UK Nutter News

 
Nutters scupper art exhibition

Based on an article from the Catholic World News

An art exhibition including a supposedy obscene image of the Virgin Mary has been cancelled in Bologna, Italy, on orders from the city's Mayor Sergio Cofferati.

Cofferati described the anti-Catholic display as unacceptable vulgarity that offends believers and non-believers. The Communist mayor went on to say: Cultural exhibits are effective when they are respectful and do not become vulgar, as unfortunately, happened in this case.

A local politician from the Forza Italia Party, Fabio Garagnani, has demanded the exhibit be tried before the courts for transgression of article 403 of Italy’s penal code, which penalizes public offences against religious faith. A statement by the Archdiocese of Bologna called the event an “abominable blasphemy."

 
Obscenity investigation into The Da Vinci Code quickly dropped

From the CBC.ca

State prosecutors in an Italian town have dropped an obscenity investigation into the movie The Da Vinci Code , a day after it was launched.

The port village of Civitavecchia, north of Rome, was the centre of international media attention over the investigation.

But the state prosecutor's office in the town said the decision to drop a plan to lay charges was made based on the merits of the case.

There are no grounds for this investigation,  an official said.

It was launched following a complaint from a group of clergy who claimed the film violated Italian obscenity laws because it puts forward the idea that Jesus married and had a child.

 
The Vatican should realise by now the harm that can be caused by sexual denial

From the Khaleej Times

The Vatican urged nations to pass laws to curb the ‘modern slavery’ of prostitution to protect women from violence and punish clients.

A new document said the exploitation of women stemmed from activities including human trafficking and sex tourism and the problem should be tackled in a comprehensive way.

The victims of prostitution are human beings, who in many cases cry out for help, to be freed from slavery,’ the document by the Vatican’s department on migrant issues said: The customers too are people with deeply rooted problems, and in a certain sense are also slaves .

An effective measure towards cultural change with respect to prostitution could derive from associating criminal law with social condemnation. Monsignor Agostino Marchetto, explained: We think that there should be not only protection of women but also a punishment for the clients.

He said the Vatican would push for legislation along the Swedish model, which penalises customers with jail sentences and fines based on their salaries.

The section of the document that dealt with prostitution, called Pastoral Ministry for the Liberation of Street Women, said men who frequent prostitutes should be aware of the Church’s: clear condemnation of their sins and the injustice they commit.

Call to ban vibrating condom rings in Madhya Pradesh

From The Times

A vibrating condom has become the latest target of Hindu nationalists who have outlawed sex education in many schools and suggested teaching teenagers yoga instead.

Authorities in the central state of Madhya Pradesh are planning to ban sales of Crezendo condoms, which have a “vibrating ring” in each pack, on the ground that they should be considered sex toys.

Condoms should be used for family planning , said Kailash Vijayvargiya, the public works minister for Madhya Pradesh, which is governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These are sex toys to be used for sexual satisfaction, he told The Times. I’ve instructed government officers to check if there is a law against such things. If there isn’t a law, we’ll make one.

Crezendos, released nationwide six months ago, advertise themselves as your passport to the Republic of Pleasure , promising a 20-minute joyride through the realms of vibrating pleasure . Each pack contains three condoms and a tiny battery powered vibrator attached to a ring, which is designed to sit at the base of the condom and stimulate the man and the woman during sex. The vibrator is re-usable, but its battery lasts for only 20 minutes, according to Hindustan Latex, its state-owned manufacturer.

This month, India’s first “condom bar” opened in the northern state of Punjab. The initiative is certain to raise eyebrows among more orthodox residents. But its backers say that there is a serious purpose behind the scheme as the aim is to promote HIV and Aids awareness.

'Cleric' calls for murder of magazine editor

Based on an article from the Times of India see full article

A 'cleric' has issued a fatwa ordering the killing of the editor and the publisher of a local fashion magazine for publishing allegedly objectionable pictures of Adam and Eve, after which Pakistani authorities banned the sale of its latest issue.

