Fundamentals of Content Regulation
3 Let me now delve briefly on the fundamentals of content regulation. Firstly, our content regulation system is guided by societal norms and values and the importance of maintaining racial and religious harmony. In this respect, our broad-based citizen advisory committees have provided valuable advice to MDA on content issues across all media.
4 Secondly, the intent of regulation is to make more choices available to meet the diverse interests of our people, as we continue to uphold societal values and to safeguard and protect our young. This requires us to maintain judicious balance and I am heartened that the CRC also shares this view.
5 Thirdly, the balance in content regulation has shifted away from censorship towards classification and co-regulation over the years. Censorship has been carried out only rarely and only on sensitive and offensive content in recent years. Over the past three years, nine films or 0.4% of the 2,351 films classified in the period were disallowed while for arts events, only one out of 2,724 arts events were disallowed. Indeed, our overall approach has been towards a calibrated liberalisation of the content regulation regime.
Shared Responsibility
6 Our premise on content regulation is that this is a shared responsibility between MDA as regulator, parents and the public, including the industry and media and arts groups.
7 While the CRC has highlighted the role of regulators and parents, media and arts groups have a responsibility too. They should respect and be sensitive to society’s values and mores. They must recognise the valid concern of parents and the community regarding undesirable content. Only with this shared responsibility among all stakeholders can the arts and media environment become more engaging, vibrant and dynamic.
Principles Underpinning Government’s Response
8 Before I proceed to focus on Government’s response to some of CRC’s specific recommendations, let me share some of the principles which have guided our deliberations.
9 Firstly, we should move with, rather than move ahead of society. While we want to increase content choices for adults, we have to first ensure that society is generally comfortable with the direction and pace of the changes. Accordingly, we should make regular adjustments and incremental changes. This was one of the reasons why this CRC was convened ahead of the usual 10-year cycle. Secondly, within the broad parameters defined by our norms and values, we want to make more choices available while we enable parents to exercise more effective control over these choices on behalf of their children.
Majority of Recommendations Accepted
10 We have gone through three earlier CRCs, at intervals of about 10 years. Each review has helped us to progressively develop a more robust and responsive regulatory framework, in line with shifting societal norms, to the benefit of both consumers and the industry.
11 This fourth CRC was convened some six years after the conclusion of the previous CRC. It was timely. Technological and societal changes, including to our arts and media landscape, are taking place rapidly. Comprehensive reviews and careful refinements to the existing regulatory structure need to take place at more frequent intervals to keep pace with these changes.
12 MICA accepts over 80% of the changes proposed by the CRC. Others will require further study, deliberation and consultation with the advisory committees. MDA will work out the implementation details and target to implement the accepted recommendations by the end of next year.
Significant Change
13 There will be a number of significant changes arising from the recommendations contained in this CRC report. Let me touch briefly on those related to the films and the arts.
14 We will introduce a PG 13 rating which will give parents more accurate information on the suitability of films for teens. We will allow R21 films on the Video on Demand platform, provided the necessary safeguards can be put in place, and this will give more choices to adults. We will permit the video industry to self-classify video titles which fall within the G, PG, and PG 13 ratings categories which will give distributors a faster turnaround time to offer such videos to consumers.
15 On arts entertainment, we will implement a term licensing scheme. Invited arts groups will be given greater autonomy and they will no longer be required to have their scripts and materials pre-vetted. The appeal committee for arts will have the final decision making power on appeals related to the arts, similar to the responsibilities conferred on the Films Appeal Committee for appeals related to films.
R21 Films
16 The CRC has made a range of recommendations to allow greater access to R21 films. Subject to conditions and restrictions, the CRC has proposed the screening of R21 films in cinemas in HDB estates, the sale of R21 videos and for R21 content to be allowed on subscription TV and VOD.
17 We have taken careful note of the range of feedback on this subject and the CRC survey results. We stand guided by the principles I espoused earlier in making carefully calibrated changes on this matter. As we pondered over making R21 films more widely available, we were mindful to allow parents to decide on and control access to these choices for their children. Hence, we ruled out the sale of R21 videos. The CRC survey and public feedback indicate that society is not yet comfortable for R21 movies to be screened in heartland cinemas either. For this reason, we will not be allowing R21 films in heartland cinemas. We do, however, propose to allow access to such material in the home environment limited to VOD with the necessary parental locks and other safeguards in place, and not linear channels on pay TV where the possibility of accidental access may be higher.
100-website ban and filtering service
18 Another CRC recommendation is that the symbolic 100-website ban imposed by the Government be replaced with a filtering service. Let me first talk about the 100-website ban. The categories of websites that are banned include sites which contain pornographic content; sites which incite racial and religious intolerance; and sites which promote terrorism and extremism.
19 Some have questioned the practical value of the ban and whether it will lead to a false sense of security. We acknowledge that the technologically savvy among us will be able to circumvent this ban, and that there are many more than 100 such websites out there. But we will retain it, not so much for its functional usefulness, rather as a symbolic statement of our society’s values. It serves as a reminder that there is a significant body of material on the Internet that is unsavoury and unedifying. As reflected in the CRC survey, the population also supports the retention of this ban.
20 To complement this ban, the Government will direct the Internet Service Providers to offer opt-in Internet filters. The Government will also expect the ISPs to market the service actively to parents at the point-of-sale and renewal. We acknowledge that such filters are not 100% foolproof. Nevertheless, these are useful tools to enable parents and adults to limit access to undesirable content by the young and help to reinforce public education efforts to promote a culture of cyber wellness.
Harmonisation of content ratings
21 I will now move on to the CRC’s recommendation about harmonisation of content ratings.
22 The Government agrees that content ratings across different media platforms should be harmonised. We will use the Film Classification System as a reference for other media. As a start, the ratings used for films and videos will now apply to pay TV and video-on-demand. This change, we hope, will help make it easier and less confusing for parents and members of public to make informed choices for their children and for themselves.
23 However, for publications, such harmonisation is not so straightforward. Local publications, such as magazines, have a significantly higher public reach and generally been held to higher content standards as compared to foreign publications. The Government will retain this practice. We do not think it worthwhile for local publications to emulate the style and level of content put out by foreign publications, which is the practical outcome if this recommendation is accepted.
24 The CRC has also recommended that existing content codes governing broadcast services should be extended to mobile-only content services. We agree with this. With the increasing proliferation of mobile devices, mobile broadcast content is increasingly being accessed by the young. The MDA is in the process of developing a suitable content code.
Conclusion
25 Let me conclude by saying that the Government strives to strike a judicious balance in our content regulation. The changes to and shifts on this balance will continue to evolve and it needs to do so at a pace that society is comfortable with. Thank you.