2006 Annual Report of the Office of Film and Literature Classification tabled in Parliament

The Chief Censor said 2006 was a year of expansion and meeting the challenges of new technology in the 2006 Annual Report of the Office of Film and Literature Classification tabled in Parliament yesterday.

The Office classified more material than ever before, largely due to an increase in the number of commercial submissions of DVDs. It made decisions on 2,598 publications in 2005/06, 15% more than in 2004/05.

The Office banned 12% of publications, restricted 77%, and classified 11% as unrestricted.

Chief Censor Bill Hastings said “the Office addressed the challenges created by new technology in 2006. We worked with telecommunications providers to produce a code of conduct for mobile phone content. We helped the Department of Internal Affairs trial software that blocks child pornography sites. We asked hundreds of teenagers about their viewing and gaming habits”

“The Office also focused on spreading information about censorship to a wider audience by expanding its Censor for a Day high school programme, giving more public talks and media interviews, helping to resolve disputes over workplace internet use and redesigning our website” Mr Hastings said.

The Office continued to advise the Samoan Ministry of Justice and Courts Administration in strengthening its Censorship Office, as part of a NZ Aid programme.

ENDS

The 2006 Annual Report can be downloaded from www.censorship.govt.nz.

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