Many Believe TV Tied To Social Problems

More than two-thirds of Americans believe television contributes to violence, erodes family values and fosters a distrust of government, according to a new poll released Saturday.

The public also is deeply troubled about increasingly graphic portrayals of sex during prime time, said the poll, which will appear in the U.S. News & World Report issue on newsstands Monday.

Nearly 80 percent of Hollywood executives questioned by mail in a separate survey agreed there was a link between TV violence and violence in real life, but they were not nearly as concerned about TV’s role in other social problems.

Fifty-three percent of the executives said TV contributed to distrust of government, and 46 percent thought it contributed to the decline of family values. Thirty-four percent believe TV played some role in America’s divorce rate.

One thousand adults were interviewed for poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

U.S. News said 570 of the 6,500 Hollywood executives who received the mail surveys responded to them.

“It is not a scientific survey, but the total number of responses was significant and suggests that many Hollywood leaders are concerned about trends in the television business,” the magazine said in a statement.