The magazine Octane carried the images of Adam and Eve under the caption 'Apple: The Bone of Contention' in its June edition. Police lodged a case against the monthly magazine on the charge of publishing "obscene" pictures after the head 'cleric' of Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, issued the fatwa on Saturday at the mosque: Who will kill the chief editor and chief publisher of monthly Octane that published snaps of Hazrat Adam and Eve in their June publication.

But, masjid administrator Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi on Sunday demanded that the charge of blasphemy be brought against the editor and the publisher. The police have charged them for publishing vulgar pictures but not under blasphemy laws, he said, claiming the accused persons have committed a grave sin.

Magazine editor Zubair Kasuri, however, argued that it was just an advertisement which was also published by others earlier. He claimed that there was nothing blasphemous about it. But if it created any misunderstandings, we are ready to apologise.

Update: Bone of Contention

From the Daily Times

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned a fatwa for “blasphemy” issued by a cleric against the staff of English-language fashion magazine Octane.

The managers of this magazine deserve to die, Maulana Abdul Aziz said at Friday prayers on June 15 at the radical Lal Masjid after the magazine carried a series of photos in its June edition with a caption that read: Adam and Eve, the bone of contention.

There is no possible justification for such radical steps to express disapproval of certain media practices, said a statement issued by Reporters Without Borders. We urge the Pakistani government to take responsibility for the safety of the staff of the magazine and to put an end to this harassment.

Trapped in an obsessional life and a nonsense quest

From The Liberty Papers see full article

In Georgia, a holier than thou Christian by the name of Laura Malloy has tried, and failed, for the 5th time to remove Harry Potter from Gwinnett County government school  library shelves. Malloy says the books cause children to embrace witchcraft

A judge gave Laura Mallory 64 minutes to argue why the Harry Potter books should be removed from school library shelves. She didn’t convince him. Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor instead upheld a decision by the Gwinnett County public schools to reject Mallory’s request and keep the popular J.K. Rowling series in school libraries.

The hearing Tuesday marked the fifth defeat for the Loganville woman, who has children in the Gwinnett schools and who launched her anti-Potter crusade in 2005.

Mallory said she is considering filing “a brand-new case” in federal court and hiring a lawyer to represent her: One day, the truth about this is going to come out .

Mallory restated many of her previous complaints about the Harry Potter series. She argued the books lure children into practicing witchcraft. Mallory said the school board’s decision to offer the books in taxpayer-funded libraries violates the U.S. Constitution because, she claims, they promote the Wiccan religion. Mallory also argued the books are too violent for children.

 
Buddha images on underwear offend Thailand

From Thai Visa

An American Web site offering G-string underwear and T-shirts for dogs emblazoned with picture of Buddha dropped them from its sales list after protests by predominantly Buddhist Thailand.

It is a good thing they understand our sensitivity, Foreign Ministry spokesman Piriya Khempon said a day after saying the products sold on California-based on-line store CafePress.com had offended Thais and Buddhists elsewhere.

The site sells more than 70 items, ranging from T-shirts to teddy bears to beer pitchers bearing pictures of religious figures and philosophers from Hindu god Shiva to Jesus Christ and Mahatma Gandhi.

Although the site removed advertisements for Buddha G-strings and dog T-shirts, items depicting Jesus and Shiva remained.

   
Nutters complain about airline seat back TV

Based on an article from the Washington Times see full article

A media watchdog group is criticizing Delta Air Lines for making the HBO series Rome and other supposedly 'bawdy' shows available for in-flight viewing after a passenger complained that children could see nudity and sex scenes.

Billy Ford said the shows were aired on overhead movie screens during a May 6 flight from Atlanta to Duesseldorf, Germany. He complained after watching three scenes of nudity or sex on Rome and another on Da Ali G Show .

