Category: media

An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that the province’s practice of requiring all films to be submitted to a censor board for approval is illegal under Canada’s Charter of Rights & Freedoms. In his ruling, the judge said that the government had provided “no satisfactory explanation why prior approval of films to be shown to the public at large was required,” especially since similar screening processes are not required for film festivals and other “limited audience” screenings.

The Genie Awards try hard, they really do, but getting Canadians to watch a Canadian awards show focusing solely on Canadian films, when Canadians can already see the Oscars and the Golden Globes, which focus on films that Canadians actually go to in large numbers, is a difficult undertaking. So with the Genie telecast moving to a new channel this year, the organizers thought that a new host might liven things up. But can even former Kid in the Hall Scott Thompson make the Genie’s a marketable event?

NC-17 is losing some of its taboo qualities, with major studios agreeing to release films with the once-dreaded rating, and newspapers readily airing ads for them. True, video stores still won’t stock them, but they will stock “unrated” versions of R-rated films which include NC-17-worthy footage. So what does it all mean? Are we a more permissive society than we were a decade ago? Are studios less risk-averse? Is Western civilization knuckling under to the dark forces of deviant morality? Or is it just possible that Hollywood has decided that there’s very little point in having a rating that you can’t use?

BBC 1 Radio is about to announce this year’s ratings, and it might not be pretty. “Last year, the station shed nearly half a million listeners, falling to its third consecutive all-time low. While the station may like to claim they are a casualty of greater choice, the growth of their rivals hints at something more obvious – Radio 1 is totally misjudging on a daily basis what its listeners actually want to hear.”

The US Congress is proposing to enact anti-obscenity laws that would raise fines against broadcasters to $500,000. Broadcasters – trying to get ahead of Congress – are establishing a to “discuss a voluntary code of conduct and other options. The group hopes the move will head off new government regulations to stop shows broadcasting indecent material.”

As San Francisco’s PBS affiliate, KQED, celebrates its 50th birthday, Tim Goodman has decided that its time for PBS supporters to face the obvious fact that the network and its affiliates are visionless blobs on the cultural landscape, fulfilling no mission and serving no real viewership. “This is essentially what PBS is now: A channel for people who don’t get cable. There’s a reason PBS’ viewing audience is moving beyond age 55 — much of the core audience, loyal to a fault, believes PBS is the only alternative to dumb or bad network television series. But these are people using 8-track tapes in a CD world.”

Ever since National Public Radio announced that it was replacing Bob Edwards as host of “Morning Edition,” listeners have been howling. NPR is standing by its decision to take the program “in a new direction,” but senior managers are admitting that they could not have bungled the situation more completely. For Edwards’s part, he seems to be enjoying the attention, and is making no effort to alleviate the discomfort of his NPR bosses. From the listener who set up a “Save Bob Edwards” website to the defendant at the Tyco fraud trial who began badgering the NPR reporter covering him, the NPR faithful are creating a groundswell, and Edwards is loving every minute of it.

The Recording Industry Association of America has sued another 477 alleged illegal file-swappers, who the industry claims are undermining commerce and causing a prolonged slump in music sales. The new round of lawsuits brings the total number of sued swappers to 2,454.

The BBC says it will dramatically increase its arts anc culture programming. “A new arts programme called The Culture Show will air on BBC Two along with a media analysis show on BBC Four. BBC Radio 2 will relaunch its weekly arts strand and increase the number of hours it dedicates to the arts to more than 100 hours per year.”

When the gritty cop drama NYPD Blue debuted on ABC a decade ago, it was viewed as a major taboo-buster, airing coarse language and occasional nudity on a major network for the first time, but backing up the vulgarity with top-quality writing and award-winning acting. Over the years, Blue has come to be a mere blip on the radar screen of America’s self-appointed decency squads, largely because it was seen as an unhittable target due to its popularity and critical success. But with the new FCC crackdown on broadcasters, the show’s creator, Steven Bochco, says he’s been forced to cut multiple scenes from upcoming episodes, and is ready to give up on the show if the censorship continues.