Arbitrary Ratings Aren’t The Answer
Clearly, there’s too much sex and violence available to children on television.
But red flags started waving last week after President Clinton summoned the industry’s moguls to Washington, D.C., for a meeting on the topic. Representatives from every major production studio, cable company and broadcast television network “voluntarily” agreed to create a rating system for the small screen to guide parents in making viewing choices for their children.
On the face of it, the agreement sounds reasonable. And it’s refreshing to see the private and public sectors working together to solve a problem.
But, as one critic said, it’s a technical solution to a social problem. And it won’t work.
Television has been resisting political and public pressure for years to tone down the content of its programming. Instead of taking heed, the industry has pushed the envelope even further - airing cross-dressers during after-school hours and mentioning masturbation and group sex during the so-called “family hour,” for example. Only now, as some conservatives have talked of censorship, has the industry agreed to monitor itself.
Programs will be rated according to their level of sex and violence, similar to movie ratings. The ratings will be encoded so an electronic device such as the “v-chip” can blank out certain programs.
The problems start with the rating process. Who decides what’s objectionable for children? And on what age are they basing their judgments? Does an otherwise responsible - indeed, often socially instructive - “Roseanne” get an objectionable rating because of raw language? And what about violence? A police drama likely will get a frown because of fake pools of blood, but the real thing in boxing and football will go unchecked because sporting events won’t be rated.
It’s arbitrary. Does the same industry that produces this crud have the value system and objectivity required to rate its own work?
There’s also valid concern that a rating system will open the door for even more adult content. If children can be protected from objectionable shows through the v-chip, why not make more adult content available to older audiences? But because children often are more savvy technically than their parents, those blocking devices won’t go unconquered for long.
Instead of hiding behind a rating system, the television industry should tone down its racy content on its own because that’s what the public wants.
Ultimately, it’s up to parents - not TV producers, not the president - to decide what their children will watch. A rating system and v-chip can’t do that for us - and shouldn’t.
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