Research on the Effects of Media Violence
Whether or not exposure to media violence causes increased levels of aggression and violence in young people is the perennial question of media effects research. Some experts, like University of Michigan professor L. Rowell Huesmann, argue that fifty years of evidence show "that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more aggressively and affects them as adults years later." Others, like Jonathan Freedman of the University of Toronto, maintain that "the scientific evidence simply does not show that watching violence either produces violence in people, or desensitizes them to it."
Many Studies, Many Conclusions
Andrea Martinez at the University of Ottawa conducted a comprehensive review of the scientific literature for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in 1994. She concluded that the lack of consensus about media effects reflects three "grey areas" or constraints contained in the research itself.
First, media violence is notoriously hard to define and measure. Some experts who track violence in television programming, such as George Gerbner of Temple University, define violence as the act (or threat) of injuring or killing someone, independent of the method used or the surrounding context. Accordingly, Gerber includes cartoon violence in his data-set. But others, such as University of Laval professors Guy Paquette and Jacques de Guise, specifically exclude cartoon violence from their research because of its comical and unrealistic presentation.
Second, researchers disagree over the type of relationship the data supports. Some argue that exposure to media violence causes aggression. Others say that the two are associated, but that there is no causal connection. (That both, for instance, may be caused by some third factor.) And others say the data supports the conclusion that there is no relationship between the two at all.
Third, even those who agree that there is a connection between media violence and aggression disagree about how the one effects the other. Some say that the mechanism is a psychological one, rooted in the ways we learn. For example, Huesmann argues that children develop "cognitive scripts" that guide their own behaviour by imitating the actions of media heroes. As they watch violent shows, children learn to internalize scripts that use violence as an appropriate method of problem-solving.
Other researchers argue that it is the physiological effects of media violence that cause aggressive behaviour. Exposure to violent imagery is linked to increased heart rate, faster respiration and higher blood pressure. Some think that this simulated "fight-or-flight" response predisposes people to act aggressively in the real world.
Still others focus on the ways in which media violence primes or cues pre-existing aggressive thoughts and feelings. They argue that an individual’s desire to strike out is justified by media images in which both the hero and the villain use violence to seek revenge, often without consequences.
In her final report to the CRTC, Martinez concluded that most studies support "a positive, though weak, relation between exposure to television violence and aggressive behaviour." Although that relationship cannot be "confirmed systematically," she agrees with Dutch researcher Tom Van der Voot who argues that it would be illogical to conclude that "a phenomenon does not exist simply because it is found at times not to occur, or only to occur under certain circumstances."
What the Researchers Are Saying
The lack of consensus about the relationship between media violence and real-world aggression has not impeded ongoing research. Here’s a sampling of conclusions drawn to date, from the various research strands:
Research strand: Children who consume high levels of media violence are more likely to be aggressive in the real world
In 1956, researchers took to the laboratory to compare the behaviour of 24 children watching TV. Half watched a violent episode of the cartoon Woody Woodpecker, and the other 12 watched the non-violent cartoon The Little Red Hen. During play afterwards, the researchers observed that the children who watched the violent cartoon were much more likely to hit other children and break toys.
Six years later, in 1963, professors A. Badura, D. Ross and S.A. Ross studied the effect of exposure to real-world violence, television violence, and cartoon violence. They divided 100 preschool children into four groups. The first group watched a real person shout insults at an inflatable doll while hitting it with a mallet. The second group watched the incident on television. The third watched a cartoon version of the same scene, and the fourth watched nothing.
When all the children were later exposed to a frustrating situation, the first three groups responded with more aggression than the control group. The children who watched the incident on television were just as aggressive as those who had watched the real person use the mallet; and both were more aggressive than those who had only watched the cartoon.
Over the years, laboratory experiments such as these have consistently shown that exposure to violence is associated with increased heartbeat, blood pressure and respiration rate, and a greater willingness to administer electric shocks to inflict pain or punishment on others. However, this line of enquiry has been criticized because of its focus on short term results and the artificial nature of the viewing environment.
Other scientists have sought to establish a connection between media violence and aggression outside the laboratory. For example, a number of surveys indicate that children and young people who report a preference for violent entertainment also score higher on aggression indexes than those who watch less violent shows. L. Rowell Huesmann reviewed studies conducted in Australia, Finland, Poland, Israel, Netherlands and the United States. He reports, "the child most likely to be aggressive would be the one who (a) watches violent television programs most of the time, (b) believes that these shows portray life just as it is, [and] (c) identifies strongly with the aggressive characters in the shows."
A study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2003 found that nearly half (47 per cent) of parents with children between the ages of 4 and 6 report that their children have imitated aggressive behaviours from TV. However, it is interesting to note that children are more likely to mimic positive behaviours — 87 per cent of kids do so.
Recent research is exploring the effect of new media on children’s behaviour. Craig Anderson and Brad Bushman of Iowa State University reviewed dozens of studies of video gamers. In 2001, they reported that children and young people who play violent video games, even for short periods, are more likely to behave aggressively in the real world; and that both aggressive and non-aggressive children are negatively affected by playing.
In 2003, Craig Anderson and Iowa State University colleague Nicholas Carnagey and Janie Eubanks of the Texas Department of Human Services reported that violent music lyrics increased aggressive thoughts and hostile feelings among 500 college students. They concluded, "There are now good theoretical and empirical reasons to expect effects of music lyrics on aggressive behavior to be similar to the well-studied effects of exposure to TV and movie violence and the more recent research efforts on violent video games."
Research Strand: Children who watch high levels of media violence are at increased risk of aggressive behaviour as adults
In 1960, University of Michigan Professor Leonard Eron studied 856 grade three students living in a semi-rural community in Columbia County, New York, and found that the children who watched violent television at home behaved more aggressively in school. Eron wanted to track the effect of this exposure over the years, so he revisited Columbia County in 1971, when the children who participated in the 1960 study were 19 years of age. He found that boys who watched violent TV when they were eight were more likely to get in trouble with the law as teenagers.
When Eron and Huesmann returned to Columbia County in 1982, the subjects were 30 years old. They reported that those participants who had watched more violent TV as eight-year-olds were more likely, as adults, to be convicted of serious crimes, to use violence to discipline their children, and to treat their spouses aggressively.
Professor Monroe Lefkowitz published similar findings in 1971. Lefkowitz interviewed a group of eight-year-olds and found that the boys who watched more violent TV were more likely to act aggressively in the real world. When he interviewed the same boys ten years later, he found that the more violence a boy watched at eight, the more aggressively he would act at age eighteen.
Columbia University professor Jeffrey Johnson has found that the effect is not limited to violent shows. Johnson tracked 707 families in upstate New York for 17 years, starting in 1975. In 2002, Johnson reported that children who watched one to three hours of television each day when they were 14 to 16 years old were 60 per cent more likely to be involved in assaults and fights as adults than those who watched less TV.
Kansas State University professor John Murray concludes, "The most plausible interpretation of this pattern of correlations is that early preference for violent television programming and other media is one factor in the production of aggressive and antisocial behavior when the young boy becomes a young man."
However, this line of research has attracted a great deal of controversy. Pullitzer Prize-winning author Richard Rhodes has attacked Eron’s work, arguing that his conclusions are based on an insignificant amount of data. Rhodes claims that Eron had information about the amount of TV viewed in 1960 for only 3 of the 24 men who committed violent crimes as adults years later. Rhodes concludes that Eron’s work is "poorly conceived, scientifically inadequate, biased and sloppy if not actually fraudulent research."
Guy Cumberbatch, head of the Communications Research Group, a U.K. social policy think tank, has equally harsh words for Johnson’s study. Cumberbatch claims Johnson’s group of 88 under-one-hour TV watchers is "so small, it's aberrant." And, as journalist Ben Shouse points out, other critics say that Johnson’s study "can’t rule out the possibility that television is just a marker for some unmeasured environmental or psychological influence on both aggression and TV habits."
Research Strand: The introduction of television into a community leads to an increase in violent behaviour
Researchers have also pursued the link between media violence and real life aggression by examining communities before and after the introduction of television. In the mid 1970s, University of British Columbia professor Tannis McBeth Williams studied a remote village in British Columbia both before and after television was introduced. She found that two years after TV arrived, violent incidents had increased by 160 per cent.
Researchers Gary Granzberg and Jack Steinbring studied three Cree communities in northern Manitoba during the 1970s and early 1980s. They found that four years after television was introduced into one of the communities, the incidence of fist fights and black eyes among the children had increased significantly. Interestingly, several days after an episode of Happy Days aired, in which one character joined a gang called the Red Demons, children in the community created rival gangs, called the Red Demons and the Green Demons, and the conflict between the two seriously disrupted the local school.
University of Washington Professor Brandon Centerwall noted that the sharp increase in the murder rate in North America in 1955 occurred eight years after television sets began to enter North American homes. To test his hypothesis that the two were related, he examined the murder rate in South Africa where, prior to 1975, television was banned by the government. He found that twelve years after the ban was lifted, murder rates skyrocketed.
University of Toronto Professor Jonathan Freedman has criticized this line of research. He points out that Japanese television has some of the most violent imagery in the world, and yet Japan has a much lower murder rate than other countries, including Canada and the United States, which have comparatively less violence on TV.
Research Strand: Media violence stimulates fear in some children
A number of studies have reported that watching media violence frightens young children, and that the effects of this may be long lasting.
In 1998, Professors Singer, Slovak, Frierson and York surveyed 2,000 Ohio students in grades three through eight. They report that the incidences of psychological trauma (including anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress) increased in proportion to the number of hours of television watched each day.
A 1999 survey of 500 Rhode Island parents led by Brown University professor Judith Owens revealed that the presence of a television in a child’s bedroom makes it more likely that the child will suffer from sleep disturbances. Nine per cent of all the parents surveyed reported that their children have nightmares because of a television show at least once a week.
Tom Van der Voort studied 314 children aged nine through twelve in 1986. He found that although children can easily distinguish cartoons, westerns and spy thrillers from reality, they often confuse realistic programmes with the real world. When they are unable to integrate the violence in these shows because they can’t follow the plot, they are much more likely to become anxious. This is particularly problematic because the children reported that they prefer realistic programmes, which they equate with fun and excitement. And, as Jacques de Guise reported in 2002, the younger the child, the less likely he or she will be able to identify violent content as violence.
In 1999, Professors Joanne Cantor and K. Harrison studied 138 university students, and found that memories of frightening media images continued to disturb a significant number of participants years later. Over 90 per cent reported they continued to experience fright effects from images they viewed as children, ranging from sleep disturbances to steadfast avoidance of certain situations.
Research Strand: Media violence desensitizes people to real violence
A number of studies in the 1970’s showed that people who are repeatedly exposed to media violence tend to be less disturbed when they witness real world violence, and have less sympathy for its victims. For example, Professors V.B. Cline, R.G. Croft, and S. Courrier studied young boys over a two-year period. In 1973, they reported that boys who watch more than 25 hours of television per week are significantly less likely to be aroused by real world violence than those boys who watch 4 hours or less per week.
When researchers Fred Molitor and Ken Hirsch revisited this line of investigation in 1994, their work confirmed that children are more likely to tolerate aggressive behaviour in the real world if they first watch TV shows or films that contain violent content.
Research Strand: People who watch a lot of media violence tend to believe that the world is more dangerous than it is in reality
George Gerbner has conducted the longest running study of television violence. His seminal research suggests that heavy TV viewers tend to perceive the world in ways that are consistent with the images on TV. As viewers’ perceptions of the world come to conform with the depictions they see on TV, they become more passive, more anxious, and more fearful. Gerbner calls this the "Mean World Syndrome."
Gerbner’s research found that those who watch greater amounts of television are more likely to:
overestimate their risk of being victimized by crime
believe their neighbourhoods are unsafe
believe "fear of crime is a very serious personal problem"
assume the crime rate is increasing, even when it is not
André Gosselin, Jacques de Guise and Guy Paquette decided to test Gerbner’s theory in the Canadian context in 1997. They surveyed 360 university students, and found that heavy television viewers are more likely to believe the world is a more dangerous place. However, they also found heavy viewers are not more likely to actually feel more fearful.
Research Strand: Family attitudes to violent content are more important than the images themselves
A number of studies suggest that media is only one of a number of variables that put children at risk of aggressive behaviour.
For example, a Norwegian study that included 20 at-risk teenaged boys found that the lack of parental rules regulating what the boys watched was a more significant predictor of aggressive behaviour than the amount of media violence they watched. It also indicated that exposure to real world violence, together with exposure to media violence, created an "overload" of violent events. Boys who experienced this overload were more likely to use violent media images to create and consolidate their identities as members of an anti-social and marginalized group.
On the other hand, researchers report that parental attitudes towards media violence can mitigate the impact it has on children. Huesmann and Bacharach conclude, "Family attitudes and social class are stronger determinants of attitudes toward aggression than is the amount of exposure to TV, which is nevertheless a significant but weaker predictor."
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
want 2 learn "Meditation"
Meditation
To be an effective intellectual, it's very useful to make a concentrated effort to learn at least one technique of meditation. For our purposes, this is defined as a system of self-control by which one can stimulate alpha-wave activity in the brain, which is the hallmark of a effective meditation system. We will discuss one technique here that naturally lends itself to being used for magical purposes such as scrying and out-of-body experiences. It is simple and effective, but one may choose another if so desired.
Find a quiet, comfortable place in which to practice, and arrange to be undisturbed for at least an hour or so. Wear loose fitting clothing or better still, no clothing at all.
This style uses what the Yogis call the "dead pose" -- in other words, flat on your back. The surface should be comfortable, but not so much so that it tends to induce sleepiness. A Japanese futon bed is ideal, but a foam pad (like the kind sold in camping supply stores) or a rolled-out sleeping bag are quite acceptable.
Spend several minutes getting "adjusted" so all of the little discomforts are minimized and you can lie undisturbed. You should end up with your arms slightly away from your body and legs slightly spread apart, so no part of your body is in contact with any other part. Then you must lie totally mointionless for the duration of the exercise.
The first step is to begin taking deep, regular breaths; either only through the nose, or breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Try to take an equal length of time breathing in as breathing out. Spend several minutes concentrating only on regular breathing before moving on.
The next step is to focus on individual parts of the body and "relax" each on in turn. Begin with the feet; say to yourself (silently) "my toes are relaxed and light as a cloud". Repeat this phrase until you begin to feel in your toes a sensation of "warmth", "lightness", "tingling" -- the subjective descriptions vary but you'll know it when you get it.
Once you've achieved this, change the phrase to "my feet are relaxed and light as a cloud", and feel the sensation begin to move upward. Proceed in this manner relaxing each body part in turn. Once you have relaxed you legs, proceed to your fingers and up your arms, then the hips, abdomen and chest, converge the sensation at the shoulders and work up to the neck, face back of the head and finally the scalp. Make sure you are thourogh - don't forget such parts as the genitals, buttocks, small of the back, shoulder blades, etc.
