Censorship

Do you think music videos should be censored?

Censorship is the process in which government bodies can stop the broadcasting of certain songs due to their lyrics. Political, moral, religious reasons and even sexual references may be some of the incentive for the songs restriction. Censorship of movies, video games and internet sites in the United Kingdom are one of the strictest in the European Union.

            Ofcom was established in December 2003 by the office of communications Act 2002, which is run by the government and it decides whether or not music and music videos should be censored. They censure things that they believe would be harmful or offensive to the public.

            MTV initially only showed We found love after the watershed, as it had positive references to drug taking, with advantages of high positive change moods, with pupils dilating and as it shows Rihanna and other people passing out and partying encouraging to drink and take drug and have a good time, the editing speeds up.
            Other bad references to rebellious behavior like vandalism, stealing and violent sexual content and   drunk disorderly concept to get high, drunk and have sex irresponsibly have been glamorised.

Should music be censored?

Eminem, who is a worldwide known rapper, had many of his songs censored due to the bad influence that his lyrics have.

In a class my classmates and I debated whether it was right or wrong to censor music, with each person representing someone in the society, for example the artist and the parents.

Eminem believed that music shouldn't be censored by the government as music lyrics should be freedom of speech and artist should be able to express themselves whether or not the age of the target demographic. Artists like Eminem, swearing is part of their culture and censorship ruins the real reflection of the artist as well as it ruins the song itself. Fans can get a better understanding of the artists’ lifestyle, if music is not censored as the bond may be lost with the constraint of the lyrics.

A 10 year old fan, believes that parents shouldn't give their children the opportunity to watch and listen to this kind of music, but they can still easily listen to them from friends.

As an alternative, a 21 year old fan has the opinion that fans only listen to music, they do not follow the artists’ lifestyle and that in now a day’s everyone swears so as it is part of everyday culture. Although there are some fans which do like the music but feels like the swearing should not be recommended.

The record label, which entirely supports Eminem, as it is his own and it’s called “Shady records”. Eminem can make his own decisions, as he likes to make fun out of celebrities in his songs, but also likes to joke around about his culture and upbringing. As he is an individual there is a gap in the market for his music. The record label also stated that if it isn't Eminem who writes these songs it would be someone else as it is now part of today’s culture.

Some parents, who are against Eminem, think that teenagers get carried away by listening to these songs, and it influences them to join gangs and carry weapons as Eminem makes them believe that is “cool” to do so. Adolescents also get a bad reputation for listening to the artist.  As there is no control over the internet, children can still access music that hasn't been censored.

Although some parents believe that it is okay for their children to listen to Eminem as he raps about his life, family and his drug taking and so could be seen as a role model. As he also had a bad upbringing he should be able to tell the world and inspire other adolescents that they can also make something out of their life.

Kiss FM considers all of its audience and bleeps out the swearing and other inappropriate language. Although Eminem doesn't like for his music to be censored, but this radio station would rather substitute the swear words with other words.

MTV plays all popular chart music, doesn't think that Eminem’s music or videos should be broadcasted as they should all be censored, as it only creates conflict with other artists as they are represented in a bad way;  for example the music video for “Just lose it” was censored for the way Michael Jackson was represented as a paedophile.  

In my opinion Eminem’s songs does not influence young children do to bad stuff, as they only are words, and the artist never takes his self seriously in his music video making the songs more fun and less serious and aggressive. Although I still believe that they should censure his music because even if swearing is part of today’s culture, doesn't make it good manners and okay to do.