstrate the need to get rid of it as part of the classification review currently underway<\/a>, I don’t know what would.<\/p>\n

Fix it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t think that anyone in their right mind denies the need for a system of classification for media content. Such a system provides a valuable tool for anyone to understand the content of material, as part of the decision process of whether or not that material is for them. In Australia, we have had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[100,384,404],"class_list":["post-3719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-auspol","tag-nocleanfeed","tag-openinternet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelwyres.com.au\/mwdc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}