Rating System Protecting TV Industry, Not Children

Imagine any other that would be allowed to manage around five. Your watchdog is family policy with Pres. John Weston thank you for joining us. Our guest today is Tim winter, president of the parents television Council or PTC nonpartisan media watchdog and education organization to be talking with us today about a new PTC report that analyzes the past 20 years of the TV content rating system which reveals that the rating system is really in adequate to protect children against the increasing amount of graphic sex, violence, and profanity on television today.

What about the family policy matters. It's great to have you back with us on the program to be back with you again and greetings to you and your listeners from Hollywood, California Grable Tim as we began I wanted to start with a discount of an introductory question that many of our listeners might have, which is what is the TV content rating system how to come about and what is it intended to do the TV content rating system is much like the motion picture rating system that parents have been using for many decades. It is intended to to guide parents along in terms of making sure that with a consume and television programming is consistent with the values that the family has and the rating system came about in the mid-1990s were almost 20 years old now with the system and it was really in response to an increasing level of concern by by parents by families at the amount of of edgy explicit and adult seemed told programming that was airing and the Congress got behind the effort and this was basically an agreement by the television industry to kind of call off the hounds of the word in Washington DC that to give them a little bit of the political cover by putting this content rating since assuming the place.

It then allowed parents make better choices. It also allowed them with the advent of the technology component called the V-chip which is installed in every TV set.

It allows parents to program their TV sets to block content based on the content rating that they might feel is so harmful or doesn't square up with her family values. So that's kind of the genesis of how the TV content rating system can about let's talk about the PDC report which does examine the lasted 20 years of the TV rating system. How was the report designed and what specific information did you look into yet here the current stalking Council. We have trained staff, led by a PhD researcher and staff for our records every hour of primetime broadcast television, all the different networks work recorded digitally and we have analysts come in our in our families, the next morning delivered to their workstations and they review the content that aired on the previous evening as we we we have a very robust system here that allows us to track and then report on trends were seen and wanted one of the that the transit we had seen now for quite some time. Is that that the rating system is frequently inaccurate when it's inaccurate. It's only inaccurate in one direction and that's the rate content to young rise limited to young not to never too old and bad for kids even though it be program for them so so the report was designed to really display it in empirical data. How things have happened over the last 20 years with this content rating system is truly serving parents as it was ostensibly put in place to do or is it really giving you know is it giving clinical continued cover for the TV networks and family. That's what we found. Will is you mention the TV content rating system is actually run by the TV networks themselves.

This really does sound, like the fox guarding the hen house scenario, would you consider that to be an accurate assessment and can it really be relied upon by parents to truthfully portray the type of content that is contained in specific programs. I think your your analogy is perfect. This is the fox guarding the house. I can imagine any other system to protect consumers from potential harm that would be allowed to be implemented, manage and run by the very industry that your friend trying to watchdog and if the information that says here's what's in this show. This potentially harmful is entirely up to the producer of that of that product to disclose without any any consequence of being inaccurate.

I hope it would stand for that. In any other in any other type of industry or any other type of product. Unfortunately, it is something that is an inherent conflict of interest and be the TV networks themselves decide what's what, to rate the show we have seen the same show in the past. Airing on two different networks.

It was rated differently using the same show the same episode, unedited air on the same network and they give it two different ratings.

Once, when it first aired once when repeated to even the networks themselves seem either unable or unwilling to really make sure there is a consistency, a transparency clarity in and what the system really means. One of the parents television Council study found that there are increasingly fewer programs on TV that are related. PG talk about Bella but what kind of decrease have we seen in PG rated programming and why do you think that is it's a dramatic decrease and it's not just PG is also the G rated stuff, you know, people, parents think of G and PG rated material as something that is almost always appropriate for their children to watch and and whether anything about a movie you think G and PG goes back to the old Walt Disney days. You know, Herbie the love bug or something.

No cars or or or or Toy Story things that you know that the kids can watch but there is virtually up until actually just the last few weeks there have been zero. No G rated television shows on the air for several years and it was just recently that the NBC put a G rated show series back on the air and is called the little big shots and it's a reality show with Steve Harvey is the host and was interesting is the show's doing very well. The rating when it went when you when you have something that really is family-friendly in its that has good production values good writing and good and directing and so forth.

It tends to do very well successfully so. If not, it will G and PG have been all all but eliminated from the programming schedule here. The reason why I think because there are so few people in the Hollywood who think that's the cool right thing to do. There's really a market for that most people here in Hollywood feel that almost like a super peer group of producers who are always watching what the other guys doing and everybody's trying to outdo the other guy and if one person is has an edgy show than the next person wants people to more edgy and that's what they think of as success rather than what's the biggest possible audience. I can I can gather and make no the network the most money with the advertisers and that unfortunately the mentality here is that PG rated stuff is not what people really want but boy when it's done right. The audience measurement devices. Sure suggest otherwise they show that the parents really do want something that they can watch together with the kids was listening to as a resource to listen to our radio show online resources have a place of persuasion in your community site collecting well. In addition to the decrease in the number of PG rated programs.

