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PARTICIPANTS in mediamarch5 REMEMBER WITH SADNESS THE VICTIMS OF BRITAINS MEDIA CONTENT
- and urge Government to strengthen our nation's obscenity laws
People of all faiths and of none marched together in sweltering heat from St James' Park to Trafalgar Square for their fifth annual mediamarch and public rally (May 31st). They came to Westminster to protest against plummeting standards in media content; also to urge the government to regulate more effectively media content - especially to protect our children and our culture.
Curious tourists took photos and traffic was halted, as the police led mediamarch demonstrators through Parliament Square and along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, where the rally took place. The protestors paused as they passed Downing Street at which point, not surprisingly, marchers' chants such as "The law must change" and "Don't you care, Mr Blair?" reached an all time high. Many motorists signalled their support as they drove by marchers' trails of white balloons, some being carried by children, to symbolise the innocence of childhood. A host of banner messages boldly stated (e.g.) "Stop polluting our children's minds" also Pornography destroys lives and harms marriages" and "Media violence encourages violent crime" - all of which left onlookers in no doubt as to the vital issues at stake. The soaring levels of explicit violence, sex and bad language in the media, and especially their effects on young people, were the main topics of concern at the Rally in Trafalgar Square.
Coming all the way from Scotland, former teacher Eileen Harrild, a victim of the Dunblane massacre, spoke poignantly about the tragedy that ended in sixteen 5-year old children and their class teacher being shot dead, with many more being injured. "Nobody would want to witness the bloody scenes that I witnessed at Dunblane Primary School" she said, lamenting that in terms of mainstream media standards of today "It is portrayed as being 'OK' to hit, kick or kill, even if you are the good guy". She asked "What does this communicate to society?"
Freelance writer and press officer of mediamarch, Denise Pfeiffer, spoke passionately about the sexualisation of society by the mainstream media, with particular emphasis on the dangers that teenage magazines and messages of "safe" sex pose to our young. Dr Majid Katme, speaking on behalf of the Muslim Council of Great Britain, emphasised the dangers of encouraging sex outside marriage.
Finally the joint founders of mediamarch - Pippa Smith and Miranda Suit - shared their ongoing vision afresh. Miranda also laid white flowers at the foot of Nelson's column in memory of all those who had suffered as a result of the media - from those who had experienced broken relationships because of the low standards of behaviour encouraged by much of the media - to those who had actually lost their lives because of media-inspired crime. She then sang an inspiring, specially adapted version of Pete Seeger's famous anti-war song, "Where Have All The Flowers Gone" which, together with the cumulative effect of this year's moving speeches, left some onlookers in tears.
Pippa spoke about the new super-regulator 'OFCOM's plans for less regulation of programme content. She then outlined the judicial weaknesses of Britain's current obscenity laws and how, in consequence, these are hardly ever taken seriously by either the police or the Crown Prosecution Service. She also stated that these laws are rendered even more useless because of EU laws which now take precedence in such matters. Pippa called again on the government to tackle the vital issue of strengthening these laws and thereby to implement their being put into practicable judicial use.
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