If images betray ” “” “

In Europe, how can juveniles be defended from violence and unsuitable images at the cinema, in TV or on the internet? The question is discussed in a study – presented in Rome last week – that examines the “Systems of cinematographic classification in France, Germany, the UK, Austria, Greece, Spain, Holland, in EU directives and in the USA”. In other words, the laws in force in each of the seven countries, the procedures for the evaluation of films, the European directives, the systems of filtering or labelling on TV to protect minors from seeing images unsuitable for their age. The European Union has drawn up two documents over the last decade: the “Green Book on the protection of juveniles and human dignity” of 1996 and the directive “Television without frontiers” (1985), updated in 2003. Among the positive data that emerge from the study is the fact that in Europe “the juvenile is considered in any case a citizen to be defended, whereas “in the view of the United States – from where the majority of audiovisuals come – the juvenile is seen as no more than “a young consumer whose faith in the industry and in the products it proposes needs to be nurtured”. In France “censorship is an affair of State” and this can be noted from the quality and quantity of the members of the Commission that has the duty of viewing every film before it is released in movie houses. The official nature of the Commission – composed of representatives of categories and associations – “represents the most faithful mirror of how the State assumes responsibility for the protection of juveniles”. The Commission “resembles a little parliament, and in some sense is just that. It is only subordinate to the Council of State, which may withdraw the approval rating given to an already classified film, for reasons of decency”. Another interesting fact that emerges from the study is that in Spain and Germany, both “marked in the first half of the twentieth century by totalitarian regimes, censorship was abolished by their respective Constitutions”. So in Spain “no prohibition exists, but only recommendations, though juveniles below the age of 18 are still banned from viewing pornographic material or material likely to incite violence in specialized movie houses”. In Germany, however, “a legislation highly attentive to the growth and needs of juveniles makes provision for their safeguard from harmful contents of films considered unsuitable; there are various kinds of prohibition, geared to the various age groups. Authorization for the projection of a film may also be refused” if judged in the public interest. In Austria, on the basis of the principle of federalism, the protection of juveniles in the sphere of cinema and the mass media is the specific competence of the Laender; as a result there are no less than 9 separate laws on the cinema. Great Britain is distinguished by the thoroughness of its guidelines, with a huge and complex legislative framework and the involvements of non-government agencies “which have been shown to be agile from an operational viewpoint and in their capacity to adapt to the mutations introduced by the new media”. On the evaluation of films, however, “there remains the problem of the circulation of a film with an evaluation that varies from one country to another, as in Italy, “which is revealed as the most permissive country of all in comparison with the rest of Europe and the USA”. In Holland the protection of juveniles in cinemas and on TV relies on a single system of evaluation called Nicam (Nederlands Instituut voor de Classificatie van Audiovisuele Media), in which participate three ministries and public and private broadcasting organizations in the Netherlands, producers of films and videos, film distributors, etc. The results achieved so far are good, also because audiovisuals are given a classification that has the value of an “identity card”. In Greece a film – to be able to circulate – needs prior approval by the Commission for Youth headed by the Ministry of Culture and composed of representatives from organizations representing youth, families and public institutions. As regards films on TV, protected time slots and special codes classifying the suitability for films for various age groups have been in force in France, Holland, Great Britain, Greece and Italy for several years now. But – it is pointed out in the study – this too in itself is not enough to guarantee the real protection of juveniles.