Troubling TV and troubled kids

Troubling TV and troubled kids

When Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg reported in 2002 that they control the quantum of TV their children watch, it wasn't perhaps just celebrity candy. What it seemed to be was real concern about the monster that threatens to effacingly destroy childhood completely from the face of earth. Today, 3 years ahead, parents are still waging a war against the idiot box and the end doesn't seem nigh.

The Parents Television Council has come down harshly on four of America's most favourite television shows, "The War at Home," "The Family Guy”, "American Dad,” and "The O.C." , quoting them as the most unwatchable shows on prime-time today. Their grouse also includes the fact that the three comedies amongst these shows are wrongly positioned as family viewing, says group president, L. Brent Bozell.

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The PTC has base in Virginia and was formed in 1995 to watch over objectionable TV viewing for young children and teenagers. The non-profit institution declared its yearly report on Oct 19th, Wednesday, listing the above programs as worst. The criteria used to assess the ratings list were the occurrence of filthy words, sexual explicity, violence, irrelevant and meaningless story telling, the time of airing the shows and wrong choice of target viewers.

The other Fox shows in for heavy criticism are "That '70s Show" and "Arrested Development," Popularity took another hit when CBC's "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and ABC's "Desperate Housewives” were touted as unacceptable family programs.

If Fox got the maximum brickbats this year, with six of its programs gaining place in the hit list of ten, it also made way into the positive's list with its “American Idol” and “The Bernie Mac Show” gaining face. The other shows which are part of the appreciated list are "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" from ABC and "Three Wishes," from NBC. Infact, they were adjudged as best for family viewing. The new shows which gained ground are "The Ghost Whisperer" ( CBS) and "Everybody Hates Chris," (UPN). "Reba" and "7th Heaven” from WB, and "Dancing with the Stars" from ABC also found place in the list of worthy viewing.

Nobody commented from Fox, ABC and CBS on PTC's list of ratings. However, TV Watch, an anti-regulation organization did object to the same, when their spokesperson Kathy Roeder commented that,” It is far more constructive to encourage parents to decide what their children watch on TV by using ratings or screening shows than to hurl insults at shows enjoyed by millions of Americans.

Which perhaps, brings us to one of the most pertinent questions of our time, 'What is more important for controlling TV viewing among young people, parental regulation or industry regulation through law enforcement?' And though parental monitoring seems to be the answer most forums come up with, it cannot be denied that the TV industry needs to take a lot more responsibility towards what they churn out for young minds. Technology to monitor, control and block objectionable viewing is fine, but its high time industry saw itself as a part of society and behaved more prudently. The concept of corporate social responsibility cannot be evaded by them anymore. Individual freedom and subjective perception cannot be held as stronghold arguments to trash filth on TV screens. Everyone knows how irresponsible TV viewing affects child development and the effects are monstrously visible in societal patterns of behaviour. Everyone gets affected, but then, the root of the problem has to be hacked at.