When the entire body is relaxed, begin to imagine yourself as if you really are as light as a cloud and you are gently floating up into the air above the cusion. By this point you should feel profoundly relaxed and slightly euphoric. This is a light gnosis-state or "magical trance" that will be exploited later for magical purposes, but for the moment just concentrate on the feeling itself and the way you attained it.
Bring yourself "back" by imagining yourself getting heavier and hevier, in a reversal of the previous procedure. Eventually, slowly begin slight movements of your muscles; flex the toes and fingers, shrug the shoulders, roll the head gently from side to side. Take a few moments to gently "stretch out" before rising from your cushion.
It may take an hour or more to get results at first, or you may only succeed in geting your feet and fingertips to relax and feel "tingly". Regular practice is the key, as it will get easier the more you do it.
This technique of progressive relaxation can also be performed in a comfortable sitting position -- both feet on the floor, arms on armrests, head supported by a pad or pillow. Some people may find this position easier when advancing to the next step of visualization. Ultimately, the goal is to be able to rise and move about while still reamining in the trance state.
If you've never had any meditational training before this, I would strongly urge you to persevere in the practice for at least 4 weeks, spending at least one hour a day. You should strive to be able to enter the "light trance" state at will within a few minutes time. At that point, you're ready for the next step.
Visualization
Visualization is the process of using the imagination to induce specific visual illusions in oneself at will, what Karl Jung called the active imagination. It is the ability to make yourself "see things" that are not physically present by strongly imagining them and behaving as though they were. In other words, self-induced hallucinations.
Magicians hold that sufficiently powerful visualization by one person can have an influence on the psyches of others in their presence as well as themselves. The most mundane example of this phenomenon is the situation where one person stands in a street and looks up at the empty sky intently, as if there were something up there. Within moments a crowd has gathered, all looking up at the same non-existent thing. Some will even swear that they see "something"!
Another example is the effect of watching a performance by an expert pantomime. If s/he describes the "solid" objects of the performance will sufficient skill, the audience will come to "see" the invisible barriers, doors, windstorms, etc. - so much so that people who attend performances by masters such as Marcel Marceau think for brief moments that they actually do see Marceau's invisible "props".
Visualization is one of the "slight-of-mind" tricks that are a part of every magical system ever devised. Remember that magic functions by tapping into the psychological state we call "belief". Powerful visualization is indispensable for putting the magician into a belief state conducive to deriving magical effects.
What follows are some basic exercises in magical visualization. One should first spend some time getting into the first stage of magical trance, then practice these exercises once a day. Many studies have shown that meditation greatly improves one's learning ability, especially immediately after a session, so we may as well take advantage of it, right? The techniques in the following section on Magical Protection can be practiced concurrently with these; the technique of protection described is itself a visualization exercise.
Visualization Practice
A good way to practice visualization and get a handle on what the experience is like is to use the visual phenomenon of "after images" as a learning tool.
For this exercise, you need some brightly colored construction paper (fluorescent colors work particularly well if you can find them), some large white card stock paper (11 x 17 is perfect), scissors, tape or paper glue, and a blank white wall (an extra large piece of white posterboard hung on a wall will do nicely.)
Take some scissors and cut some approximately 1 foot long strips of colored paper about one-quarter inch in width. Now use these to paste or tape together a five-pointed star figure as pictured below:
Mount this on the white card stock. You should end up with what looks like a large flash card with a star in the middle.
Make four of these cards using different colors. The best colors to use in the construction of the star are orange, purple, green and red. The reason will be clear in a moment.
Arrange yourself facing the blank white wall with your "flash cards" in easy reach. The wall should be brightly lit. Choose one of the cards and hold it up in front of your eyes. Stare fixedly at it without moving your eyes for at least one full minute. You may want to pin it to the wall in front of you to avoid having it move. After a minute or two, quickly remove it and stare directly at the blank white wall. You should see an after image of the star figure on the blank wall, in a hue that is the opposite of the card's on the color wheel. (In other words, the orange star will yield a blue image, the purple a yellow image, the green a red image and the red a green image. These are the traditional "Elemental" colors of water, air, fire and earth respectively, and are as good a place to start as any.)
Once you have an after image showing on the blank white wall, try holding your gaze very still and "trace" the apparent outline of the star with your fingertip. This is a typical action used in "setting wards" or traditional banishing rites.
Next you can try doing the same thing, but look out into the room instead of at the blank wall. The after image should seem to float in mid air in front of your eyes. Try tracing it's outline with a fingertip again.
Then try the exercise with all of the different colors. You may have to wait a few moments between each one for the previous image to fade away.
Eventually you can create more and different flash cards to practice with, if you feel inclined.
All this is only to give you an idea of the "look and feel" of magical visualization. The final goal is to be able to "see" the figures, or any other image you choose, by sheer imagination alone. But I've found that these exercises are an excellent way to speed up the learning curve. It gives your memory something on which to hang the visualized perception, making it easier to obtain.
The next step is to practice summoning the images without the use of the cards at all. One way to progress toward this goal is to start by first obtaining the after-image, but trying to keep the image "going" even after the visual effect begins to fade. Progressively use the cards less and less until you can do without them.
Do the above exercises at least once a day for another few weeks at least, while continuing with your meditation sessions. When you find you are able to get yourself into a light trance state in less than 10 minutes, and can visualize simple geometric forms to a reasonable degree of "visibility", you'll have the basic mental disciplines needed to do effective magical work.
The Juggler's Meditation
Here we're going to deviate from the traditional approach. Almost all of the old magical traditions use some form or another of the mental skills described above. However, the general direction of their discipline in almost all cases is to encourage complete stilling of the mind as the goal. Such quieting of the thought processes is a valuable tool, as it can quickly connect one to the Void and the attainment of the gnostic mind-state. However, stopping one's mental processes completely by sheer concentration alone is a damnably hard trick, where even a few seconds of "no-thought" can only be attained by extreme effort. Expect to spend months or even years mastering such a technique.
As an alternative, here's a technique that seems to me to be able to launch one into a gnosis state functionally equal to the scant seconds of mental quiescence obtained by the inhibitory methods mentioned above. It takes an exactly opposite approach to the goal -- call it "meditative overload". It also makes use of the skills of meditation and visualization that you've been practicing (you have been practicing, haven't you?)
Everyone is aware that the mind can be active with several unrelated thought processes at once. If you're walking down a familiar street, one can easily avoid the obstacles of other pedestrians, curbs, traffic, etc. without having to devote conscious awareness to the process. While walking, one can also have a song running through one's head, while at the same time be thinking about a meeting one has later, and what one is going to say at the meeting, AND be buttoning one's jacket or rolling up sleeves all at the same time. This is not unusual at all. So we're going to expand on this mental trick that we all already know how to do.
Start by visualizing a simple form with your eyes closed -- say a bright blue square. Now, instead of trying to quiet your mind, start a song going in your head. Don't stop visualizing the square! Next, pay attention to whatever it is you're standing/sitting/laying on. Feel the texture and the weight of your body on it. Don't stop visualizing the square! Keep the song going! Then, try to recall the smell and taste of a delicious food. Of course, keep the blue square, song and texture active mentally! If you can, keep adding things to concentrate on using a variety of sensory types.
What you'll soon notice is your mind "time-sharing" between the various mental activities -- almost like a juggler catching and tossing the progression of different objects in the air. But this is NOT a contest. The whole idea of this technique is to FAIL. Eventually, you will add one too many mental activities, whatever your own particular capacity might be. Your mind will seem to move faster and faster switching from one conscious awareness to another until ...CLICK! You will drop all of the balls, so to speak. Suddenly, your overloaded mind will shut down, if only for the briefest of seconds. Congratulations - you have hit the gnostic state. This really works -- try it and see.
Sensory Deprivation
Another useful practice is known as sensory deprivation. The effects of extended periods of solitude have been known throughout history; the monk's cell and hermit's cave have a well documented reputation for their effects on the mind. But in the past it was believed that "the power of God" accounted for the experiences described by the meditating monk.
The first scientific experiments in sensory deprivation were conducted by American and Soviet space researchers, to determine the effects of long spaceflights on the mental states of astronauts. To their dismay, it became clear that mild disorientation and loss of time sense resulted after only several hours, with extreme effects such as hallucinations and delusional thinking occuring in less than a couple of days.
But what was horrible to a strict technologist was seen as something useful and desirable to others. One early researcher, Dr. John Lilly, developed the "isolation tank", a coffin-sized enclosure that allowed the subject to be floated in body-temperature salt water in total blackness and silence. His books detail the effects experienced by Lilly and his fellow psychonauts, and they are highly recommended to the student of magic.
The benfit of such a practice is to increase the awareness of one's own internal universe. The subjects of such experiments generally reported that the hallucinations and impressions they experienced were "meaningful" to them in some way. A student of magic is in a particularly privilged position to make use of these effects.
In the past decade or so sensory deprivation has become quite well known, inspiring Hollywood treatments such as the film "Altered States". But the elaborate flotation tanks and other expensive equipment depicted in the film is not neccesary to experience the effects of sensory deprivation. In fact, it has been shown that complete darkness and silence are not required to induce these effects. It can be also accomplished by merely keeping all sensory input uniformly constant.
This is one exercise where it is very useful to have an assistant who can "look after things" while it's going on. Some people, when deprived of sight and hearing, become easily obsessed with the idea that the phone will ring, someone will knock on the door, or the house will catch on fire -- this makes it very hard to relax and immerse oneself in the experience. Another person can also help you set things up, as you will see in the following description.
Deprivation Meditation
There are several commercially marketed "brain-wave" machines available that are used to accomplish the same thing as this exercise, but they tend to be on the expensive side, starting at $100 or so and going up quickly. Using the technique described below you can spend less than 10 bucks (assuming you already own an inexpensive radio/cassette player) and find out if you might want to justify the expense of the fancier machines.
For this exercise you will need the following equipment:
- two white ping pong balls
- two large (4" square) gauze pads
- a razor knife (to slice the pads and ping pong balls)
- medical paper adhesive tape
- a portable "boom box" radio/cassette player
- lightweight stereo headphones
- a desk lamp with a 25 - 60 watt red light bulb
Setting up:
Using the razor knife, slice the ping pong balls in half, and discard the halves with the manufacturer's marks on them. Then cut a hole in each gauze pad slightly smaller than the size of the ping pong ball halves. If you like things neat, cut the corners off of the pads to make them roughly circular. You're going to make a crude pair of "glasses" out of the ping pong balls, using the gauze to pad the edges and the tape to hold them in place over your eyes, as follows:
Place the pads over the eye sockets so that the eyes are looking through the holes. Place the ball halves over the eyes with the edges resting on the gauze. They should clear the eye sockets enough so that blinking does not disturb them. Then the whole thing is gently taped in place.
The radio is tuned to a space between stations where there is no sound but a steady background hiss, known to audio engineers as "white noise". The bass/treble or equalizer controls can be used to soften the sound -- try decreasing the high and the low frequency controls (the bass and treble) until you get a soft, gentle sound like a distant waterfall. The headphones are placed on the ears and the volume adjusted so that the noise drowns out any external sounds.
Finally, turn out all the lights in the room except for the red light bulb -- if possible try to aim it directly at the eyes.
You can now see how useful it is to have an assistant to help!
This can be done either in a comfortable sitting position, or lying down. Once you're all set, plan to spend several minutes just getting comfortable, much as described in the previous section on basic meditation. (In fact, the procedure described there can be used in combination with the sensory deprivation exercise with great effect.) Then try to clear the mind and give free rein to whatever thoughts or images might arise. If you feel like speaking aloud, do so. It's also possible to have the assitant take notes or have a second tape recorder running to make a record.
From this point, the procedure is to basically do nothing, and allow the sensation deprived mind to range where it will. The longer one persists in this exercise the more effective it will be -- expect to spend at least a few hours to get the desired effects. With practice, one can learn to direct the visons one obtains, but this is beyond the scope of this book. I recommend the works of John Lilly to those with an interest in exploring these realms.
Vocal Vibration
There is a power in the voice, and not a single religious or mystical practice fails to take advantage of this fact, magic included.
In various magical texts, one will encounter the term 'vibrate' being used to describe some kinds of vocalization ("Vibrate the following words of power...") In mundane terms, what is being described is the entire human body's ability to resonate sympathetically with the voice, and the sensory effects that can be experienced by doing so. The "secret" of Magic Words is this: it doesn't matter what you say as much as it matters how you say it!
Oprea singers are specifically trained to position their bodies and flex their head muscles in a way that provides maximum resonance for their vocal chord's vibrations. The magician can use the same effect to magical advantage. The chapter on "Basics" provides an example of "vocalizing in the vibratory mode", as I've seen it called in some particularly pompous occult texts, as part of the Gnostic Thunderbolt Ritual. The trick is to learn to feel the resonating effects of different pitches and vowel sounds in specific parts of the body, like the lower belly or the throat. If you have someplace where you are not worried about singing out loud, try singing simple long vowel sounds ("aaaaaaahhhhh...") and shift the position of your head / neck / chest until you can feel the sound of your voice vibrating through your body.
The Death Posture
Mention should be made of what Austin Osman Spare called the "Death Posture". There are several variations on this idea, but they all involve putting the body into an extremely unnatural, uncomfortable position until the point of exhaustion is reached and the conscious mind rebels and collapses, thereby obtaining a gnostic state. This is not unlike various yoga techniques -- the lotus position is not intended to be comfortable! It's intended to cause the mind to overload with discomfort until the body is no longer "felt".
By definition, a "death posture" brings about a sort of short duration "death". So it can be as simple as covering up the eyes, ears and nose with the fingers and "holding your breath until you turn blue" -- in other words, until your conscious mind gets overridden by your autonomic brain function and forces you to draw a breath.
One of Spare's descriptions called for locking your fingers behind your back, pushing them backwards and up as far as you can (until it hurts!) while standing on your toes, holding your breath and tensing all of your muscles until they quiver. Now hold this until you collapse...
The most common use for death postures is the charging of magical sigils, which will be covered in a later chapter.
(*CAUTION* Death postures are physically demanding and should not be used by those with heart or lung conditions, high blood pressure or other ailments that that restrict strenuous physical activity. If in doubt, don't -- there are many other means to accomplish the same thing.)
Applications
Although these techniques can be practiced "for their own sake", I find it far more motivating to have specific goals in mind, even if they are far down the line. This is also in keeping with the general concept of Chaos Magic as being an operative Art, not a form of philosophy. So the next chapter will be dedicated to basics applications of the previous skills in a magical context.
To be an effective intellectual, it's very useful to make a concentrated effort to learn at least one technique of meditation. For our purposes, this is defined as a system of self-control by which one can stimulate alpha-wave activity in the brain, which is the hallmark of a effective meditation system. We will discuss one technique here that naturally lends itself to being used for magical purposes such as scrying and out-of-body experiences. It is simple and effective, but one may choose another if so desired.
