Commercial censorship - new trend?

[Purrybonker]

I'll cut and paste the following article from today's (Canadian) Globe & Mail, because it's not that long.

For decades there's been a censorship "gap" between the US and the rest of the world (noteably Canada), but this gap has historically been predicated on the standard sort of hot-button "morality issues" and based on (at least) the quasi-judicial control over public media. Like that silly Janet Jackson affair.

But is there an emerging trend where censorship decisions are now being made by the cultural media, not because of fear of regulatory reprisal or limitation or even concerns about making money, but (seemingly) because of a desire to apply the social ideologies of the principals?

Sounds a bit troubling if that's the case...

American moviegoers living near the Ontario-New York border are being invited to visit Toronto, Hamilton, Burlington and other southwestern Ontario cities to see a controversial film that virtually all the big American theatre chains are refusing to screen.
Death of a President, an R-rated "faux investigative documentary" that includes a (fictional) scene in which President George W. Bush is shot, is supposed to open in theatres across North America on Friday. But as of yesterday, it appears the movie, directed by British filmmaker Gabriel Range, will be readily accessible only in Canadian cities.
As a result, its Canadian distributor, Maple Pictures, is planning to place a large advertisement in The Buffalo News on Friday, inviting the curious to see the movie that won the international critics' prize for excellence at last month's Toronto International Film Festival. The film is expected to play on an estimated 50 screens across Canada, including theatres owned or operated by the country's largest chain, Cineplex Entertainment. Buffalo, with a metropolitan population of more than a million, is New York's second-largest city and only 120 kilometres south of Toronto.
A representative for Maple said yesterday the ad will run only in the Friday newspaper, but discussions are under way to determine whether it should be carried in more editions and whether the campaign should be extended to newspapers serving other large U.S. cities close to the Canadian border, such as Detroit and Seattle.

With U.S. midterm elections less than three weeks away and the real President Bush's popularity at an all-time low, skittish chains such as Tennessee-based Regal Entertainment (542 theatres in 40 states) and Texas-based Cinemark USA (more than 300 theatres in 34 states) are shying away from D.O.A.P., as it's become known in the movie business. AMC, the nation's third-largest theatre chain, with 415 theatres in 29 states, is refusing to screen the film, and even smaller companies such as Dipson Theatres, which operates more than 10 complexes in upstate New York and Pennsylvania, including four in Buffalo, have declined. And yesterday, U.S. news outlets CNN and National Public Radio said that they will not air ads or sponsored announcements promoting the film.
But Los Angeles-based Landmark, which has 56 theatres in about 15 states, has agreed to screen it. "Our whole thing is to let the public determine," a spokesperson said yesterday. "We're dedicated to the cause of independent film."

[widebody911]

includes a (fictional) scene in which President George W. Bush is shot

So, it's pr0n, eh?

It's the Terrance and Phillip Not Without My Anus controversy all over again.

[Jim Richards]

ROFLMAO

[928ram]

While I could see certain Canuck and Cali folks relishing in this, I doubt it's as much censorship as good business sense. I seriously doubt you could gather up enough traffic to see a movie based on the murder of ANY living and know person to recoup the cost of getting it in the theaters.
Those with latent homicidal dendacies will likely catch it at blockbuster or circuit city.

[svandamme]

notably canada ?? ha!

try european advertising , after 22h00 we get s3xphone adverts on regular tv

it's so censored on your end, that you don't even see em !

some of the shower product ads here are probably considered soft porn in the US

[RallyJon]

And yesterday, U.S. news outlets CNN and National Public Radio said that they will not air ads or sponsored announcements promoting the film.

Puppets of the right-wing, both.

[legion]

Now had they refused to distribute a film like "The Passion of the Christ", that would have been exercising their right to free speech.