Censorship - Miss Miller

Censorship

Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information that may be considered as objectionable, harmful, sensitive, political incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets authorities or other group or institutions.  Censorship requires part of a media to be changed ( this can be visual content or lyrics ) or replaced to protect the public from being offended in a certain way.

Ofcom is the regulator and competition authority for UK communication industries. It regulates TV and radio, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services and the airwaves which wireless devices use. They make sure that people who watch television and listen to the radio are protected from offensive materials.


1) Artist - Rihanna

We choose Rihanna to analyse because she is a very controversial artist. Rihanna is an artist who has produced content which has been recognised as harmful inappropriate for all audiences and has therefore been censored.  Rihanna believes that her music videos shouldn't be censored because it is a way of expressing herself and showing off her personality to the audience. She also believes that nudity is being free and should not be covered up or censored, we get an understand of this when she quoted "nakedness makes you feel free". She likes to mock censorship by wearing items of clothing that say censorship on them, or even by this photo. This photo shows Rihanna naked behind the censored board which suggests that being censored is hiding the real Rihanna from the target audience. Her goal is to be a successful artist and make money and her tactic in doing this is to be memorable and stand out in order to gain a high amount of publicity, which will lead to success.


2) Record Label

Rihanna record label is Rock label and is one of the most finically richest record labels and was founded by Jay-Z. The record label believe that music videos should not be censored because it is doing no justice, and by not using parent advisory stickers it will attract a wider target audience. Without censorship they have stated that the artists popularity increases because the  more controversial the videos are the more the artist gets spoken about and overall leads to more publicity for the artist. Rock label believe that Rihanna has created her own image and they will support her because her target audience understand her image and idolise her. Also the Rock label support the idea of being real and if real means to use content that may not be agreed with by ofcom, then so be it.  Rihanna record label also believe that the narratives shown through her music videos are only narratives that have happened in her own person life, for example domestic abuse. They also believe that by portraying these home truths about Rihanna, gives the target audience  and insight into her personal life, and the target audience may also be able to relate to Rihanna. Therefore making a her a more stronger and successful artist.


3) Parents for censorship

Ofcom carried out research from a thousand parents and found out that the main concerns were that young children are easily influenced, and do not need artist like Rihanna to be using inappropriate content that may affect they're children. The survey ofcom constructed showed 100% of parents agreed with censorship and that they were anxious with the content played in the music videos, for example: sexual explicit content and violence. Another example of another artist that they believe has influenced their children is Miley Cyrus because they're children have grown up watching Hannah Montana, and now for her image to change completely, her target audience will then think it is okay to copy her and rein act what she does. Therefore Mileys original target audience has been affected while Miley is trying to attract another target audience. The parent for censorship believe that artists should be popular and well known for the songs they produce and not for the explicit content that they portray through their music videos, because it is having an affect on the children as they become insecure and believe they have to change there image to fit in with society.


4) Parents against censorship


Parents against censorship believe that artists should not have their songs censored just because they are trying to express themselves and show the real them. Firstly the parents against censorship argue that nudity is natural so should not be censored as children need to become more aware of the human body and themselves. The parents against censorship believe that it is up to the parents to control what there children watch, and therefore should not be censored. 2 billion people across the world drink alcohol on a frequent basis so seeing it in a music video is not going to affect a child when they are most likely to see their own parents drinking it. five year olds are allowed to taste alcohol at as its a parental choice so before children can watch and understand music videos they will be exposed to alcohol. These parents believe that society is equal and everyone should be treated fairly and be able to express themselves in their own way. Therefore why should some people even if they are artists have to hide away from the world and society. These parents believe that showing their children this content is introducing them to issues that people face everyday and are therefore learning and getting an understanding of world at a early age.


