‘Parents to be cautious about kids viewings’

PARENTS and guardians have been urged to be cautious about what their children view on television at homes and read about in books or on the internet.
Censorship board chairman Oseah Philemon said parents needed to exercise control at home on what their children were doing because there were so much indecent products circulating  in streets or market places in PNG.
“Watch what your children watch at home on television or computers.
“I am shocked to learn that there were many indecent and immoral tools plaguing PNG,” Mr Philemon said.
He was referring to DVDs, CDs, books or magazines containing obscene words,Sexual behaviours and other pornographic items.
“There is so much coming in through our borders and lots of people bring these items across the border that we don’t have any ability to stop them,” he added.
Mr Philemon said pirated products such as DVDs were also on the rise in the country.
“There is also so much piracy going on with the introduction of new and advanced technology and there is no control over contents of materials that are pirated and sold to the public.”
He said all these were huge challenges that PNG was faced with.
Mr Philemon was speaking at the launch of the censorship database development project last Friday by the Department for Community Development (DFCD) Minister Dame Carol Kidu.
“This is a small but significant ceremony as it marks a dawn of a new era,” he said adding that for the first time in many years the censorship was  equipped with the right kind of technology to help do its job effectively.
The introduction of the infrastructure and the censorship database system that would link all international air, sea ports, regional offices and boarder provinces could be used effectively to address difficulties and challenges PNG faces in dealing with challenges mentioned.
“It is pleasing to know that the DFCD through censorship will be working hand in hand with PNG Custom agents, regional and border officials, in monitoring what is coming in and censoring who is responsible of bringing in such materials.
The new tech could  also be used as an important tool in educating parents on what their children could read or watched, he said.
Mr Philemon thanked the Government and the DFCD for their support in funding the project.