ABC introduces online streaming

The article describes the introduction of video streaming to ABC at an important time when this was just becoming big, the idea of having to censor certain things, episodes, shows , etc was at the time coming into play for ABC and we were able to see how they have incorporated and blocked these things (videos, language), how they will dealt with balancing censorship with their viewers and the popularity of the different shows being stream. With video streaming becoming so big, the idea of what should be shone and what not is always up in the air, so you won't certain shows on Hulu but you might find it on a smaller site that has more adult content or gruesom material that may not be able to be viewed on Hulu because it is too graphic for its site or inappropriate and they do not want to hurt the ratings of the cite (along with other cites too).

http://arstechnica.com/old/content/2006/05/6711.ars

Music and its regulation

This article talked about how music is delivered and received over the internet. How censorship affects their sales and downloads, and how people react to the explicit selection that may or may not be provided. There is a selection of clean or explicit music offered by an artist if he or she had any explicit songs, this is to please all audiences for maximum profits. This appeal is to keep a well liked ambiance of the artists among all ages and this is marked in such sites as itunes and other music download sites for mp3 players or ipods. Only of recent has music needed to be censored due to the language used and before everyone could listen to the same music and there was no need to have any music blocked or at least certain lyrics. The remediation in music of late has caused an increase in censorship of music.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/901040?Search=yes&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Donline+streaming+

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil

This picture describes the hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil concept, with a censorship spin off. We use this pic to advance our argument of how censorship causes us to be ignorant of certain information and what the FCC wants us to know we have the privilege and availability to know, otherwise it stays under the table. Most of the time it is due to younger audiences for kid pg rating regulation and other standards, as well as other young sensitive material that is being restricted, to protect our kids. This picture helped us to understand why the public chooses to censor some things and leave other things in. this kind of reminds met when your mom tells you to cover your ears during a cursing scene or covers your eyes when there is a kissing scene, its to protect people from overloading us with material we may not be use to experiencing everyday as well as keeping a level of respect.

What is hidden from us? Is the truth hidden?

This image is describing censorship in the light of blocking information, entertainment, and leaving us in a sense of mystery and in a guessing game. the blank picture leaves us wondering what the picture could be entailing. It shows how affective and ineffective censorship can be because, the effect we get can be negative or frustrated due to the restriction on knowledge. It can be ineffective because we can usually get around it by viewing it on some unreated site or somewhere where the censorship is not taking place. We used this picture in our project by bridging the gap between what causes censorship and how we can get around it, whether it be online streaming or a picture. It helped us answer the question of how censorship affects views and how viewers react to this regulation.

Social Media Portfolio

It is through social media that we found both credible and interesting sources in our discussion of censorship in today's media. YouTube was one of our biggest contributors mainly because their site is the most involved in the issue based on the fact that they allow almost anyone to post a video to their site. This is unique compared to Hulu, iTunes and Google TV. So naturally YouTube has the most to lose and has to have the most trust in their followers. Therefore they have stricter rules and guidelines of what can and cannot be posted on their site. We found YouTube's restrictions right off of their main page under user agreements and restrictions. Here we also also found an educational page for parents to help guide their children in watching age appropriate videos. Next, we utilized YouTube for what it's known for; their videos. We found two completely different homemade videos about censorship specific to YouTube. While neither is 100% credible, they both offer good insight and interesting points about YouTube's newest posting requirements and limitations. By using YouTube as a media tool we gained a better understanding of what some people feel about YouTube's mandatory censoring of material through both the videos and the comments. We are also using social media to our advantage in this project because we decided to create a blog. This way it was our hope to get others involved in what we have to say and hear their opinions about online censorship. This way we could get an active conversation from different outside sources. Although in the end no one else commented on our blog we were still able to learn of other peoples' ideas through comments left on the videos and skimming through other active blogs. The talk is happening out there and many people are either really for censoring the media such as on YouTube, while others are completely against it saying it's taking away basic liberties. Our final media engagement was making an account with iTunes. We wanted to see how making an account worked to buy movies off of their site. In order to make an account we had to go through actually a quite lengthy terms and conditions page along with a profile. They wanted to know all kinds of information such as your full name, age, address, phone number and credit card. To us, this is pretty personal information but Apple wants to make sure your a credible person to do business with and trust. We purchased Due Date on our new iTunes account. The purchase went smoothly and we haven't had any problems. However, in order to buy it we were asked if we were 18 years of age once again because the movie is rated R. Therefore, iTunes still enacts an age requirement two different times, when you first make an account and as you are purchasing an age specific item. In the end however, it would have been extremely difficult to do this project without a social media influence. By using these sources we could better understand censorship's role today and the importance it plays into our topic. Web sites want to uphold a righteous and respected stature which can be done a little easier when they can control what is shown on their site, with their own name on the line.

censorship in the media is wrong!