Delta officials say the programs were intended as an option for viewing on private screens in the back of the airplane's seat and were shown on the public overhead screens by mistake. As soon as our flight attendants became aware it was being shown, it was cut off and we made an immediate apology to passengers, said Betsy Talton, a spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Delta.

That's not enough for Ford and Morality in Media, a New York-based group that targets pornography and other entertainment deemed indecent.

They say sexually explicit programs should not be allowed even on the personal screens because neighboring passengers are exposed to the images, regardless of whether they want to be.

An airplane is a public place, group President Robert Peters said. It's not a private home, where some adult pays extra money to bring HBO into their home.

Peters said children could order the adult-themed programming if they are seated away from their parents or if the adults are sleeping or not paying attention. They also could be exposed to them by neighbors.

The Delta spokesperson said passengers, including parents, may request that access to the on-demand programming be shut off to their seats, and that customers who request to be moved away from someone watching a program that offends them will be accommodated when possible.

   
Objections to showing Iranian film at Cannes

From Stop Fundamentalism

Iranian Mullahs’ have once again exposed to the world their limited tolerance for views that might be slightly different than theirs.

Iran has sent the French Embassy in Tehran a letter of protest regarding the screening of an Iranian film maker’s movie, Persepolise , at the Cannes Film Festival.

The movie is about a child growing up in Iran after the Islamic Revolution.

The letter sent by the state-run Farabi Foundation in Iran reads, This year the Cannes Film Festival, in an unconventional and unsuitable act, has chosen a movie about Iran that has presented an unrealistic face of the achievements and results of the glorious Islamic Revolution in some of its parts.

Mullahs are trying very hard to extend the reach of their censorship and their totalitarian rule all the way up into Europe.

The film is competing for the top prize and will be officially screened Wednesday.

   
Iran takes offence at Cannes prize

From iAfrica

An advisor to Iran's president has expressed fury over the awarding of a top Cannes festival prize to an animation about growing up in revolutionary Iran, saying the movie promoted "Islamophobia".

Persepolis , which jointly won the Jury Prize at Cannes, is based on best-selling comics by an Iranian-French emigre about her struggling with the authorities in the early days of the Islamic revolution.

Islamophobia in Western drama started in France and producing and highlighting the anti-Iranian film Persepolis in Cannes falls in line with this Islamophobia, seethed Mehdi Kalhor, a cultural advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He said Persepolis sought to sabotage Iranian culture and will not be the last anti-Iranian film .

   
New Zealand catholics bring case against South Park

From TV3

Catholic bishops in New Zealand say they have brought a case before the High Court which could have a big impact on the community.

They launched a legal case over a controversial episode of the animated television show South Park , featuring a menstruating Virgin Mary.

Catholics complained to the Broadcasting Standards Authority when it was screened, but the complaint was thrown out.

Lawyers for the bishops have appealed to the High Court, claiming the programme breached obligations under the Broadcasting Act.

Church spokeswoman Lindsay Freer says the court has reserved its decision.

   
Vatican censorship of BBC documentary

From eitb

A political row has erupted in Italy over whether state television should air a BBC Panorama documentary about the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests.

The dispute broke out after a conservative politician said RAI should block the documentary because it was part of what he called a media execution squad ready to open fire on the Church and the Pope.

Mario Landolfi, head of the parliament's oversight committee for the broadcaster, asked RAI director general Claudio Cappon to deny permission to air Sex Crimes and the Vatican .

The documentary was aired on the BBC in October but never in Italy, although bloggers have translated it and it now ranks as Google Video Italia's most popular item. Several leftist politicians immediately attacked Landolfi's request for censorship.

At the weekend, Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference, accused bloggers who put the documentary on the web of spreading "infamous slander".

Two leftists parliamentarians, Giovanni Russo Spena and Gennaro Migliore, said in a joint statement that the documentary should be aired because paedophilia in the Catholic Church is well known, there is no mystery about it.