Find a quiet, comfortable place in which to practice, and arrange to be undisturbed for at least an hour or so. Wear loose fitting clothing or better still, no clothing at all.
This style uses what the Yogis call the "dead pose" -- in other words, flat on your back. The surface should be comfortable, but not so much so that it tends to induce sleepiness. A Japanese futon bed is ideal, but a foam pad (like the kind sold in camping supply stores) or a rolled-out sleeping bag are quite acceptable.
Spend several minutes getting "adjusted" so all of the little discomforts are minimized and you can lie undisturbed. You should end up with your arms slightly away from your body and legs slightly spread apart, so no part of your body is in contact with any other part. Then you must lie totally mointionless for the duration of the exercise.
The first step is to begin taking deep, regular breaths; either only through the nose, or breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth. Try to take an equal length of time breathing in as breathing out. Spend several minutes concentrating only on regular breathing before moving on.
The next step is to focus on individual parts of the body and "relax" each on in turn. Begin with the feet; say to yourself (silently) "my toes are relaxed and light as a cloud". Repeat this phrase until you begin to feel in your toes a sensation of "warmth", "lightness", "tingling" -- the subjective descriptions vary but you'll know it when you get it.
Once you've achieved this, change the phrase to "my feet are relaxed and light as a cloud", and feel the sensation begin to move upward. Proceed in this manner relaxing each body part in turn. Once you have relaxed you legs, proceed to your fingers and up your arms, then the hips, abdomen and chest, converge the sensation at the shoulders and work up to the neck, face back of the head and finally the scalp. Make sure you are thourogh - don't forget such parts as the genitals, buttocks, small of the back, shoulder blades, etc.
When the entire body is relaxed, begin to imagine yourself as if you really are as light as a cloud and you are gently floating up into the air above the cusion. By this point you should feel profoundly relaxed and slightly euphoric. This is a light gnosis-state or "magical trance" that will be exploited later for magical purposes, but for the moment just concentrate on the feeling itself and the way you attained it.
Bring yourself "back" by imagining yourself getting heavier and hevier, in a reversal of the previous procedure. Eventually, slowly begin slight movements of your muscles; flex the toes and fingers, shrug the shoulders, roll the head gently from side to side. Take a few moments to gently "stretch out" before rising from your cushion.
It may take an hour or more to get results at first, or you may only succeed in geting your feet and fingertips to relax and feel "tingly". Regular practice is the key, as it will get easier the more you do it.
This technique of progressive relaxation can also be performed in a comfortable sitting position -- both feet on the floor, arms on armrests, head supported by a pad or pillow. Some people may find this position easier when advancing to the next step of visualization. Ultimately, the goal is to be able to rise and move about while still reamining in the trance state.
If you've never had any meditational training before this, I would strongly urge you to persevere in the practice for at least 4 weeks, spending at least one hour a day. You should strive to be able to enter the "light trance" state at will within a few minutes time. At that point, you're ready for the next step.
Visualization
Visualization is the process of using the imagination to induce specific visual illusions in oneself at will, what Karl Jung called the active imagination. It is the ability to make yourself "see things" that are not physically present by strongly imagining them and behaving as though they were. In other words, self-induced hallucinations.
Magicians hold that sufficiently powerful visualization by one person can have an influence on the psyches of others in their presence as well as themselves. The most mundane example of this phenomenon is the situation where one person stands in a street and looks up at the empty sky intently, as if there were something up there. Within moments a crowd has gathered, all looking up at the same non-existent thing. Some will even swear that they see "something"!
Another example is the effect of watching a performance by an expert pantomime. If s/he describes the "solid" objects of the performance will sufficient skill, the audience will come to "see" the invisible barriers, doors, windstorms, etc. - so much so that people who attend performances by masters such as Marcel Marceau think for brief moments that they actually do see Marceau's invisible "props".
Visualization is one of the "slight-of-mind" tricks that are a part of every magical system ever devised. Remember that magic functions by tapping into the psychological state we call "belief". Powerful visualization is indispensable for putting the magician into a belief state conducive to deriving magical effects.
What follows are some basic exercises in magical visualization. One should first spend some time getting into the first stage of magical trance, then practice these exercises once a day. Many studies have shown that meditation greatly improves one's learning ability, especially immediately after a session, so we may as well take advantage of it, right? The techniques in the following section on Magical Protection can be practiced concurrently with these; the technique of protection described is itself a visualization exercise.
Visualization Practice
A good way to practice visualization and get a handle on what the experience is like is to use the visual phenomenon of "after images" as a learning tool.
For this exercise, you need some brightly colored construction paper (fluorescent colors work particularly well if you can find them), some large white card stock paper (11 x 17 is perfect), scissors, tape or paper glue, and a blank white wall (an extra large piece of white posterboard hung on a wall will do nicely.)
Take some scissors and cut some approximately 1 foot long strips of colored paper about one-quarter inch in width. Now use these to paste or tape together a five-pointed star figure as pictured below:
Mount this on the white card stock. You should end up with what looks like a large flash card with a star in the middle.
Make four of these cards using different colors. The best colors to use in the construction of the star are orange, purple, green and red. The reason will be clear in a moment.
Arrange yourself facing the blank white wall with your "flash cards" in easy reach. The wall should be brightly lit. Choose one of the cards and hold it up in front of your eyes. Stare fixedly at it without moving your eyes for at least one full minute. You may want to pin it to the wall in front of you to avoid having it move. After a minute or two, quickly remove it and stare directly at the blank white wall. You should see an after image of the star figure on the blank wall, in a hue that is the opposite of the card's on the color wheel. (In other words, the orange star will yield a blue image, the purple a yellow image, the green a red image and the red a green image. These are the traditional "Elemental" colors of water, air, fire and earth respectively, and are as good a place to start as any.)
Once you have an after image showing on the blank white wall, try holding your gaze very still and "trace" the apparent outline of the star with your fingertip. This is a typical action used in "setting wards" or traditional banishing rites.
Next you can try doing the same thing, but look out into the room instead of at the blank wall. The after image should seem to float in mid air in front of your eyes. Try tracing it's outline with a fingertip again.
Then try the exercise with all of the different colors. You may have to wait a few moments between each one for the previous image to fade away.
Eventually you can create more and different flash cards to practice with, if you feel inclined.
All this is only to give you an idea of the "look and feel" of magical visualization. The final goal is to be able to "see" the figures, or any other image you choose, by sheer imagination alone. But I've found that these exercises are an excellent way to speed up the learning curve. It gives your memory something on which to hang the visualized perception, making it easier to obtain.
The next step is to practice summoning the images without the use of the cards at all. One way to progress toward this goal is to start by first obtaining the after-image, but trying to keep the image "going" even after the visual effect begins to fade. Progressively use the cards less and less until you can do without them.
Do the above exercises at least once a day for another few weeks at least, while continuing with your meditation sessions. When you find you are able to get yourself into a light trance state in less than 10 minutes, and can visualize simple geometric forms to a reasonable degree of "visibility", you'll have the basic mental disciplines needed to do effective magical work.
The Juggler's Meditation
Here we're going to deviate from the traditional approach. Almost all of the old magical traditions use some form or another of the mental skills described above. However, the general direction of their discipline in almost all cases is to encourage complete stilling of the mind as the goal. Such quieting of the thought processes is a valuable tool, as it can quickly connect one to the Void and the attainment of the gnostic mind-state. However, stopping one's mental processes completely by sheer concentration alone is a damnably hard trick, where even a few seconds of "no-thought" can only be attained by extreme effort. Expect to spend months or even years mastering such a technique.
As an alternative, here's a technique that seems to me to be able to launch one into a gnosis state functionally equal to the scant seconds of mental quiescence obtained by the inhibitory methods mentioned above. It takes an exactly opposite approach to the goal -- call it "meditative overload". It also makes use of the skills of meditation and visualization that you've been practicing (you have been practicing, haven't you?)
Everyone is aware that the mind can be active with several unrelated thought processes at once. If you're walking down a familiar street, one can easily avoid the obstacles of other pedestrians, curbs, traffic, etc. without having to devote conscious awareness to the process. While walking, one can also have a song running through one's head, while at the same time be thinking about a meeting one has later, and what one is going to say at the meeting, AND be buttoning one's jacket or rolling up sleeves all at the same time. This is not unusual at all. So we're going to expand on this mental trick that we all already know how to do.
Start by visualizing a simple form with your eyes closed -- say a bright blue square. Now, instead of trying to quiet your mind, start a song going in your head. Don't stop visualizing the square! Next, pay attention to whatever it is you're standing/sitting/laying on. Feel the texture and the weight of your body on it. Don't stop visualizing the square! Keep the song going! Then, try to recall the smell and taste of a delicious food. Of course, keep the blue square, song and texture active mentally! If you can, keep adding things to concentrate on using a variety of sensory types.
What you'll soon notice is your mind "time-sharing" between the various mental activities -- almost like a juggler catching and tossing the progression of different objects in the air. But this is NOT a contest. The whole idea of this technique is to FAIL. Eventually, you will add one too many mental activities, whatever your own particular capacity might be. Your mind will seem to move faster and faster switching from one conscious awareness to another until ...CLICK! You will drop all of the balls, so to speak. Suddenly, your overloaded mind will shut down, if only for the briefest of seconds. Congratulations - you have hit the gnostic state. This really works -- try it and see.
Sensory Deprivation
Another useful practice is known as sensory deprivation. The effects of extended periods of solitude have been known throughout history; the monk's cell and hermit's cave have a well documented reputation for their effects on the mind. But in the past it was believed that "the power of God" accounted for the experiences described by the meditating monk.
The first scientific experiments in sensory deprivation were conducted by American and Soviet space researchers, to determine the effects of long spaceflights on the mental states of astronauts. To their dismay, it became clear that mild disorientation and loss of time sense resulted after only several hours, with extreme effects such as hallucinations and delusional thinking occuring in less than a couple of days.
But what was horrible to a strict technologist was seen as something useful and desirable to others. One early researcher, Dr. John Lilly, developed the "isolation tank", a coffin-sized enclosure that allowed the subject to be floated in body-temperature salt water in total blackness and silence. His books detail the effects experienced by Lilly and his fellow psychonauts, and they are highly recommended to the student of magic.
The benfit of such a practice is to increase the awareness of one's own internal universe. The subjects of such experiments generally reported that the hallucinations and impressions they experienced were "meaningful" to them in some way. A student of magic is in a particularly privilged position to make use of these effects.
In the past decade or so sensory deprivation has become quite well known, inspiring Hollywood treatments such as the film "Altered States". But the elaborate flotation tanks and other expensive equipment depicted in the film is not neccesary to experience the effects of sensory deprivation. In fact, it has been shown that complete darkness and silence are not required to induce these effects. It can be also accomplished by merely keeping all sensory input uniformly constant.
This is one exercise where it is very useful to have an assistant who can "look after things" while it's going on. Some people, when deprived of sight and hearing, become easily obsessed with the idea that the phone will ring, someone will knock on the door, or the house will catch on fire -- this makes it very hard to relax and immerse oneself in the experience. Another person can also help you set things up, as you will see in the following description.
Deprivation Meditation
There are several commercially marketed "brain-wave" machines available that are used to accomplish the same thing as this exercise, but they tend to be on the expensive side, starting at $100 or so and going up quickly. Using the technique described below you can spend less than 10 bucks (assuming you already own an inexpensive radio/cassette player) and find out if you might want to justify the expense of the fancier machines.
For this exercise you will need the following equipment:
- two white ping pong balls
- two large (4" square) gauze pads
- a razor knife (to slice the pads and ping pong balls)
- medical paper adhesive tape
- a portable "boom box" radio/cassette player
- lightweight stereo headphones
- a desk lamp with a 25 - 60 watt red light bulb
Setting up:
Using the razor knife, slice the ping pong balls in half, and discard the halves with the manufacturer's marks on them. Then cut a hole in each gauze pad slightly smaller than the size of the ping pong ball halves. If you like things neat, cut the corners off of the pads to make them roughly circular. You're going to make a crude pair of "glasses" out of the ping pong balls, using the gauze to pad the edges and the tape to hold them in place over your eyes, as follows:
Place the pads over the eye sockets so that the eyes are looking through the holes. Place the ball halves over the eyes with the edges resting on the gauze. They should clear the eye sockets enough so that blinking does not disturb them. Then the whole thing is gently taped in place.
The radio is tuned to a space between stations where there is no sound but a steady background hiss, known to audio engineers as "white noise". The bass/treble or equalizer controls can be used to soften the sound -- try decreasing the high and the low frequency controls (the bass and treble) until you get a soft, gentle sound like a distant waterfall. The headphones are placed on the ears and the volume adjusted so that the noise drowns out any external sounds.
Finally, turn out all the lights in the room except for the red light bulb -- if possible try to aim it directly at the eyes.
You can now see how useful it is to have an assistant to help!
This can be done either in a comfortable sitting position, or lying down. Once you're all set, plan to spend several minutes just getting comfortable, much as described in the previous section on basic meditation. (In fact, the procedure described there can be used in combination with the sensory deprivation exercise with great effect.) Then try to clear the mind and give free rein to whatever thoughts or images might arise. If you feel like speaking aloud, do so. It's also possible to have the assitant take notes or have a second tape recorder running to make a record.
From this point, the procedure is to basically do nothing, and allow the sensation deprived mind to range where it will. The longer one persists in this exercise the more effective it will be -- expect to spend at least a few hours to get the desired effects. With practice, one can learn to direct the visons one obtains, but this is beyond the scope of this book. I recommend the works of John Lilly to those with an interest in exploring these realms.
Vocal Vibration
There is a power in the voice, and not a single religious or mystical practice fails to take advantage of this fact, magic included.
In various magical texts, one will encounter the term 'vibrate' being used to describe some kinds of vocalization ("Vibrate the following words of power...") In mundane terms, what is being described is the entire human body's ability to resonate sympathetically with the voice, and the sensory effects that can be experienced by doing so. The "secret" of Magic Words is this: it doesn't matter what you say as much as it matters how you say it!
Oprea singers are specifically trained to position their bodies and flex their head muscles in a way that provides maximum resonance for their vocal chord's vibrations. The magician can use the same effect to magical advantage. The chapter on "Basics" provides an example of "vocalizing in the vibratory mode", as I've seen it called in some particularly pompous occult texts, as part of the Gnostic Thunderbolt Ritual. The trick is to learn to feel the resonating effects of different pitches and vowel sounds in specific parts of the body, like the lower belly or the throat. If you have someplace where you are not worried about singing out loud, try singing simple long vowel sounds ("aaaaaaahhhhh...") and shift the position of your head / neck / chest until you can feel the sound of your voice vibrating through your body.
The Death Posture
Mention should be made of what Austin Osman Spare called the "Death Posture". There are several variations on this idea, but they all involve putting the body into an extremely unnatural, uncomfortable position until the point of exhaustion is reached and the conscious mind rebels and collapses, thereby obtaining a gnostic state. This is not unlike various yoga techniques -- the lotus position is not intended to be comfortable! It's intended to cause the mind to overload with discomfort until the body is no longer "felt".
