How effectively can contemporary media be regulated?

Well how effectively can contemporary media be regulated? It is a question that cannot simply be answered with just a yes or a no, infact, it is such an in depth question that it could take a matter of days to sum up the pro's and con's of certain media regulations. Although people question the authority the big media regulations really have over today's media, companies such as the PCC (press complaints commission) and the BBFC (British board of classification).
The main duties of the PCC are to take control of any press mishaps that have been notified and act upon them accordingly. However it seems their role in doing so is questionable after failing to control the media on certain occasions. Newspapers such as the News of the World, were clearly guilty of phone hacking for a while, but they did nothing to try and act upon complaints from certain people they went to report about. Although they finally punished the News of the World after several years of doing nothing, they were found out about the phone hacking and then they shut down for good.
Because of this, the sun introduced "the sun on sunday" to replace the News of the World, even if many of the public are convinced this is just a replica of the old News of the World. This on going phone-hacking saga led to many of the press, police and politicians resigning after being involved in the scandal in some form or another. Also, the authority of the PCC was questioned so bad that it was involved in the levison enquiry concerning the principles of the PCC as a whole. Recently the PCC have decided to shut down, with their future under intense scrutiny.
Whereas in the BBFC, their main roles and responsibilites are to certify films in what they believe to be under the correct category. The categories are U (universal), PG (parental guidance), 12A, 12, 15, 18 and R18. They also have to judge whether the material is in conflict with the law or not.
However, when they attempt to ban a film that should not be watched what so ever, they receive a public onslaught as it gets them interested and suddenly want to watch this previously banned film. An example of this is "the human centipede 2" this film was already banned by the BBFC but recieved a backlash from the public stating they wanted it to be screened, plus, the Director Tom Six stated he was going to compose a third Human Centipede in the near future aiming to make the other two films look like disney films. Therefore the BBFC gave in and screened it as an 18, this shows the authority it seems the BBFC really have.
So that seems to answer the question, doesn't it? It seems no matter how much regulations try to keep control of the media, they just receive another twist in the tale to stop their authority. Its a major possibility that the media as a whole cannot be controlled, or if trying to be controlled then the effect wont be very effective.

PCC closure

The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has confirmed it will close before Lord Justice Leveson produces his final report into press standards.

The commission has been widely criticised for its handling of the phone-hacking scandal.

The fast-track closure was agreed by members of the commission at a meeting on Wednesday.

The commission will be replaced by a transitional body until a new system of press regulation is established.

legislation

1912 - British board of film censors is created by a film industry as a means of ensuring uniformity for film classification.

1960- In the first famous trial using the new publications act, D H Lawrence's novel, Lady Chatterley's lover becomes available for the first time in 32 years. Where it is deemed as art rather than pornography.

1970- Age limit of X is raised from 16 to 18.

1982- Introduction of PG, 15, 18 and R18 categories.

1984- VRA is passed following the arrival of video in the UK.

theories and concepts

Theory/Concept	Explanation	In relation to the BBFC
Ideology (Marxism)	People who own the means of production also own the ideas of a society, which affects people who work for them and forces them to think that there is no alternative to their solution.	Prevents negative ideologies from reaching the public. ‘This is England ‘ (18) includes racism. Younger audiences may not be able to look at it objectively.
Hypodermic needle/mass media (The Frankfurt School)	The audience are passive and believe everything they see and hear in the media.	Any reference to negative elements could influence people to copy U, PG, 12.
Uses and Gratifications	The audience are more active and choose to receive media for several uses e.g. information or entertainment.	People have the ability to decide how to receive media. Controversial films only used for information or entertainment NOT identity.
Imperialism	When a country forces its ideas on another country, pushing out any existing culture.
Two-Step Flow	The idea that the communication between media and an audience is not straightforward but involves mediators who can reinterpret the information.	Influence of BBFC examiners.
Reception Theory (Stuart Hall)	The way each member of an audience receives a text depends on numerous things such as their cultural background and life experiences.	The things which may tap into a person’s experiences and cause a negative response are banned e.g instructions on how to kill yourself.
The Political Economy of Mass Media (Noam Chomsky)	The media is used as a political weapon and is controlled by governing powers so that only certain information is given to the audience.	The BBFC would be under the control of the government and therefore not independent body. The views of the BBFC could change with each new government.

History: 1980's

Legislation:

1982- introduction of PG, 15 and 18 certificates

1984- introduction of the VRA (video recordings act), BBFC becomes designed authority to rate certificates to films.

