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PRESS RELEASE 12th May 2002
MEDIA-MARCHERS CAMPAIGN AGAINST HARMFUL MEDIA¨WAS TIMED JUST RIGHT!
With the new Communications Bill released only days earlier, and the highly controversial film 'Baise-moi' now showing in London, some 500 protestors, young and old, marched under a long column of banners along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square last Saturday 11 May. There an even larger audience at the mediamarch Rally heard guest speakers sounding stern warnings against the ever increasing content of explicit violence, sex and bad language in TV, films, videos, magazines, etc. Innumerable marchers in this, their 4th mediamarch, were holding banner boards aloft, displaying terse slogans impressing on the Government their serious concern about the harmful effects of so much of the media on our society, and especially on children.
Rally speeches included convincing evidence which effectually supported the demands of mediamarch for radical government action. On only the previous day, the Broadcasting Standards Council had published the damning results of their official enquiry into the ever-rising level of violence portrayed in TV soaps - which have been provoking masses of public complaints. The rally crowds were also told of the recently-published US research covering an 18 year study, which gives undeniable evidence of the linkage between TV viewing among adolescents and the extent of subsequent aggressive behaviour. Therefore, said one speaker, the 'silent majority' must surely now take up their phones and/or their pens and determine to help others to bombard the broadcasters with their own complaints about specific programmes which serve to normalise even glamourise, sexual depravity as well as lawlessness and brutishness.
Supporters gave a resounding cheer on being told that over 100,000 signatures have already been collected by them on mediamarch's nationwide Petition, which calls for Britain's obscenity laws and related media regulations to be radically strengthened. The Petition campaign will therefore be continued to gather ever more signatures throughout 2002, as more and more people become motivated to stand up and be counted.
Speakers at the rally included:
John Milton Whatmore, Chairman of mediawatch-uk (formerly National Viewers' and Listeners' Association)
Dr M Katme from the Muslim Council of Britain
Dennis Wrigley, from maranatha Christian community in Manchester
Cindy Kent from Premier Radio
In closing, Pippa Smith and Miranda Suit, both being mothers of teenagers and founders of mediamarch, vowed to continue this grassroots movement and thereby reflect the heartfelt cry of millions of parents and ordinary citizens in the UK, as they struggle to counter the undermining influence of the media.
Important Note to Editor:
The Radio Authority has recently banned mediamarch's intended adverts on radio because 'our call for UK obscenity laws to be strengthened is too political'.
Please help us to achieve the publicity we ought to have, by right, in a democratic society!
"We who have begun this movement will not rest until our Parliament
has greatly strengthened our nation's obscenity laws,
and standards of decency have been visibly and audibly
restored to the media.
We now resolve to continue working together
to further the aims* of the Media March movement
for the sake of our children - AND our whole society."
* (as defined in the Mediamarch Manifesto)
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