The politics of exclusion: political censorship and the arts-as-industry paradigm

In Australia from 1992 to 1999 Jeff Kennett led the Liberal state government in Victoria. Under his leadership an important vision statement for the arts was produced, and ambitious redevelopments of Victoria’s major cultural institutions were undertaken. Kennett’s ‘vision’ included reforms to Arts Victoria (the state-based arts funding agency) and a radical revision of how the arts were to be subsidised. This represented a wholesale adoption of a new policy approach which saw the arts and culture as an industry which could benefit, in particular, the development of cultural tourism for the state of Victoria. This paper argues that while the arts could be seen to have benefited from the Kennett government’s largesse, some parts of the arts sector were excluded and subjected to censorship. Based on both primary and secondary sources, we argue that in this period, the work of artists which expressed a politically dissenting view was actively discouraged.

Scandal, censorship and representation in the online world : an ethical conundrum

This research begins by examining the foundation issues of content censorship from a literary perspective and then proceeds in comparison to discuss the issues of online content appropriateness and whether the same censorship principles of literature are transitional to the online world. Currently, uncertainty exists in how to tackle this issue as there appears to be a lack of formal rules or suggested guidelines applied to the content appropriateness, management and availability of online material. Therefore, where does the onus of online content censorship exist in this medium? Or is it left to the ethical and moral standards of the material source/creator, online access provider or the cultural ethics of the wider community to adjudicate?

Censorship, resistance and transformation in modern Indonesian literature

This paper investigates the way in which Indonesian literature has reflected violations of human rights in Indonesia in the last decade of the New Order (1990-1998). The regime was authoritarian and responded harshly to any challenge which could cause trouble to national stability. Some writers, such as Seno Gumira Ajidarma, used the power of allegory to resist this oppression. The three works examined here – ‘Saksi Mata’, ‘Pelajaran Sejarah’, and ‘Misteri Kota Ninggi’ – can be considered as a form of resistance literature.

Pipit Rochijat's subversive mythologies: the Suharto era and beyond

This article examines Indonesian émigré Pipit Rochijat's attempts to adapt and renew the tales of the traditional shadow theatre, the wayang. The significance of Pipit's subversive mythologies lies in the historical context in which these reinterpretations occurred: at the height of Suharto's New Order regime in the mid 1980s. At a time when censorship and self-censorship had virtually crippled the critical impulse of Indonesian cultural expression, the return to mythology was in a significant sense an attempt to evade, critique, and undermine the authorities. By appropriating the very same symbols and language in which the New Order authoritarian regime had manipulated so effectively, Indonesian dissidents such as Pipit discovered the perfect symbolic weapon with which to radicalize their opposition.

The inadequacy of Western media theory in third world internal conflicts : the case of military censorship in Sri Lanka

The literature of communication and conflict is long and deep. However, it has focused primarily on cross-border conflict in the northern hemisphere. Not much academic research has been done on intra-state conflicts in general or on Asian conflicts in particular. This research on the Sri Lankan separatist conflict contributes towards filling this void.Newspaper reports in three languages on Operation Jayasikurui (1997) as well as on the capture of Elephant Pass (2000) were analyzed by trained coders with high reliability. In-depth interviews were conducted with Sri Lankan journalists and military personnel who participated in these incidents. Triangulation sources include Sri Lanka Army materials and the Sri Lanka Government Gazette.

Results clearly show that despite stringent governmental regulations, censorship had no effect on these Sri Lankan newspapers, which employed unique cultural techniques to circumvent these restrictions. Despite their apparent divergent ethnic backgrounds, all newspaper samples are consensual in their depiction of the conflict all the time while managing to set different agendas for their individual readerships. Media regulations could not impose censorship as proposed by Western theoretical constructs. Results show no correspondence between media samples and imposition of government or military policy. The press enjoyed freedom to convey war information to the public and exhibited a distinct streak of social responsibility in their watchdog instincts.Dominant Western propaganda models and theoretical perspectives do not apply to the Sri Lankan context. Understanding the cultural dimensions is essential before theorizing on media behaviour. No particular theoretical framework from the literature could be used to make inferences. One further interesting finding suggested from this research: Internal conflict within the Asian region may have its own unique theoretical perspective. The study concludes by proposing an alternative model.

The inadequacy of Western media theory in third world internal conflicts : the case of military censorship in Sri Lanka

Research on media production and on media effects under military censorship has centred primarily on cross-border conflicts being waged by Western regimes. There is a noticeable void in understanding internal conflicts, particularly so within the Asian region. To help address this lacuna, we content-analyse Sri Lankan newspaper samples of two critical military campaigns within the Sri Lankan separatist conflict to gain insight into an Asian internal conflict within the context of military censorship and culture. We discover that supposedly stringent censorship regulations and the rules of the official communication systems have almost no effect on Sri Lankan newspapers, which demonstrate a unique talent to circumvent these strictures. During these bloody internal conflicts, the Sri Lankan press enjoyed freedom of expression, flaunted social responsibility and their watchdog instincts, and, most interestingly for us, demonstrated the failure of the Western propaganda model and other theoretical perspectives. The importance of understanding cultural dimensions before theorizing media behaviour in order to obtain a more rational understanding of the sociology of media is posited by this study. We conclude with discussion of a new model of media censorship which has more relevance in Asian internal conflicts.

The regulation of research by funding bodies : an emerging ethical issue for the alcohol and other drug sector?

