
The Parents Television Council, which watches out for families and children concerning media behavior, released a new report stating that violence on TV has increased tremendously and is calling for "marketers to demand full refunds when their ads appear next to content that is deemed too violent."
According to the report, since 1998, violent actions were up by 45 percent during the 8 p.m. hour, 92 percent during 9 p.m. and 16 percent in the 10 p.m. hour. That ends up being between 4 and 5 violent actions an hour. The report and its conclusions were based upon the sweeps period.
NBC (GE) had the dubious distinction of being the most violent primetime network in the 2005-2006 season, with an average of 6.79 violent actions an hour. CBS (CBS) had the most deaths per hour. Since 1998, ABC (DIS) had the largest
increase in violence. The report only focused on network television and not cable.
Federal Communications Commission member Michael J. Copps said "If broadcasters don't step up and self-police I don't think anyone will be surprised if Congress decides to step in."
The PTC claims that through their research they've discovered that the industry's answer of the v-Chip doesn't work.
The Kaiser Family Foundation confirmed this saying that the content descriptors aren't being used in the majority of the general shows that have sex, violence, or adult language in them. They said that 80 percent of shows that had sexual and violent content didn't receive the V or S content descriptors.
What may possibly be happening here is the usual Hollywood disconnect between regular people and those in the industry. What the industry considers violent or sexual content, is probably far different than what parents think. So in that sense, the V-Chip could never work if Hollywood studios define sexual and violent content in an entirely different way.







Comment Preview