Although it is clear is this not a very credible source, the video still brings up some important topics in our discussion of media censorship. This video is explaining how what things are being censored may not make a lot of sense to everyone. In this case, swear words are being censored, not words that have a deeper, more hurtful meaning to some people in history. Therefore, the point that I feel is necessary to get across through this un-scholarly video is that sometimes web sites block certain things while leaving other offensive things up. If you're going to block something that seems inappropriate, you need to block all of it otherwise viewers can still be offended by hearing it and also can become even more offended like this kid did in this case because a word that should of been censored in his eyes, wasn't. So the moral here is that if your going to control something by censoring it in the first place, do it completely and make sure you have all your bases covered so no one like this becomes offended in any way. This video also shows us how people really do care about these issues and web sites like YouTube and Hulu need to pay attention to it and keep their standards high.

Fox News Likes YouTube Censorship?

YouTube Question of the day: Are you 18?

The YouTube clip above resembles just how powerful and influential different forms of media can be. All though this clip has been modified as mentioned by the author "liberal viewer" the actual Fox clip is quite helpful. It shows how YouTube is trying to step up their game and become a real broadcast network where people can go and trust watching videos on. In order to earn his respect and trust they need to enact certain regulations that can monitor its viewers. It's also interesting to see how another media source, a news station becomes involved and interested in another medias action plan. This shows us how intertwined and related many forms of media are. The video clip also helps us to understand YouTube's plan of action in the upcoming months. What changes their making now and what changes are most likely to come if they do decide to try to branch out and become an even larger broadcaster. For now, this video makes it clear that YouTube does care about their image and what kinds of content is being published on their site. Therefore, censoring certain material is important to them and they want to make that clear to their audience. It's also interesting to point out some of the video's followers comments; politics aside there's some strong feelings either for or against this topic.

Controlling our New Media

In today's society media is all around us. Whether we are watching TV, listening to the radio, picking up a newspaper or even surfing the Internet, media is becoming an integral if not already part in our daily lives. Although this can be extremely beneficial, helpful and efficient; it can also create headaches for parents and other reserved individuals. Some people find things they see in the media to be offensive, crude, or just inappropriate to either themselves or others they care about. A parent most likely isn't going to want to let their 8 year old see a nude picture or a devastating car crash video on the Internet if they can help it. This only makes sense, which is why things such as community standards and control systems have been brought up. The development of regulatory regimes some websites and agencies have created have both a legitimate and effective role in some of today's controversial and sensitive stories and context. This gives power to these agencies such as itunes and YouTube to be able to control what they let out to the public. It's up to their terms and conditions on what/who they allow to see certain material on their site. It's up to them to what they feel is appropriate and "viewer friendly" to their said audience. Old school classic regulation isn't going to cut it anymore; real regulations and control need to be enacted to limit what is and isn't considered "censor able" material. It's a tough job to fill, especially when responsibilities and standards are set so high today. In order to earn the trust of people such as parents, sites need to prove to their audience that they offer a safe, productive place to offer their goods. In YouTube's case for example, they have a designated page just to informing and teaching parents how to watch for what their children are watching on their site and what rules they have for membership into their site. Without this knowledge, their wouldn't really be a reason to censor any of their material and then the out pour of concern and most likely anguish of what their releasing to the public would be tremendous!

Is Censorship Invisible or does it create Invisibilty?

This source sums up many peoples fear of censorship. This feeling originates from the idea that censoring something can completly hide what the creators intent was for their piece. In this picture you see nothing but a black screen. This is designed to make one think; what was orignially in the box, was there ever anything in the box? This is one of the problems and unpredicibilty censoring something brings. Once material is censored, there's no telling how the viewer is going to interpret or not be able to interpert it. The way this picture was censored, there is no way to tell what was originally displayed. Material is censored for many different reasons, it's not just to hide crude vocabulary and flashy attire. Sometimes it can used to block out a certain idea or belief or even ones opinion on a specific matter. This is what makes censorship so controversial and such a large issue to explore. These "blackend" images are found quite heavily through sites such as YouTube and Google TV. This could be done to agree with the sites user agreements and terms or on the terms and disgretion of the publisher/creator.

