The Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien or BPjM (Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons) is an upper-level German federal agency Federal agencies in Germany are established to assist the administration of the federal government. Federal agencies are hierarchically organized on four levels: subordinate to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. It is responsible for examining media Mass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a large audience. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such as books and manuscripts had already been in use for centuries works allegedly harmful to young people and entering these onto an official list - a process known as Indizierung (indexing) in German German (Deutsch, [ˈdɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Globally, German is spoken by approximately 120 million native speakers and also by about 80 million non-native speakers. The decision to index a work has a variety of legal implications.

Contents

Legal basis

The basic rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement — i.e. rights are normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory. The concept of rights is often fundamental to civilized societies, and it is of vital importance in such disciplines of freedom of expression Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak without censorship and/or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in and artistic freedom Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak without censorship and\or limitation. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in in Article 5 of the German Grundgesetz The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is the constitutional law of Germany. It was formally approved on 8 May 1949, and, with the signature of the Allies, came into effect on 23 May 1949, as the constitution of West Germany are not guaranteed without limits. Along with the "provisions of general laws and "provisions [...] in the right of personal honor", "provisions for the protection of young persons" may restrict freedom of expression (Article 5 Paragraph 2) [1].

The Jugendschutzgesetz (Youth Protection Law), which came into effect in April 2003, is one such provision. It superseded the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften (Law on the Distribution of Writings Harmful to Young Persons) as the legal basis for the restriction of freedom of expression when applied to physical media (printed works, videos Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion, CD-Roms CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback, the 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data etc.).

The Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag (State Treaty on Media Protection of Young Persons) between the different Länder Germany is made up of sixteen Länder , generally referred to in English as states. In official English translations, the term "land" is commonly used. A Land (colloquially but rarely in a legal context also called Bundesland, for "federal state") is one of the partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of came into effect on the same day as the Jugendschutzgesetz and regulates the distribution of broadcasts and virtual media. It also provides a legal basis for the actions of the BPjM. It was necessary because certain aspects of broadcasting are regulated by the state governments not the federal government and the treaty ensures uniform treatment across the country.

History

The original Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften (Federal Department for Writings Harmful to Young Persons) was established on May 18, 1954, after the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften was adopted on June 9, 1953. The presiding officers of the Bundesprüfstelle have been:

The first session deciding upon applications requesting the indexing of materials took place on July 9, 1954. The first two works indexed by the BPjS were Tarzan comics Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics. The rationale for this was that they would affect young people in a "nerve-inflaming and brutalizing way" and "transport them into an unreal world of lies". Such works were supposedly "the result of a degenerate imagination".

In 1978 the number and type of institutions Institutions are structures and mechanisms of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human collectivity. Institutions are identified with a social purpose and permanence, transcending individual human lives and intentions, and with the making and enforcing of rules governing cooperative human which could petition for a work to be indexed was widened considerably. Since then, not only the higher authorities with responsibility for young people in the Länder Germany is made up of sixteen Länder , generally referred to in English as states. In official English translations, the term "land" is commonly used. A Land (colloquially but rarely in a legal context also called Bundesland, for "federal state") is one of the partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of (states), but also the youth welfare offices of individual Kreise Kreis is the German word for circle, and also refers to a type of country subdivision (districts) have been authorized to submit applications. The number of applications for indexing has multiplied significantly as a result of this.

Following the Erfurt massacre (a Columbine-like shooting at a school in Erfurt Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and is the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nürnberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, within the wide valley of Gera River, a tributary of the), the Jugendschutzgesetz was passed in June 2002, replacing the Gesetz über die Verbreitung jugendgefährdender Schriften and the Gesetz zum Schutz der Jugend in der Öffentlichkeit (Law for Protection of Young Persons in Public Places). It came into effect on April 1, 2003.

The change in the law clarified the area over which the Bundesprüfstelle had authority. New forms of media such as websites A website is a collection of related web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that are addressed relative to a common Uniform Resource Locator (URL), often consisting of only the domain name, or the IP address, and the root path ('/') in an Internet Protocol-based network. A web site is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a and computer software were within its jurisdiction. As a result of these new powers the organisation's name was changed to the current Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien. As previously, an examination order can result from the application of a state youth protection agency or from the request of a non-governmental youth organisation.

For video games A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device. However, with the popular use of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to, the new law also made the ratings of the USK Usk is a small town in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated 10 miles northeast of Newport compulsory. Games that have been given a rating by this organisation can no longer be put on the index.

