Saturday 27 June 2009
Duma Takes Stab at Child-Friendly Ratings
Back in the 1990s, the police show "Dorozhny Patrul" used to show unpixelated, mutilated bodies at a time when most people were sitting down to dinner. While television has toned down the graphic scenes since then, there is still no clear rating system that specifies whether the content is appropriate for children. That would change under a bill approved by the State Duma in a first reading late Wednesday. The bill, passed by 440 votes with one abstention, would require television shows, movies and computer games to carry ratings for the age groups of 6, 12, 16 and 18. The legislation also would slap the ratings on cellphone games and other materials that people can pay to receive on cellphones, oblige schools and Internet cafes to filter children's access and firm up current television rules that restrict the broadcast of adult material to after 11 p.m. The bill aims to protect children from what its authors call "psychologically traumatizing and defiling" material. "Today, there isn't a single area that doesn't need regulation," said Yelena Mizulina, the head of the Duma's Family, Women and Children Committee, a co-author of the bill. The bill is not about censorship but protecting children from adult material, Mizulina said. "We don't want to use our legislation to limit the market of published information but to regulate the distribution ... [and] make the information field safe for children," she said. The bill describes in detail what scenes are appropriate for children at age 6, 12 and 16. Children under 6 can see stylized violence "as long as the material contains the idea of victory of good over evil and sympathy for the victim," according to the bill, which is published on the Duma's web site. Those aged 6 to 12 can see "a non-naturalistic depiction or description of an accident, disaster or nonviolent death without showing consequences that could give children recurring fears." Those aged 12 to 16 can see episodic, nonsexual violence -- as long as there's "sympathy" for the victim -- and episodic non-naturalistic sex. Teenagers from 16 to 18 can see artistically justified sex scenes as long as they're not pornographic. They shouldn't see any scenes of drug use, but can see "the dangerous consequences of abuse." The bill obliges movies and computer games to display age certificates but makes this voluntary for other forms of entertainment. It also leaves open who would carry out the voluntary certification. Nevertheless, companies would face real penalties if they failed to flag adult material that went on sale, Mizulina said. "They could be punished administratively, right up to suspending the activity of the legal entity for a period up to three months," she said. According to the bill, television channels would be obliged to warn viewers of shows with adult material and only broadcast material suitable for those over 16 after 9 p.m. and those over 18 after 11 p.m. The bill would not affect news broadcasts and live shows. Under the bill, adult-oriented shows would be preceded by a verbal warning running along the bottom of the screen for at least three minutes before the broadcast. "The bill does not break the principle of self-regulation," Mizulina said. "When showing information, television will simply have to take into consideration what is harmful for children of a certain age." The bill also calls for age certification of films in movie theaters, where the current legal situation is unclear. Films are already divided into what is suitable for children over 12, 14, 16 and 18, said Yelena Bogrova, the deputy head of the Culture Ministry's cinema department for state registry, which classifies films. "We can't enforce it, especially because many movie theaters are now private," she said. A spokeswoman for a major film distributor in Russia, who asked that her company not be identified, said movie theaters always display a film's rating, but the information does not appear in advertisements and posters. Age restrictions are specified when the Culture Ministry gives out distribution licenses, and checks are carried out on whether movie theaters display the information, said Alexei Sokhnev, head of the expert and analytical cinema department of the Culture Ministry. In adopting a ratings system, Russia would join countries like the United States and Britain that for years have required age certificates on the packaging of movie recordings, television shows, computer games and even music albums. The Russian bill does not address albums. The bill is the latest in a long line of legislation that has attempted to regulate television and other entertainment mediums. "There have been at least a dozen similar attempts since the mid-1990s," said Andrei Richter, head of Moscow's Media Law and Policy Institute. "All of them have failed, mostly because the government does not want to irritate the national broadcasters." Nevertheless, similar bills have become law on a regional level, Richter said. Those laws require local government agencies to provide the age ratings, a practice that Richter called expensive and impracticable. Richter praised the Duma's bill as "positive," saying sex and violence are common on daytime television. Nevertheless, he was skeptical about it becoming law. "I see no reason why this particular bill should be luckier than its predecessors," Richter said.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment