Censorship in the West

[Sasun]

Is this censorship or what?

 

INTERNAL MEMOS

The Internet's Largest Collection of Corporate Memos and Internal Communication

 

MEMO

MTV (Europe)

Recommendations for the scheduling and content of videos and programmes

 

Dear all

 

In the light of the outbreak of war in Iraq in the last 12 hours, our

recommendations for the scheduling and content of videos and programmes are

as follows:

 

1. Video recommendations

 

Obviously, there will be heightened public sensitivity to representations

of war, soldiers, bombing, destruction of buildings and public unrest at

home. The ITC Programme Code requires us not to broadcast material which

offends against good taste or is offensive to public feeling. We therefore

recommend that videos featuring the following are not shown at the moment:

 

war

soldiers

war planes

bombs

missiles

riots and social unrest

executions

other obviously sensitive material

 

Examples include:

System of a Down "Boom!" - anti-war video containing facts and figures

about, amongst other things, the projected casualties in the war in Iraq.

Aerosmith "Don't want to miss a thing" - contains footage from the film

"Armageddon".

Manic Street Preachers "So Why So Sad" - contains footage of soldiers being

killed and man throwing a hand grenade.

Passengers/U2 "Miss Sarajevo" - contains missiles, guns and buildings being

blown up.

Bon Jovi "This ain't a love song" - contains war scenes and victims in

distress.

Iggy Pop "Corruption" - contains wars, riots, guns and captions "we love

guns" and "we love rifles".

Paul Hardcastle "19" - contains war footage.

Radiohead "Lucky" - contains war footage including injured children.

Billy Idol "Hot in the City" - contains an atomic explosion.

Armand van Helden "Koochy" - contains an atomic explosion and ships being

blown up.

Trick Daddy "Thug Holiday" - contains soldiers being killed at war.

 

Furthermore, videos with words such as "bomb", "missile", "war" or other

sensitive words in the artist or song title should not be shown at the

moment.

 

Examples include:

Outkast "B.O.B (Bombs over Baghdad)" - song title may offend.

Radiohead "Invasion" - song title may offend.

Megadeth "Holy Wars" - song title may offend.

Gavin Friday "You, Me and World War Three" - song title may offend.

B-52s videos.

 

Also, please note that some evergreen tapes contain sensitive videos e.g.

until recently, the MTV2 evergreen contained the Outkast "B.O.B. (Bombs

over Baghdad)". We therefore recommend that music programmers ensure that

inappropriate songs are removed from the evergreen tape for the duration

the war.

 

Please note that this is not a definitive list of videos. Please use the

ITC video restrictions database to check each song before broadcast. If you

are aware of any other videos featuring the above images, titled with the

above words or which may be unsuitable for broadcast in the light of the

outbreak of war, we recommend that these are pulled from your schedules.

 

2. Programme recommendations

 

Under the ITC's rules, we have two main obligations regarding programmes:

 

(a) Not to broadcast material which offends against good taste or is

offensive to public feeling.

For example, no programme should contain:

(i) images of war, bombs, missiles, etc that are likely to be seen as

insensitive or offensive at this time (see above for further guidance).

(ii) jokes about the war, about bombing Iraqis, about the American, Iraqi

or UK troops.

(iii) comments about the war that are likely to be seen as insensitive or

offensive.

 

Furthermore, the content of each long-form show should be considered before

scheduling. Scripts for presenters and news pieces must also be treated

with great sensitivity.

 

( To ensure that our programmes treat the issue of war in Iraq with "due

accuracy" and "due impartiality".

Therefore, we need to ensure that any programme which deals with issue of

war in Iraq:

(i) deals fairly with each opposing view. It cannot be one-sided. Both

sides of the argument need to be dealt with, and dealt with fairly.

(ii) does not give the view of MTV or the views of MTV presenters.

(iii) does not give facts, or opinions based on facts, that are incorrect

e.g. an anti-war argument that states the war is bad because 50 million

Iraqis will die (the official estimates are much lower than that), a

pro-war argument that states Saddam Hussein should be toppled because he is

going to invade Israel (there is no evidence of this). You need to ensure

that any facts included in your programmes are accurate, and verified by an

official source e.g. an Amnesty International report, a UN report, Reuters

news service.

 

If you are unsure about the suitability of a video or programme, please

call the Broadcast Standards Managers: Mark (x6195 (HC)) Dan (x7734 (HC))

or Aurea (x6197 (HC)).

 

Mark

Mark Sunderland

Broadcast Standards Manager

MTV Networks Europe

 

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