   
Vatican win right to reply

From TV Guide

Italy's state broadcaster has now decided to buy a BBC documentary on the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests but will only let it be aired if accompanied by balancing opinion from the Church.

The documentary had sparked a political row which pitted right-wing politicians opposed to the airing against leftists who said censoring it would violate freedom of speech.

On Tuesday RAI director general Claudio Cappon approved purchasing the documentary, called Sex Crimes and the Vatican , but set conditions for how it can be broadcast.

He demanded that the program hosting the documentary, talk show Year Zero , also let prominent members of the Church give their version of events and contest the documentary's assertions.

Michele Santoro, a left-leaning journalist, had originally planned to air the documentary this Thursday but will now delay broadcasting it.

Update: Aired

The documentary was indeed broadcast on Thursday 31st May

Beyer Recommends... The Virgin School

Beyer Recommends...The Virgin School

Thanks to Dan who noted that the Daily Mail have re-run the same story marking the broadcast that they ran when the show was first announced. So if it seems a little familiar...

Based on an article from the Daily Mail

Channel 4 sparked outrage after it screened a new show which featured a male virgin being taught how to have sex.

James from Kent, who is 26 and had never slept with a woman, visited a sex school in Amsterdam, where he spent three months learning "the art of intimacy".

Viewers were subjected to the uncomfortable sight of James losing his virginity to a sex therapist in the show called The Virgin School .

It is part of a series of programmes about virginity lined up for this year, which will also look at the different ways in which people lose their virginity.

John Beyer, director of Mediawatch UK said: It beggars belief. It's yet another example of them trying to attract viewers with a programme about sex. It is really time that Channel 4 grew up. They are so caught up in their own importance that they really can't see beyond their own quest for sensationalism and controversy.

A Channel 4 spokesman said: Virgin School is a sensitive documentary that follows one young man's effort to overcome a major obstacle in his life. The programme focuses on his emotional journey and his growing confidence with women, not the final result.

The next show called Make Me A Virgin is a documentary where filmmaker and ex-evangelical Christian Jamie Campbell investigates the claim that more and more teenagers are holding on to their virginity as a reaction against the sex obsessed culture of our times. Channel 4 will then screen Desperate Virgins , an investigation into the lives of three people who have yet to have sex.

   
Catholics whinge about Canadian TV programme

From Canada.com

A Canadian Catholic organization is accusing the TV company, CBC, of blasphemy over a pilot program that portrays altar boys as drug users and the Catholic communion host as munchable snack food, possible poker chips and a repository for drops of LSD.

Catholics should not have to pay for shows where their most sacred rituals and images are considered a starting point for dramatic licence, said the Catholic Civil Rights League, which intends to lodge a formal complaint today with the CBC for airing The Altar Boy Gang .

Two 30-minute pilot shows of The Altar Boy Gang , produced by Sienna Films of Toronto, aired last Friday with the help of more than $600,000 in funding from the Canadian Television Fund, which supports the production of distinctively Canadian TV programs.

Jeff Keay, a CBC spokesman, said yesterday the show will not become a CBC series. But he said he thought the premise of the pilot shows did not cross the line: We certainly intend no disrespect of the Catholic Church or any other religious organization. He said the network has received no other complaints about the shows.

Joanne McGarry, the civil rights league's executive director, said she watched the two pilots and personally, the part where I cringed the most, was the desecration of the host. She said she intended to send a formal complaint to Robert Rabinovitch, president of the CBC : We think the religious faith of all Canadians should be respected in our programming.

   
Complaints about US TV decline

Based on an article from AVN

The FCC's Quarterly Report on Informal Consumer Inquiries and Complaintsrevealed that there were just 30,962 consumer complaints about obscenity/indecency on the airwaves received by the FCC in the last quarter of 2006, 29,821 of which were received in October alone, leaving just 1,141 for November and December.

