(Image Source: Comedy Central)
BY UNA LUE
ANCHOR JIM FLINK
You're watching multisource entertainement news analysis from Newsy.
Looks like the UK has pushed the mute button -- when it comes to Jon Stewart.
A Daily Show segment about the phone hacking scandal has been censored in the U.K. --
A clip of Prime Minister David Cameron discussing his links to those involved in the News of the World Scandal....
MP Alun Michael : “Did the prime minister want to be kept from talk? or is he angry of this...“
MP Tom Watson: “I’m still waiting for a reply.”
MP Ann Clwyd: “Obviously
Jon Stewart: “England is awesome”
Viewers across the world can see this clip -- in Chad, Somalia, Syria, Yemen -- but it is mysteriously unavailable in England. Why? The Huffington Post explains - it’s against the law....
“There’s a law in place in Great Britain that makes footage of Parliamentary proceedings illegal to use it in a comedic or satirical context.”
That censorship has caused an uproar in the blogosphere.
A writer for The Guardian asks :
“How could we possibly make MPs look more undignified than they do already? ... he politicians were worried that they might be made to look ridiculous. That's the hundreds of MPs who jeer and cajole and feign laughter at weak jokes and jump up and down trying to get the Speaker's attention”.
On ‘Ology,’ a blogger posts a frame from the movie “V for Vendetta” and comments –
“Alright, maybe it’s not this bad.. yet”
And in an opinion piece on 100GF echoes -
“These rules are pretty obsolete in the 21st century, unless parliament wants to try to block online broadcasts of relevant footage. “
A writer for Mediaite says -- he can’t find a reason why satire should be banned - if anything he says it can bring a form of enlightenment.
Besides, isn’t Great Britain, a democracy?
“Of all the arguments you can make for banning/limiting/restricting satire, none of them seem to particularly persuasive. Satire has existed in many different forms. Nations that profess to be free should not be in the business of deciding what can and cannot be used to make fun of those in power.”
Stewart himself couldn’t pass up the chance to mock the House of Commons -- again.
He airs his grievances on his show.
“I could show footage, came back on camera very solemnly said ‘Tonight we have no confirmation that those MPs are baby-eating goat f***ers... that’s something British audience would have been able to watch.”
“The House of Commons? Is the most basic expression of British democracy is that too fragile to withstand a gentle parody, a good natured kick to the clotted creams?”
“The parliament thing…I just didn’t understand why they would air”
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