Censorship - Miss Miller

Censorship
                

1. Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication or other information which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by governments, media outlets, authorities or other such entities.
   
   OFCOM are a government body that have a duty to protect the public, specifically people under the age of eighteen from explicit content. OFCOM ensure that the video and/or lyrics do not influence or encourage the public to adopt behaviour, which could be deemed inappropriate. Another aim of OFCOM is to insure that weapons or drugs are not glamorised in the public eye, iconography which is regularly featured within Eminem's music videos.
   
   Artists whos videos are mostly censored are mainly contraversal artists such as Eminem, Pusha T, Rihanna and M.I.A. This is because they may sing about or include aspects which radios, TV and other media are not allowed to play to the public. These things may include sexual references, offensive language, drug and weapon references. These things are censored out as people find them offensive and parents may not want their children to be exposed to the ideas of them. Some videos that have been censored out are: Pusha T - numbers on the board, this song gets censored as the artist refers to drugs and an illegal criminal lifestyle that is frowned upon in the eyes of the public.
   
   
   As an artist such as Eminem, he would be against censorship as he should be able to be free to make his own music and there shouldn't be people to tell him what he can and cant say. Although, Marshal Mathers (stage name, Eminem) is arguably the most controversial artist in the music industry because almost every song he has written has been censored; mainly regarding, frequent use of strong taboo. However, his daughter Haile, a huge part of his life has influenced his music. According to sources, he would make clean versions of certain songs for his daughter, as she was eager to hear what her father had produced. This shows that he is for censorship of songs when young children want to hear them. A large percentage of his lyrics depict violence towards gay communities and women, whilst addressing serious issues such as, suicide and murder (evident in Stan).
   
   Eminem believes that his aim is to express his opinion and view on real life situations to the public through music, this allows him to stand for what he believes in and get his views across.
   
   
    
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   A counter-argument can be raised as to whether he is a role model or not. He could be a role model to many who can relate to him because he started with nothing, living in a trailer with his Mom. He was able to escape the chaos of his life through his natural raw talent of song writing and his innate ability to communicate with a large audience, which started as a very small audience initially.
   
   

   
   

   Conversely, it could be argued he is not a positive individual to idolize for numerous reasons. Overall, Eminem writes and performs explicit content, which could be seen to promote gang involvement, drugs, sexism and homophobia. But this also warns the person listening to his music that there may be some offensive imput in the songs and therefore is their own choice if they want to listen to the music. 
   
   Parents viewpoints are also vital to consider as they have the option whether they would like to protect their children from listening to such content which may influence them in the long-term. Parents may believe that Eminem encourages strong language and bad morals and that it is acceptable to be disrespectful due to his contraversal lyrics. Many may also believe censorship should not stop the artists from expressing themselves therefore promoting self-expression and honesty to their children. On the other hand, some parents wouldn't mind their children being exposed to contraversal music as then it exposes them what is wrong and right at a young age, therefore they can learn what is acceptable and teaches them to make their own choices and to build their morals on what they think - not what they have to think.
   
   Radio stations also play an important role in artists careers as their job is to promote them and make their music easily accessible for all.
   
   However, in aim for songs to be appropriate for the mass market, it is imperative that radio versions of songs are released; a special version where any content of an explicit nature is censored to appeal to younger or more vulnerable audiences, therefore increasing listeners for the station itself. For example radio stations such as KISS FM would censor the songs that they play as they have a wide audience therefore meaning a large variety of ages would be listening to the songs meaning parents wouldn't want their children exposed to some of the bad language. Music channels such as AKA and MTV also censor their music as they dont want to loose fans of the show if they are playing music that people find offensive. Therefore it is vital that they make sure they only play music which can be listened to by a wide audience.
   
   Fans would also have a big part to play with the censorship of music videos as they're a fan of the artist because they enjoy listening to their music, therefore when radio stations and music channels censor out the lyrics they would be unhappy as they're a fan for what the artist stands for and who he truly is.