Media FINALLY ‘get it’! Book ban complaint came after Censor removed R rating
Radio NZ 8 Sep 2015
Lobby group Family First claims the Censor’s office breached processes by removing an age rating from an award-winning young adults novel it claims is offensive.
The Film and Literature board of review has placed an interim restriction order on Into The River, by Auckland author Ted Dawe, after a complaint by the group. The order means it cannot be sold, lent or displayed by anyone, and the board will now review what the final restriction will be. Family First national director Bob McCoskrie told Morning Report the group was satisfied with an R14 restriction, but the Censor’s office stepped in and removed the rating altogether. He said this led to the group making the protest, as the content in the book was too adult.
“It has sexually explicit material and it’s a book that’s got the c-word nine times, the f-word 17 times and s-h-i-t 16 times. McCoskrie said he would be happier if the book was made R18. School Library Association president Miriam Tuohy told Morning Report it would accept an R rating for the book . She said that, like many people, she was surprised and outraged by the ban, but she said when it was earlier given an R14, libraries generally accepted the decision, in light of the content.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/283573/book-ban-complaint-came-after-censor-removed-r-rating
‘We’re not calling for it to be banned, and never have’ – Family First on teen book
ONE News 8 Sep 2015
The controversial teen book Into The River shouldn’t be banned completely but it needs to carry an R14 rating, conservative lobby group Family First says
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/-we-re-not-calling-for-it-to-be-banned-and-never-have-family-first-on-teen-book-q09580.html
Family First president Bob McCoskrie: I never wanted Into the River banned
NZ Herald 8 Sep 2015
The head of the Christian lobby group Family First said he never demanded the award-winning book Into the River be banned.
Bob McCoskrie told Radio NZ this morning that Family First had wanted censors to reinstate the book’s R14 rating, which had been removed last month, and require that the book carry a warning sticker.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=11509627
Family First says it didn’t intend for racy teen novel Into the River to be banned
Stuff co.nz 8 September 2015
The conservative lobby group whose complaint led to the banning of an award-winning Kiwi novel says it did not intend for that to happen, as critics of the move call for caution to be exercised in curtailing free speech.
Family First leader Bob McCoskrie told Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report that the group was satisfied with an R14 restriction initially placed on Into the River, but would be happier if it was R18.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/71849582/family-first-says-it-didnt-intend-for-racy-teen-novel-into-the-river-to-be-banned
Family First denies wanting Into the River banned
3News 8 Sep 2015
Christian lobby group Family First has denied trying to get award-winning teen book Into the River banned, saying it only wanted its R14 restriction reinstated.
Ted Dawe’s novel, which won the New Zealand Post Children’s Book award in 2013, was yesterday slapped with an interim ban on its sale or distribution by the Film and Literature Board of Review.
The book was initially released with stickers warning of explicit content, but without any age restriction. The board later changed it to R14, but last month the chief censor removed the restriction, as well as the requirement it carried a sticker warning.
http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/family-first-denies-wanting-into-the-river-banned-2015090810#axzz3l6n1Su4L