1989- Batman becomes first film to be certified as a 12 in the UK

Drugs:

1981- German film Christiane f, involving a teen girl with an heroin addiction was certified as an X with the initial 18 version being cut to reduce scenes of drug taking

1986- Comic references from Crocodile Dundee about cocaine are cut for the PG rated film

Sexual Violence:

1983- Director of public prosecutions instructs police to seize video nasties, examples of seized titles include I Spit on Your Grave, The Last House on the Left and Cannibal Holocaust.

1988- BBFC classifies The Accused an 18 uncut as long as it doesn't exploit or eroticise sexual violence but it can intend to make a serious point

Violence and Weapons:

1984- Streets of Fire becomes one of the last films to use butterfly knifes before they are listed to the banned section.

1986- A poster of Bruce Lee holding nunchaku is cut from No Retreat, No Surrender

1987- Outright bans on nunchaku, shuriken and bailsong in non-action or non-martial arts where the sight is incidental, comic or brief. Rambo 3 was cut to reduce violence and knife glamourisation.

statutory law

This is the written type of law which is set down by legislature or by a legislator

Leveson inquiry

The PCC's main purpose is to keep tabs on the press and make sure they are kept at bay from going overboard. However, it seems even the PCC are struggling to do their jobs, as the press seem uncontrollable with the press being allowed to do whatever they want, no matter how sly their approach is. The press seemed dumfounded as to admitting what they've done wrong, they are very fickle to believe that we don't know what's going on.

Sir Paul Stephenson

The former Metropolitan Police commissioner has been cleared of misconduct in his handling of the phone hacking inquiry by the police watchdog.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said Sir Paul Stephenson had not committed any criminal acts.

Sir Paul Stephenson said the outcome was "as I would have expected it to be" and he regretted resources "have had to be expe nded on this matter".

Sir Paul resigned in July following criticism for hiring Mr Wallis - who has been questioned by police investigating hacking - as an adviser.

Sir Paul was referred to the IPCC because of his responsibility for the alleged failings of Mr Yates, but the report said the fact one of his officers might have carried out a poor investigation did not constitute a misconduct offence.

The report also considered Sir Paul's acceptance of hospitality fro m a family friend at Champneys Medical while he was on sick leave.

An independent inquiry will examine claims former assistant commissioner John Yates secured a job for a News of the World executive's daughter.

Two senior officers resigned from their posts in the wake of the scandal.

The IPCC report also cleared Mr Yates, former Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman and former Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke of misconduct over phone hacking.

Introduction to the PCC

1. The PCC stands for Press complaints comission
2. It was charged solely with the administraion of the code, because of the Editorial case of practice the PCC has no powers to impose the penalties. It administers the system of self regulation for the press, deals with complaints framed within terms of the ECP (editorial case of practice) about the editorial content of newspapers, magazines and the conduct of their journalists.
3. All members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards. The Code, which includes the public interest exceptions below, sets the benchmark for those ethical standards, protecting both the rights of the individual and the public's right to know.

List of codes of practice:
-Accuracy
-Opportunity to reply
-Privacy
-Harassment
-Intrusion into grief or shock
-Children
-Children in sex cases
-Hospitals
-Reporting of Crime
-Clandestine devices and subterfuge
-Victims of sexual assault
-Discrimination
-Financial journalism
-Confidential sources
-Witness payments in criminal trials
-Payment to criminals

History of the press regulation

Throughout a period of time there were several types of publications that were used to send across news and potential rumours to the public. Examples of these included pamphlets and posters. The first renowned news piece was compiled in strasbourg which was known as Johann Carolus' Relation aller Furnemmen und gededckwurdigen Historien at around 1605.

The court of law went on to ban all english news books due to complaints from Austrian and Spainish diplomats, but they carried on printing news stories in Amsterdam to smuggle over to Britain for the time being until it became legalised again.

The civil war had news pamphlets reporting on the war often portraying a biased point of view towards each of the sides.

The press regulation commenced just after the second world war, it was established following pressure from the National Union of Journalists which was aimed to promote the interests of consumers and research into the print industries long term impact socially and economically.

The general council was formed in response to critics demanding for improvement. It was then critisised further in 1973 as privacy was the issue this time and they urged a written code of practice which was then rejected by the press council.

The PCC (press complaints commission) are not responsible for any breaches guilty of prosecution. The code consists of 16 clauses which the press can be prosecuted for by the public including respect for privacy and harassment. Statutory controls on press freedom are widely regarded as an unreasonable restriction on freedom of speech, and as such of democratic rights.

One of the most common complaints is about the PCC is about their lack of authority when imposing penalties. Overall the PCC recieved 4,340 complaints in 2007 which was an increase in last year.