Safermedia. previously Mediamarch have been given charity status. They proclaim:
We are pleased to announce that safermedia has now officially received a registered charitable status, a number(1138360) and a page
on the Charity Commission website.
Dan comments:
Since when did trying to get people locked up in prison for looking at sex become something charitable?
Letters: What's so charitable about inflicting censorship on those that don't want it?
2nd November 2010, thanks to Shaun
Shaun asked the Charity
Commission: Why have these people being given charitable status? and suggesting that the decision should be urgently reviewed.
The Charity Commission replied:
Safermedia has been registered with us on the basis of the trusts stated within a Trust Deed dated 23 September 2010. when objects of organisations are stated in exclusively charitable format and it has charitable activities, we can
put it in our register.
This organisation met the criteria for registration. Our website includes details of the criteria used to determine registration as a charity. We could only review our decision if a full case
was made as to how this particular registration was actually contrary to the criteria.
Shaun was hardly impressed, and replied:
Thank you for your reply.
After reading it I am completely at a loss! I've got no idea what is truly charitable about wanting to demand the imposition of censorship on other freeborn (?) British people, especially when such demands (in my opinion) seem to
stem from forms of ignorance and religious hysteria regarding the effect of modern media in the UK rather than any proper unbiased rational research. I refer back to the activities of these people under their former name of these people which is MediaMarch
.
Perhaps you would be good enough to explain what exactly it is they do, which can at all be considered charitable? How do people at large benefit from their activities other than losing their legal right to
decide what they are free to view in the media ?
I must say, I strongly RESENT the fact that SaferMedia, can demand extra media restrictions be legally imposed ON ME and do that under the auspices of charitable status.
This is NOT charity.
In their manifesto [under their former name MediaMarch] they cite public
outcry! What public outcry I ask? The actual truth really is that many many people in fact DON'T want their so called standards to be imposed on everyone else, and I REFUSE to accept that to demand such a thing is in anyway charitable.
Is it that the Charities Commission gives every group with an axe to grind with other areas of society, charitable status, so that they can have a cheaper platform upon which they can air their grievances and public demands for
legal change ?
Can I please have such a status, because I am sick to death of overly strict censorship compared with other countries in the EU, who have not found it necessary to impose present levels of censorship let
alone those demanded by SaferMedia?
Would that also be charitable? I would assert it would at least be MORE charitable as people would benefit though greater freedom.
It is also very
questionable why you allowed such a status to these people, when you totally refused MediaWatch UK (formerly the National Viewers and Listeners Association ) a similar status only a few of years ago, apparently after they tried to gain charitable
status more than once. That organisation demands similar censorious action but is considerably more benign than is MediaMarch to my knowledge.
I would not have agreed with such a decision in the case of MediaWatch UK
either, but at least I would be more assured that decisions made by the Charities Commission were consistent. They seem anything but this. Why one and not the other ?
Update:
Safermedia is a public benefit!
7th November 2010, thanks to Shaun
T he Charity Commission replied to further queries from Shaun:
The decision made to register Safermedia was analogous to the decision made regarding the Internet Content Rating Association as was made by the Charity Commissioners in 2002. Details of this Decision are available upon our website,
which sets out the reasoning for accepting this and similar organisations as being charitable.
Here is a link to the
relevant page [pdf] :
We cannot comment on the decision made regarding Mediawatch UK as we only have a
brief mention on our records of such an organisation which was created in 2001 but no actual registration case records remain, (if they were ever submitted to us). We cannot therefore comment on any previous application for registration, if this was
indeed ever made.
To be charitable an organisation must have aims which fall within the charitable purposes as set out in the Charities Act 2006 and be for the public benefit, which it demonstrates through its
activities. Further information is available upon our website registration pages .
If you are not now
satisfied with our response, you may be interested in the information contained on the following page in relation to our
complaints procedure .
Shaun asks the Charity Commission how exactly does the public
benefit from the activities of SaferMedia?:
Thank you for your reply. However I remain far from satisfied with the situation or the replies, and I hope you will forgive me for that. Perhaps this further email will
make my reasons for complaining so strongly much clearer to you.
I fail to see how any comparison between the Internet Content Rating Association, (ICRA) and SaferMedia can begin to be made. Unlike SaferMedia, the ICRA
does NOT seek to persuade lawmakers to legally restrict the media choices which can be made by adults, only to empower them with greater control mechanisms over what material adults and/or their children might see online. It does not seek to influence
what is, and is not legal for anyone to see. They do not seek have anything restrictive imposed on anyone.
SaferMedia, on the other hand might initially seem to have similar aims but it has a very strong policy of
demanding that lawmakers in this country impose increasing and draconian restrictions on the media choices of adults, using the co-ercive mechanisms of CENSORSHIP and PROHIBITION, with the threat of imprisonment for transgression. I simply do not see how
the two are at all similar, or how SaferMedia can be regarded as any kind of charity. They are of course perfectly entitled to their opinions on what should be allowed and the expression of those, which I would strongly regard as *political* rather than
at all charitable. As a freeborn British individual I object most strongly to the threat of their interference with our freedoms in this way. The viewing of contentious material, by adults, in any free country should and indeed MUST be regarded as a
decision they can make for themselves not one to be imposed on everyone by legal coercion and prohibition.
