Model Informative Essay - Introduction

Topic - Stricter censorship laws are required in the new media industries

New media, in particular websites, blogs and video games (both console and on-line) have created a series of issues in terms of privacy, freedom of speech and how or even if censorship should be carried out. This essay draws on information from web sources, online newspapers and magazines as well as online academic resources to examine the background to new media and the censorship debate. A number of issues arise; the first is a definition of what constitutes new media and how prevalent and available such material is. Another area of investigation is the range of content available. It is also important to examine the current laws and controls on content and the differences between the various mediums that make up "new media". Finally there is a need for a survey of some of the central arguments for and against different forms of censorship.

Ok...I've colour coded this introductory paragraph for you...

Blue for the introductory sentence which tells the reader the topic for the essay
Red for the sentence on research method
Purple for the sentences outlining the sub-topics which each paragraph will be about.

So that's the introduction dealt with...

I will be looking at your essays to see if the sub-topics you have said will be in your essay do in fact appear as topic sentences. I will also be checking that what you say the paragraph is about in your topic sentence is indeed what it is about. Your link can be back to the topic or it could be to the next paragraph - either is acceptable.

And here are the body paragraphs...

New media covers a range of electronic and web-based forms of information and entertainment and has a relatively high availability in some parts of the world. The most important media, for our purposes here, are video games (either console or on-line) and webpages and blogs. The most up-to-date statistics suggest that while only about 17% of the world's population have internet access in Asia, Australasia and North America there is between 50 -66% penetration. It is harder to calculate exactly how many people have access to computer games but given that annual sales total more than $US 10 billion a year, it is safe to assume that massive numbers of people are playing games in one form or another. These figures of course do not include pirated software, on-line purchases or on-line gaming. From these figures we can conclude that at least in parts of the world where there is a high level of access to computer hardware, software and the internet, that new media have an audience of over half the population (and therefore of a substantial percentage of the adult population.) This information gives us an idea of availability but it is content that is the real issue when censorship is being considered.

It is the content of much new media which has been one of the sources of calls for stricter censorship. Content falls into three main categories - violence, sexual explicitness and political. If we look first at computer games it is well-known that many contain graphic violence, with game play where at least one of the goals is to maim or kill an opponent or opponents. Games also contain nudity, swearing and sexually explicit activity. The most popular or at least best-selling games though are from the Mario franchise (which does contain violence but of a highly stylised, cartoonish nature), Pokemon (which falls into the same cartoon category) and the Sim collection (which are problem solving city or community building games). Website content of course is much more varied. There are many websites which specialise in gross or violent images (rotten.com being only one of many). Internet pornography is one of the fastest growing e-businesses and though it is hard to calculate exactly, it seems likely that over half of all websites built or devoted to sexually explicit material. There is also a wealth of political material available from the whole range of the political spectrum. In recent times the internet has been used to communicate radical ideas that some link to terrorism and also for organisational purposes by Far Right groups to spread racist, sexist and homophobic material. Clearly, while the most-played computer console games contain only the most stylised violence, there is a range of material available over the internet that raises concern for some people. It is therefor important to establish what laws currently regulate the new media industries.

There are currently a range of laws, regulations and self-regulatory bodies that cover the new media industries in individual countries. Regulation of the internet varies from country to country. China for example, has some of the strictess censorship with filters that prevent access to western news sites, sexually explicit material and sites run by political dissidents. Somewhere like Denmark on the other hand has no regulations at all. In Australia there was an attempt in 1999 to introduce legislation that would have forced ISPs to block access to content hosted outside Australia. This was defeated and there is currently no compulsory filtering of material from outside the country. There are laws which regulate the material hosted in Australia and anything "objectionable" or "unsuitable for minors" can be criminally prosecuted. Laws regarding the classification of computer games are equally variable around the world. In Australia there are five levels of classification from "E" for exempt, which covers on-line games such as World of Warcraft (exempt because Australian law prevents their content being regulated) to M15+ which can contain strong gruesome violence if justified by context, strong implication of sexual activity, much coarse language (though “very coarse language” should be infrequent), and “strong themes”. Unlike other parts of the world, Australia has no R18+ or X18+ classification which means that games which do not fit into the M15+ category are simply banned. this has included the Grand Theft Auto series and the game Manhunt. There are differences between the way different types of new media is regulated and major differences between the way different countries treat the same material. The internet, because of its very nature and because of off-shore hosting has been much more difficult for countires to regulate whilst in the area of games classifications similar to those used for film have been adapted to try and provide some regulation. Of course many in the industry would argue that games and film, being very different media, cannot be classified in a similar manner. This brings us to the range of arguments that have been proposed for and against stricter censorship.


While most people would agree on the facts, there are huge differences of opinion on how strict censorship of new media needs to be or even whether it is necessary at all. The arguments fall into a number of categories but broadly speaking those who are for censorship point to the influence that material deemed unsuitable may have, particularly young people. There are certainly some extremes within this argument, particularly from those who have a strong religious or political agenda. On the other hand, those opposed to censorship argue either for a free speech model where all material should be available as a human right or in a more moderate sense for the artistic value model, where material is considered to have a higher purpose. Of course there are also extremes among these models, driven by political or other agendas. The very newness of new media has meant that governments, regulatory bodies, the industries themselves, players and users and other interested parties have had to consider a whole range of issues. These are debates that will not be going away in the near future. The validity though of one model over and the victory of one side or another in the debate will define what is available to us all in the form of new media in the future.

Ok - that was the body - colour coding as follows:

Blue - for the topic sentence
Brown - for the evidence
Purple - for the explanation
Red - for the link (in this case mainly to the next paragraph)

And finally the conclusion...

The question of whether or not new media requires stricter censorship has been one that has plagued both the industries themselves, governments and those who actually use these mediums. Here we have examined a definition for new media and surveyed its availability on a global scale. The range of content of computer games and internet sites has been considered as has current regulations, laws and levels of classification and censorship. Finally a range of the arguments and models both for and against censorship have been examined. With the massive continued expansion of new media, this will be a question that remains with us for some time to come.

And the colour coding
Blue - for the re-statement of the topic
Purple - for the summary of sub-topics covered
Red - for the final summarising sentence

Feel free to comment, point out the weaknesses (I'm sure there are some...) or ask any questions.