This figure is down from the 162,170 complaints the agency had received in the previous quarter, a mere shadow of the obscenity/indecency complaints it received in the first half of '06 ... and miniscule compared to the flood of 1,405,419 complaints largely attributable to the Janet Jackson split-second tit exposure the agency got in 2004.

It was revealed that more than 99% of the 2004 complaints originated with one source: The ultra-conservative Parents Television Council (PTC), which provides ready-made forms with which to file such complaints right on its website, and which had been very vocal in its own newsletters and in the mass media about the "dangers" of "indecent speech" on TV and radio.

Once the PTC media blitz had been exposed, however, the FCC announced that it would be giving less weight to such blast-fax and blast-email campaigns, and the PTC's influence over FCC indecency/obscenity investigations and the fines that were eventually levied began to wane.

Art vandalised and artist arrested

From the BBC see full article

Art lovers in India are holding protests against the arrest of a student whose work was vandalised by activists who said they were obscene.

The artists say their right to freedom of expression is being violated. They are demonstrating in Mumbai and other cities against "moral policing" by right-wing Hindu groups.

The artists have condemned last week's arrest of a post-graduate student from a university campus in the state of Gujarat. The state is currently governed by the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The dean of the arts faculty at the university was suspended for opposing the student's arrest.

The activists said that the work of Chandra Mohan is "obscene and distasteful" because it shows naked men.

Chandra Mohan was released on bail after being imprisoned for four days. His case shows that along with rapid economic progress, India is also facing a steady rise in the culture of artistic intolerance.

Beyer Recommends... Sex...With Mum & Dad

Contributing to the hype for Sex...With Mum & Dad

Based on an article from the Express see full article

A "shocking" and “disgusting” BBC series will broadcast the word 'cunt' uncensored and show parents simulating sexual positions in front of their children.

And the provocatively titled Sex… With Mum & Dad will supposedly flout the code of broadcasting regulator Ofcom when aired this week, it has been claimed.

The BBC3 programme features two families – the Hicks and Garrattleys – who discuss aspects of sex.

One will show Becky Garrattleys, 16, describe the behaviour of her parents Chris and Karen as “disgusting” and “sick”. She becomes upset when she sees them demonstrating sex positions with dolls.

The nutters Mediawatch-UK pointed out that Ofcom rules state that due care must be taken over the physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of people under 18 who take part in programmes.

Publicity for the show, which begins on Tuesday, says: “ Imagine your parents giving you a blow-by-blow account of the kind of things they do to each other when you go out. The theory is the more open people are [about sex] the less there is to hide and worry about. Which doesn’t mean it’s going to be any less awkward to hear about dad’s first time or mum’s stash of sex toys.” Another episode features detailed discussions about gay sex.

Mediawatch-UK spokesman John Beyer said: How can this show possibly fit in the BBC’s new public service remit? It is there purely to titillate and to cause controversy. The BBC should be encouraging parents to talk to children, not inviting a Dutch sexologist to counsel them. The C-word is the word people find most offensive. It was on BBC’s Balderdash & Pifle and the BBC is looking at another programme on the history of the word.

Executive producer Robin Ash­brook, from Shine production company, denied the programmes were titillating, adding: I would ask people not to judge it from a trailer, or what you read about it. We had the idea to make a series about sex education because of the high rate in Britain of teenage pregnancies and STDs (sexually transmitted diseases).

   
Satellite Porn

From Christian Today

The nutter head of Christian Accountability Network, Chris Rosebrough, is calling on Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life , to discipline media executive Rupert Murdoch for owning and expanding a network of pornographic channels in Europe.

Rosebrough said, Rupert Murdoch is a born-again Christian and Rick Warren claims to be his pastor. As a Christian, Murdoch is committing an egregious sin by owning, expanding and profiting from pornographic channels and Rick Warren, as his pastor, has a biblical duty to call Murdoch to repentance and/or put him out of the church.

He added that Murdoch's decision to run the porn channels was a clear case of a Christian openly committing a monstrous and unthinkable sin.

