Acting Chief Censor Rupert Ablett-Hampson to urgently assess a manifesto attributed to the perpetrator of the 2022 Buffalo, New York mass shooting, and a livestream of the attack. Both publications were later permanently banned. Chief Censor The chairperson of the Classification Office is the Chief Censor, a position that is selected by the Governor-General on the recommendation of the Minister of Internal Affairs with the agreement of the Minister of Women's Affairs and the Minister of Justice. The Chief Censor has the power to "call in" publications that have not come to the Office for classification, requiring the publisher to submit the publication for classification. List of Chief Censors William Jolliffe 1916–1927 W. A. Tanner 1927–1937 W. A. von Keisenberg 1938–1949 Gordon Mirams 1949–1959 Douglas McIntosh 1960–1976 Bernard Tunnicliffe 1977–1983 Arthur Everard 1984–1990 Jane Wrightson 1991–1993 Kathryn Paterson 1994–1998 Bill Hastings 1999–2010 Andrew Jack 2011–2017 David Shanks 2017–2022 Caroline Flora 2022–present Case studies 13 Reasons Why Chief Censor Andrew Jack used his call-in power to classify the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why in 2017 and his successor David Shanks called in the second series in 2018. The Chief Censors were concerned that New Zealand audiences needed to be warned about rape and suicide in the series. New Zealand has the highest youth suicide rate in the OECD. The series was given a specially created RP18 classification which means that someone under 18 must be supervised by a parent or guardian when viewing the series, which Netflix was required to display. A Star Is Born A Star Is Born (2018) was not classified by the Classification Office when it released in New Zealand. It had been rated an M in Australia so was automatically cross-rated M (Unrestricted, suitable for 16 years and over) in New Zealand by the Film & Video Labelling Body. At that stage, it carried a descriptive note ‘Sex scenes, offensive language and drug use.’ The Chief Censor required that the warning note be updated to include ‘suicide’ after receiving complaints from members of the public, including health care providers. The method of suicide used in A Star Is Born is the most common method of suicide in New Zealand. The Film & Video Labelling Body issued a new certificate to be displayed and alerted exhibitors to the note change so that they could update their information. Where possible, the distributor must update the label on all advertising.