SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.
BRITAIN: A teenager who beat his mother to death with a hammer and burned her body in a “chilling” murder inspired by a Coronation Street plot has been jailed for at least 16 years.
The killing carried out by Daniel Bartlam, who was 14 at the time, is likely to reignite the debate about the levl of violence on televison, with, the interest group Mediawatch UK warning yesterday that soap operas were “pushing the boundaries”. [Read more…]
TV sleaze backlash gathers steam
By John Drinnan Sep 17, 2010
Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10674013
Pressure is building on television networks to reduce the amount of sleaze in early prime time. The Broadcasting Standards Authority is expected to announce a decision next week that will set the new tone. There is particular concern about sexual content on early-evening TV.
BSA chief executive Dominic Sheehan said he was aware of concerns and had spoken to two community groups. He will be suggesting that the BSA board commission more research into the issue of how sexuality is presented, including the effect on early prime time – up to the 8.30pm cut-off for adult viewing. He had met the groups – one of which is Family First [a highly respected registered charity]- and they had raised convincing arguments that the BSA needed to develop its research.
There had been issues about the portrayal of sex in the news and in promotions. Sheehan stressed that the BSA acted only on complaints. It cannot act proactively or make subjective decisions. The authority has been created that way to ensure the industry is self-regulating. But self-regulation has gone out the door as the networks chase ratings.
Sheehan would not discuss an upcoming decision that will have an impact on how the BSA treats complaints about good taste and decency.
Television researcher Ruth Zanker has raised alarm bells about the growing levels of sexual content in early prime time, warning that children were being sacrificed on the altar of higher ratings for TV networks. But if the number of complaints are any judge, New Zealanders are happy with sleazy 7pm shows such as Family Guy.
The show regularly features a paedophile character and themes of incest and bestiality. AGB Nielsen surveys suggest an average 25,000 children aged 7 to 14 watch the show at 7pm each weeknight.
Sheehan said the context of shows – like the different approach of cartoons and of an edgy channel like C4 – was taken into account by the BSA.
TV2’s early prime time show Two and a Half Men regularly had a sexual theme. Another sign of the times in 2010 telly? A programme this week has included a promo for a show where a character is sexually attracted to pregnant women.
From the Archives: Concerns raised with BSA by SPCS re TV3 depiction of gratuitous violence. See: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU0404/S00048.htm
by SPCS 2 Comments
The Society’s 2009 (Members Only) AGM will be held on Monday night from 6.45 pm to 7.20 pm 8th June 2009 at Connolly Hall, Guilford Tce, Thorndon. The Public Address commencing at 7.30 pm, following the AGM, will be given by John Terris, former Mayor of Lower Hutt, former Labour Party MP for Western Hutt, Former Acting Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of Media Matters. All members of the public are warmly invited to attend this lecture, the discussion that follows and the supper. The Lecture Topic is: “New Zealand’d Media Landscape – It’s like the Wild and Woolly West. (Our value-averse little country is fast becoming the Sleaze Capital of the Universe).” [Read more…]
Mother backs TV Research Dominion Post 6/11/08 by Greer McDonald
The mother of a 14-year old who viewed footage of rape and domestic violence for research has defended the study and says children see worse on news broadcasts.
Dawn Bunker, of Wanganui, said she gave consent for her son to take part in the research and believed he didn’t see anything that wasn’t age-appropriate”.
“I feel it was well worthwhile and done professionally, and at no time felt he could not cope with what he was shown. As he himself put it – ‘You see worse on the TV news, Mum.'”
Mrs Bunker was offended by comments from Bob McCoskrie, of lobby group Family First, who said this week that the fact that parents had consented to their children taking part “says something about the parents”.
Mrs Bunker, a mother of three, said parents had to be censors in their own homes. “Some of the things you see on the news, I’ve kicked my kids out of the room – I’m censoring my children myself, I know what they can handle.”
She said chief censor Bill Hastings was doing a good job.
However, a community lobby group has called for he resignations of Mr Hastings and Dominic Sheehan, chief executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, for whose agencies the research was conducted.
John Mills, president of the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards, said Mr Hastings showed appalling judgment. “the society is outraged Mr Hastings has defended his breaking of the law by claiming that, because the younger participants gained parental permission before they they took part in the research, then that was okay.”
Video Game Violence and Public Policy
David Walsh, Ph.D.
National Institute on Media and the Family
Concern about violent video and computer games is based on the assumption that they contribute to aggression and violence among young players. That conclusion was originally based on the extensive body of research about the effects of television violence on children’s behavior. Prominent organizations like the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association have all concluded that the scientific evidence shows a cause-effect relationship between television violence and aggression among the children and youth who watch it. Based on this research, many social scientists have hypothesized that we should expect video games to have an even greater impact for the following four reasons.
http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/conf2001/papers/walsh.html [Read more…]