By definition, a "death posture" brings about a sort of short duration "death". So it can be as simple as covering up the eyes, ears and nose with the fingers and "holding your breath until you turn blue" -- in other words, until your conscious mind gets overridden by your autonomic brain function and forces you to draw a breath.
One of Spare's descriptions called for locking your fingers behind your back, pushing them backwards and up as far as you can (until it hurts!) while standing on your toes, holding your breath and tensing all of your muscles until they quiver. Now hold this until you collapse...
The most common use for death postures is the charging of magical sigils, which will be covered in a later chapter.
(*CAUTION* Death postures are physically demanding and should not be used by those with heart or lung conditions, high blood pressure or other ailments that that restrict strenuous physical activity. If in doubt, don't -- there are many other means to accomplish the same thing.)
Applications
Although these techniques can be practiced "for their own sake", I find it far more motivating to have specific goals in mind, even if they are far down the line. This is also in keeping with the general concept of Chaos Magic as being an operative Art, not a form of philosophy. So the next chapter will be dedicated to basics applications of the previous skills in a magical context.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
press Freedom-United Kingdom
Legal Framework
There is no written constitution or comprehensive Bill of Rights; Britain's constitution is to be found partly in conventions and customs and partly in statute. The Act known as the Bill of Rights 1689 deals with the exercise of the royal prerogative and succession to the Crown.The British legal system provides some remedies to deal with human rights abuses. For instance, the remedy of 'habeas corpus' secures the individual's right to freedom from any unlawful or arbitrary detention.Parliament, however, has power to enact any law and change any previous law.There is no fundamental distinction between 'public law' and 'private law'. Any person can take proceedings against the Government or a local government authority to protect his or her legal rights and to obtain a remedy for any injury suffered.Britain has not generally codified its law and courts adopt a relatively strict and literal approach to the interpretation of statutes. The ratification of a treaty or international convention does not make it automatically part of the domestic law. Where necessary, the Government amends domestic law to bring it in line with the convention. Because of Britain's membership of the European Community, Community law is part of British law and takes precedence in the event of conflict between the two.
International Arrangements
Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a legally binding document, the UN General Assembly adopted, in 1966, the 'International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights' and the 'International Covenant on Civil and political Rights'. Britain ratified both covenants in 1976.Britain is bound by the Council of Europe's 1953 'European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms'. The Convention allows individual petitions against governments to the European Commission on Human Rights, if all possible domestic remedies have been exhausted. Since 1966 Britain has accepted the right of individual petition under the Convention and the compulsory jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. The outcome of some cases has led to changes in British law to improve human rights, for example the abolition of corporal punishment in state schools and improved rights for prisoners.Britain is not a party to the Convention's Fourth Protocol (Freedom of Movement) because of inconsistency with some aspects of the United Kingdom immigration control system nor the Sixth Protocol (abolition of the death penalty).
Related provision for 'free Press"
Section 19 Freedom of Expression
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
(1) Restrictions include the official secrets, civil defamation, criminal libel, obscenity, sedition, incitement to racial hatred, and contempt of court.
(2) There are legal remedies against defamation. Fair comment on matters of public interest may be a defence. Proof that the alleged defamatory matter is true is also a defence. In the same way, frank discussion of sexual problems is not considered to be an infringement of the law on obscenity.
(3) There is no state control or censorship of the press. Foreign language papers are freely imported.
(4) British broadcasting is based on the tradition that it is a public service accountable to the people through Parliament. Television and radio services are provided by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Other operators are licensed individually by the Independent Television Commission (ITC)and the Radio Authority. The responsibilities of these public bodies are set out in legislation. The Government itself is not responsible for program content or broadcasters' day-to-day conduct of business.
(5) The independence of the broadcasters requires them to maintain certain standards regarding programs and program content. Under the relevant legislation and the codes of practice applied by the broadcasting authorities, programs must display, as far as possible, a proper balance and wide range of subject matter, and impartiality in matters of controversy. There are also rules relating to violence and standards of taste and decency in television programs, particularly during hours when large numbers of children are likely to be watching. Broadcasters must also comply with the general law relating to obscenity and incitement to racial hatred.
(6) According to 1991 European agreements on cross-border broadcasting, programs may not be indecent, contain pornography, give undue emphasis to violence, or be likely to incite racial hatred. Nor should programs unsuitable for children be broadcast when they can be expected to be watching.
(7) Theater: There is no censorship of plays. It is, however, a criminal offence to present or direct an obscene performance of a play in public or private. Such a performance is defined as one which, taken as a whole, tends to 'deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to attend it'. There is a defence against an obscenity charge on the grounds that the performance is for the public good in the interest of drama, opera or literature.
(8) Films and Video: Government has no power to censor films. Cinemas are licensed by local government authorities, which have a legal duty to prohibit the admission of children under 16 to unsuitable films, and may prevent the showing of any film, although this particular power is hardly ever exercised. In assessing the suitability of films, authorities rely on the British Board for Film Classification, an independent non-statutory body to which films offered to the public must be submitted.
Section 16 Right to Privacy
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Every one has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
(1) The common law allows people to speak and act in their own homes as they please and to carry on their daily business, provided that they do not infringe the rights of others or commit an offence.
(2) Parents are free to bring up their children as they so wish, provided that they do not infringe laws against cruelty and exposure to moral and physical danger. Parents also have to observe the law regarding compulsory education of their children.
(3) Is a criminal offence for a man to commit a homosexual act with a person under the age of 18. The age was changed from 21 to 18 with a vote of 336 to 129. A 1999 bill to further reduce that age to 16 has failed.
(4) Privacy and the Press: Action is being taken by the Government to deal with media intrusion into the privacy of individuals. The law against libel gives protection against attacks on a person's honor and reputation.
(5) Some other forms of intrusion are criminal offenses, for example, the use of unlicensed radio transmitters for bugging, the harassment of tenants to make them quit, or the sending of unsolicited obscene material through the post. Other attempts to obtain private information may involve offenses of criminal trespass.
(6) Interception of Communications: Legislation authorizes governmental interception of postal and telephone services but only on certain limited grounds. Any interception outside these procedures is a criminal offence.
(7) Computers: Under the Data Protection Act 1984, which gives effect to a Council of Europe Convention, data users are required to register a description of the personal data they hold, the purposes for which they use it, the sources from which they obtain it and the categories of person to whom they may disclose it. They must also provide an address to which data subjects may write for access to the data. Individuals have the legal right to know about the data held on them and the right toask a court to have factually wrong or misleading data corrected or deleted. In addition they have the right to claim compensation for damages if the data are lost, inaccurate, or disclosed without authority.
Source: Bill of Rights
Part 5, Section 51 ( in total)
There is no written constitution or comprehensive Bill of Rights; Britain's constitution is to be found partly in conventions and customs and partly in statute. The Act known as the Bill of Rights 1689 deals with the exercise of the royal prerogative and succession to the Crown.The British legal system provides some remedies to deal with human rights abuses. For instance, the remedy of 'habeas corpus' secures the individual's right to freedom from any unlawful or arbitrary detention.Parliament, however, has power to enact any law and change any previous law.There is no fundamental distinction between 'public law' and 'private law'. Any person can take proceedings against the Government or a local government authority to protect his or her legal rights and to obtain a remedy for any injury suffered.Britain has not generally codified its law and courts adopt a relatively strict and literal approach to the interpretation of statutes. The ratification of a treaty or international convention does not make it automatically part of the domestic law. Where necessary, the Government amends domestic law to bring it in line with the convention. Because of Britain's membership of the European Community, Community law is part of British law and takes precedence in the event of conflict between the two.
International Arrangements
Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not a legally binding document, the UN General Assembly adopted, in 1966, the 'International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights' and the 'International Covenant on Civil and political Rights'. Britain ratified both covenants in 1976.Britain is bound by the Council of Europe's 1953 'European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms'. The Convention allows individual petitions against governments to the European Commission on Human Rights, if all possible domestic remedies have been exhausted. Since 1966 Britain has accepted the right of individual petition under the Convention and the compulsory jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. The outcome of some cases has led to changes in British law to improve human rights, for example the abolition of corporal punishment in state schools and improved rights for prisoners.Britain is not a party to the Convention's Fourth Protocol (Freedom of Movement) because of inconsistency with some aspects of the United Kingdom immigration control system nor the Sixth Protocol (abolition of the death penalty).
Related provision for 'free Press"
Section 19 Freedom of Expression
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
(1) Restrictions include the official secrets, civil defamation, criminal libel, obscenity, sedition, incitement to racial hatred, and contempt of court.
(2) There are legal remedies against defamation. Fair comment on matters of public interest may be a defence. Proof that the alleged defamatory matter is true is also a defence. In the same way, frank discussion of sexual problems is not considered to be an infringement of the law on obscenity.
(3) There is no state control or censorship of the press. Foreign language papers are freely imported.
(4) British broadcasting is based on the tradition that it is a public service accountable to the people through Parliament. Television and radio services are provided by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Other operators are licensed individually by the Independent Television Commission (ITC)and the Radio Authority. The responsibilities of these public bodies are set out in legislation. The Government itself is not responsible for program content or broadcasters' day-to-day conduct of business.
(5) The independence of the broadcasters requires them to maintain certain standards regarding programs and program content. Under the relevant legislation and the codes of practice applied by the broadcasting authorities, programs must display, as far as possible, a proper balance and wide range of subject matter, and impartiality in matters of controversy. There are also rules relating to violence and standards of taste and decency in television programs, particularly during hours when large numbers of children are likely to be watching. Broadcasters must also comply with the general law relating to obscenity and incitement to racial hatred.
(6) According to 1991 European agreements on cross-border broadcasting, programs may not be indecent, contain pornography, give undue emphasis to violence, or be likely to incite racial hatred. Nor should programs unsuitable for children be broadcast when they can be expected to be watching.
(7) Theater: There is no censorship of plays. It is, however, a criminal offence to present or direct an obscene performance of a play in public or private. Such a performance is defined as one which, taken as a whole, tends to 'deprave and corrupt persons who are likely to attend it'. There is a defence against an obscenity charge on the grounds that the performance is for the public good in the interest of drama, opera or literature.
(8) Films and Video: Government has no power to censor films. Cinemas are licensed by local government authorities, which have a legal duty to prohibit the admission of children under 16 to unsuitable films, and may prevent the showing of any film, although this particular power is hardly ever exercised. In assessing the suitability of films, authorities rely on the British Board for Film Classification, an independent non-statutory body to which films offered to the public must be submitted.
Section 16 Right to Privacy
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Every one has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
(1) The common law allows people to speak and act in their own homes as they please and to carry on their daily business, provided that they do not infringe the rights of others or commit an offence.
(2) Parents are free to bring up their children as they so wish, provided that they do not infringe laws against cruelty and exposure to moral and physical danger. Parents also have to observe the law regarding compulsory education of their children.
(3) Is a criminal offence for a man to commit a homosexual act with a person under the age of 18. The age was changed from 21 to 18 with a vote of 336 to 129. A 1999 bill to further reduce that age to 16 has failed.
(4) Privacy and the Press: Action is being taken by the Government to deal with media intrusion into the privacy of individuals. The law against libel gives protection against attacks on a person's honor and reputation.
(5) Some other forms of intrusion are criminal offenses, for example, the use of unlicensed radio transmitters for bugging, the harassment of tenants to make them quit, or the sending of unsolicited obscene material through the post. Other attempts to obtain private information may involve offenses of criminal trespass.
(6) Interception of Communications: Legislation authorizes governmental interception of postal and telephone services but only on certain limited grounds. Any interception outside these procedures is a criminal offence.
(7) Computers: Under the Data Protection Act 1984, which gives effect to a Council of Europe Convention, data users are required to register a description of the personal data they hold, the purposes for which they use it, the sources from which they obtain it and the categories of person to whom they may disclose it. They must also provide an address to which data subjects may write for access to the data. Individuals have the legal right to know about the data held on them and the right toask a court to have factually wrong or misleading data corrected or deleted. In addition they have the right to claim compensation for damages if the data are lost, inaccurate, or disclosed without authority.
Source: Bill of Rights
Part 5, Section 51 ( in total)
Press Freedom-U. S. Constitution
Provision of Free Press Under U. S. Constitution
Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
Freedom of Expression
It is often said that one of the rights protected by the 1st Amendment is the freedom of expression. This site, in fact, uses that term in its quick description of the amendment: "Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression." But "expression" is not used in the amendment at all. This term has come to be used as a shorthand, a term of art, for three of the freedoms that are explicitly protected: speech, petition, and assembly. While the use of "freedom of expression" is ubiquitous in this area of 1st Amendment study, it is important to note exactly what "freedom of expression" refers to - let this be such a note.
(Absolute) Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution does protect the freedom of speech of every citizen, and even of non-citizens — but only from restriction by the Congress (and, by virtue of the 14th Amendment, by state legislatures, too). There are plenty of other places where you could speak but where speech can and is suppressed. For example, freedom of speech can be and often is restricted in a work place, for example: employers can restrict your right to speak in the work place about politics, about religion, about legal issues, even about Desperate Housewives. The same restrictions that apply to the government do not apply to private persons, employers, or establishments. For another example, the government could not prohibit the sale of any newspaper lest it breech the freedom of the press. No newsstand, however, must carry every paper against its owners' wishes.
Amendment 1 - Freedom of religion, press
In my opinion, the First Amendment is the single most important part of the Constitution. It protects some of the most basic human rights and reflects a view of the dangerous places government might tread.
The ability to speak your mind is a right that Americans take for granted. Imagine being too frightened by the possible consequences of speaking out to actually do so. Your opinion would not matter - even your vote would be corrupted. Even as important is the right to petition your government - not only can you have an opinion about your government, the government must listen to you (though it need not heed you - but that's what elections are for).
Some of the first colonists of the nation for which the Constitution was written had been seeking to escape religious persecution. The constitutions of several of the states prohibited public support of religion (though some did explicitly support or demand adherence to Christianity). Above all, the many varying sects of Christianity in America required that to be fair to all, there could be preference to none. It would have been disgraceful for anyone to wish to leave the United States because of religious persecution. So the authors decided it best to keep the government out of religion. This is not to say that the United States was not or is not a religious nation. Religion plays a big role in the everyday life of Americans, then and now. But what the authors were striving for is tolerance... something I fear contemporary Americans are lacking.
As for the press, the authors regarded a free press as almost a fourth branch of government, constantly keeping tabs on the government's activities and actions. Though today's tabloid papers and television might give one pause, this kind of trash is a small price to pay to ensure that any news organization can rest assured that it can report freely on the activities of the government. Many other organizations in other nations have to worry about toeing the state's line or be shut down. How objective do you think a reporter can be when his life could be ended because of a critical story?
Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
Freedom of Expression
It is often said that one of the rights protected by the 1st Amendment is the freedom of expression. This site, in fact, uses that term in its quick description of the amendment: "Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression." But "expression" is not used in the amendment at all. This term has come to be used as a shorthand, a term of art, for three of the freedoms that are explicitly protected: speech, petition, and assembly. While the use of "freedom of expression" is ubiquitous in this area of 1st Amendment study, it is important to note exactly what "freedom of expression" refers to - let this be such a note.
(Absolute) Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution does protect the freedom of speech of every citizen, and even of non-citizens — but only from restriction by the Congress (and, by virtue of the 14th Amendment, by state legislatures, too). There are plenty of other places where you could speak but where speech can and is suppressed. For example, freedom of speech can be and often is restricted in a work place, for example: employers can restrict your right to speak in the work place about politics, about religion, about legal issues, even about Desperate Housewives. The same restrictions that apply to the government do not apply to private persons, employers, or establishments. For another example, the government could not prohibit the sale of any newspaper lest it breech the freedom of the press. No newsstand, however, must carry every paper against its owners' wishes.
Amendment 1 - Freedom of religion, press
In my opinion, the First Amendment is the single most important part of the Constitution. It protects some of the most basic human rights and reflects a view of the dangerous places government might tread.
The ability to speak your mind is a right that Americans take for granted. Imagine being too frightened by the possible consequences of speaking out to actually do so. Your opinion would not matter - even your vote would be corrupted. Even as important is the right to petition your government - not only can you have an opinion about your government, the government must listen to you (though it need not heed you - but that's what elections are for).
Some of the first colonists of the nation for which the Constitution was written had been seeking to escape religious persecution. The constitutions of several of the states prohibited public support of religion (though some did explicitly support or demand adherence to Christianity). Above all, the many varying sects of Christianity in America required that to be fair to all, there could be preference to none. It would have been disgraceful for anyone to wish to leave the United States because of religious persecution. So the authors decided it best to keep the government out of religion. This is not to say that the United States was not or is not a religious nation. Religion plays a big role in the everyday life of Americans, then and now. But what the authors were striving for is tolerance... something I fear contemporary Americans are lacking.
As for the press, the authors regarded a free press as almost a fourth branch of government, constantly keeping tabs on the government's activities and actions. Though today's tabloid papers and television might give one pause, this kind of trash is a small price to pay to ensure that any news organization can rest assured that it can report freely on the activities of the government. Many other organizations in other nations have to worry about toeing the state's line or be shut down. How objective do you think a reporter can be when his life could be ended because of a critical story?
Miscellaneous Research
Miscellaneous Research
Market studies: a market study investigates the opinions and perceptions of the entire market, usually within a specific age range, such as 25 to 54 year olds. There are no requirements for respondents to meet in terms of stations listening or viewing, and the sample matches the population and distribution and makeup of the market.
Format studies: a format study for a radio station involves a sample of respondents who listen to or prefer a certain type of music. These respondents who listen to or prefer a certain type of music. These respondents are asked a series of questions to determine which stations provide the best service in a variety of areas, such as music, news, traffic reports, and community activities.
Format search studies: the title of the study explains its purpose to find an available radio format in a given market.
Program element importance. A program element importance study identifies the specific elements on radio or television that are most important to a specific audience.
Station image: it is important for a station’s management to know how the public perceives the station and its services. Public misperception of management’s purpose can decrease an audience’s size and, consequently, advertising revenue. It is important that the audience and advertisers be aware of this change and have a chance to voice their opinions.
Personality (talent) studies: radio and TV managers of successful stations constantly test the on-air personalities. Personality studies are often conducted for stations to find new talent from other markets, or even to test personalities who are on other stations in the market with the intent of hiring them in the future.
Advertiser (account) analysis: to increase the value of their service to advertisers, many stations administer questionnaires to local business executives. Some typical questions are, ‘When did your business open?” “How many people own this business?” “How much do you invest in advertising per year?” “How do you expect from your advertising?”
Account executive research: radio and TV station managers throughout the country conduct surveys of advertising agency personnel, usually buyers, to determine how their sales executives are perceived. It is vitally important to know how the buyers perceive the salespeople.
Sales research: in an effort to increase the sales, many stations themselves conduct research for local clients.
Diversification analyses: The goals of any business are to expand and to achieve higher profits. In an effort to reach these goals, larger stations, partnerships, and companies engage in a variety of studies to determine where investments should be made. Should other stations be purchased? What other types of activity should the business invest in?
TV programming research: this is a broad category that includes testing local news programs, promotional material used by the station, entertainment programming, and everything else that might appear on the station.
Market studies: a market study investigates the opinions and perceptions of the entire market, usually within a specific age range, such as 25 to 54 year olds. There are no requirements for respondents to meet in terms of stations listening or viewing, and the sample matches the population and distribution and makeup of the market.
Format studies: a format study for a radio station involves a sample of respondents who listen to or prefer a certain type of music. These respondents who listen to or prefer a certain type of music. These respondents are asked a series of questions to determine which stations provide the best service in a variety of areas, such as music, news, traffic reports, and community activities.
Format search studies: the title of the study explains its purpose to find an available radio format in a given market.
Program element importance. A program element importance study identifies the specific elements on radio or television that are most important to a specific audience.
Station image: it is important for a station’s management to know how the public perceives the station and its services. Public misperception of management’s purpose can decrease an audience’s size and, consequently, advertising revenue. It is important that the audience and advertisers be aware of this change and have a chance to voice their opinions.
Personality (talent) studies: radio and TV managers of successful stations constantly test the on-air personalities. Personality studies are often conducted for stations to find new talent from other markets, or even to test personalities who are on other stations in the market with the intent of hiring them in the future.
Advertiser (account) analysis: to increase the value of their service to advertisers, many stations administer questionnaires to local business executives. Some typical questions are, ‘When did your business open?” “How many people own this business?” “How much do you invest in advertising per year?” “How do you expect from your advertising?”
Account executive research: radio and TV station managers throughout the country conduct surveys of advertising agency personnel, usually buyers, to determine how their sales executives are perceived. It is vitally important to know how the buyers perceive the salespeople.
Sales research: in an effort to increase the sales, many stations themselves conduct research for local clients.
Diversification analyses: The goals of any business are to expand and to achieve higher profits. In an effort to reach these goals, larger stations, partnerships, and companies engage in a variety of studies to determine where investments should be made. Should other stations be purchased? What other types of activity should the business invest in?
TV programming research: this is a broad category that includes testing local news programs, promotional material used by the station, entertainment programming, and everything else that might appear on the station.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Related Research Terms
Related Ratings Concepts
Metro Survey Area (MSA) correspondents to the Consolidated Metropolitan Stastistical Areas (CMSA) for the country, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The MSA generally includes the town, the county, or some other designated area closest to the station’s transmitter.
Designated Market Area (DMA), another area for which ratings data are gathered, defines each television or radio market in exclusive terms. Each area has belongs to one and only one DMA.
Total Survey Area (TSA) includes the DMA and MSA as well as some other areas the market’s stations reach (Known as adjacent DMAs). Broadcasters are most interested in TSA data because they represent the largest number of households or persons. However, advertising agencies look at DMA figures when pruchasintg commercial time for television stations and MSA figures when purchasing radio time.
Average Quarter-Hour (AQH) is an estimate of the number of persons or households tuned to a specific stations for at least 5 minutes during a 15 minute time segment. These estimates are provided for the TSA, NSI, DMA, and MSA in all ratings books. Stations are obviously interested in obtaining high AQH figures in all demographic areas because these figures indicate how long an audience is tuned in, and thus how loyal the audience is to the station.
Cumulative audience (cume) or reach is an estimate of the number of persons who listened to or viewed at least 5 minutes within a given daypart. The cume is also referred to as the ‘unduplicated audience.”
Gross Rating Points (GRPs) are a total of a station’s ratings during two or more day parts and estimate the size of the gross audience. Advertising purchases are often made via GRPs.
Metro Survey Area (MSA) correspondents to the Consolidated Metropolitan Stastistical Areas (CMSA) for the country, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The MSA generally includes the town, the county, or some other designated area closest to the station’s transmitter.
Designated Market Area (DMA), another area for which ratings data are gathered, defines each television or radio market in exclusive terms. Each area has belongs to one and only one DMA.
Total Survey Area (TSA) includes the DMA and MSA as well as some other areas the market’s stations reach (Known as adjacent DMAs). Broadcasters are most interested in TSA data because they represent the largest number of households or persons. However, advertising agencies look at DMA figures when pruchasintg commercial time for television stations and MSA figures when purchasing radio time.
Average Quarter-Hour (AQH) is an estimate of the number of persons or households tuned to a specific stations for at least 5 minutes during a 15 minute time segment. These estimates are provided for the TSA, NSI, DMA, and MSA in all ratings books. Stations are obviously interested in obtaining high AQH figures in all demographic areas because these figures indicate how long an audience is tuned in, and thus how loyal the audience is to the station.
Cumulative audience (cume) or reach is an estimate of the number of persons who listened to or viewed at least 5 minutes within a given daypart. The cume is also referred to as the ‘unduplicated audience.”
Gross Rating Points (GRPs) are a total of a station’s ratings during two or more day parts and estimate the size of the gross audience. Advertising purchases are often made via GRPs.
Tips for Nonratings Research
Nonratings Research
Ratings provide estimates of audience size and composition. Nonratings research provides information about what the audience likes and dislikes analyses of different types of programming, demographic and lifestyle information about the audience, and much more. These data provide decision makers with information they can use to eliminate some of the guess work involved in giving the audience what it wants.
Nonrating research is important to broadcasters in all markets, and one characteristic of all successful broadcast or cable operations is that the management uses research in all types of decision making.
Although audience ratings are the most visible research data used in broadcasting, broadcasters, production companies, advertisers, and broadcast consultants use numerous other methodologies.
Frank Bell, VP/Programming for Keymarket Communications, Inc. says:
Local market research provides something unattainable from inside a radio or TV station: the unvarnished perspective of those wonderful people who actually tune in every week and keep us in business. As a wise man said many years ago, ‘The only reality that counts is that of the audience.”
Some of the nonratings research conducted in the electronic media:
Program Testing
It is now common to taste these products in each state of development: initial idea or plan, rough cut, and postproduction. A variety of research approaches can be used in each stage, depending on the purpose of the study, the amount of time allowed for testing, and the types of decisions that will be made with the results. The researcher must determine that information the decision makers will need to know and must design an analysis to provide that information.
Since major programs and commercials are very expensive to produce, producers and directors are interested in gathering preliminary reactions to a planned project. It would be expensive to spend big sum of money that has no audience appeal.
One basic way to collect preliminary data is to have respondents read a short statement that summarizes a program or commercial and asks them for their opinions about the idea, their willingness to watch the program, or their intent to buy the product based on the4 description. The result may provide an indication of the potential success of a program or commercial.
Examples of Program Testing: rough cuts, storyboards, photomatics, animatics, or executions.
The rough cut is a simplistic production that usually uses amateur actors, little or no editing, and makeshift sets. The other models are photographs, pictures, or drawings of major scenes designed to give the basis idea of a program or commercial to anyone who looks at them.
The tests provide information about the script, characterizations, character relationships, settings, cinematic approach, and overall appeal.
Commercials can also be tested in focus groups, shopping center intercepts, and auditorium-type situations. Commercials are not usually shown of television until they are tested in a variety of situations. The sponsors do not want to communicate the wrong message to the audience.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Research in Electronic Media
Ratings research: provides estimates of audience size and composition
Non-Ratings research: provides information about what the audience likes and dislikes, analyses of different types of programming, demographic and and lifestyle information about the audience.
Rating Research
Nielson Media Research:
They are best known for TV audience research
In national ratings they use Nielson people meter.
What is people meter? P. 330
Describe their 4 stages in sampling. p. 332
Rating Research
Arbitron research
They are best known in the US for its radio measurement.
Information radio ratings by collecting information using diaries.
Limitations
Ratings are only estimates
They do not measure quality of programs or opinions.
Not all ratings are equally dependable.
Data must be interpreted in light of these limitations
Gathering Data
Nielson People Meter
Record in Diaries
Telephone Coincidental
People meters
See p. 333
Concerns??? P. 336
Arbitron-Diary
Nielsen Diary
What is Rating?
Rating is the percentage of people or households with a TV or a radio tuned to a specific station, network or channel
Rating = People or households
------------------------------
Population
What is Share?
HUT: Total number of homes using TV
PUR: Persons using radio
A share of the audience is the percentage of the HUT or PUR that is tuned to a specific station, network or channel
Share = People or households
------------------------------
HUT or PUR
What is CPM?
CPM: what it costs an advertiser to reach 1000 persons
CPM = Cost of ad
------------------------------
Audience in thousands
Related Concepts
What is Total survey area (TSA)?
What is average quarter-hour (AQH)?
What is gross rating points (GRP)?
What is audience turnover?
Non-Rating research
Program testing
ER for example
Non-Rating research
Music research
What is a hook?
Describe Auditorium tests
What is callout research?
Non-Rating research
Performer Q
Who is your favorite performer and why?
Ratings research: provides estimates of audience size and composition
Non-Ratings research: provides information about what the audience likes and dislikes, analyses of different types of programming, demographic and and lifestyle information about the audience.
Rating Research
Nielson Media Research:
They are best known for TV audience research
In national ratings they use Nielson people meter.
What is people meter? P. 330
Describe their 4 stages in sampling. p. 332
Rating Research
Arbitron research
They are best known in the US for its radio measurement.
Information radio ratings by collecting information using diaries.
Limitations
Ratings are only estimates
They do not measure quality of programs or opinions.
Not all ratings are equally dependable.
Data must be interpreted in light of these limitations
Gathering Data
Nielson People Meter
Record in Diaries
Telephone Coincidental
People meters
See p. 333
Concerns??? P. 336
Arbitron-Diary
Nielsen Diary
What is Rating?
Rating is the percentage of people or households with a TV or a radio tuned to a specific station, network or channel
Rating = People or households
------------------------------
Population
What is Share?
HUT: Total number of homes using TV
PUR: Persons using radio
A share of the audience is the percentage of the HUT or PUR that is tuned to a specific station, network or channel
Share = People or households
------------------------------
HUT or PUR
What is CPM?
CPM: what it costs an advertiser to reach 1000 persons
CPM = Cost of ad
------------------------------
Audience in thousands
Related Concepts
What is Total survey area (TSA)?
What is average quarter-hour (AQH)?
What is gross rating points (GRP)?
What is audience turnover?
Non-Rating research
Program testing
ER for example
Non-Rating research
Music research
What is a hook?
Describe Auditorium tests
What is callout research?
Non-Rating research
Performer Q
Who is your favorite performer and why?
