Methodology Stakeholders interviews were undertaken with 24 Classification Scheme Stakeholders belonging to the following groups: Government and Regulation, Industry and Advocacy. In-depth interviews ran for between 30 and 45 minutes. Of the 24 interviews, 22 were conducted over the telephone and two were conducted face-to-face. Practitioners Quantitative data was collected from Classification Board Members, Review Board Members, and Classification Branch Staff Assessors via a short online survey. This survey was programmed in SurveyMonkey () and distributed via a link included in an email. Note that throughout this report the term refers collectively to Classification Board Members, Review Board Members, ‘Practitioners’ and Classification Branch Staff Assessors. Key findings and conclusions Conclusion one: stakeholders are supportive of the continued existence of a classification scheme but believe it to adapt to changes in the media environment. Stakeholders from industry, advocacy groups and government continue to see a role for classification in the 2014 media and entertainment landscape. However, there was general agreement that the current scheme needs to be updated to ensure the continued relevance, utility and usefulness of classification. It was suggested that as the ability of government to police media purchasing/access becomes more limited, the classification system will need to move toward making recommendations rather than restrictions. Stakeholders suggested that classification information is often used to guide (rather than direct) decisions about media consumption (including children’s media). Thus movement toward an advisory model would to some extent reflect current usage patterns. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conclusion Two: stakeholders view the role of classification as primarily the protection of children, and secondarily the empowerment of adult consumers. Stakeholders agreed that the primary role for film and computer game classification is to protect the viewer/player, especially children and young people, from discomfort or harm. Even stakeholders who envisaged a radically altered classification scheme agreed that the protection of children should be central to any system developed for the classification of media, including films and computer games. There was, however, disagreement amongst stakeholders about whether classification should aim to protect children through a combination of recommendations and restrictions or through
Methodology Stakeholders interviews were undertaken with 24 Classification Scheme Stakeholders belonging to the following groups: Government and Regulation, Industry and Advocacy. In-depth interviews ran for between 30 and 45 minutes. Of the 24 interviews, 22 were conducted over the telephone and two were conducted face-to-face. Practitioners Quantitative data was collected from Classification Board Members, Review Board Members, and Classification Branch Staff Assessors via a short online survey. This survey was programmed in SurveyMonkey () and distributed via a link included in an email. Note that throughout this report the term ‘Practitioners’ refers collectively to Classification Board Members, Review Board Members, and Classification Branch Staff Assessors. Key findings and conclusions Conclusion one: stakeholders are supportive of the continued existence of a classification scheme but believe it to adapt to changes in the media environment. Stakeholders from industry, advocacy groups and government continue to see a role for classification in the 2014 media and entertainment landscape. However, there was general agreement that the current scheme needs to be updated to ensure the continued relevance, utility and usefulness of classification. It was suggested that as the ability of government to police media purchasing/access becomes more limited, the classification system will need to move toward making recommendations rather than restrictions. Stakeholders suggested that classification information is often used to guide (rather than direct) decisions about media consumption (including children’s media). Thus movement toward an advisory model would to some extent reflect current usage patterns. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conclusion Two: stakeholders view the role of classification as primarily the protection of children, and secondarily the empowerment of adult consumers. Stakeholders agreed that the primary role for film and computer game classification is to protect the viewer/player, especially children and young people, from discomfort or harm. Even stakeholders who envisaged a radically altered classification scheme agreed that the protection of children should be central to any system developed for the classification of media, including films and computer games. There was, however, disagreement amongst stakeholders about whether classification should aim to protect children through a combination of recommendations and restrictions or through
Classification-ratings-stakeholder-and-practitioner-consultation.docx