mrs-roboto's Diaryland Diary
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You Hear It First!
A Memo to All MTV Employees reads:
In the light of the outbreak of war in Iraq in the last 12 hours, our recommendations for the scheduling and content of videos and programs are as follows:
1. Video recommendations
Obviously, there will be heightened public sensitivity to representations of war, soldiers, bombing, destruction of buildings and public unrest at home. The ITC Program Code requires us not to broadcast material which offends against good taste or is offensive to public feeling. We therefore recommend that videos featuring the following are not shown at the moment:
war
soldiers
war planes
bombs
missiles
riots and social unrest
executions
other obviously sensitive material
Examples include:
System of a Down "Boom!" - anti-war video containing facts and figures
about, amongst other things, the projected casualties in the war in Iraq.
Aerosmith "Don't want to miss a thing" - contains footage from the
film "Armageddon".
Manic Street Preachers "So Why So Sad" - contains footage of soldiers
being killed and man throwing a hand grenade.
Passengers/U2 "Miss Sarajevo" - contains missiles, guns and buildings
being blown up.
Bon Jovi "This ain't a love song" - contains war scenes and victims
in distress.
Iggy Pop "Corruption" - contains wars, riots, guns and captions "we
love guns" and "we love rifles".
Paul Hardcastle "19" - contains war footage.
Radiohead "Lucky" - contains war footage including injured children.
Billy Idol "Hot in the City" - contains an atomic explosion.
Armand van Helden "Koochy" - contains an atomic explosion and ships
being blown up.
Trick Daddy "Thug Holiday" - contains soldiers being killed at war.
Furthermore, videos with words such as "bomb", "missile", "war" or other sensitive words in the artist or song title should not be shown at the moment.
Examples include:
Outkast "B.O.B (Bombs over Baghdad)" - song title may offend.
Radiohead "Invasion" - song title may offend.
Megadeth "Holy Wars" - song title may offend.
Gavin Friday "You, Me and World War Three" - song title may offend.
B-52s videos.
Also, please note that some evergreen tapes contain sensitive videos e.g. until recently, the MTV2 evergreen contained the Outkast "B.O.B. (Bombs over Baghdad)". We therefore recommend that music programmers ensure that inappropriate songs are removed from the evergreen tape for the duration the war.
Please note that this is not a definitive list of videos. Please use the ITC video restrictions database to check each song before broadcast. If you are aware of any other videos featuring the above images, titled with the above words or which may be unsuitable for broadcast in the light of the outbreak of war, we recommend that these are pulled from your schedules.
2. Programme recommendations
Under the ITC's rules, we have two main obligations regarding programmes:
(a) Not to broadcast material which offends against good taste or is offensive
to public feeling.
For example, no program should contain:
(i) images of war, bombs, missiles, etc that are likely to be seen as insensitive
or offensive at this time (see above for further guidance).
(ii) jokes about the war, about bombing Iraqis, about the American, Iraqi or
UK troops.
(iii) comments about the war that are likely to be seen as insensitive or offensive.
Oh boy! Where do I begin with this memo? While I have no problem with the idea of never EVER seeing a Bon Jovi ever video again, banning the B 52's is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Ummm, these guys sing "Love Shack" ferchrissakes! And "Rock Lobster!" And damn, MTV hasn't played any of their videos since 1989, so what's the big deal?
And personally, I think now is the right time to be seeing videos like Paul Hardcastles "19." Did you know the the US military is the largest employer of individuals under the age of 25 in this country? Do you know how many young lives are in danger here? There is no way that that message can be over emphasized as far as I'm concerned.
You know, MTV tries to play itself off as a serious, finger-on-the-pulse-of-America, media source. MTV News ....... please. What a joke! Petepuke posted an image I can't help but pirate.
If they're so goddamn serious about bringing the youth culture the straight story why are they banning videos with what they deem as having objectionable content? You know what really has objectionable content? THE FRIGGIN WAR!!!!! And if we're talking about things that "offend against good taste or are offensive to public feeling" I think that pretty much covers every damn thing on MTV! Have you seen Sorority Life? Offending against good taste does not begin to describe that little slice of programming genius. And as far as I'm concerned anything containing Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilara, or Brittany Spears is also offensive. Could you please stop playing those videos for me? I'm also disturbed by the Real World Road Rules Girls versus Boys challenge and all the whining on the Real World Las Vegas. Let's ban that, okay? Now that I think about it, the only thing I enjoy and am not offended by on MTV is that darling Ian Robinson. Can you just turn the station over to him for me? Much appreciate it.
10:11 a.m. - 2003-03-27
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