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Press Freedon In India
Freedom of the Media in India - Constitution and Courts
FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA -CONSTITUTION AND THE COURTby The Hon Soli J Sorabjee Attorney General, India
Freedom of the Press was one of the constitutional guarantees persistently demanded by India's freedom fighters during British colonial rule. The British masters disdainfully turned down the demand on the ground that abstract declarations of rights are useless, unless there exist the will and the means to make them effective.Not surprisingly after Independence and during the framing of India's Constitution in the Constituent Assembly, the Founding Fathers attached great importance to Freedom of the Press. They believed that central to the concept of a free press is the freedom of political opinion and at the core of that freedom lies the right to criticise and censure the government. Surprisingly freedom of the press is not specifically mentioned in the Chapter on Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution. The omission was noticed and criticised in the Constituent Assembly. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution, assured the members that freedom of the press was included in the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression and it was hardly necessary to provide for it specifically.
This view has been vindicated by the Supreme Court of India. In a series of decisions from 1950 onwards the Supreme Court has ruled that Freedom of the Press is implicit in the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution[1]. Thus freedom of the press by judicial interpretation has been accorded constitutional status[2].Ê This is an instance of Constitutional implication.Ê However there is a strong body of opinion, which favours specific mention of freedom of the press as a fundamental right. No fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India is absolute. Freedom of the press also can be restricted provided three distinct and independent prerequisites are satisfied.(1)
The restriction imposed must have the authority of law to support it. Freedom of the Press, like any other fundamental right, cannot be curtailed by executive orders or administrative instructions, which lack the sanction of law.(2) The law must fall squarely within one or more heads of permissible restrictions specified in Article 19(2), namely, (a) security of the State, (b) sovereignty and integrity of India, (c) friendly relations with foreign States, (d) public order, (e) decency or morality, (f) contempt of court, (g) defamation or (h) incitement to an offence[3]. In its landmark judgment in the case of Sakal Papers[4], the Supreme Court ruled that it is not open to the State to curtail the freedom of the press for promoting the general welfare of a section or a group of people unless its action can be justified by a law strictly falling under clause 2 of Article 19. Freedom of the Press cannot be curtailed on such omnibus grounds as in the interest of the general public as in the case of the freedom to carry on trade, business or profession. (3) The restriction must be reasonable. In other words, it must not be excessive or disproportionate. The procedure and the manner of imposition of the restriction also must be just, fair and reasonable[5]
The validity of the restriction is justiciable. Courts in India exercising the power of judicial review can invalidate laws and measures which do not satisfy the above requirements, and have done so.The Indian judiciary has placed a generous construction on the ambit of freedom of the press and given it a capacious content. It has ruled that freedom of the press embraces a variety of rights. The right guaranteed is not merely the individual right of the proprietor of the newspaper, or the editor or the journalist. It includes the right to disseminate and import information over the right of citizens to receive information to read and to be informed.Ê In substance, it is the right of the people to know.Ê The right to information has been spelled out by the Supreme Court from the guarantee of free speech in Article 19(1)(a) in its judgment in S. P. Gupta.[6]
There is no law as yet on Freedom of Information.Ê A Bill is pending in Parliament.Ê Freedom of the press does not occupy a preferred position in the Indian Constitution which does not recognise a hierarchy of rights. Yet there are dicta of the Supreme Court describing this freedom as "the Ark of the Covenant of Democracy"[7], ãthe most precious of all the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitutionä[8].The test adopted by the Supreme Court for determining whether a particular piece of legislation infringes freedom of the press is the effect and operation of the legislation. It is not the object of the law or the form of executive action that determines the invasion of a fundamental right. The true test is whether the direct and inevitable effect of the impugned legislation or action is to abridge freedom of the press.[9]
Hence government's attempt to control the growth and circulation of newspapers under the garb of distribution of newsprint under a newsprint policy promulgated under the Import and Export Control Act was foiled. In its celebrated decision, Bennett Coleman & Co. v. Union of India[10]the Court ruled that a newsprint policy like the one before the Court was violative of the freedom of the press because it imposed restrictions which severely constricted newspapers in adjusting their page number and circulation and also curtailed the area of advertisement. The Court ruled that loss of advertisements seriously affects the circulation of a newspaper and a restraint on advertisements would clearly affect the freedom of the press.An interesting case arose in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The proprietor of a Telugu daily, Eenadu, complained that government had withdrawn advertisements from its paper on account of extraneous reasons, namely its criticism of the government, and this had adversely affected the circulation of the paper and its revenue. The action of the government was challenged. The High Court did not accept the contention that a newspaper has a constitutional right to obtain advertisements from the government. It, however, held that the government cannot exercise this power or privilege ãto favour one set of newspapers or to show its displeasure against another section of the press. It should not use the power over such large funds in its hands to muzzle the press, or as a weapon to punish newspapers which criticise its policies and actions. It has to use the funds in a reasonable manner consistently with the object of the advertisement viz. to educate and inform the public about the activities of the governmentä.[11]The press is not immune from the ordinary forms of taxation for support of the government nor from the application of the general laws relating to industrial relations.[12]
Yet, in another of its celebrated judgment in Indian Express Newspapers v. Union of India[13] in which a steep customs duty on newsprint was challenged, the Court observed that the imposition of a tax such as customs duty on newsprint is an imposition on knowledge and the Court has to reconcile the social interest involved in the freedom of the press with the public interest involved in the fiscal levies imposed by the Government. Therefore in the case of a tax on newsprint, it may be sufficient to show a distinct and noticeable burdensomeness clearly and directly attributable to the tax and it is not necessary to establish that the levy is confiscatory, which would be the requirement in other cases of taxation.According to the recent judgment of the Supreme Court commercial speech is within the guarantee of Article 19(1 )(a) and therefore commercial advertisements are entitled to constitutional protection.[14]
One of the vexed issues before the Court has been that of censorship by way of prior restraint.There is no provision in the Indian Constitution permitting or proscribing censorship. The sting of censorship lies in prior restraint which affects the heart and soul of freedom of the press. Expression is snuffed out before its birth. The communication in question may never see the light of day. Suppression by a stroke of the pen is more likely to be applied by the censoring authorities than suppression through a criminal process and thus there is far less scope for public appraisal and discussion of the matter. That is the real vice of prior restraint and its irresistible attraction to the censor.Is prior restraint intrinsically evil? Is it per se unconstitutional? There is unending debate on this question. In the Japanese Constitution (Article 21) and the German Constitution (Article 5) pre-censorship is prohibited. Again the American Convention on Human Rights (San Jose) 1969 (ACHR) expressly states in Article 13(2) that freedom of expression "shall not be subject to prior censorship". There was strong American influence in the drafting of the Japanese and German Constitutions after World War II. Yet even in the land of the First Amendment, for which there is more reverence than to the Ten Commandments, and despite the robust American tradition and the thrust of US judicial opinion against censorship, there is no absolute rule against prior restraint. Indeed, its necessity has been recognised, albeit in exceptional cases, by the United States Supreme Court in the seminal case of Near v. Minnesota, the sheet anchor of the opponents of prior restraint. The Court observed that ãthe protection even as to previous restraint is not absolutely unlimitedäand listed as exceptions obstructions to recruitment during war, publication of military movements, obscenity, ãincitements to acts of violence and the overthrow by force of orderly governmentä, and words that "may have all the effect of force".[15]
The Supreme Court of India in May 1950 had to resolve the question in Brij Bhushan v. The State of Delhi.[16] Section 7(1)(c) of the East Punjab Safety Act 1949 provided for submission of material for scrutiny if the government was satisfied that such action was necessary for the purpose of preventing or combating any activity prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order. The Court declared the statutory provision in question unconstitutional on the ground that the restrictions imposed were outside the purview of Article 19(2) as it then stood, which did not include public order as a permissible head of restriction. The Court did not rule that prior censorship is per se unconstitutional. Indeed, in 1957 the Court upheld censorship imposed under the Punjab Special Powers (Press) Act 1956 for a temporary period, which provided for a right of representation to the government.[17] It is noteworthy that another statutory provision imposing censorship without any time limit and without providing any right of representation was struck down by the Court in a judgment delivered on the same day.[18]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
India's worst brush with censorship occurred during the spurious emergency declared by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 25 June 1975. Censorship of the Press was imposed for the first time in independent India by the promulgation of a Central Censorship Order, dated 26 June 1975. No censorship was imposed during two previous declarations of emergency, in 1962 and in 1971, when the nation was fighting a war. Under the Indian Constitution during an emergency, fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and expression and the freedom of the press, stand suspended. Censorship, which in normal times would be struck down, becomes immune from constitutional challenge. Taking advantage of the emergency, numerous repressive measures were adopted in the form of executive non-statutory guidelines, and instructions were issued by the censor to the press. One of the instructions of the censor was that "nothing is to be published that is likely to convey the impression of a protest or disapproval of a government measureä.[19]
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Consequently anything that smacked of criticism of governmental measures or action was almost invariably banned, even if the criticism was sober and moderate. The censor's scissors were applied arbitrarily and in a few cases its decisions bordered on the farcical. Quotations from Mahatma Gandhi, Tagore and Nehru were banned. A statement by the Chairman of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission criticising the working of public sector undertakings was blacked out. Other ludicrous instances are the bans imposed on news about a member of a former royal family, Begum Vilayat Mahal, squatting at New Delhi railway station; a report about junior lawyers marching to the Delhi High Court; a London report of the arrest of a famous Indian actress for shoplifting; and the news about a meeting of the Wild Life Board, which considered the grant of a hunting licence to a certain Maharajahâs brother.[20]
These bans had nothing to do with the security of the State or preservation of public peace and order but reflected the capricious working of the censoring authorities.Some of the censorâs directives were sinister, like the ones prohibiting any reference to the transfer of State High Court judges, banning publication of judgments of High Courts which ruled against the censor, "killing" news of the opposition of certain State governments to proposed constitutional amendments, banning reports of alleged payoffs made during the purchase of Boeing aircraft and suppressing criticism of family planning programs. The object was not merely withholding of information but manipulation of news and views to legitimise the emergency and make it acceptable. One tragic consequence was that inhuman practices like forcible sterilisation of young men after removing them from buses and other excesses of over-enthusiastic family planning officials came to light much later after the events, by which time family planning had become an anathema to the rural masses. An urgent and important programme suffered a serious setback owing to suppression of freedom of the press by the censor.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
The Indian judiciary, especially the State High Courts, displayed commendable courage in striking down the censor's orders and upheld the right of dissent even during the emergency. The High Court of Bombay in its landmark judgment in Binod Rao v. Masanidelivered on 10 February 1976 declared:
ãIt is not the function of the censor acting under the Censorship Order to make all newspapers and periodicals trim their sails to one wind or to tow along in a single file or to speak in chorus with one voice. It is not for him to exercise his statutory powers to force public opinion in a single mould or to turn the Press into an instrument for brainwashing the public. Under the Censorship Order the censor is appointed the nursemaid of democracy and not its gravedigger. · Merely because dissent, disapproval or criticism is expressed in strong language is no ground for banning its publication ...ä.[21]
The Court, however, cautioned that the voice of dissent cannot take the form of incitement of revolutionary or subversive activities, for then instead of serving democracy it would subvert it.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ The High Court of Gujarat in its judgment in C. Vaidya v. DâPenha castigated the censorship directives for imposing upon the people "a mask of suffocation and strangulation". In construing the expression "prejudicial report", the Court observed: ãTo peacefully protest against any governmental action with the immediate object of educating public opinion and the ultimate object of getting the ruling party voted out of power at the next general elections is not a prejudicial report at all. Such a public education is the primary need of every democracy.ä[22]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ These judgments were delivered at a time when "inconvenient" judges during the emergency were transferred from one State to another in India. Notwithstanding this, the High Courts rose to the occasion. Indeed it was their finest hour.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ In R. Rajagopal v. State of TN[23] the Supreme Court held that neither the government nor the officials who apprehend that they may be defamed, had the right to impose a prior restraint upon the publication of the autobiography of Auto Shankar, a convict serving sentence of death in jail, which was likely to reveal a nexus between criminals and high ups in the police.Ê The Court held that ãThe remedy of public officials/public figures, if any, will arise only after the publication. ...ä
The Court has however accepted prior restraint in the case of exhibition of motion pictures because ã.... it has been almost universally recognised that the treatment of motion pictures must be different from that of other forms of art and expression. This arises from the instant appeal of the motion picture ...ä It, however, emphasised the necessity for a corrective machinery in the shape of an independent tribunal and also a reasonable time limit for the decision of the censoring authorities. In laying down certain guidelines for the censor, the Court was at pains to point out that the "standards must be so framed that we are not reduced to a level where the protection of the least capable and the most depraved amongst us determines what the morally healthy cannot view or read. The standards that we set for our censors must make a substantial allowance in favour of freedom."[24]
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
Courts in India have ruled that in adjudging the question of proscription of articles in the press or banning the exhibition of a movie or programs in the TV channels, the standards to be employed must be of reasonable, strong-minded human beings and not those of weak and vacillating minds nor of those who scent danger or perceive hurt and insult in every critical point of view. It is not permissible to stifle all free expression of opinion by imagining lurking dangers in every corner and discovering sharp curves and hairpin bends when all that exists is a straight road. The correct test is: what impression the article or movie as a whole would produce upon a man of ordinary commonsense.[25]
Onslaughts on freedom of expression can emanate also from non-State actors, namely groups or individuals who demand the banning of a book or a movie which appears offensive or hurtful to them. A determined effort was made to ban the exhibition of a movie by a group of persons who regarded its theme and presentation as hostile to the policy of reservation of jobs in public employment and seats in educational institutions in favour of Scheduled Castes and backward classes, for whose benefit special provisions by way of protective or compensatory discrimination are enacted in the Constitution of India. The Madras High Court[26] in an incredible judgment revoked the certificate granted by the Board of Censors permitting exhibition of the film and restrained its exhibition.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
In a path breaking decision the Supreme Court promptly reversed the High Court judgment.[27]Ê It approved the observations of the European Court of Human Rights that "freedom of expression protects not merely ideas that are accepted but those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population. Such are the demands of the pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no democratic society" [28]. The Court laid down a vital principle in these words: "If the film is unobjectionable and cannot constitutionally be restricted under Article 19(2), freedom of expression cannot be suppressed on account of threats of demonstrations and processions or threats of violence. That would be tantamount to negation of the rule of law and surrender to blackmail and intimidation. Freedom of expression which is legitimate and constitutionally protected cannot be held to ransom by an intolerant group of people."[29]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
This judgment has far-reaching implications. Its wholesome effect and timeliness cannot be over-emphasised in view of the rising intolerance of late witnessed in India. Tranquillity ought not to be maintained in all cases by sacrifice of liberty. Threats to law and order should be firmly put down rather than suppress freedom of expression, which it is the duty of every democratic state to uphold.
