South Australian Attorney-General Michael Atkinson, the man who fears gamers more than outlaw bikers, has given “tens of thousands of dollars in funding” to the group who this week said that videogames were more dangerous than smoking.
In a Channel Ten news report that attempted to link youth violence and videogames, Dr Wayne Warburton from the Australian Council on Children and the Media described the alleged link as “much greater than the effect of smoking on lung cancer.”
Now, as reported by News.com.au, it comes to light that the ACCM has received considerable funding from the office of Michael Atkinson, the censorship minister who opposes the introduction of an R18+ rating for videogames.
The ACCM’s website is the same website Mr Atkinson last year directed readers of his open letter towards to find out more about Professor Craig Anderson, the sole academic who research supports the minister’s position.
And it is Professor Anderson’s research who the Australian Christian Lobby referred to in their claims this week that the games industry “mirrors” the tobacco industry in its denial of the effects of violent videogames.
Remarkably, some of the money donated by Atkinson was spent on a brochure entitled Know Before You Go, in which the authors offered classification advice to parents on a range of films and TV shows aimed at children. Quite why the Attorney-General responsible for classification is funding the production of alternative classification advice is an issue for you to speculate upon in the comments below.
Video game ‘cancer’ group funded by Atkinson [News.com.au]
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