Church groups in New Zealand say that the country's Broadcasting Standards Authority can't interpret community standards following a decision Wednesday in which it declined to uphold 35 complaints about a South Park episode.
The segment, Bloody Mary, was aired in February on New Zealand TV network C4. The episode, which showed a statue of the Virgin Mary menstruating on the Pope, spurred the largest number of complaints for a single program since the BSA's creation in 1989.
"You would find it almost impossible to find anybody, and especially any woman, who believes that the imagery of a woman spraying menstrual blood in the face of another person (satirical or not) is decent or in good taste," said Bob McCoskrie, national director of the Family First Lobby.
McCoskrie said the BSA had shown that it isn't able to represent the community as a whole. Instead, he said, the authority is hiding behind the Bill of Rights, which states that courts needed to balance individual rights against the rights of others and the interests of the whole community.
But satire doesn't allow for the airing of highly offensive material to sections of the community including women and several religious groups, McCoskrie said.
"If the 'Bloody Mary' didn't breach commonly held standards of good taste and decency, then what does?" asked Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer.
Brendan Malone, of the group Family Life, claims that the decision shows incompetence and bigotry against Christianity. The episode wouldn't have made it on the air if it had portrayed Allah or the Maori Queen in a similarly obscene manner, he alleges.
Complainants charged that the episode contravened numerous standards in the Free To Air Television Code of Broadcasting Practice.
In Wednesday's decision, the BSA noted that the complainants were mostly individuals, but included three church organizations. The BSA held that the relevant standards related to good taste and decency and denigration.
The BSA acknowledged the degree of offence taken from this episode, noting that the broadcaster later undertook not to screen the episode again. But the Authority held that the broadcast of the overtly satirical program, while clearly distasteful to the complainants, was protected by the Bill Of Rights Act 1990.
Considering whether the program had breached the good taste and decency standard, the Authority took into account a number of contextual factors, including South Park’s time of screening, its AO (Adults Only) classification with visual and verbal warnings, and its limited adult target audience.
The Authority noted that contextual factors alone will not save a program if it has gone too far. In this case, however, the Authority considered that the material in the cartoon was of such a farcical, absurd and unrealistic nature that it did not breach standards of good taste and decency in the context in which it was offered.
As with its recent decision on Popetown, another animated series shown on C4, the Authority concluded that it was being asked to find that a program breached the requirement for good taste and decency because it showed disrespect toward religious beliefs and practices.
The Authority noted the level of concern and offence within the Catholic community, which has been subjected first to Popetown and now to South Park. However, it was unable to reach a different conclusion from that in the Popetown case.
"Were the Authority to uphold the complaint, this would amount to a statement that broadcasters who offer satire, humor and drama… may not offend against the religious convictions of others… That, in the view of the Authority, would be an unreasonable limitation of a broadcaster’s right to free speech, which includes the right to satirize religious issues," the BSA said in its decision.
The Authority also declined to uphold the complaints that alleged South Park denigrated all Christians -- particularly Catholics -- as well as Muslims, Jews, women and alcoholics.
The Authority noted that the intent of the program was to satirize, among other things, belief in the miraculous power of religious icons.
"The program was not a direct attack on the Church or on Catholics, although it was deliberately provocative. There is no doubt that aspects of religion revered by devout Catholics were treated in a disrespectful and cavalier fashion, in particular a statue representing the Virgin Mary. But showing disrespect, in the view of the Authority, does not amount to the sort of vicious or vitriolic attack normally associated with the denigration standard," Wednesday's decision stated.
The full text of the South Park decision is at www.bsa.govt.nz/decisions/2006/2006-022.htm.
In line with its usual policy, the BSA will not be commenting further on this matter. |
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