ÊDefamation is one of the heads of restrictions specified in the Constitution. Libel laws can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The Supreme Court of India in its judgment in R. Rajagopal v. State of TN[30] broadly approved of the principles laid down by the U.S. Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan[31] and by the House of Lords in the Derbyshire County Council[32]and laid down that there is no liability ã... even where the publication is based upon facts and statements which are not true, unless the official establishes that the publication was made (by the defendant) with reckless disregard for truth. In such a case, it would be enough for the defendant (member of the press or media) to prove that he acted after a reasonable verification of the facts; it is not necessary for him to prove that what he has written is true. Of course, where the publication is proved to be false and actuated by malice or personal animosity, the defendant would have no defence and would be liable for damages."[33]Ê The Indian position is more akin to Theophanus than Lange.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
Contempt of Court is another permissible head of restriction on freedom of expression and freedom of the Press.Ê The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Contempt of Courts Act 1952 on the ground that the Act did not impose unreasonable restrictions on the right of freedom of speech and is saved under Article 19(2).[34]
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
Courts have frowned upon comments made in the press upon pending cases. The Punjab High Court ruled that "liberty of the press is subordinate to the proper administration of justice. The plain duty of a journalist is the reporting and not the adjudication of cases."[35] In the view of the Orissa High Court "the responsibility of the press is greater than the responsibility of an individual because the press has a larger audience. The freedom of the press should not degenerate into a licence to attack litigants and close the door of justice nor can it include any unrestricted liberty to damage the reputation of respectable persons.ä[36]
Although the judiciary has provided generous protection to freedom of the press in several cases, in practice the law of contempt in India is an instance of the paradox of the love-hate relationship between the press and the judiciary.In India any person, including the press, is free to criticise a judgment, to comment on it pungently, severely, because justice is not a cloistered virtue and can suffer the outbursts of even the wrong headed. However, it is an altogether different matter to impute motives to the judges who have delivered the judgment, to accuse them of dishonesty or their having been swayed by extraneous considerations.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
But what is the position if the charge of judicial corruption happens to be true and the journalist is prepared to establish it to the hilt by unimpeachable documentary evidence? Therein lies the rub. Today under the law of contempt as it stands and has been interpreted in India truth is no defence to an action for contempt.[37]Ê Indeed if a person attempts to establish his allegations of dishonesty against a judicial officer that will be regarded as an aggravation of contempt.
This to my mind is a serious anomaly. Indeed it is highly arguable that the rejection at the threshold of the plea for establishment of the truth of the allegations operates as an unreasonable restriction on the freedom of the press and would render law of contempt vulnerable to grave constitutional challenge. It prevents exposure of corruption inter alia in the judiciary which regrettably is prevalent to some extent in the subordinate courts. Consequently many journalists and media persons succumb to self censorship and are deterred from exposing the misconduct of some errant judges. It is a mistaken notion that an enforced silence by the threatened use of the contempt power leads to enhancement of the public image of the judiciary when corruption within some of its ranks is the talk of the town. A corrupt judge should not get away under the shield of the law of contempt and thereby successfully suppress disclosure of judicial misdeeds. The law of contempt in India needs to be amended to provide the defence of truth coupled with public interest. It may also provide for imposition of stiff civil and criminal penalties upon a person who fails to substantiate his allegations. This would discourage frivolous and baseless allegations being leveled by disgruntled litigants or persons motivated by ill will.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
I would like to conclude with some general observations.Ê We rightly prize press freedom and should be vigilant in repelling encroachments, direct or indirect, on the exercise of this precious freedom. Freedom of the press is undoubtedly one of the basic freedoms in a democratic society based on the Rule of Law. Nonetheless I venture to suggest that freedom of the press is not an end in itself.Ê It is the means for ensuring that in a democratic society there is good governance, transparency in administration, enforcement of accountability of the wielders of power and that human dignity and other human rights are respected. Whilst we must vigorously defend this freedom against onslaughts from fanatics one should not be fanatical about it and forget that Freedom of the Press entails abiding social responsibility. The public function which belongs to the press makes it an obligation of honour to perform its role with the fullest sense of responsibility.Ê There is no constitutional right of the press to defame.Ê The press does not and cannot have a licence to libel.
Joseph Pulitzer has rightly pointed out that ãwithout high ethical ideals a newspaper not only is stripped of its splendid possibilities for public service, but may become a positive danger to the community.ä[38]What is the position, I have often wondered, if a newspaper systematically and intentionally suppresses or manipulates information, restricts the content of information and denies its accessibility to the public, inflames communal and racial passions which leads to riots and violence? Has it not betrayed its true role, ceased to be a watchdog and failed to guard the Ark of the Covenant of democracy? It is suggested in certain quarters that such a newspaper cannot morally and legitimately lay claim to the protection and benefit of the constitutional guarantees of free speech though it may yet claim the fundamental right to carry on trade and business in which latter case the scope for imposition of restrictions is wider than in the case of freedom of the press.
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The crux of the matter is: Who will determine whether the newspaper in question has disentitled itself to the guarantee of freedom of the press? There will be problems. Determination of this question will lead to the insidious entry of censorship in such situations and that will pose a greater danger. Therefore rather than encourage such subversive thoughts, on balance we may console ourselves with the regret of Madison regarding abuse of press freedom, "that it is better to leave a few of its noxious branches to their luxuriant growth, than, by pruning them away, injure the vigor of those yielding the proper fruits".[39]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
In the ultimate analysis press freedom will depend not so much on the state of the laws or the provisions of the Constitution but on the integrity and independence of the press. Lippman has rightly warned that the real danger to the press springs not so much from the pressures and intimidation to which it may be subject but from the sad fact that media persons can be captured and captivated by the company they keep, their constant exposure to the subtleties of power. Judicial protection is certainly helpful but that is not the sovereign panacea. Freedoms cannot be preserved for an inert people by the Constitution or the Courts. That is true of press freedom also. This lesson was bitterly brought home during the June 1975 emergency. With few honourable exceptions, the press chose to crawl when it was required to bend. However it can be confidently said that apart from the emergency aberration, the press on the whole has been a good watchdog. It has played an important and constructive role in India by exposing deception and secrecy in the working of the administration and public institutions. Several scams have been brought to light, for example the Bofors scam, by a vigilant press. Courts in India have unflinchingly performed their role of enforcing accountability of the holders of power, checking the virus of corruption and by upholding the Rule of Law.I do hope and trust that in the coming years these two mighty institutions of democracy will perform their respective roles in harmony, as natural allies and not as inveterate adversaries, remembering that the ultimate goal is of ensuring good governance and the good life for all its citizens.Ê
[1] Article 19 (1) All citizens shall have the right - (a) to freedom of speech and expression.
[2] Brij Bhushan v. State of Delhi, AIR 1950 SC 129; Express Newspapers Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 1958 SC 578; Sakal Papers Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 1962 SC 305; Bennett Coleman Co. v. Union of India, AIR 1973 SC 106
[3Article 19(2) - Nothing in sub-clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
Press Freedon in India (in short)
FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA -CONSTITUTION AND THE COURTby The Hon Soli J Sorabjee Attorney General, India
Freedom of the Press was one of the constitutional guarantees persistently demanded by India's freedom fighters during British colonial rule. The British masters disdainfully turned down the demand on the ground that abstract declarations of rights are useless, unless there exist the will and the means to make them effective.Not surprisingly after Independence and during the framing of India's Constitution in the Constituent Assembly, the Founding Fathers attached great importance to Freedom of the Press. They believed that central to the concept of a free press is the freedom of political opinion and at the core of that freedom lies the right to criticise and censure the government. Surprisingly freedom of the press is not specifically mentioned in the Chapter on Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution. The omission was noticed and criticised in the Constituent Assembly. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution, assured the members that freedom of the press was included in the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression and it was hardly necessary to provide for it specifically.
This view has been vindicated by the Supreme Court of India. In a series of decisions from 1950 onwards the Supreme Court has ruled that Freedom of the Press is implicit in the guarantee of freedom of speech and expression in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution[1]. Thus freedom of the press by judicial interpretation has been accorded constitutional status[2].Ê This is an instance of Constitutional implication.Ê However there is a strong body of opinion, which favours specific mention of freedom of the press as a fundamental right. No fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India is absolute. Freedom of the press also can be restricted provided three distinct and independent prerequisites are satisfied.(1)
The restriction imposed must have the authority of law to support it. Freedom of the Press, like any other fundamental right, cannot be curtailed by executive orders or administrative instructions, which lack the sanction of law.(2) The law must fall squarely within one or more heads of permissible restrictions specified in Article 19(2), namely, (a) security of the State, (b) sovereignty and integrity of India, (c) friendly relations with foreign States, (d) public order, (e) decency or morality, (f) contempt of court, (g) defamation or (h) incitement to an offence[3]. In its landmark judgment in the case of Sakal Papers[4], the Supreme Court ruled that it is not open to the State to curtail the freedom of the press for promoting the general welfare of a section or a group of people unless its action can be justified by a law strictly falling under clause 2 of Article 19. Freedom of the Press cannot be curtailed on such omnibus grounds as in the interest of the general public as in the case of the freedom to carry on trade, business or profession. (3) The restriction must be reasonable. In other words, it must not be excessive or disproportionate. The procedure and the manner of imposition of the restriction also must be just, fair and reasonable[5]
The validity of the restriction is justiciable. Courts in India exercising the power of judicial review can invalidate laws and measures which do not satisfy the above requirements, and have done so.The Indian judiciary has placed a generous construction on the ambit of freedom of the press and given it a capacious content. It has ruled that freedom of the press embraces a variety of rights. The right guaranteed is not merely the individual right of the proprietor of the newspaper, or the editor or the journalist. It includes the right to disseminate and import information over the right of citizens to receive information to read and to be informed.Ê In substance, it is the right of the people to know.Ê The right to information has been spelled out by the Supreme Court from the guarantee of free speech in Article 19(1)(a) in its judgment in S. P. Gupta.[6]
There is no law as yet on Freedom of Information.Ê A Bill is pending in Parliament.Ê Freedom of the press does not occupy a preferred position in the Indian Constitution which does not recognise a hierarchy of rights. Yet there are dicta of the Supreme Court describing this freedom as "the Ark of the Covenant of Democracy"[7], ãthe most precious of all the freedoms guaranteed by our Constitutionä[8].The test adopted by the Supreme Court for determining whether a particular piece of legislation infringes freedom of the press is the effect and operation of the legislation. It is not the object of the law or the form of executive action that determines the invasion of a fundamental right. The true test is whether the direct and inevitable effect of the impugned legislation or action is to abridge freedom of the press.[9]
Hence government's attempt to control the growth and circulation of newspapers under the garb of distribution of newsprint under a newsprint policy promulgated under the Import and Export Control Act was foiled. In its celebrated decision, Bennett Coleman & Co. v. Union of India[10]the Court ruled that a newsprint policy like the one before the Court was violative of the freedom of the press because it imposed restrictions which severely constricted newspapers in adjusting their page number and circulation and also curtailed the area of advertisement. The Court ruled that loss of advertisements seriously affects the circulation of a newspaper and a restraint on advertisements would clearly affect the freedom of the press.An interesting case arose in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The proprietor of a Telugu daily, Eenadu, complained that government had withdrawn advertisements from its paper on account of extraneous reasons, namely its criticism of the government, and this had adversely affected the circulation of the paper and its revenue. The action of the government was challenged. The High Court did not accept the contention that a newspaper has a constitutional right to obtain advertisements from the government. It, however, held that the government cannot exercise this power or privilege ãto favour one set of newspapers or to show its displeasure against another section of the press. It should not use the power over such large funds in its hands to muzzle the press, or as a weapon to punish newspapers which criticise its policies and actions. It has to use the funds in a reasonable manner consistently with the object of the advertisement viz. to educate and inform the public about the activities of the governmentä.[11]The press is not immune from the ordinary forms of taxation for support of the government nor from the application of the general laws relating to industrial relations.[12]
Yet, in another of its celebrated judgment in Indian Express Newspapers v. Union of India[13] in which a steep customs duty on newsprint was challenged, the Court observed that the imposition of a tax such as customs duty on newsprint is an imposition on knowledge and the Court has to reconcile the social interest involved in the freedom of the press with the public interest involved in the fiscal levies imposed by the Government. Therefore in the case of a tax on newsprint, it may be sufficient to show a distinct and noticeable burdensomeness clearly and directly attributable to the tax and it is not necessary to establish that the levy is confiscatory, which would be the requirement in other cases of taxation.According to the recent judgment of the Supreme Court commercial speech is within the guarantee of Article 19(1 )(a) and therefore commercial advertisements are entitled to constitutional protection.[14]
One of the vexed issues before the Court has been that of censorship by way of prior restraint.There is no provision in the Indian Constitution permitting or proscribing censorship. The sting of censorship lies in prior restraint which affects the heart and soul of freedom of the press. Expression is snuffed out before its birth. The communication in question may never see the light of day. Suppression by a stroke of the pen is more likely to be applied by the censoring authorities than suppression through a criminal process and thus there is far less scope for public appraisal and discussion of the matter. That is the real vice of prior restraint and its irresistible attraction to the censor.Is prior restraint intrinsically evil? Is it per se unconstitutional? There is unending debate on this question. In the Japanese Constitution (Article 21) and the German Constitution (Article 5) pre-censorship is prohibited. Again the American Convention on Human Rights (San Jose) 1969 (ACHR) expressly states in Article 13(2) that freedom of expression "shall not be subject to prior censorship". There was strong American influence in the drafting of the Japanese and German Constitutions after World War II. Yet even in the land of the First Amendment, for which there is more reverence than to the Ten Commandments, and despite the robust American tradition and the thrust of US judicial opinion against censorship, there is no absolute rule against prior restraint. Indeed, its necessity has been recognised, albeit in exceptional cases, by the United States Supreme Court in the seminal case of Near v. Minnesota, the sheet anchor of the opponents of prior restraint. The Court observed that ãthe protection even as to previous restraint is not absolutely unlimitedäand listed as exceptions obstructions to recruitment during war, publication of military movements, obscenity, ãincitements to acts of violence and the overthrow by force of orderly governmentä, and words that "may have all the effect of force".[15]
The Supreme Court of India in May 1950 had to resolve the question in Brij Bhushan v. The State of Delhi.[16] Section 7(1)(c) of the East Punjab Safety Act 1949 provided for submission of material for scrutiny if the government was satisfied that such action was necessary for the purpose of preventing or combating any activity prejudicial to public safety or the maintenance of public order. The Court declared the statutory provision in question unconstitutional on the ground that the restrictions imposed were outside the purview of Article 19(2) as it then stood, which did not include public order as a permissible head of restriction. The Court did not rule that prior censorship is per se unconstitutional. Indeed, in 1957 the Court upheld censorship imposed under the Punjab Special Powers (Press) Act 1956 for a temporary period, which provided for a right of representation to the government.[17] It is noteworthy that another statutory provision imposing censorship without any time limit and without providing any right of representation was struck down by the Court in a judgment delivered on the same day.[18]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
