Publications
South Park – views of the community on broadcasting standards
November 2007
The Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA), which has the job of determining complaints about radio and television programmes, had one of its most interesting cases last year when an episode of South Park, an adult cartoon series on C4, generated the highest-ever number of individual complaints about a broadcast.
The episode, entitled Bloody Mary, is about Stan, an eight-year-old boy, and one of the show’s main characters, facing the fact that his father, Randy, has a drink problem. The controversial scenes portray a statue of the Virgin Mary appearing to menstruate, thus offending the Catholic community in particular, but also those from other faiths.
After it issued its decision on the complaints, the BSA discussed the broadcast with its newly-appointed community advisory panel which has the role of giving the BSA feedback about how members of their communities feel about broadcasting standards issues.
The panel is made up of 10 people chosen from over 160 applicants. They are working with the BSA to bring about a greater dialogue with local communities by being the link between those communities and the BSA. Though they are not involved in the complaints decision-making process, which falls to the four BSA board members, their views are actively sought and considered.
The panel members come from different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities and parts of New Zealand. They include a retired school principal, an environmental planner, a student, and a carpenter. There are representatives from the Maori, Samoan, Pakeha, Indian and Chinese communities, and they meet with the BSA three to four times a year.
Bloody Mary elicited a variety of views from the panel, some of whom had also canvassed the reactions of their communities.
Two members thought the episode was 'brilliant satire'. Another, was 'sad for those who found the programme offensive.' He said the older generation in his community, which is Samoan, was deeply affected by 'the irreligious nature of the programme', and some younger members of his community had 'got angry' on seeing the programme.
Another panellist of Christian faith said, 'just because you have a small group with low expectations, does that make it (the satire) right?'
Another from the Indian community found it offensive and likened it to 'how she would have felt if it was an icon from her religion.' She felt it could have been screened without the Virgin Mary part.
One panellist, who is Maori, had shown it to a mother's group she attended and 'they weren't worried by it.' She said, 'if anything they looked beyond the imagery to the message which was about willpower. But they did feel compassion for the people who had been upset by it.'
Another had been personally 'a bit shocked by the episode' but thought that the 'plot of the boy with the alcoholic dad was clever stuff.'
This range of views creates a valuable resource for the BSA, giving greater insight into community feeling.
The Authority's decision about the Bloody Mary complaints focused on two key issues: firstly whether the programme breached 'current norms of decency and taste in language and behaviour', and secondly whether the programme encouraged the denigration of identifiable groups.
In neither case did the BSA uphold the complaints.
In relation to the denigration issue, its decision says that the 'right to satirise institutions within society falls squarely within a broadcaster's freedom of expression'. Additionally it did not think that the programme was 'particularly vicious or vitriolic', and there were important contextual factors such as the programme's Adults Only (AO) rating, its screening time of 9.30pm, an hour after the AO watershed making it clearly unsuitable for children, and that it was preceded by a warning.
The full decision is on the BSA website
www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2006/2006-022.htm
In this case, Bishop Denis Browne, representing the Catholic Bishops Conference, appealed the BSA’s decision to the High Court. The High Court has since dismissed the appeal.