Music Lyrics Violent and anti-social messages in music lyrics was raised in a number of submissions and this concern was echoed at the Senate Committee's seminar. In response to community concerns on this issue, Australia's censorship ministers agreed on 25 October 1996 to a proposal from the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) for a 12 month trial of voluntary warnings about explicity lyrics on retail CD covers. Of more direct relevance to this inquiry, the trial industry Code of Practice requires members of the industry to refuse distributions and sale of records with lyrics which encourage extreme violence or crime. The Ministers responsible have warned that a compulsory censorship scheme would be considered if the trial self-regulation fails. Concerns in relation to music lyrics centred around the difficulty for parents to monitor what children are listening to on the radio since so much listening is done with headphones. The repetitive nature of many popular lyrics also leads to a fear that a depressed adolescant may succumb to negative messages (such as lyrics promoting suicide as a means of resolving personal problems). Violent acts, whther dirceted towards the self as in suicides or towards others in mass shootings tend to engender a 'copycat' element. There have been reports that people contemplating suicide may be particularly vulnerable to 'copying' other suicides.[43] It is therefore important to control material that encourages violent acts against the self. The Senate Committee would like to see specific mention made of suicide in the ARIA Code of Practice's Guidelines for *Material which exceeds the upper parameters of 18+* The Committee recommends: That the ARIA Code of Practice Guidelines No. 3 for "material which are not permitted to be sold" be amended to add the word "suicide" after the words "incest" and "child abuse." (Recommendation 14) [43] Cantor, C.H. & Sheehan, P. Violence and Media Reports - A Connection with Hungerford? Archives of Suicide Research, Griffith University. -- From Report on the Portrayal of Violence in the Electronic Media, Senate Select Committee on Community Standards Relevant to the Supply of Services Utilising Electronic Technologies, Feburary 1997
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