Kelonian States
07-12-2004, 03:41
Earlier today, the Minister for Culture and Entertainment Rekhard Gerhinovic, with the blessing of Premier Maksim Romaninko and Vice-Premier Zamantha Flakkov, severely lessened the powers of the KTCC (Kelonian Televisual Complaints Committee) while granting greater powers to advertisers and broadcasters as to what they can and can't broadcast.
In a special bulletin announcement today, Mr. Gerhinovic had this to say about the new arrangement he was bringing into force;
From Wednesday of next week onwards, Kelonian television will be a freer place. There will be no censorship of anything broadcast on any of the government-owned stations - private networks are, of course, perfectly allowed to continue their own self-censorship programs - unless it contravenes, either in and of itself or by the acts it displays, contravenes existing Kelonian law.
People who wish to enjoy entertainment that others would consider 'too close to the bone' to watch should not be discriminated against just because they have different tastes to others around them, and from our studies both here and abroad we can say that 90% of the time, demands for further censorship come from a very small demographic and they, however vocal, do not reflect the overall opinion of the population at large. Family entertainment will still be around as long as there are families - there is still a huge market for it and always will be - no-one is forcing people to watch what they would consider 'smut' - they have power over their television; they have the power to change the channel or turn the device off if neccessary.
Perhaps if people are angered their kids might end up watching 'smut', they should keep a closer eye on their children rather than expecting the television to educate them.
The minister has drawn criticism from parent's groups for the last part of his speech, though it has mostly been greeted with cheers of approval around the country - more conservative elements have said they will definately appeal against this decision and will take it to 'the highest court in the land' if the government does not overturn the decision - An unnamed mother from the usually more conservative province of Aslanya was heard to say "we can't allow a few irresponsible fools in upper government to allow these televisual devils corrupt our children's minds! please won't somebody think of the children!".
Aslanyan governor Petr Gregorichev has also spoken out against the decision in local newspapers, but has said his hands are tied as reguards instigating censorship solely within the province as there was no way the signals could be effectively filtered, and also that he would be worried about contravening constitutional laws protecting what has been deemed 'free speech' by the central government from being censored by individual provincial governors, a centralisation of power that was added to the constitution three years ago following the incident where the government of Daylan Masyana was censoring broadcasts mentioning their loss in the Kelonian Civil War.
In a special bulletin announcement today, Mr. Gerhinovic had this to say about the new arrangement he was bringing into force;
From Wednesday of next week onwards, Kelonian television will be a freer place. There will be no censorship of anything broadcast on any of the government-owned stations - private networks are, of course, perfectly allowed to continue their own self-censorship programs - unless it contravenes, either in and of itself or by the acts it displays, contravenes existing Kelonian law.
People who wish to enjoy entertainment that others would consider 'too close to the bone' to watch should not be discriminated against just because they have different tastes to others around them, and from our studies both here and abroad we can say that 90% of the time, demands for further censorship come from a very small demographic and they, however vocal, do not reflect the overall opinion of the population at large. Family entertainment will still be around as long as there are families - there is still a huge market for it and always will be - no-one is forcing people to watch what they would consider 'smut' - they have power over their television; they have the power to change the channel or turn the device off if neccessary.
Perhaps if people are angered their kids might end up watching 'smut', they should keep a closer eye on their children rather than expecting the television to educate them.
The minister has drawn criticism from parent's groups for the last part of his speech, though it has mostly been greeted with cheers of approval around the country - more conservative elements have said they will definately appeal against this decision and will take it to 'the highest court in the land' if the government does not overturn the decision - An unnamed mother from the usually more conservative province of Aslanya was heard to say "we can't allow a few irresponsible fools in upper government to allow these televisual devils corrupt our children's minds! please won't somebody think of the children!".
Aslanyan governor Petr Gregorichev has also spoken out against the decision in local newspapers, but has said his hands are tied as reguards instigating censorship solely within the province as there was no way the signals could be effectively filtered, and also that he would be worried about contravening constitutional laws protecting what has been deemed 'free speech' by the central government from being censored by individual provincial governors, a centralisation of power that was added to the constitution three years ago following the incident where the government of Daylan Masyana was censoring broadcasts mentioning their loss in the Kelonian Civil War.