OUSA attempts censorship
The ODT reports on the compulsory membership OUSA: The Otago University Students Association wants broadcast media to sign a censorship contract before attending Ori10 concerts. The annual orientation...
View ArticleAustralia to block Wikipedia parody
The SMH reports: The Australian Human Rights Commission has threatened legal action against a widely read but controversial US-based website over an article that it says encourages racial hatred...
View ArticleFiji set to clamp down on a free media
Most people are familiar with the saying two steps forward and one step back to describe a situation of slow progress. That has been my hope for Fiji, that with a set date for elections in 2014, there...
View ArticleUS Ambassador tells Aust Govt not to filter
It is very rare to have an Ambassador comment on a domestic policy, and even more rare amongst friendly countries. So I was surprised and pleased to see the US Ambassador to Australia speak out against...
View ArticleSouthpark Censorship
Once again Comedy Central has censored Southpark. Four years ago they banned the show from being able to show from showing a harmless depiction of Muhammad (was just him giving someone a fish) in their...
View ArticleIs the Government blocking local Chinese media?
A reader writes: The local Chinese media are saying that the NZ government is blocking their accreditation to cover the visit of the vice president Jinping this week. According to them no local Chinese...
View ArticleUpdate to story on media access for visit from Chinese VP
I blogged on Monday about complaints local Chinese media had not been able to get access to the visit of the VP of China. DIA sent me on Tuesday an e-mail which I have attached to the original post....
View ArticleBBC censors Fawlty Towers
Political Correctness strikes again. Stuff reports: In the annals of comedy history, Fawlty Towers is considered one of the greatest television programs ever produced. And from among its episodes, The...
View ArticleWhy Google should not be hiding information
The Herald reports: The attempted murder of an entire family, an actor’s affair with a teenager, and tax dodging are just some of the things that people are asking Google to hide. The search engine has...
View ArticleInto The River
The Herald reports: The author of the first book to be banned in New Zealand for at least 22 years is asking: “Will I be burnt next?” Don’t get hysterical and silly. And it isn’t banned as much as...
View Article1,200 books banned in NZ
Been sent a list of around 1,200 books that have been banned in New Zealand. They were banned between 1963 and 1994 by the Indecent Publications Tribunal, and the vast majority are still banned today...
View ArticleInto The River unbanned
Stuff reports: The New Zealand Film and Literature Board has lifted the ban on Ted Dawe’s controversial teen novel Into the River. In a decision that was far from unanimous, the president of the board...
View ArticleCensor wants more powers
Stuff reports: The deputy chief censor wants the Government to put more options on the table for regulating online pornography. In an article for the censor’s website, deputy chief censor Jarred Mullen...
View ArticleDom Post on Wicked Campers
A rare good Dom Post editorial: The use of drugs by favourite childhood characters is likely to encourage impressionable young people to see drug use as funny and cool, the office finds. That is...
View ArticleCensor running out of money due to lack of porn
Stuff reports: The Censor’s Office was about to run out of money within three years. Chief Censor David Shanks said the Crown had not increased its funding over the last 20 years and in that time, with...
View ArticleBishop bill means no more book banning
Newshub reports: Books like Into the River won’t get banned anymore Parliament has passed a law change that will help avoid a repetition of the banning of Ted Dawe’s award-winning novel Into the River....
View ArticleGuest Post: Beating Censorsh*p
A guest post by Alexander Sparrow: We are being silenced. I am a centre-right comic. Views like mine – and yours, presumably – are censored in theatres in New Zealand. This cannot continue. We can’t...
View ArticleThere is no problem here that needs fixing
The Herald reports: The Government is exploring the possibility of making classifications for on-demand streaming services, such as Netflix and Lightbox, mandatory.Minister of Internal Affairs Tracey...
View ArticleGovernment does the right thing
Stuff reports: The Government will allow online video providers like Netflix to self-classify their content after officials warned providers could withdraw from the New Zealand market if a more...
View ArticleCr worried about library books
Stuff reports: Some books about the Treaty of Waitangi on the shelves of Tasman District libraries are “very right-wing extremist”, says Tasman District councillor Dana Wensley.Some material “that I...
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