Censorship Review Committee 2009 report! It's out!
Published January 18, 2013
Updated January 18, 2013
Quickie newsflash! Er, seven hours delayed! The complete CRC 2009 report was posted around 4pm this afternoon. Check it out here. If you want to compare it to the CRC 2002 one, it's here.
If you're lazy, here are the key recommendations. But there are, like, 80 in total so...
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Public Education
Parental Empowerment and Informed Adult Choice
Engaging the Community
Engaging the Industry
Film and Video Classification System
New Media
R21 Content on Various Platforms
Arts Entertainment
- A sustained, consistent and up-to-date cyberwellness programme should be incorporated as a compulsory element in the curriculum of all primary and secondary school students.
Parental Empowerment and Informed Adult Choice
- Parents can be better empowered with tools such as an optional Internet filter and easy-to-use parental lock systems for the Internet and TV. Rating systems should be harmonized where possible so that even an occasional user can intuitively grasp the implications of a rating. Advisories should be more detailed and specific to guide consumer choice. The MDA is also encouraged to experiment with new information portals and user-driven services.
Engaging the Community
- Strengthen the role of the various citizen committees advising MDA and allow for direct nominations by the public for appointment to these committees.
- Further develop the existing MDA online database to provide the community with more information on regulatory processes, survey findings and policy reviews, and including an enhanced forum for public feedback and discussion.
- Tap the ideas and hear the aspirations and concerns of young Singaporeans by adding a youth panel to the range of the MDA’s citizen committees.
Engaging the Industry
- Improve the channels for dialogue with artists and media industry sectors.
- Explore more avenues for co-regulation, including term-licensing for arts groups, subject to agreed criteria, which would remove the need for pre-vetting of scripts; and to allow video distributors to self-certify G and PG content.
Film and Video Classification System
- A PG13 rating should be introduced to provide a clearer signal to parents on the nature of content and to facilitate a more appropriate rating of films with more mature content.
- Harmonize ratings across platforms.
New Media
- Replace the current symbolic 100-website ban with a transparent server-level filtering service to protect children, combined with a simple and well-highlighted choice to opt in at the point of subscribing to, or renewing, Internet services.
R21 Content on Various Platforms
- Where consumers have the ability to exercise controlled choice, as is the case with Video-on-Demand, R21 content should be permitted. However, its introduction should be carefully calibrated, and only allowed if there are adequate safeguards in place to prevent access by minors.
Arts Entertainment
- Implement term licensing for established arts groups, and review and broaden the categories of arts entertainment exempted from licensing. For performances targeted at niche audiences, such as ticketed poetry recitals, explore co-regulation through an online declaration system for content.
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