From what I understand in the ward were also saying that between programs that are rated PG and those that are rated TV 14. There seem to be a less and less distinction between those parties. Rating supposed to designate some pretty significant differences in terms of content, but actually it seems like it's getting very very model exactly right. It is modeled and I believe it is intentional.

I don't think that there's true animus on the part of the networks in rating these things. What I do know is that those who who rate the content of the program work for the same CEO who approved the edgy production of renal graphic explicit content to begin with and and the higher the age rating, the higher the old of age rating of the TV content. Two things happen. A lot of parents say well I'm going to try to follow that guideline and so not allow my children to watch it and then the other thing is that advertisers are a little bit squishy when it comes to explicit material and sponsoring it so there's there's there is a double conflict of interest for the networks to rate things the way they really should be rated based on the content and what used to be wholly unacceptable for television is now acceptable and then you become from acceptable to well we can put on earlier and then it from earlier.

It's like, well, we can play rated for kids. There seems to be a constant desensitization, not just with the audience that was just with the children were watching the stuff, but also with the standards of the of of an age rating.

I think the network executives themselves are desensitize and there's a creep on their part to great things younger and younger not begin intentionally trying to hurt children, but I think they just become the community become immune to to the stuff that this was berating perhaps 10. The most worrisome findings from the PTC report is a graphic content on television seems to be increasing significantly in frequency and intensity tell us about this finding, and give us some examples and let's keep it rated G or PG for our listeners with some examples of the type of content that you were talking about. Well here's the irony in that it is difficult for me to make sure I'm respecting the audience I'm speaking to with generated content about content of adult themed grind was it were talking about gruesome horrific violence with you know I used to be back in the day if there were violence on shown it with her was always a consequence for it was never shown in the graphic gruesome glory. Blood drenched kind of way and that is now changed.

You now have sexual conduct that perhaps was, you know, back in the day you see the light turnout in the bedroom and then they'd go to a commercial motor scene but nowadays they keep the camera in the bedroom and they're showing all the stuff is going on and in the end the profanity and it's not just the profanity and how it's used were now even seeing children in the characters in the shows using the harsh profanity line so it is is every type of content that the parent or grandparent or you know this is not just parents and grandparents is also people who have their own sensibilities about what they want to watch an awful lot of folks without children also feel the same about this content is just too much of it and and the family with a report showing there's more of it and it increasing an amount is increasing in intensity and it's now being rated as appropriate for children to consume them. I know that the parents television Council is calling for reforms of the TV content rating system. What is this reform look like on a practical level, and what specific recommendations are you calling for were asking first and foremost is to make sure that there is a were building a choir that were all on the same page here. Also not the same sheet that that the existing system is broken, it doesn't work and it is only protecting the industry not protecting children you have in Washington DC and oversight monitoring board that is supposed to make sure this content rating system is effective.

The interesting thing is, we've learned that the cost of the oversight monitoring board is comprised of TV network executives who are the same people who rate this content enter inaccurately to begin with. So imagine if you would know Wall Street you know firm that is trying to rip people off and then they get to a point, who oversees the of the rules of the SEC you have here a system that is at the very ground level is deceiving parents and then the oversight monitoring board that is in charge of ensuring the accuracy of the system is every bit as is fraudulent as the underlying system. So what were calling for is for the existing system to be thrown out. We have a way of a petition on our website. Parents TV.org and it parents to be.org you can sign the petition. You can you can take quizzes.

You can see for yourself some of the miss rated content so that you don't just take our word for take a look at the stuff that works reposting and showing you as rated as appropriate for children when in fact it's not so severe the things that that there were calling on Americans to do from across the country left center-right.

Politically, every, every cultural divide. This impact everybody and so were asking people to to join the fight lend your name to the petition.

Bring your voice with ours and were going to Washington DC and were calling on the FCC to throw out think system and let's replace it with one that truly serves parents and is accountable. Parents will temperature and I could on our listeners. After hearing this discussion are likely wondering what can they do and there are some very practical steps that they can take, and I want to encourage your listeners to do that and without him when I just want to thank you so much for all your great work. Thank you so much for your time for being with us on family policy matters and that we wish you and the parents television Council. All the best, listening to policy matters NC formally to listen to our radio show online for more valuable resources and information about issues important to families in North Carolina website family.org follow us on Twitter and