Andrea Millwood Hargrave and Sonia Livingstone, Harm and Offence in Media Content: A Review of the Evidence. Bristol and Portland, OR: Intellect, 2006. £19.95/ US$39.95.256 pp

摘要

In regulatory circles the concepts of 'good taste and decency' have been replaced by the ambiguous concepts of 'harm' and 'offence'. These latter concepts are repeatedly debated in British media, whether discussing the appropriate number of 'offensive swearwords' permitted in Jerry Springer the Opera, what Chris Moyles really meant by describing a ring tone he disliked as 'gay', or to what extent programmes such as Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show perpetuate harmful homophobic stereotypes. The aim of Harm and Offence in Media Content: A Review of the Evidence is to 'examine the notion of harm and offence across key media, identifying the evidence that exists, while recognising that regulatory practice may not necessarily be based on direct evidence' (p. 25). To achieve this aim the book summarizes academic, industry and regulatory research published since 2000.