A young child sits alone watching a DVD on the family TV, with no adult around to monitor the content of the film, and then he goes to bed.
That night the child has nightmares as the graphic and disturbing visuals he watched replays in his mind.
This traumatised child’s caregivers had merely to look at the Film and Publication Board (FPB) age rating and consumer advisory on the DVD cover to have known the content was not appropriate for his age.
Content classification and child protection sits at the heart of content regulation at the FPB, with classifiers providing the essential service of advising consumers with a “preview” of the type of content contained in films, games or certain publications.
Not so much a spoiler alert, but it’s an advisory that empowers consumers to choose what they expose themselves and their children to.
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On Monday, the FPB inducted a group of new content classifiers – selected from applications made by members of the public from a wide range of demographic and skills categories.
These range from psychologists, film-makers and content creators, lawyers, educators, language experts and social workers.
Selection is geared to create a pool of classifiers that reflect a wide range of demographics in our multicultural society.
After all, it will be their primary duty to ensure ratings assigned to films, games and certain publications protect the sanctity of our diverse cultures and balances freedom of expression with the right to human dignity.
A tough task no doubt, hence the rigorous training and re-training received by classifiers during their five-year tenure at the FPB.
The classifiers will undergo rigorous training on various laws that apply to content regulation, especially the rights espoused by the Constitution of the country, the precepts within the Films and Publications Amendment Act and the regulations that enforce them.
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In addition, it is essential they have an in-depth understanding of the classification guidelines used by the FPB.
These are a set of rules devised to reflect the law, but also to ensure socially held beliefs, values and norms are considered when content is rated.
Another essential skill in becoming an effective classifier revolves around developmental theories in child psychology, as the protection of children is pivotal to content regulation.
The Films and Publications Act 65 of 2019, (as amended), prohibits the distribution of uncategorised (unclassified) films, games and certain publications.
The Act requires the classification ratings to be clearly and conspicuously displayed by distributors of content.
These ratings and consumer advisories (for example: 10-12 PG SLV) are contained within the classification guidelines and have set rules by which they must be applied to achieve a balanced review of the reviewed film, game or publication.
Content that has the potential to cause harm (whether psychologically, developmentally or to the dignity of a person or group) is marked as such to advise consumers.
The context, frequency and impact intensity are also assessed based on the well-defined rules within the guidelines.
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This is not left exclusively up to the preference of the classifier, in order to make the classification decisions as transparent and objective as possible.
At least three classifiers form a review panel when assigning ratings to a specific piece of content.
This ensures balanced reviews and maximises objective assessment of content.
The report from each classification panel is further scrutinised through a quality assurance process to ensure constant adherence to the laws of the country.
“Our classifiers can assign ratings and consumer advisories, but at the end of the day it is incumbent on the distributor to ensure the classification decision is visible to the public, and it is up to the consumer to adhere to the advisory given in the classification rating,” said Abongile Mashele, acting CEO of the FPB.
“Keeping vulnerable citizens, especially our children, safe is a joint responsibility in society.”
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