The degree to which funding bodies can and do control the content and dissemination of research products raises important issues which need to be openly debated by the alcohol and other drug (AOD) sector. Current policies relating to censorship and other means of controlling research topics or output are explored alongside an examination of how some institutions, particularly some academic journals, deal with such issues. We argue that regulation of research by funding bodies clearly contravenes the scientific ideal of freedom of information and open access to knowledge. Using international ethical guidelines, we also demonstrate that regulation raises concerns in relation to the ethical concept of beneficence. A number of examples specific to harm reduction strategies are presented in order to demonstrate how censorship might conceivably increase the harms associated with drug use. The commentary closes with recommendations concerning the establishment the prevalence of censorship and other forms of control over research in the AOD sector, and the role that ethics committees, journal editorial boards and professional societies might play in resisting the imposition of unacceptable conditions on publication of findings.

Western propaganda models reconsidered : the "Catherine Whell" of censorship circumvention in developing world internal conflicts

This study is a deep-text analysis of military censorship applied to the national press in the Sri Lankan conflict. We examine press coverage of two Sri Lankan military operations, namely Operation Jayasikurui (1997) and the Capture of Elephant Pass (2000), to identify patterns of signification that help us construct a novel theory of conflict reporting under censorship within the context of ethnic, intrastate conflict. Our study shows that Sri Lankan newspapers, while abiding by censorship regulations, contradictorily also manoeuvred around these regulations as if censorship did not exist. Noteworthy were the censorship circumvention techniques that were used. For example, journalists taught readers how to ‘read’ blank space. They used commentary to educate readers how to read the straight news. They used conflict frames to overcome bias towards official viewpoints. They used multi-source confirmation to avoid pre-dominance of official views. They used respectful words rather than demonised opponents. Great attention
was paid to victims of the conflict, destruction of life and property, and civil society. Our findings do not accord well with previous theoretical models of the media role in society and of press censorship under conflict. The Sri Lankan press is highly intertwined within its cultural context and follows its own value system. We propose the ‘Catherine Wheel Model of Censorship Circumvention’ about press behaviour in times of internal conflict. Our model attempts to explain internal conflict within the developing world context in which the press system is based deeply in culture and is more accustomed to circumventing censorship than obeying it.

Intellectual property, creativity and innovation : IP models and the political economy of developing Asia

In advanced capitalist societies, intellectual property laws protecting such subject matter as copyright and patents are justified by a combination of theories, which include the provision of economic incentives to foster creativity and innovation and the prevention of unfair competition. IP academics and policy makers have differing views about the appropriate balance between these objectives and public interest considerations such as health, education and the protection of the environment. These different views entered the policy debate in Asian developing countries in connection with an unprecedented introduction and expansion of IP laws over the last 25 years. This paper will use case studies of law reform from Asia, in particular Southeast Asia, to show that the policy considerations of governments in reforming their laws were often quite different from the standard rationale mentioned above. As much of the IP was, at least initially, held by foreigners and introduced to attract foreign investment, national development considerations were joined with the more commonly quoted objectives to promote the rights, creativity and innovation of individuals. Such national development objectives at times coincided and at other times collided with official explanations and received wisdom about the effects of stronger IP rights.

Especially in the early postcolonial period, copyright laws and other IP laws were frequently restricted or simply not implemented, if they conflicted with development policies in areas such as education or public health. Such policies were slowly changing in the wake of WTO-TRIPS and other international agreements. Nevertheless, the implementation and enforcement of the IP laws has been uneven. Specialised institutions such as courts and IP administering agencies compete with other branches of government and administration for limited funding and a rich repertoire of informal dispute settlement procedures has kept the number of court cases relatively low. In some countries, censorship laws have influenced freedom of expression and led to quite idiosyncratic interpretations of intellectual property laws. Governments often also retain a role in the assessment of licensing and technology transfer contracts. And while there are many programs to foster individual creativity, in most cases R & D activities are still largely taking place in government institutions and this has influenced the thinking about intellectual property rights and creativity in the context of employment.

The paper uses a few case studies to examine the implementation of IP laws in selected Asian developing countries to point to the quite different institutional setting for IP law reform in comparison to European or American models. It reaches some tentative conclusions as to the likely effects on creativity and innovation under these different circumstances.

Australia and the question of internet control

The Australian Federal Government is concerned about the impact of the Internet on Australian society and has been considering ways to protect the Australian public against the "darker" elements of the Internet. The Federal Government has proposed a new model whereby Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) level the filtering of overseas hosted Internet material classified as Refused Classification (RC) under the National Classification Scheme. This paper will describe the historical development of this strategy and will analyse the outcome of the public consultation of the proposed Australian Federal Government proposals.

E-governance as digital ecosystem : a new way to think about citizen engagement and the internet?

There has been a long history of attempting to deploy networked information and communications – mostly in the form of the Internet – to support the broad goals of effective, efficient and responsible democratic government. While there has been considerable talk about the way such technologies might promote better governance – through increased citizen participation in debates and discussions about future outcomes – there has been, in contrast, much action that actually uses the Internet for more efficient government, by creating online and networked interfaces by which citizens can transact business with government. There has been only limited success in using the Internet and similar communications channels to allow citizens to participate in their own governance. Undoubtedly, the Internet does facilitate public consultation. For example, the European Commission used an Interactive Policy Making web tool for public consultation on legislation for regulation of chemicals. Over 6,500 contributions were received over a period of 2 months and the consultation process led to the identification of key flaws in proposals, saving billions of Euros (Timmers,2008). However, consultation of this kind tends to be a mechanism for gathering opinion and gaining citizen approval for change that is not different except in transmission form than previous approaches based on meetings and written submissions. While the European Commission example can be seen as successful, Internet-based consultation can too easily become promotional or marketing oriented, as in recent efforts in Australian by the Federal Communications Minister to use a blog to discuss proposed changes to Internet censorship regulations: in this case, discussion and debate from participants appears largely to have been ignored in favour of a pre-existing position. This paper aims to provide a solution to some of these problems by drawing on the idea of how the Internet can host and support a digital eco-system.