Beautiful, wonderful creatures make disappearing act, part 2

"It is faintly sad and somewhat hilarious that in the 21st century the supposedly most advanced country in South-East Asia is still applying such a petty & trivial form of censorship," said gay Singaporean Leow Yangfa, referring to Mediacorp Channel 5's censorship of the Oscars award ceremony. See Beautiful, wonderful creatures make disappearing act for details.

That earlier article ended with a dangling question: Whether Best Actor Sean Penn's speech was also censored by Channel 5. The answer is: Yes it was. As Yangfa described it,

Snipped in 3 parts in fact, when he says "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns" twice (once at the beginning which we never got to see on Channel 5 in the evening; the second time the volume of his voice was lowered somewhere near the middle of his speech, when he is unfolding his little bit of paper.) A third large snip was towards the end when he made reference to the anti-gay protesters outside the venue, & finishes off by saying: "I think it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame."

There was also, at another moment during the award ceremony, a snippet of a male-male kiss from the film Milk. (However, according to glaadblog, there were three clips of men kissing, compared to 14 of male-female kissing aired during the Oscars).  That too was cut, according to comments appended to my earlier article.

The Straits Times Online Forum carried a letter by Pamela Koh about this instance of censorship. She said,

26 February 2009
Straits Times Online Forum

Oscars TV cut: First you see it, then you don't

As I plopped myself down for a second helping of MediaCorp Channel 5's Academy Awards coverage on Monday night, surprisingly, I was thoroughly, well, surprised.

After the first half of the laugh-inducing banter between presenters Tina Fey and Steve Martin was over, the nominees for Original Screenplay were screened, the winner was announced and soon was up on stage.

Dustin Lance Black (winner for Milk) began and ended his endearing speech on gay rights, and described the inspiration which moved him to write this winning screenplay. However, viewers catching the delayed 11pm coverage did not get to watch, listen and be moved by his speech because it was spliced.

Why the cut? Disappointed, I switched off my TV and watched the inspiring speeches on the Internet instead, lest they should decide to cut short the winner's speech later by my favourite actor Sean Penn.

Pamela Koh (Miss)

 
A few days later, Mediacorp replied.

28 February 2009
Straits Times Online Forum

Why Oscars repeat blanked out gay plea

I thank Miss Pamela Koh for her online letter on Thursday, 'Oscars TV cut: First you see it, then you don't', on the encore telecast of the 81st Annual Academy Awards aired on Monday.

We wish to clarify that the programme was edited for the encore telecast in accordance to the Media Development Authority (MDA) Programme Code - specifically, the relevant guidelines relating to the treatment and portrayal of homosexual themes and issues. The code explicitly disallows content that sympathises with, promotes or normalises such a lifestyle from being broadcast.

Dustin Lance Black, whose script for Milk won the award for original screenplay, and Sean Penn who played the slain gay rights leader in the same movie, both made a passionate plea for same-sex marriage rights in their acceptance speeches. The encore telecast of the 81st Annual Academy Awards on Channel 5 would have been in serious breach of the MDA Programme Code if such controversial content was not editorially managed.

We thank Miss Koh for the opportunity to clarify on her concerns.

David Christie
Senior Manager (Censorship)
Network Programming & Promotions Channel 5
MediaCorp

* * * * *

It turns out that Channel 5 is not the only culprit. Star TV, owned by NewsCorp, was just as guilty. 

25 February 2009
Straits Times Breaking News
From Associated Press

Gays criticise TV censorship

Gay Asians voiced indignation on Wednesday after television broadcasts of the Academy Awards in their region censored the words 'gay' and 'lesbian' in speeches that called for equal rights for homosexuals.

The speeches by actor Sean Penn and writer Dustin Lance Black - who won Oscars for their work in 'Milk' - were shown in full during live broadcasts of the Oscars that were screened across Asia on Monday morning.

But viewers who caught recorded telecasts in the evening on STAR, an Asian satellite TV service that says it reaches more than 300 million viewers in 53 countries, noticed that the sound was removed whenever both men mentioned 'gay' or 'lesbian.'

'As a gay man, I am truly offended,' Pang Khee Teik, a prominent Malaysian arts commentator, wrote in a letter sent out to several media organisations. 'Stop censoring the words that describe who I am.' Pang said the move 'sent a message ... that gays and lesbians are still shameful things to be censored from the public's ears.' Users of Internet forums in Singapore and India also complained about the censored speeches.

Jannie Poon, STAR's Hong Kong-based spokeswoman, stressed that the company had no intention of upsetting any viewers, but said it has 'a responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration.'

She said she was not immediately aware that the speeches had been censored, but noted that STAR's preliminary ratings for the Oscar broadcasts indicated 'record-breaking' audiences, especially in India and Taiwan.

Viewers first noticed that the words were silenced when Black offered a tribute to slain American gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk while accepting the Oscar for best original screenplay for 'Milk.'

'If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight ... that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you,' Black said.

Penn, who was named best actor for playing Milk, commented in his speech on California's recent vote to ban gay marriage.

'For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support,' he said.

Star TV's Jannie Poon's rationalisation for the cuts was that the satellite broadcaster had to take sensitivities and guidelines all all markets into consideration. This is indeed a problem. If satellite television has to make sure it does not tread on anyone's toes, least of all various national regulators, then it is going to face a severe problem. In Asia, there are so many differing rules. What if material contains criticism of the Thai monarchy, or of the Chinese Communist Party, or of Islamic Shariah law? Must TV content be reduced to the lowest common denominator of all sensitivities?

(In any case, how about being sensitive to gay people for a change?)

What is the future of satellite television when competition from uncensored internet-carried content becomes widely available?

© Yawning Bread 

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