Had SaferMedia expressed aims similar to IRCA then I would have no problem with their charitable status. For
example if SaferMedia sought the availability of improved parental control mechanisms on modern media such as DVD and BluRay, and on modern broadcasting systems such as Sky, Freeview, FreeSat and cable, I would have no objection. But that *isn't* their
remit. Indeed, were they to support such technical advances, it would detract from their aim of censorship by giving lawmakers a good reason NOT to impose the restrictions they seek! Their remit is to persuade lawmakers to legally restrict visual
material available to ADULTS via CENSORSHIP and PROHIBITION. Could you at least answer why that alone is regarded as at all charitable ? Especially given that this seems to be the sole extent of their activities! Some quite recent research shows that
such restriction causes MORE harm rather than less. If that is true, (and the evidence is quite strong that it is) then how does the public benefit from the activities of SaferMedia ? Why should such campaigning as this be able to benefit from charitable
status, and tax free donations, at the expense of the tax payer, which I am one ?
That other similar charity, the Internet Watch Foundation, which provides lists of illegal websites to ISPs also does not seek to
influence what is to be classed as illegal, and restricts access to child abuse images already illegal and clearly proven to be harmful. It too makes no statement about what else should be restricted. In any case such a thing really is a matter for
politicians not for charities. An opinion of course can be expressed, but is the expression of such opinion and the demand they be legally imposed on others, at all charitable in the absence of other beneficial activities carried out ? Somehow I do not
think so and I do not find that answer from the web links you have provided me.
Update: The Safermedia campaign for stronger obscenity laws is political not
charitable
9th November 2010, thanks to Shaun
From the www.charitycommission.gov.uk/Publications/cc9.aspx#11
Organisations with a political purpose: In order to be a charity, an organisation must have purposes which are charitable and for the public benefit.
>>> An organisation with a
political purpose, such as promoting a change in the law, legally cannot be a charity. This applies even if the organisation has other purposes which are charitable. This would involve looking at 'political' questions, which neither we nor the courts
are in a position to answer. Constitutionally, it is not possible for the Charity Commission or the Courts to make decisions about whether a change in the law or Government policy would be for the public benefit. However, organisations which are
established to ensure that the law is observed, for example respecting certain fundamental human rights, will not automatically fall within this definition. This is a complex area and we will explore with charities established for the advancement of
human rights, the boundaries of this particular charitable purpose in relation to campaigning and political activity.
Isn't demanding a change in the law, *exactly* what SaferMedia are ALL about? If so, the guidance clearly
states they are not a charity.
From SaferMedia's Manifesto page on their web site:
We therefore call on concerned members of the public, of all faiths or of no faith, young or old, of all cultures, to join together and to provoke the political will of Parliament to strengthen Britain's obscenity laws.
Perhaps other readers might wish to make the same complaint as I have, citing the above Charity Commission criteria and SaferMedia's manifesto which appear to be in clear conflict with that criteria.
Have the Charity Commission
been conned I wonder?
Update: Charity status to be reviewed
12th November 2010, thanks to Shaun
Shaun received the short note from the Charity Commission
In light of the further information which you have provided, I have referred this matter to our final Decision Coordinator to consider whether we should consider a Decision Review.
You can find
further details of this on our website at: Dissatisfied with a decision of the Charity Commission
Shaun also noted:
It seems that "SaferMedia" have got wind of my complaint to the Charities Commission, as their "manifesto" page has been re-written. At the same time as the Charities
Commission have just informed me they are taking a look whether they need to review their decision. The page now seems more benign, but does a leopard change their spots ?
Safermedia updated the Mediamarch
Our Objects and Aims on 9th November 2010:
Previously the
Our Manifesto page read:
...
There is an ever increasing range of films, videos, TV and radio programmes, plays, computer games, books, magazines, music, adverts and internet web sites which masquerade as realistic
, harmless or entertaining . Yet they feature brutal violence, explicit sexual activity - including perversion - nudity and all kinds of bad language. Incredibly, nearly all of this is condoned by the regulatory bodies; films and videos are
merely classified, broadcasting licences are readily granted to TV channels despite programme content, and the other material is published or shown with impunity.
...
Time for Grass
Roots Action
Whilst there is still time, ordinary citizens of this democratic nation must demand that the media be reclaimed for our children and our society. Despite the numerous public bodies that have spoken out
over past years, the situation continues to deteriorate. We therefore call on concerned members of the public, of all faiths or of no faith, young or old, of all cultures, to join together and to provoke the political will of Parliament to strengthen
Britain's obscenity laws. Let the government and all political parties be absolutely clear that we will not sit idly by while our children, our families, our society and our cultures are corrupted and stolen from us. Verbal and written representations at
all levels will continue to be made by mediamarch. However, this situation is now so grave that we all have no alternative but to heighten the level of public protest at every possible opportunity.
...
Now the Our Objects and Aims page reads:
The protection of good mental and
physical health, in particular of children and young people, by working in accordance with Christian values to minimise the availability of potentially harmful media content displaying violence, pornography and explicit sex, bad language and anti-social
behaviour and the portrayal of drugs, and with a view to the reduction of crime by;
...
C) monitoring media content for compliance with established national guidelines and standards
required by the law and seeking strengthening of these guidelines and standards as necessary in the light of academic research.
...
Update:
Charity status being reviewed
27th November 2010, thanks to Shaun
Shaun had an email back to say that the Charities Commission apparently ARE looking into the activities of SaferMedia and considering
their status. IE it's moved up another level.