Role and responsibilities

The BPjM has the following responsibilities:

§ 18 Paragraph 1 JuSchG (Youth Protection Law) defines jugendgefährdend as that which is harmful "to the development of children or young people or to their education as autonomous and socially-compatible individuals". Media that are "immoral, brutalizing, or which provoke violence, crime or racial hatred CERD · CEDAW · CDE · ILO C111 · ILO C100 · ILO C169 · Protocol No. 12 ECHR" are named as examples of this.

Under § 15 Paragraph 2 JSchG, certain types of content are subject to restricted distribution by virtue of the law on account of their obvious harm to young people, without the need to add them to the Index. These include:

However, as often it may not be immediately apparent whether a particular work has content as described in § 15, 2 JSchG, the Bundesprüfstelle is able to index such media for the purpose of clarification. The Bundesprüfstelle has consequently indexed works which deny the Holocaust Holocaust denial consists of claims that the genocide of Jews during World War II—usually referred to as the Holocaust—did not occur at all, or that it did not happen in the manner or to the extent historically recognized. Key elements of these claims are the rejection of any of the following: that the German Nazi government had a policy of, which would be indictable as Volksverhetzung or as bringing the memory of the deceased into disrepute, when the public prosecutor The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking the law in a criminal trial's office was not able to proceed further at that point.

Upon the application (Antrag) of a youth welfare office or at the request of an accredited non-governmental youth organisation, the BPjM examines whether a written work, film A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a story conveyed with moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry, computer game PC games are created by one or more game developers, often in conjunction with other specialists and either published independently or through a third party publisher. They may then be distributed on physical media such as DVDs and CDs, as Internet-downloadable, possibly freely redistributable, software, or through online delivery services such as or other media product has content harmful to young persons. If an application is made by a government body, the BPjM must always examine the media work. If a non-governmental body makes a request, the BPjM can decide itself if it needs to take action. No organization or individual other than the prescribed government bodies may make an Antrag. In practice applications are normally made by the youth welfare offices.

The indexing process

The authors, producers or rights holders of the work in question are notified of the application or request for indexing. They have the right to a legal hearing. If a work has received a rating from the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft The Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft is a German motion picture rating system organisation run by the Spitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft (SPIO, Head Organisation of the Movie Industry) based in Wiesbaden (the film industry body which practises voluntary rating of movies) or the Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (the software industry body which practises voluntary rating of entertainment software), then the Bundesprüfstelle may not continue with the indexing process.

The decision-making panel

The decision whether a media work is harmful to young people is taken by the Zwölfer-Gremium (Panel of Twelve) or the Dreier-Gremium (Panel of Three). On these panels, youth protection agencies, the arts The arts is a broad subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art," which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompasses visual arts, literature and the performing arts - music, drama, dance and film, among others. This list is by no means and business A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods or services, or both, to consumers, businesses and governmental entities. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies. Most businesses are privately owned. A business is typically formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business are represented by honorary assessors. The members of the panel act independently and not as directed by the interests they represent.

The Zwölfer-Gremium consists of:

The hearing, which representatives of the work in question can take part in, is oral and not open to the public. However, the presiding officer can allow third-parties to attend the hearing. As in the courts, transcripts of the hearing are not published, but the written reasons for a decision can also be requested by those not involved in the proceedings. The names of the assessors are disclosed to those involved in the proceedings, and are also listed in both the transcript and the decision to index. If those not involved in the proceedings request the decision to index, any personal data (of assessors and also of any companies or lawyers involved) is removed.

The decision to index requires a majority of two thirds of the votes. If this majority is not reached, the indexing is rejected. In the event that the Bundesprüfstelle holds a meeting with the legal quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Tenth Edition, the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order, the "requirement for a quorum is protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by of nine people, a qualified majority of seven must vote to index or the application will be rejected.

The Dreier-Gremium only has jurisdiction in cases where harm to young people is obvious. At least one assessor on the panel must be a representative of art, literature, the book trade and publishing, or the video or telecommunications industry. An application for indexing will only be accepted if the panel votes unanimously.

The person responsible for an indexed work can file suit against the decision to index in an administrative court.