   
And a protest outside of WH Smiths

From Dan

The anti-porn "feminists" lobby really can't make their mind up about what their campaign against lads mags is about.
 
One minute they want regulation of their sale and the next they want stores to ban their sale completely.

I'm really fed up with these anti-freedom feminists so I've stared a a blog...

http://profreedan.wordpress.com

From Charliegrrl See full article

Northwest Feminists and supporters demonstrated outside WH Smith in Leicester, calling for WH Smith to stop selling lads mags.

The demo was a great success. Many people supported us and we collected 70 signatures for Object’s petition, calling for regulation of lads mags in the way they are displayed and sold. The demo resulted in lots of lively discussion with the public about the harm of lads mags and why we think WHSmith should stop selling them.

The management of WHSmith weren’t happy… They called the police but our demo was peaceful and legal so they didn’t hassle us.

   
Christian Voice blasphemy prosecution of Jerry Springer: The Opera continues

From Ekklesia see full article

The High Court has allowed a legal challenge by activist Stephen Green to a magistrate's decision not to issue a private prosecution for blasphemy over Jerry Springer the Opera.

Mr Justice Underhill has granted a judicial review of the ruling of District Judge Caroline Tubbs not to issue a summons on the application of the head of a small group, Christian Voice, which made big media waves when the BBC and others mistakenly thought it had galvanised 50,000 protestors against the Jerry Springer show.

Both religious and non-religious groups opposed to the UK’s blasphemy law, which protects an Anglican version of Christianity from insult due to the establishment of the Church of England under the Crown, believe that, contrary to Mr Green’s designs, his case may finally help to bury the archaic legislation.

Stephen Green made a case in January 2007 against both the Director General of the BBC, Mark Thompson, a Christian himself, who allowed Jerry Springer the Opera to be screened on BBC2, and the show's producer, Jonathan Thoday, who staged it at the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End and then in a nation-wide tour.

But sitting at Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, the District Judge refused to allow the summons to be issued.

The judicial review will proceed to a full hearing. However, Mr Justice Underhill was careful not to prejudge either the hearing or any ultimate prosecution.

He declared: I should in the circumstances of this case emphasise that I am saying no more than that the challenge to the District Judge's decision was arguable. That does not necessarily mean that it will succeed; still less that any eventually prosecution would succeed.

Legal observers suggest that the case might have been accepted to test a wider issue about private prosecutions in such cases, rather than because of the merits of Mr Green’s claims. The High Court will give a date for the judicial review hearing in a couple of weeks, but it could still be a long time in coming.

Religious broadcasting tends to focus on the out of the ordinary... [...like resurrection, virgin birth, heaven, hell, miracles...]

Love your neighbour unless he's gay

From the Daily Mail

The BBC is to relay a 'gay Mass' from San Francisco this Sunday, the first time such a service has been broadcast.

The 50-minute Mass at the Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in the predominantly gay Castro district of the city will feature prayers and readings tailored for the gay community.

The church has been described as an "inspiration" to gay and lesbian Christians around the world because of its ministry to homosexuals. But it has also infuriated many Catholics in the U.S. who have complained about such activities as transvestite bingo nights during which sex toys and pornographic DVDs were handed out as prizes.

John Beyer of Mediawatch UK, said he thought it was a mistake to broadcast the service: Religious broadcasting, apart from Songs of Praise, tends to focus on the out-of-the-ordinary and having this particular service I think will cause offence to people who feel that such practices are wrong and are taught as such in holy scripture : The BBC really ought to be focusing on mainstream services which are more in keeping with the public service requirement that it has.

However, Father Donal Godfrey, the U.S. Jesuit priest celebrating the Mass, said he was delighted the BBC was exploring how gay people fit into the perspective of the Christian narrative: Being gay is not special. It's simply another gift from God who created us as rainbow people."

The recording will go out at 8.10am on the BBC Radio 4 Sunday Worship programme.

