Negative Influences of the Media

“The media is a powerful influence in our society. Organisations such as the OFLC and the ABA are evidence that individuals in our society are likely to be negatively influenced by the media”

The Office of Film & Literature Classification (OFLC) and the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) are Australia’s safeguards against issues that are coming about as a result of international media penetration and concentrated media ownership; such issues include desensitization and the threat to the idea of democracy.

Desensitization is a predominant issue for consumers of media, it has a snowball affect in which content that seemed so ground breaking and controversial, rapidly becomes the norm and then new content is created to be more controversial than before. This has a dramatic effect on people that are exposed to this content, and fuels change in our culture very promptly.

Therefore the OFLC and ABA (now run by the ACMA) have in place rules which restrict content from damaging our culture. This is achieved by the use of a classification board that determines at what age you can have access to the content, some content is deemed too offensive for our shores, and is given no classification which means it cannot be shown or sold in Australia.

A supposed example of the negative effects of media, one that has stirred up a lot of controversy in the newspapers, is that of the affects of games on children. Especially scrutinised was the Grand Theft Auto series in which the player is immersed in a city in which they can freely go on rampages to kill people with guns, or run them over with vehicles. Some crimes were blamed upon the game, with some offenders claiming that the game changed their perception of the real world and caused them to go out on their own rampage, however most of these claims were proven to be false.

It is interesting to note that the OFLC refused to classify Grand Theft Auto : Vice City and the game creators had to make a special censored version of the game for release in Australia.

The Australian culture is an area which has seen a lot of change since the introduction of Television, in the early days our television was limited to mostly Australian made shows, with the likes of Bert Newton and Graham Kennedy being the main attractions on Television.

But in the 21st century things are very different, with shows being imported internationally because they are cheaper and often attract bigger audiences, Australia is slowly