Red Flag Policy…Labour Shadow Culture Secretary suggests licensing for journalists

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Based on article from dailymail.co.uk See also Licensed journalists in Britain? Surely Labour is joking… from guardian.co.uk by Roy Greenslade

Labour’s Shadow Culture Secretary, Ivan Lewis, provoked justified protest when he suggested journalists should be licensed, meaning they could then be struck off and banned from working, should they misbehave. But within hours Ed Miliband was forced to disown the policy. Critics warned it would turn Britain into a banana republic in which ministers were able to silence awkward members of the Press. Lewis, who has in the past faced embarrassing revelations in newspapers about his own private life, told the conference the phone-hacking scandal meant the media could no longer be trusted to regulate itself. He said existing media self-regulation was broken. Lewis suggested journalists should be licensed to practise, in a similar way to doctors. Any reporter found guilty of gross malpractice could then be struck off and barred from having their words published. Former Labour adviser Dan Hodges suggested the proposal must be a bad joke: On the day of the leader’s speech we announce the state banning of journalists. Labour is ceasing to exist as a serious political party. Tory MP Philip Davies said: Once the Government starts involving itself in the regulation of the media, that is a very slippery slope, he said. It is the kind of thing that happens in Third World dictatorships. We need a free Press and self-regulation, that is the cornerstone of a free society and democracy. The Lewis speech sparked panic in Ed Miliband’s office, with aides insisting the idea of striking off journalists had not been cleared with the Labour leader. A senior party source claimed: We’re not in the business of regulating journalists. We have always said self-regulation is the best policy.

Not So Liberal Democrats…LibDems pass motion to restrict the Sun to the top shelf because of Page 3 girls

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See article from huffingtonpost.co.uk

Amongst the motions passed at the Liberal Democrat’s 2011 conference is a call to restrict sexualised images in newspapers. A plan by former MP Evan Harris aims to tackle the projection of women as sex objects to children and adolescents by restricting sexualised images in newspapers and general circulation magazines to the same rules that apply to pre-watershed broadcast media. The Sun reports that Evan Harris held up photos of page 3 girls during a debate in Birmingham, and argued they – and the Sun newspaper – should only be on the top shelf at newsagents. He said: OK, these images can be available for adults if they want to access them, but they should have to reach up to a higher shelf than what is at the general view for young people.

Small ads, Small Minds and Big Offences…Police consider action against newspaper escort ads for: aiding and abetting controlling prostitution for gain

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Based on article from holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Newspapers which publish sex adverts could face prosecution by the Metropolitan Police. As part of an investigation into sex trafficking, the Croydon Guardian reports that a senior police officer saying editors who continue to run adverts for brothels could be arrested. Vice squad detective inspector Kevin Hyland told the paper: It is an offence to advertise for prostitution. If newspapers do run adverts there is a possibility of prosecution. The legislation we are thinking of using is aiding and abetting offences of controlling prostitution for gain, offences of trafficking under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and possibly money laundering. A Croydon Guardian article claims sex adverts were estimated to be worth more than £44m for the regional press in 2006. A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police Service said its Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Command was a specialist unit tackling trafficking and prostitution and a number of people had been jailed in recent months. She said: In many of these investigations, the organised criminal networks have sought to advertise through local newspapers or advertising journals. It is important that everyone plays their part in trying to reduce the opportunity of criminal networks to continue their illegal activities and their exploitation of vulnerable people through advertising sexual services. The MPS is working with the media to tackle this.

Call to Nutter Duty…Keith Vaz will whinge at Parliament about latest video game

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Based on article from technology.timesonline.co.uk

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the latest in a series of first-person war games, features bloody conflict. It is so realistic that at some points a warning offers players the option to skip scenes. In the course of the ten hours or so the game will take to complete in solo mode, the player will assume a variety of roles in a global war against Russian ultranationalists led by Vladimir Makarov. One of the most controversial of these is an episode in which a character must choose whether to kill unarmed civilians in a Russian airport to infiltrate a terrorist group successfully. The scene is ‘so shocking’ that Activision, the game’s distributor, issued a statement. At the beginning of the game, there are two ‘checkpoints’ where the player is advised that some people may find an upcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can’t be disabled, it said. Modern Warfare 2 is a fantasy action game designed for intense, realistic game play that mirrors real life conflicts, much like epic, action movies. It is appropriately rated 18 for violent scenes. Nutters, however, have accused Activision of being disingenuous. Warnings of extreme content had a strong appeal to younger players, they said. Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East, told The Times: I am absolutely shocked by the level of violence in this game and am particularly concerned about how realistic the game itself looks. Whilst I appreciate that this game has been certified as an 18, I firmly believe that certain levels of violence should not be made into interactive entertainment. This would include acting as a terrorist, as is the case here, or violence against women. I will be raising this issue in Parliament on Monday.

Obsessed about Body Image…Liberal Democrats believe in the freedom of companies to advertise…BUT…

Based on article from news.bbc.co.uk

Airbrushing should be banned in advertisements aimed at children to tackle body image pressure, say the Not So Liberal Democrats. Altering photos to make them look better means children are subjected to completely unattainable images, said front-bencher Jo Swinson, herself dubbed the Makeover Queen due her obsession with body image. The Not So Liberal Democrats have put forward measures aimed at protecting women and girls from pressure about their weight, and to promote healthy living. The party also says body image and media literacy should be taught in schools and more sports activities offered to stop teenage girls dropping out of exercise. Among other proposals are for success rates to be included on cosmetic surgery adverts and for local sports centres to be made more female friendly by being cleaner and safer. The party also wants cosmetic surgery adverts to give their success rates. Ms Makeover said airbrushing should be banned in advertising aimed at the under 16s and should be clearly flagged up in adverts aimed at adults. She said young girls in particular were under increasing pressure due to completely unattainable images that no-one can live up to in real life. The focus on women’s appearance has got out of hand – no-one really has perfect skin, perfect hair and a perfect figure, but women and young girls increasingly feel that nothing less than perfect will do. Liberal Democrats believe in the freedom of companies to advertise…BUT…we also believe in the freedom of young people to develop their self-esteem and to be as comfortable as possible with their bodies. They shouldn’t constantly feel the need to measure up to a very narrow range of digitally manipulated shapes and sizes. A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Authority said airbrushing was not an issue it received many complaints about. If images had been altered to the extent they were misleading, that was when the ASA would step in, he said: We don’t get a lot of complaints about it. Consumers know there has been alteration in some of the images, maybe that is why consumer complaints are quite low.