WAR ON IRAK CENSORED

Ny Times: MTV Is Wary of Videos on War

Though images of war are dominating television screens, one channel is not having it. The day after the war in Iraq started, a memo was distributed through the offices of MTV Europe by its broadcast standards department.

In the memo, Mark Sunderland, one of the department's managers, recommends that music videos depicting "war, soldiers, war planes, bombs, missiles, riots and social unrest, executions" and "other obviously sensitive material" not be shown on MTV in Britain and elsewhere in Europe until further notice.

The memo cites explicit examples. These include videos that relate directly to the war in Iraq, like "Boom!" by System of a Down; videos with bombs exploding, like Billy Idol's "Hot in the City"; videos with war scenes, like Radiohead's "Lucky"; and even Aerosmith's "Don't Want to Miss a Thing," which has scenes from the action movie "Armageddon."

Taking further cautionary measures, the memo goes on to advise against showing videos in which lyrics, song titles or even band names allude to war, bombs or other "sensitive words." It mentions the songs "B.O.B (Bombs Over Baghdad)" by Outkast; "You, Me and World War Three" by Gavin Friday; and anything by the B-52's.

"I guess MTV doesn't have a research department, because from Day 1 we've said in interviews that our name is a slang term for the bouffant hairdo Kate and Cindy used to wear — nothing to do with bombers, " said Fred Schneider of the B-52's, referring to fellow band members.

Oddly, the memo also mentions "Invasion" by Radiohead, although a spokesman for the band said he was unaware of any song by the group with that title.

Serj Tankian, the singer in the hard rock band System of a Down, said that MTV in Britain was not showing his band's new video, "Boom!," but that MTV in the United States was. (The MTV spokeswoman confirmed this.) The video was directed by the Oscar-winning documentary maker Michael Moore and shows scenes of peace marches around the world. Meanwhile, Mr. Tankian said, the music-video network MuchMusic in Canada is showing "Boom!," but MuchMusic USA is not