The List of Media Harmful to Young People

The List of Media Harmful to Young People (colloquially known as the Index) is only published for physical media (those whose content is stored as an object rather than virtually). The list of virtual media is not published so as to avoid advertising these works. It is technically illegal for third parties to publish the list, and the only sanctioned lists can be found in the official publications of the BPjM. The lists are published in BPjM-Aktuell, a quarterly journal which costs 11 Euros The euro is the official currency of the Eurozone: 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU). It is also the currency used by the EU institutions. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Estonia is per issue. Nonetheless, there are numerous lists available on the Internet that reveal which media has been indexed or confiscated.

While these online lists are technically illegal, their right to exist and how the publication has yet been untested in court, as only a small number of them have shut down voluntarily after receiving warnings from a number of non-governmental youth protection associations. As such, it is as yet unknown whether a ban on the publication of these lists could be a violation of the Youth Protection Act. If it is not, then such a ban would not be permitted under article 5 of the German Constitution.

Under the new Jugendschutzgesetz, a decision to index remains valid for 25 years. After that, the work must be removed from the Index. If the BPjM is of the opinion that there is still a risk of harm to young people, it must begin the legal proceedings afresh.

In the event that the material or legal situation changes, the rights holders for an indexed work can apply for the proceedings to be re-opened under Article 51 of the Verwaltungsverfahrengesetz (the Administrative Proceedings Law) with the aim of removing the work from the list.

The List in detail

The List is subdivided into various sublists, and these in turn are subdivided into various indexes:

Sublist Index
A, B, E Under the Jugendschutzgesetz Article 18 Para 2 (1) & (2)

Sublist A: Works that are harmful to young people Sublist B: Works whose distribution is prohibited under the Strafgesetzbuch The Strafgesetzbuch is the name of the German, Swiss, Liechtenstein and Austrian criminal law. It is often abbreviated to StGB. This article focuses on the German code (German Criminal Code) (in the opinion of the BPjM) Sublist E: Entries prior to April 1 2003
1 Movies (2858 titles)
2 Games (389 titles)
3 Printed works (869 titles)
4 Audio recordings (368 titles)
C, D Under the Jugendschutzgesetz Article 18 Para 2 (3) & (4) (unpublished)

Sublist C: All indexed virtual works harmful to young people whose distribution is prohibited under Article 4 of the Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag Sublist D: All indexed virtual works, which potentially have content whose distribution is prohibited under the Strafgesetzbuch.
5 Virtual works (unpublished) (915 titles Correct as of January 2005)
Special digest Confiscations, where these have been notified to the BPjM
6 Confiscations under Articles 86a, 130 & 130a of the Strafgesetzbuch (110 titles)
7 Confiscations under Article 131 of the Strafgesetzbuch (240 titles)
8 Confiscations under Article 184 III (or, since April 1 2004, Articles 184a & 184b) of the Strafgesetzbuch (182 titles)
9 Confiscations under Articles 185 & 187 of the Strafgesetzbuch (2 titles)
Special digest Planned indexations/current indexations (physical works)
11 Planned indexations of physical works
10 Current indexations of physical works (works indexed in the same month that the current issue of BPjM-Aktuell was released)

Figures are from 2004.

Legal consequences

The legal consequences of a work being listed on the Index are enumerated in § 15 Jugendschutzgesetz [2] (law for the protection of minors):

  1. It must not be sold, provided or otherwise made accessible to minors.
  2. It must not be displayed where it can be seen by minors. This would, for example, include playing an indexed game in the presence of minors.
  3. It must be sold only within a shop. Basically selling indexed titles per mail order is illegal, however it is permissible if the package may only be handed over to a specified adult person, who has to present ID.
  4. It must not be rented out, except in a shop inaccessible to minors. This is why most video rentals in Germany are not accessible for minors - otherwise they would not be allowed to rent out certain horror (and adult) films.
  5. It must not be imported by mail order. In this case even an adult buyer is subject to penalty.
  6. It must not be advertised or announced in a place where the announcement or advertisement could be seen by minors.
  7. If it is for one of the above six causes, production, acquiring, and holding in store are subject to penalty too.

It is a matter of dispute whether criticism or discussion of indexed works is allowed in works that are accessible to young people. Public prosecutors The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case against an individual suspected of breaking the law in a criminal trial have not been unanimous in this regard, but publishers tend to err on the side of safety: In the German version of Marc Saltzman's Game Design: Secret of the Sages, for example, the titles of indexed games were replaced by random strings matching only first letter and length.