Comment: Beyer Going to Hell?

Dan writes to John Beyer

Dear Mr Beyer,

Just read your views on the BBC showing a "gay mass".

You say this will offend people who think homosexuality is wrong. But should religious broadcasting only take one view (that's it's wrong) on homosexuality?

You also say that the BBC should stick to the mainstream and honour it's public service requirement. Does that public requirement mean only appealing to Christians who think that being gay means going to Hell?

Magazine challenged for likening god to traffic cop

From Middle East Times see full article

A senior Islamic cleric is taking a writer and a culture magazine editor to court for offending Islam after writing a poem comparing God to a "traffic policeman".

Sheikh Youssef Al Badri, of the government Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, together with 18 other plaintiffs, is suing poet Helmy Salem and Ahmed Higazi, the editor-in-chief of the culture publication Al Ibdaa, for "blasphemy" and "offending the divine being."

The plaintiffs complained of the insolence of the writer to portray God as a traffic policeman.

An obscene lack of supporters

From The Guardian Well worthwhile reading full article by James Silver

Mary Whitehouse packed halls and hogged the airwaves, so why is her successor finding it very difficult to lobby support when a similar group in the US is hugely popular?

In its heyday, Whitehouse's NVALA had 150,000 members (including affiliated groups), as well as a broad public profile. However, today, the organisation, renamed mediawatch-UK after her death in 2001, is a shadow of itself, with just 5,000 on its books. Her successor, John Beyer, who is softly-spoken and unassuming, concedes the Herculean nature of the task he faces. [Membership] has gone down, but we are taking steps to reverse the trend. Next month we're taking on an extra member of staff to go around the country to promote mediawatch-UK and find new members. But it's an uphill struggle.

The presence of Whitehouse, he acknowledges, still looms large. Mary was very good at getting headlines and I'm aware of the fact that I'm not, he says ruefully. She had the ear of Mrs Thatcher, when she was prime minister, there's no doubt about that. When I write to Tony Blair, John Reid or Tessa Jowell I don't even get replies.

Nevertheless, on the other side of the Atlantic, the Parents Television Council (PTC), which shares many of mediawatch-UK's values and goals, boasts a powerful public profile. While it is true that with one million members, the far better resourced PTC is a leviathan when compared with Beyer's rag-tag Kent-based army, its campaigning tactics centre on two things; keeping its message simple and its focus on mainstream TV (as opposed to the media as a whole). The PTC also confronts advertisers over TV which it considers beyond the pale.

There are a number of different facets to what we do but advertiser campaigns are a major part, explains its director of corporate and government affairs, Dan Issett: Advertisers are the ones who buy the ads and actually pay for much of the programming. These corporations have written codes of corporate conduct and often some of the graphic and explicit content in TV shows runs contrary to their codes. A lot of the time it's simply a matter of making them aware of the content they are actually sponsoring and encouraging them to adhere to their published standards. We also maintain a pretty high profile in terms of media exposure, we run letter-writing campaigns and pursue other forms of contact with policy-makers. But all we really do is tap into the frustration of the American people with the state of the entertainment industry in general and TV in particular.

The PTC can count on an American public broadly sympathetic to its message. In Britain, on the other hand, says Professor Steven Barnett, professor of communications at Westminster university, values have changed dramatically in recent decades, as has the media landscape.

He says: Whitehouse was brilliant at capturing a mood. But that mood has changed. Britain is a more tolerant, less censorious place. Beyer would have a much stronger constituency in America. If a tit pops out on primetime over there the country goes berserk. We left that behind 30 years ago. For that reason Beyer's organisation doesn't really have much of a constituency any more.

Nutters call for grand jury investigation into adult businesses

Nutters try and impose their nonsense on others and then whinge when 'fundamentalst' secularists fight back.

