Censorship - appeal stats

Routinely you will see media releases from groups criticising the present censor and the censor's office about various decisions, either saying they're too liberal or too conservative. My own personal view is the counterveiling criticisms from conservative and liberal groups probably means the censor is doing a pretty good job! Anyway, I've obtained some details from the Office about the outcome of appeals from the censor to the Film and Literature Board of Review, which make interesting reading:

	1995-2006	Paterson	Hastings
Total Number of publications reviewed:	101	44	57
Outcome of review:
- Original rating raised:	14	12	2
- Original rating maintained:	63	16	47
- Original rating lowered:	24	16	8

It shows that the present censor, Hastings, has been found to be too liberal with classifications in only 3.5% of the appeals - in contrast to 27% for the previous censor, Paterson. And too conservative in 14% (Hastings) and 24% (Paterson) of the appeals respectively.

The success of different groups who have appealed is also interesting:

- 100% Hoyts, Nobilangelo Ceramulus Publisher, NORML, John Nicholson, Tweak Holdings Ltd, UIP - 67% Individuals / organisations with no interest in publication wanting higher rating - 50% NZ Film Festival Trust, Sony/Columbia TriStar, Video Wholesalers - 25% Vixen - 13% Society for the Promotion of Community Standards - <1%> Individuals contesting forfeiture or defending prosecutions - 0% Individuals / organisations with no interest in publication wanting lower rating, Christian Heritage Party

It's encouraging to see some certainty in the evaluation process with 83% of the classifications being upheld under Hastings' tenure. I previously criticised the lack of predictability about classification decisions, particularly the disparity between the censor's office and the Board - especially where the possession offence does not require proof of knowledge of the objectionable status or content.

> See Dean Knight, "An Objectionable Offence: A critique of the possesssion offence in the Films, (etc) Classification Act 1993" (1997) 27 VUWLR 541.

I'm also pleased to find data confirming the robustness of the present censor's decision and refuting the supurious claims made about his decisions, particularly his alleged liberalness due to his sexuality. Bill is a good friend of mine and supervised my LLB(Hons) research paper (ie the one published above). I've always found him to care deeply about the proper interpretation and application of the law, regardless of his personal perspectives.

I'm rather keen to do an update on my 1997 article - I still find the possession offence objectionable, particularly as it has been applied to objectionable publications in someone's internet cache...