India's worst brush with censorship occurred during the spurious emergency declared by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 25 June 1975. Censorship of the Press was imposed for the first time in independent India by the promulgation of a Central Censorship Order, dated 26 June 1975. No censorship was imposed during two previous declarations of emergency, in 1962 and in 1971, when the nation was fighting a war. Under the Indian Constitution during an emergency, fundamental rights, including freedom of speech and expression and the freedom of the press, stand suspended. Censorship, which in normal times would be struck down, becomes immune from constitutional challenge. Taking advantage of the emergency, numerous repressive measures were adopted in the form of executive non-statutory guidelines, and instructions were issued by the censor to the press. One of the instructions of the censor was that "nothing is to be published that is likely to convey the impression of a protest or disapproval of a government measureä.[19]
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ Consequently anything that smacked of criticism of governmental measures or action was almost invariably banned, even if the criticism was sober and moderate. The censor's scissors were applied arbitrarily and in a few cases its decisions bordered on the farcical. Quotations from Mahatma Gandhi, Tagore and Nehru were banned. A statement by the Chairman of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission criticising the working of public sector undertakings was blacked out. Other ludicrous instances are the bans imposed on news about a member of a former royal family, Begum Vilayat Mahal, squatting at New Delhi railway station; a report about junior lawyers marching to the Delhi High Court; a London report of the arrest of a famous Indian actress for shoplifting; and the news about a meeting of the Wild Life Board, which considered the grant of a hunting licence to a certain Maharajahâs brother.[20]
These bans had nothing to do with the security of the State or preservation of public peace and order but reflected the capricious working of the censoring authorities.Some of the censorâs directives were sinister, like the ones prohibiting any reference to the transfer of State High Court judges, banning publication of judgments of High Courts which ruled against the censor, "killing" news of the opposition of certain State governments to proposed constitutional amendments, banning reports of alleged payoffs made during the purchase of Boeing aircraft and suppressing criticism of family planning programs. The object was not merely withholding of information but manipulation of news and views to legitimise the emergency and make it acceptable. One tragic consequence was that inhuman practices like forcible sterilisation of young men after removing them from buses and other excesses of over-enthusiastic family planning officials came to light much later after the events, by which time family planning had become an anathema to the rural masses. An urgent and important programme suffered a serious setback owing to suppression of freedom of the press by the censor.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
The Indian judiciary, especially the State High Courts, displayed commendable courage in striking down the censor's orders and upheld the right of dissent even during the emergency. The High Court of Bombay in its landmark judgment in Binod Rao v. Masanidelivered on 10 February 1976 declared:
ãIt is not the function of the censor acting under the Censorship Order to make all newspapers and periodicals trim their sails to one wind or to tow along in a single file or to speak in chorus with one voice. It is not for him to exercise his statutory powers to force public opinion in a single mould or to turn the Press into an instrument for brainwashing the public. Under the Censorship Order the censor is appointed the nursemaid of democracy and not its gravedigger. · Merely because dissent, disapproval or criticism is expressed in strong language is no ground for banning its publication ...ä.[21]
The Court, however, cautioned that the voice of dissent cannot take the form of incitement of revolutionary or subversive activities, for then instead of serving democracy it would subvert it.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ The High Court of Gujarat in its judgment in C. Vaidya v. DâPenha castigated the censorship directives for imposing upon the people "a mask of suffocation and strangulation". In construing the expression "prejudicial report", the Court observed: ãTo peacefully protest against any governmental action with the immediate object of educating public opinion and the ultimate object of getting the ruling party voted out of power at the next general elections is not a prejudicial report at all. Such a public education is the primary need of every democracy.ä[22]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ These judgments were delivered at a time when "inconvenient" judges during the emergency were transferred from one State to another in India. Notwithstanding this, the High Courts rose to the occasion. Indeed it was their finest hour.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ In R. Rajagopal v. State of TN[23] the Supreme Court held that neither the government nor the officials who apprehend that they may be defamed, had the right to impose a prior restraint upon the publication of the autobiography of Auto Shankar, a convict serving sentence of death in jail, which was likely to reveal a nexus between criminals and high ups in the police.Ê The Court held that ãThe remedy of public officials/public figures, if any, will arise only after the publication. ...ä
The Court has however accepted prior restraint in the case of exhibition of motion pictures because ã.... it has been almost universally recognised that the treatment of motion pictures must be different from that of other forms of art and expression. This arises from the instant appeal of the motion picture ...ä It, however, emphasised the necessity for a corrective machinery in the shape of an independent tribunal and also a reasonable time limit for the decision of the censoring authorities. In laying down certain guidelines for the censor, the Court was at pains to point out that the "standards must be so framed that we are not reduced to a level where the protection of the least capable and the most depraved amongst us determines what the morally healthy cannot view or read. The standards that we set for our censors must make a substantial allowance in favour of freedom."[24]
ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
Courts in India have ruled that in adjudging the question of proscription of articles in the press or banning the exhibition of a movie or programs in the TV channels, the standards to be employed must be of reasonable, strong-minded human beings and not those of weak and vacillating minds nor of those who scent danger or perceive hurt and insult in every critical point of view. It is not permissible to stifle all free expression of opinion by imagining lurking dangers in every corner and discovering sharp curves and hairpin bends when all that exists is a straight road. The correct test is: what impression the article or movie as a whole would produce upon a man of ordinary commonsense.[25]
Onslaughts on freedom of expression can emanate also from non-State actors, namely groups or individuals who demand the banning of a book or a movie which appears offensive or hurtful to them. A determined effort was made to ban the exhibition of a movie by a group of persons who regarded its theme and presentation as hostile to the policy of reservation of jobs in public employment and seats in educational institutions in favour of Scheduled Castes and backward classes, for whose benefit special provisions by way of protective or compensatory discrimination are enacted in the Constitution of India. The Madras High Court[26] in an incredible judgment revoked the certificate granted by the Board of Censors permitting exhibition of the film and restrained its exhibition.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
In a path breaking decision the Supreme Court promptly reversed the High Court judgment.[27]Ê It approved the observations of the European Court of Human Rights that "freedom of expression protects not merely ideas that are accepted but those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population. Such are the demands of the pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no democratic society" [28]. The Court laid down a vital principle in these words: "If the film is unobjectionable and cannot constitutionally be restricted under Article 19(2), freedom of expression cannot be suppressed on account of threats of demonstrations and processions or threats of violence. That would be tantamount to negation of the rule of law and surrender to blackmail and intimidation. Freedom of expression which is legitimate and constitutionally protected cannot be held to ransom by an intolerant group of people."[29]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
This judgment has far-reaching implications. Its wholesome effect and timeliness cannot be over-emphasised in view of the rising intolerance of late witnessed in India. Tranquillity ought not to be maintained in all cases by sacrifice of liberty. Threats to law and order should be firmly put down rather than suppress freedom of expression, which it is the duty of every democratic state to uphold.
ÊDefamation is one of the heads of restrictions specified in the Constitution. Libel laws can have a chilling effect on freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The Supreme Court of India in its judgment in R. Rajagopal v. State of TN[30] broadly approved of the principles laid down by the U.S. Supreme Court in New York Times v. Sullivan[31] and by the House of Lords in the Derbyshire County Council[32]and laid down that there is no liability ã... even where the publication is based upon facts and statements which are not true, unless the official establishes that the publication was made (by the defendant) with reckless disregard for truth. In such a case, it would be enough for the defendant (member of the press or media) to prove that he acted after a reasonable verification of the facts; it is not necessary for him to prove that what he has written is true. Of course, where the publication is proved to be false and actuated by malice or personal animosity, the defendant would have no defence and would be liable for damages."[33]Ê The Indian position is more akin to Theophanus than Lange.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
Contempt of Court is another permissible head of restriction on freedom of expression and freedom of the Press.Ê The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the Contempt of Courts Act 1952 on the ground that the Act did not impose unreasonable restrictions on the right of freedom of speech and is saved under Article 19(2).[34]
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Courts have frowned upon comments made in the press upon pending cases. The Punjab High Court ruled that "liberty of the press is subordinate to the proper administration of justice. The plain duty of a journalist is the reporting and not the adjudication of cases."[35] In the view of the Orissa High Court "the responsibility of the press is greater than the responsibility of an individual because the press has a larger audience. The freedom of the press should not degenerate into a licence to attack litigants and close the door of justice nor can it include any unrestricted liberty to damage the reputation of respectable persons.ä[36]
Although the judiciary has provided generous protection to freedom of the press in several cases, in practice the law of contempt in India is an instance of the paradox of the love-hate relationship between the press and the judiciary.In India any person, including the press, is free to criticise a judgment, to comment on it pungently, severely, because justice is not a cloistered virtue and can suffer the outbursts of even the wrong headed. However, it is an altogether different matter to impute motives to the judges who have delivered the judgment, to accuse them of dishonesty or their having been swayed by extraneous considerations.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
But what is the position if the charge of judicial corruption happens to be true and the journalist is prepared to establish it to the hilt by unimpeachable documentary evidence? Therein lies the rub. Today under the law of contempt as it stands and has been interpreted in India truth is no defence to an action for contempt.[37]Ê Indeed if a person attempts to establish his allegations of dishonesty against a judicial officer that will be regarded as an aggravation of contempt.
This to my mind is a serious anomaly. Indeed it is highly arguable that the rejection at the threshold of the plea for establishment of the truth of the allegations operates as an unreasonable restriction on the freedom of the press and would render law of contempt vulnerable to grave constitutional challenge. It prevents exposure of corruption inter alia in the judiciary which regrettably is prevalent to some extent in the subordinate courts. Consequently many journalists and media persons succumb to self censorship and are deterred from exposing the misconduct of some errant judges. It is a mistaken notion that an enforced silence by the threatened use of the contempt power leads to enhancement of the public image of the judiciary when corruption within some of its ranks is the talk of the town. A corrupt judge should not get away under the shield of the law of contempt and thereby successfully suppress disclosure of judicial misdeeds. The law of contempt in India needs to be amended to provide the defence of truth coupled with public interest. It may also provide for imposition of stiff civil and criminal penalties upon a person who fails to substantiate his allegations. This would discourage frivolous and baseless allegations being leveled by disgruntled litigants or persons motivated by ill will.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
I would like to conclude with some general observations.Ê We rightly prize press freedom and should be vigilant in repelling encroachments, direct or indirect, on the exercise of this precious freedom. Freedom of the press is undoubtedly one of the basic freedoms in a democratic society based on the Rule of Law. Nonetheless I venture to suggest that freedom of the press is not an end in itself.Ê It is the means for ensuring that in a democratic society there is good governance, transparency in administration, enforcement of accountability of the wielders of power and that human dignity and other human rights are respected. Whilst we must vigorously defend this freedom against onslaughts from fanatics one should not be fanatical about it and forget that Freedom of the Press entails abiding social responsibility. The public function which belongs to the press makes it an obligation of honour to perform its role with the fullest sense of responsibility.Ê There is no constitutional right of the press to defame.Ê The press does not and cannot have a licence to libel.
Joseph Pulitzer has rightly pointed out that ãwithout high ethical ideals a newspaper not only is stripped of its splendid possibilities for public service, but may become a positive danger to the community.ä[38]What is the position, I have often wondered, if a newspaper systematically and intentionally suppresses or manipulates information, restricts the content of information and denies its accessibility to the public, inflames communal and racial passions which leads to riots and violence? Has it not betrayed its true role, ceased to be a watchdog and failed to guard the Ark of the Covenant of democracy? It is suggested in certain quarters that such a newspaper cannot morally and legitimately lay claim to the protection and benefit of the constitutional guarantees of free speech though it may yet claim the fundamental right to carry on trade and business in which latter case the scope for imposition of restrictions is wider than in the case of freedom of the press.
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The crux of the matter is: Who will determine whether the newspaper in question has disentitled itself to the guarantee of freedom of the press? There will be problems. Determination of this question will lead to the insidious entry of censorship in such situations and that will pose a greater danger. Therefore rather than encourage such subversive thoughts, on balance we may console ourselves with the regret of Madison regarding abuse of press freedom, "that it is better to leave a few of its noxious branches to their luxuriant growth, than, by pruning them away, injure the vigor of those yielding the proper fruits".[39]ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ
In the ultimate analysis press freedom will depend not so much on the state of the laws or the provisions of the Constitution but on the integrity and independence of the press. Lippman has rightly warned that the real danger to the press springs not so much from the pressures and intimidation to which it may be subject but from the sad fact that media persons can be captured and captivated by the company they keep, their constant exposure to the subtleties of power. Judicial protection is certainly helpful but that is not the sovereign panacea. Freedoms cannot be preserved for an inert people by the Constitution or the Courts. That is true of press freedom also. This lesson was bitterly brought home during the June 1975 emergency. With few honourable exceptions, the press chose to crawl when it was required to bend. However it can be confidently said that apart from the emergency aberration, the press on the whole has been a good watchdog. It has played an important and constructive role in India by exposing deception and secrecy in the working of the administration and public institutions. Several scams have been brought to light, for example the Bofors scam, by a vigilant press. Courts in India have unflinchingly performed their role of enforcing accountability of the holders of power, checking the virus of corruption and by upholding the Rule of Law.I do hope and trust that in the coming years these two mighty institutions of democracy will perform their respective roles in harmony, as natural allies and not as inveterate adversaries, remembering that the ultimate goal is of ensuring good governance and the good life for all its citizens.Ê
[1] Article 19 (1) All citizens shall have the right - (a) to freedom of speech and expression.
[2] Brij Bhushan v. State of Delhi, AIR 1950 SC 129; Express Newspapers Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 1958 SC 578; Sakal Papers Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 1962 SC 305; Bennett Coleman Co. v. Union of India, AIR 1973 SC 106
[3Article 19(2) - Nothing in sub-clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
Press Freedon in India (in short)
The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word "press", provides for "the right to freedom of speech and expression" (Article 19(1) a). However this right is subject to restrictions under sub clause (2), whereby this freedom can be restricted for reasons of "sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, preserving decency, preserving morality, in relation to contempt, court, defamation, or incitement to an offense". Laws such as the Official Secrets Act and Prevention of Terrorism Act[19] (PoTA) have been used to limit press freedom. Under PoTA, person could be detained for up to six months for being in contact with a terrorist or terrorist group. PoTA was repealed in 2006, but the Official Secrets Act 1923 continues.
For the first half-century of independence, media control by the state was the major constraint on press freedom.
Indira Gandhi famously stated in 1975 that All India Radio is "a Government organ, it is going to remain a Government organ..."[20] With the liberalization starting in the 1990s, private control of media has burgeoned, leading to increasing independence and greater scrutiny of government. Organizations like Tehelka and NDTV have been particularly influential, e.g. in bringing about the resignation of powerful Haryana minister Venod Sharma.however this freedom of speech and expression is automatically canceled during emergency. The word Reasonable was not present in the original article 19(1)(a. But this was later on added to this article, and presently in India there are number of organizations who are really influential.
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