Censorships Power of Persuasion

This picture shows us exactly how powerful censorship can be when it comes to completely changing the meaning of something. In this case the word f*ckr is introduced. At quick glance and to the common eye many could see this as potentially a swear word. Adding to this all the children's eyes are covered like there not allowed to see "the mystery word". The mystery word is meant to say flickr, which is a program on yahoo that basically is like a search engine for pictures. The point of this picture is meant to show us how hiding or blocking something can completely change both the meaning and the interpretation someone makes of what their seeing. All this picture is blocking is the brand name "flickr" when it's obvious how people could easily mistake this word for something much worse. Therefore, this shows us that just because you censor something, it doesn't mean that your doing the viewer a favor. You could potentially be hiding something that the viewer does not need protection from in the first place and make them believe their watching something worse than what they really are and end up having a negative feeling towards it as a result; a feeling that might not be there if the material wasn't censored in the first place.

Censoring the Music Industry

This article suggests the use of ratings as a form of censorship. Although the dealings are not specifically geared towards online video streaming, they still focus on websites online, especially those that deal with music videos. Therefore it’s extremely close to instant streaming. The article warns the reader that there should be ratings on certain music and music videos. This is on the basis of words used in the songs, clothing the singers are wearing, and the manner to which they are performing. This is an important idea to be brought up because the same idea can be thought of in terms of video streaming. Should there be mandatory things that should automatically be censored? We will address this along with what this article says about their feelings on mandatory censorship on particular types of videos. This article will be extremely helpful to us on the fact that we can better understand the feelings behind why certain things have a basis to being censored and for what age groups.


http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/calls-to-tighten-online-content-20110730-1i5dh.html

YouTube Limitations

We chose to research YouTube as one of today's instant media streaming sources. On the company website there is a "Policies and Safety" page giving us an idea of how they may censor users from accessing certain content. There is a minimum age requirement of 13 in order to create a YouTube account. Certain videos with "mature" or "inappropriate" content can only be viewed if the user logs in to the website with their account to prove their age. This is one of the few ways to prevent young Americans from viewing videos that we see as inappropriate. Is this something that should remain in existence or is it a parent's responsibility to monitor what their children are viewing?
Other countries in recent history have acted differently than the United States. On a larger scale we can see that YouTube altogether or specific videos were blocked at certain time periods according to the map on this site. http://opennet.net/youtube-censored-a-recent-history

In Turkey for example, YouTube was blocked due to videos that were insulting Mustafa Ataturk and "Turkishness" and has been permanently banned since January 2009. Similar instances have occured in Pakistan, China, and Tunisia.

"Censorship Causes Blindness."

We believe this picture represents all forms of censorship, from the general late-night Television to modern day YouTube clips. The picture shows the phrase “censorship causes blindness” as the words get smaller, proving that today there is so much censorship that goes into the editing process of all media types. It is then hard to determine of what we are hearing or watching is 100% accurate, such as news channels or some biased stations. Censorship is the cause of "blindness" in the fact that when we also view a web page, video clip, etc. we are not necessarily seeing the actual information that was intended to be shown on the page. We do not see the "real thing" which is what we want, and then make biased opinions based on false information. An example of this online newspapers where certain ones are biased toward being liberal or conservative. Information is presented, but with the intent the sway the reader's opinion on the subject. This in and of itself is a form of censorship.

Why Study Censorship?

We chose to research censorship in today's media because the world has many new forms of online streaming that did not exist a few decades ago. There are different forms of media providers such as iTunes, YouTube, Hulu, Google TV and many more. Our blog is not even being censored or limiting what we are telling you on the web! Our investigation has provided us with information of exactly how these programs limit user access or what users can view or purchase. We also thought it was worth while to compare today's forms of censorship to how this was done a little while back with late-night television. We found ourselves questioning censorship and whether it is effective on a large scale as it intends to be.

In the past, the most known form of censorship in the media involved cable television. Late night TV would and still does show mature rated shows, movies, live stand-up comedians, and much more. A warning or rating would be shown before the show started, informing adults who can then decide whether their children could watch it. This article below talks about the television rating system that developed in the 1990’s. There are two different sides; those who oppose it and those we like the new system. Some think that children are seeing too much sex and violence on TV and that the ratings are not doing anything to stop them from watching these shows that cause “violent adults”. This has developed much in recent history and has become a very complex and controversial topic.

“New TV Ratings: Censorship?” Weekly Reader Corporation: Current Events 97.2 (1997). Web. 4 Oct 2011.