Communication Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Communication Law - Essay ExampleDuring that fourth dimension, grossness was delimit as anything that can and or had the tendency to corrupt and debauch susceptible minds that were open to such immoral impact and to those hands the content might get to fall. This was called the Hicklin rule. It meant that if any section of a book or other works could corrupt and or deprave the minds of any person who sees the work, the material was lubricious, and no matchless was allowed to buy or see it (Rault, 2006). This facilitated the censorship of a wide array of materials by the government. Roth simply recapped the proposals lower courts had been trying to put across for years-the test for obscenity should be based on whether an average person, considering the prevalent community standards, the main theme of the material as a whole applies to the voyeuristic interest. This standard offers way in the determination of materials that should be considered obscene.it was essential to distin ctly identify actual obscenity and materials that merely delve in the areas that are not traditionally start to societys norms and acceptability. The court started to consider the many problems that Roth had not covered. In small groups justices sought to clarify queries such as What is the average person? What is salacious interest? What are the contemporary community standards? In 1950s and 1960s, the Supreme Court adopted a new definition and test for obscenity (Rault, 2006). This was the Roth-Memoirs test. It differed from the forward standard in that The main theme of the material that was taken as a whole, appeals to the average prurient interest in sex of the person. Materials were taken simply offensive if they affront the contemporary standards of the community on sexual matters. It assumed a single country-wide standard was applicable in the whole country. The material has no social value at all that is, its utterly without any redeeming social value. Today, a miller t est is used to determine obscenity. Something is considered obscene if viewed as a whole where the work Appeals to the prurient interest to the average person applying contemporary community standards. Depicts sexual conduct in a simply offensive manner, measured by the contemporary community standards Lacks serious artistic, literary, political and scientific value. In the past two decades, conformist groups have applied epoch-making pressure on the music and arts industry. The 2 Live Crew is a good example where the band was tried for use of obscenity. For the first time apparently, the court of appeals applied the Miller test to a musical composition with instrumentals and lyrics. The case is particularly controversial as the only evidence presented was the tape record and the case was tried by a judge with no jury. According to the court, the materials in the 2 Live Crews album As dread(a) As They Wanna Be was officially obscene considering the community standards and it bec ame illegal to sell or perform in any of Floridas counties. For instance, the movie Columbia final solution has been a target for censorship by animal and moral activists and has seen about five minutes cut to remove rape scenes and animal cruelty. Applying the Miller test, it is accredited that the movie, especially by the community standards at the time of its release, appeals to the prurient interest of an average person. It also contains numerous scenes of high levels sexual violence. The level of artistic, scientific and literary value