To add a little to Jeremy's posting about this experiment: >A few of us SCREEN-L folks have been working on real-time >Internet-based discussions on topics of interest to film/TV educators >and students. We think we've come up with a workable method for doing >this and have set a time (see below for different timezones) and a >topic for our first "chat": > >Media Censorship Australian members of this list will be aware that Australia is experiencing an upheaval in censorship policy, in part provoked by the recent shootings in Tasmania. When the home of Martin Bryant was searched, 2000 videos were removed, which were widely reported in the media to be "violent". Accounts now differ, but at least one official source suggests that they were in fact a significant personal library of Classical Hollywood musicals and comedies ... Nevertheless, the persistent connection of screen and actual violence means that we are seeing the introduction of the V-chip; the possible reclassification of violent films in MA categories into the R category; the possible reclassification of violent R-rated films into a banned category; and the possible overhaul of membership of the Office of Film and Literature Classification. In the context of this last change, the Minister for Communications and the Arts argued recently that film and video classification should be carried out by "parents who are simply viewers", rather than "experts and so-called professionals" who have been made "cynical" by their exposure to "research" -- a fairly succinct dismissal of the value of screen education. These views have been contested, but as they speak directly to the kinds of things that many of us are engaged in (and which therefore exclude us from speaking into the censorship debate!), some of us feel that we would particularly appreciate the opportunity to talk to US members of the list on this topic. In particular, but not exclusively: * Is US screen censorship policy also undergoing a shift? Can we detect a global trend? * Are things really getting worse, and is Hollywood to blame? (a common lament here) * Should censorship policy distinguish between so-called art cinema and so-called commercial cinema? (as is being argued by present and past directors of the Sydney Film Festival) * How about that V-chip? * And what should/could be the role of screen education in all of this? Kate Bowles Screen Studies, University of Wollongong ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]