From AVN

The National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families (NCPCF) is organising a petition calling for grand jury investigations of over 30 adult businesses in Kansas and Missouri. According to a NCPCF press release, the anti-porn group's executive director Philip Cosby has collected between 17,000 and 20,000 signatures in the campaign, which charges sex shops in six counties with "promoting obscenity.".

Cosby, who has had some success in petitioning for pornography-related grand jury investigations in the past, hopes to challenge adult businesses under Kansas City's community standard for obscenity. The petitions would be the first step in calling a grand jury, which would then determine if that standard has been violated.

Cosby said that 84 church congregations are supporting the campaign. Local pastors plan to submit the signatures to six county courthouses on May 17.

Beyer Recommends.. Me!

Beyer applies for Chairmanship of the BBC

Surely there will only be one viewer left should he get the job...himself

From Mediawatch-UK

John Beyer of mediawatch-uk has applied for the BBC chairmanship, arguing that is tailor-made for him: the job is all about championing the viewer.

He is among 23 applicants for the £140,000-a-year post.

Beyer Recommends.. Me!

Beyer disappointed

From This Is London

Tory grandee Chris Patten has emerged as a surprise candidate to be chairman of the BBC. Lord Patten is the only heavyweight public figure among the five names that are expected to form the shortlist for the Corporation's new head.

There have been suggestions that big-name candidates have been hard to find, partly because some have considered that the job is not as attractive as in the past, and partly because of the comparatively low salary.

Four other names in the hat are thought to include:

• Chitra Bharucha, currently acting chairman of the BBC Trust.
• Richard Hooper, former deputy head of the regulator OFCOM
• Sir John Tusa, currently manager of the Barbican arts complex and former BBC World Service chief
• Sir Stuart Hampson who is stepping down from chairmanship of the John Lewis retail chain.

Umm, no mention of John Beyer

From Shaun on The Melon Farmers Forum

I notice Mr. Beyer`s petition has now closed with 4081 signatures... Hardly the "hundreds of thousands" he was hoping for... It goes to show that most people don't seem to care one way or another about this issue. Except that privately they would tell me that censorship of consenting adult material, of the kind Beyer wants to see imposed, on ADULTS is plain wrong.

From the Beyer`s mediawatch site:

Mr Beyer concluded Almost 600 people have already signed (the petition) but it is vital that it attracts hundreds of thousands of signatures so that the Prime Minister is not left in any doubt about the strength of public feeling against offensive and harmful pornography.

Update: BBC Chairman

Michael Lyons has been appointed BBC Chairman

Beyer Recommends.. Me!

Sterile TV for everyone

The fact that Beyer still claims to represent the views of the entire licence fee paying population shows his arrogance hasn't dropped one bit. Perhaps he's still miffed he didn't get the job.

Thanks to Dan

The new chairman of the BBC must make reducing “offensive content” his number one priority demands John Beyer of Mediawatch-UK

Sir Michael Lyons, a former Labour councillor and market trader, was named as Michael Grade’s replacement. The 57-year-old said it was a “great privilege” to take the helm of the BBC Trust, which he said would act as the “licence fee payer’s voice”.

John Beyer welcomed Lyon's comments but said he needed to demonstrate a willingness to tackle violence, sex and swearing on TV. Beyer said research done by the Office of Communications showed that most people think there’s too much violence and bad language on our screens.

I hope very much that Sir Michael will take seriously those public concerns, he said. He’s got a lot of work to do to persuade licence fee payers he really is their champion.

Beyer said he hoped Sir Michael would follow in the footsteps of the late Marmaduke Hussey, who was BBC chairman from 1986 to 1996: He has to take notice of public opinion. I look forward to comments from him similar to Marmaduke Hussey when he became chairman – that he would eradicate gratuitous violence, sex and bad language from our programmes.

Lyons told a press conference this week: Every member of the UK population pays the same licence fee and each have equal ownership. My job as chairman of the Trust is to ensure that we listen to the main and varied views throughout the UK and seek to ensure they are reflected in the work and output of the BBC.