News	News category

Russian station's licence renewed amid row over South Park, cartoons

24.09.2008 21:01 Arts - Source: cbc.ca

A Russian TV station criticized for broadcasting satirical animated shows like South Park and The Family Guy won a reprieve on Wednesday when the country's broadcasting commission approved its licence renewal.

"It was a unanimous decision to recommend extending the licence," said Mikhail Seslavinsky, head of the Federal Agency for Print and Mass Media, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.

The station's broadcast licence had been set to expire Oct. 17.

A religious group and some Russian government officials have blasted the channel — known as 2X2 — for airing teen- and adult-oriented cartoons, claiming that the productions are extremist, violent, pornographic and offensive to different religions.

"I've got no problem with my sense of humour, but any satire has its limits," pastor Konstantin Bendas, who is heading up a campaign against the station and submitted formal complaints to Russian prosecutors, told Agence France-Presse.

"If Christian communion is compared to eating feces, is that funny?" he asked, referring to an episode of South Park.

The complaints have also led to the station being criminally investigated for possibly breaching existing broadcasting laws intended to protect children and strict legistation introduced in 2006 that expanded the definition of extremism to include "the abasement of national dignity" and "inciting religious and national hatred."

Fans rally in support, but station suspends cartoons for now

Last weekend, several hundred teenaged fans staged protests in Moscow and St. Petersberg expressing support of the channel and accusing the critics of censorship.

Nonetheless, on Monday — under threat of losing its licence — 2X2 suspended broadcasting the notoriously foul-mouthed South Park and nearly a dozen other cartoons for the time being. A 2X2 spokeswoman emphasized, however, that any violent cartoons had not been directed at children and only shown at night.

The company's executives have also suggested in interviews that the campaign against 2X2 is being prompted by a desire for the station's slot on the television dial.

A Russian politican and critic of the channel seemed to give credence to that theory when he revealed that a new, state-run TV channel aimed at Russian youth was in the works.

Pavel Tarakanov, chair of the committee on youth issues in the Russian parliament, told a Russian newspaper published on Wednesday that the new channel "will reflect the state's views in the area of youth policy" and that its mandate is "near completion."

2X2 has repeatedly weathered controversy over its programming over the last year. In 2007, Christian and Muslim organizations united to try to kick the channel off the air, claming that its content is anti-religious, violent and promoting of homosexuality.

In February, a Russian TV regulatory body warned about some of the cartoons and, the following month, Russian Protestant leaders complained about the station.

Story Tools: E-MAIL | PRINT | Text Size: S M L XL | REPORT TYPO | SEND YOUR FEEDBACK

Internal Links

Russian prosecutors try to ban South Park Boycott backfires: South Park gets record audience New Zealand bishops join fight against South Park episode Catholics urged to boycott animated Vatican satire

More TV Headlines

Russian station's licence renewed amid row over South Park, cartoonsA Russian TV station criticized for broadcasting satirical animated shows like South Park and The Family Guy won a reprieve on Wednesday when the country's broadcasting commission approved its licence renewal.Actors condemn Harper's culture cutsCanada's top film and televison performers gathered in Toronto on Wednesday to condemn the $45 million in cuts to culture funding announced by the Conservative government in August, saying the cuts will cripple the Canadian arts industry.Iraq stories dominate at news & doc Emmy AwardsNews reports about Iraq, the plight of soldiers and reactions to the war back home were among the stories honoured at the 29th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards in New York Monday night.HNIC adds 18 games to broadcast scheduleCBC Sports announced Tuesday that it has bulked up its Hockey Night in Canada schedule for the upcoming NHL season by adding 18 games.Flashpoint set for sophomore season on both sides of the borderU.S. network CBS has renewed Toronto-set police drama Flashpoint for a second season following the show's renewal by its Canadian broadcaster last month.

More Arts Headlines

Actors condemn Harper's culture cutsCanada's top film and televison performers gathered in Toronto on Wednesday to condemn the $45 million in cuts to culture funding announced by the Conservative government in August, saying the cuts will cripple the Canadian arts industry.ROM bringing Dead Sea scrolls to TorontoIn a blockbuster that the Royal Ontario Museum compares to the 1978 King Tut exhibit, the museum plans to bring the Dead Sea scrolls to Toronto next summer.Playwrights MacIvor, Murphy to vie for $100,000 theatre prizeAcclaimed Canadian playwrights Daniel MacIvor and Colleen Murphy will face off against three colleagues for the country's richest theatre prize next month.Italy returns Parthenon marble fragment to GreeceA long-missing portion of the Parthenon returned to Athens this week, courtesy of a visiting Italian leader. Russian station's licence renewed amid row over South Park, cartoonsA Russian TV station criticized for broadcasting satirical animated shows like South Park and The Family Guy won a reprieve on Wednesday when the country's broadcasting commission approved its licence renewal.