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The Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority (TELA) announced the findings of a public opinion survey on the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (COIAO) today (December 20). Commissioned by the TELA, the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong conducted the survey from January to August 2001.
The objective of the survey was to collect the opinions of the public in regard of the standards for article classification under the COIAO. TELA will provide the related government departments and the Obscene Articles Tribunal, through the Judiciary, with the findings of this survey for reference.
The survey comprised two parts. The first part was a household survey, which had successfully interviewed about 1,800 people aged 18 or above. The second part was a focus group study, in which 327 participants coming from eight different sectors of the society, namely professionals, social workers, teachers, parents, mass media practitioners, students aged 18 or above, concern groups and the general public, and with each group consisting of at least 40 members.
Amongst the 38 articles, depicting pornographic, violence and repulsive contents, selected for the purpose of conducting household survey and the focus group study, some were classified as Class III (Obscene), others as Class II (Indecent) articles.
The findings revealed that more than 65 per cent of household respondents and focus group participants cited "protecting the teenagers" as the reason for classifying the sample articles as Class II (Indecent). Whilst over 70 per cent of the household respondents and focus group participants classified the sample articles as Class III (Obscene) primarily because their contents were "extremely repulsive".
It was also found that if free gift is given out with the article, the classification (for both household respondents and focus group participants) of that article will likely be affected by the nature of the gift given out.
In general, the results showed that both household respondents and focus group participants share similar opinions in the standards of classification of articles.
It was also found that "the morality standards of the general public" and "the influences of the article on children and teenagers" were most frequently cited by the focus group participants as the guiding principles for the purpose of article classification.
Overall, most of the focus group participants opined that the prevailing classification standards of the Obscene Articles Tribunal were too lenient.
With a view to protecting the youth from the harmful influence of obscene and indecent articles, TELA will continue to monitor closely articles published in the market, and to carry out enforcement action whenever necessary. In addition, it will also continue to strengthen its publicity and education efforts. From January to October 2001, TELA joined force with the Police and Customs and Excise Department in taking out 1,135 prosecutions under the COIAO against vendors of indecent and obscene articles such as VCDs, newspapers, magazines, and comics. Out of the 782 convictions, the sentences ranged from a fine of $500 to $100,000 and an imprisonment of seven days to 28 months.
Members of the public can visit the Newspapers Registration Section of TELA (9/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai) in person to read the Survey Report, or download the executive summary from the following website: www.info.gov.hk/tela/chinese/f_whatsnew.html.
End/Thursday, December 20, 2001
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