68: Last Censor in the Western World

David Shanks is the Chief Censor for New Zealand. As his title implies he is responsible for determining what is and what is not fit for public consumption, what ratings should be applied to various media, as well as other less obvious details that highlight the elusive line between protected speech and speech that constitutes a danger to public safety. We first reached out to David's office after the BBC highlighted a series of videos from the government of New Zealand encouraging parents to discuss online porn consumption and cyber bullying with their kids. One of the defining moments of David's tenure as censor came when a terrorist live streamed the mass murder of 51 people during Friday prayers at a mosque and an Islamic center in Christchurch on March 15, 2019.