5) Fans

Fans see Rihanna as a role model so they love her for who she is and how she constructs her music. They believe that censorship should be banned as it is hiding Rihanna's true feelings and thoughts. Most of the fans are very strongly against censorship as it makes everything so much harder to understand the song, due to the lyrics and the video. Rihanna stated "are you fuc*ing kidding me" which was aimed at radio stations for censoring her songs as it destroys the whole meaning of the song, which put her fans off listening to it because it wasn't true to Rihanna's usual style. It is very clear to the fans that Rihanna is doing something right, because Rihanna as an artist has 81 million likes on her Facebook page,  21.2 million followers on Instagram and 47 million million on twitter, this shows that her fans understand and idolise her style so why should they all miss out due to censorship distorting her music. Fans say that Rihanna creates her music to show experiences of her own life for example in the music video "love they way we lie" she presents a theme of domestic relationships which she was once involved in herself. With censorship changing certain parts of th music video this may become confusing for the audience and the whole point of Rihanna trying to present her life stories will be pointless. Mainly all of Rihanna's fans believe that censorship is a joke and should be abolished, as it is restricting the fans from being able to see the real Rihanna and how she feels.


6) British music channel MTV

Mtv is the most well known and successful music channel, and they allow uncensored music videos to be shown after 9pm, this is called the watershed. Mtv did this to protect those under age, as they believe that after 9pm all those under age are not watching Mtv. They believe that some music video content should be censored because this will ensure they have content for all types of audiences which means they can target a wider target audience which means they can gain more publicity and promotion through the word of mouth. The lead author of the position paper stated that children spend an average of two hours a day listening to music through headphones, therefore makes it harder for the parents to control what their children are listening to because they can't physically hear it. Mtv believe that it is impossible to completely stop the inappropriate target audience from watching or listening to content that may be suitable for them. Due to the technologies of the 21st century, children are able to download music apps on their phones to illegally download music for free and listen to this with headphones plugged in and no one would know what they are listening to. Mtv would rather the artist censor they're own music or make a second music video that would be appropriate  for all target audiences. This is so Mtv don't have to upset the either the artist of the fans by censoring it themselves.

7) British music channel AKA

Aka have a target to highlight raw talent, so this means they are against censoring on there channel as they believe it will hide the artists talent. Aka are known for helping upcoming artist make a name for themselves. As a channel they believe that being censored is taking out our freedom of speech. The reasons for Aka being an uncensored music channel is because they believe it is the audiences job to control want they want to watchband want they think is appropriate for their viewing. They also believe its the audience job to control what they want to watch and what they deem suitable for there for viewing. The music video content is how the artist wants to be perceived and by censoring it Aka believe that the artist will not be able or find it difficult to succeeded by always having censorship as a barrier. They believe that creating a music video is flaunting the artists creativity and they want to be able to show this on the music channel.


8) British radio station BBC1

Nick Grimshaw is a presenter on Radio 1 and interviewed Rihanna on the show after she mocked the use of censorship. This made Nick Grimshaw protest against Rihanna and this lead to; Nick making sure her explicit songs were banned from the show and he petitioned against her, to get her songs taken of the charts as well. This would overall affect Rihanna in a negative way and could make her fan base shrink.  Rihanna showed how furious she was by tweeting about how outraged because of the ban. The tweet that got the media attention was "are you fuc*ing kidding me!" this tweet was aimed at Nick to show how frustrated and angry she was with he's decision.

9) British radio station Capital Xtra

Capital Xtra is known for playing genres such as: dance, pop and rap music. They are a sensible radio station and allow the uncensored songs to be played after the watershed of 9pm. Capital Xtra do believe in protecting the public and also believe in the freedom of speech. Capital Xtra do use a range of techniques in order to protect the younger target audience, some of these are: blanking, this is when the controversial word is silenced so the harmful word can no longer be heard, bleeping, this is a short beep played over the harmful word, re-sampling when a similar word is played instead, for example "girls" instead of "hoes", and finally back mashing, this is where a word is repeated from the previous sentence. Overall Capital Xtra are for censorship until the watershed in order to protect the younger target audience.

Overall censorship is a very controversial topic and has many different views from artists, record labels and music television channels. Some people agree with censorship as they think it protects the audience and helps the younger population to be safe from explicit content on the internet, television and radio channels. I can understand their view and can see that censorship does benefit parents that can't watch what their children are listening to twenty four seven. But i am personally against censorship as i believe the pros of censorship do not outweigh the drawbacks. I think the acts that you may see and hear in an uncensored music video children already see in real life anyway. Also i believe it is important for the artist to have their freedom of speech so it should not be quashed as music is a way of expressing feelings and attitude. Finally i think that the explicit content should be seen as it educates children on what to expect when growing up and prepares for the years to come, i don't think that it is the artists fault if the children decided to rein act the artist. I believe that would be down to the parents to control what their children do.