Criticism

Critics accuse the BPjM of de facto De facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established". It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or technique (such censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient to the government or media organizations as determined by a censor, paternalism Paternalism refers to an attitude or a policy reminiscent of the hierarchic pattern of a family based on patriarchy. The term may be used derogatorily to characterize attitudes or political systems that are thought to deprive individuals of freedom and responsibility, only nominally serving their interests, while in fact pursuing another agenda, and restricting the freedom of speech and of the press on the following grounds:

The counter-argument states that the advertising ban on indexed works is not the aim of the decision to index, but its legal consequence. The BPjM sees it as its responsibility to use the decision to index works harmful to young people in order to raise awareness that there is content which is unsuitable and damaging for children and minors. This should consequently encourage public debate about the depiction of violence in the media or about other matters of concern.

However, in practice this debate seldom takes place. One reason for this is the legal uncertainty as to whether a critical discussion of an indexed work is legally permissible or whether it infringes the advertising ban. This can be traced back to the differing positions of various public prosecutor's offices, and a clarification of the legal position by law enforcement agencies would consequently be helpful.

The critique that the BPjM is an organisation unique to Germany ignores the fact that other western countries also have laws and mechanisms, albeit different in scope and practice, to prevent, for example, the sale of pornography to minors, holocaust denial, or racist literature and hate speech, except the United States which uses the highly objective Miller Test, which rarely includes any forms of media other than outright pornography.

The nature of the BPjM's judgements has altered over the decades and been modified in accordance with changing public opinion. Decisions to index from the 1950s and 1960s, and indeed those from the early days of computer and video games, are unlikely to be made today. Regardless, many of these decisions are still in effect today.

Other restriction mechanisms

Indexing is not the only mechanism in use in Germany by which broader circulation of certain media works is prevented. For example, the state of Bavaria Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria (German: Freistaat Bayern, pronounced [ˈfʁaɪʃtaːt ˈbaɪ.ɐn] ; Alemannic German: Freistaat Bayre; Austro-Bavarian: Freistoot Boarn), is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of the country. With an area of 70,548 square kilometres (27,200 sq mi), it is by far the largest German state by area, claims the copyright Copyright is the set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. These rights can be licensed, transferred and/or assigned. Copyright lasts for a certain time period after which the work is said to enter the public domain. Copyright applies to a wide range of to Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP), commonly known as the Nazi Party. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and, after 1934, also head of state as Führer und Reichskanzler, ruling the's book Mein Kampf Mein Kampf, English: My Struggle, is a book by Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. The book was edited by Jesuit priest Bernard Staempfle who later perished during the Night of the Long Knives and chooses not to grant printing rights to any publisher within Germany. This is not a common way to prevent circulation as most other objectionable media are not copyrighted by any state agency. As the copyright status of the book is disputed, this ban has not proven enforceable outside Germany.

Works may also receive a confiscation order by a court A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. In both common law and civil law legal systems, courts are the central means for dispute when certain articles of the Strafgesetzbuch apply to them, for example, glorification of violence or denial of the Holocaust The Holocaust , also known as The Shoah (Hebrew: השואה, Romanized HaShoah; Yiddish: חורבן, Romanized Churben or Hurban) was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany.The genocide of these six million people was a genocide of two-. Confiscation, unlike indexing, results in a nationwide ban of the work which includes a ban on its sale to adults. A well-known example of a confiscated work is Wolfenstein 3D Wolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded as having popularized the first person shooter genre on the PC. It was created by id Software and published by Apogee Software. Released on May 5, 1992 for MS-DOS, the game was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software computer games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. It has been, which was confiscated due to the use of Nazi symbols such as swastikas The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form. Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. It occurs today in the modern day culture of India, sometimes as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious. Use of these symbols in any context other than an historical one is prohibited. This law is not always enforced though, e.g. the use of swastikas The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing (卐) form or its mirrored left-facing (卍) form. Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. It occurs today in the modern day culture of India, sometimes as a geometrical motif and sometimes as a religious in the German releases of the Indiana Jones film series The Indiana Jones franchise, based on the historical fantasy adventures of the eponymous fictional archaeologist, began in 1981 with the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. A prequel, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, followed in 1984 and the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. In 1992, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles began airing did not result in confiscation.

Sources

This article is primarily a translation of the equivalent German-language article as of September 1, 2005. That article lists the following source: -

External links

English

German

Categories: German federal agencies | German media Categories: German culture | Media by country | Communications in Germany | Censorship

 

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