"Exemplar JUNE 2014: HOW WELL DOES CONTEMPORARY MEDIA REGULATION PROTECT THE PUBLIC?"

The media that I will be analysing in this question will be film and games which are regulated by BBFC and PEGI. Firstly, film is regulated by the ‘British Board of Film Classification’ (BBFC) who were previously known as the ‘British Board of Film Censors’ when established in 1912. The change in their name was due to the term censors seeming to restricting. BBFC are a non-statutory business as they deal with regulating films without the governments input. Their sole purpose was to certify and classify any film that was to be released in any cinema in Britain. By 1984 ‘The Videos Recording Act’ meant that every film even videos that were created for hire and sale purposes also had to be regulated. The BBFC also used to regulate games but in 2003 the Pan European Games Information (PEGI) was established and by 2012 they took full control of regulating games. PEGI is the game regulator for games in Europe so they’re also non-statutory. Their main purpose is to help parents in Europe make a decision on what games they can buy their children by categorising games by their level of violence and sex; not difficulty which people normally think it is. This categorising is done by labelling the packaging of each game with a descriptor that has either a 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18 printed onto it.

Even though these regulators are in place, there are still problems that are faced with the regulation of different media. This is mostly caused by the growth and advancement of technology. For instance younger viewers can watch or play media products that are rated above their age online without their parents even knowing. For this reason BBFC and PEGI are trying different sorts of regulatory practices to make sure things like this don’t really happen. For instance in 2007 PEGI created PEGI online to protect younger viewers.

Call of Duty is a game that has caused a moral panic. PEGI rated the game 18 as it consists of gross violence and is really bloody. Its violence is also very realistic. This game is very controversial as it was named a reason for the death of a fourteen year old boy. In 2011 Callum Green hanged himself straight after playing Call of Duty which was rated above his age. This is evident that people who are younger than the specific age rating of a game are still trying to find a way to play it. You could argue that this shows that PEGI have a good system as they know what games wouldn’t be suitable for someone as we can see the damage it does and it is predominantly the parent’s fault as they’re buying the games for their children. However this isn’t absolutely accurate as Call of Duty has affected someone who is over 18, Anders Breivik was a Norwegian mass killer who claims that he used call of duty to help him on his attacks. This proves Martin Bakers theory to be wrong as people aren’t able to tell the difference from real and on screen violence. It also shows that it can be PEGI who are in the wrong by failing to give their games the right age rating.

In terms of films, Blue is the Warmest Colour was passed by the BBFC as an 18 uncut. It was rated 18 for having strong sex and very strong language. The film was released on November 22^nd 2013. It was based on a lesbian romance between a high school student and an arts college student. This film received several complaints as viewers thought it was too explicit as it included full nudity and sex scenes that lasted at least for ten minutes. These scenes were also filmed to look very realistic to viewers. People thought that this wasn’t appropriate as the main fictional character was a fifteen year old and if this was to happen in real life it would be deemed as illegal. However others may go against this as they believe once you’re 18 you can make the decision to watch any film. As well as this the film is a French film so the acts inside it can be seen as arty and a great portrayal of romance.

PEGI and the BBFC are not the only regulators who receive a lot of complaints, another form of media which is seen as being difficult to regulate is television. This job is done by OFCOM who are a statutory business. OFCOM tend to receive complaints after a show has been televised meaning they can be seen as not strict as people have been already exposed to the show. For instance, Celebrity Big Brother in 2016 had a member called Winston McKenzie who brought up very homophobic and discriminating comments. This show was broadcasted and then after it received several complaints however nothing could’ve been done; they couldn’t take it off because it had already been broadcasted; the damage had already been made.

To conclude I believe that media regulatory businesses do try very hard to protect the public but it is the public that decrease this effectiveness due to their use of catharsis; they act on everything they see as it brings an inner desire. I also feel like in the future regulation won’t be as strict as it is now, it would only get more lenient as people are now desensitized to violence and society is becoming more liberal so different things will be normal and acceptable in films and games.