Encouraging Co-regulation
With the proliferation of media content and delivery platforms, co-regulation with the industry is important. The industry is encouraged to be socially responsible and to take adequate steps to ensure that content meets with community standards. This partnership with the industry enables MDA to be responsive to both public and industry needs.
In addition to working closing with the industry to ensure compliance of the codes, MDA also relies on public feedback to be alerted to possible breaches to the programme codes and content guidelines. Should members of the public come across problematic content on radio, television, videos or publications, they are encouraged to highlight these to MDA for investigation. To send a feedback to MDA on content in programmes, please click here
For more information on MDA's policies and guidelines, please click here
How Co-regulation Works
Co-regulation is currently practised for media platforms like radio and TV (both free-to-air and subscription broadcasters), where MDA does not pre-censor content but issues content codes and guidelines for content providers' compliance. The codes and guidelines are drafted in consultation with the industry as well as public advisory committees, to ensure that they are in step with community standards.
For publications, the Registered Importers Scheme was introduced in 1997 to allow importers to co-regulate. Under this scheme, registered importers are regularly briefed on content guidelines for imported publications and audio materials. Based on these guidelines, importers co-regulate and assess the suitability of materials for local distribution and consult the MDA when in doubt. Co-regulation, in this instance, helps to facilitate the approval process and reduce the time-to-market for the industry.
In the areas of film, video and video games classification, the Board of Film Censors (BFC) provides a platform for companies to co-regulate in content declaration, whereby companies can highlight any contentious elements to the BFC. Co-regulation is also practised by companies when declaring content exemption from classification based on a set of guidelines issued by the Board. Self-regulation is practised by the industry whereby companies take full ownership over marketing and publicity materials based on a set of guidelines issued by the BFC.