‘Violence On Screen Can Be Entertaining’ Says British Public
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) has published the results of research on public viewing habits. Television: The Public’s View 1998 examines public attitudes to subjects such as advertising, digital and multichannel TV and programme standards.
The ITC has also published Definitions Of Violence: A Search For Understanding, research carried out in conjunction with the BBC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV and BSkyB on the issues of screen violence. The study found that there is a broad agreement amongst television viewers as to the difference between violence which is entertaining and that which is disturbing.
The annual Public’s View Report by the ITC showed that the majority of people (67%) said that they did not see things on television which they found offensive. Its research on violence shows that viewers share a consensus as to what constitutes entertaining violence and disturbing violence. The more realistic and close to home violence is, the more seriously it is regarded by the audience. Graphic violence which is far removed from the experience of the viewer is more likely to be regarded as entertaining than violent scenes depicting, for example, domestic situations.
Both men and women agreed therefore that violence on television, even if quite graphic, can be entertaining. They developed the following working definition for violence on screen: “Screen violence is any act that is seen, or unequivocally signalled, which would be considered an act of violence in real life, because the violence was considered unjustified, either in the degree or nature of the force used or that the injured party was undeserving of the violence. The degree of violence is defined by how realistic the violence is considered to be and is made even stronger if the violence inflicted is considered unfair.”
As far as television advertising was concerned, The Public’s View 1998 showed that the main objection was that there are too many adverts and that they interrupt programmes, although 57% of viewers are content with levels of advertising on channels 3, 4 and 5. A large majority, 83% of respondents, reported not having found any ads to have been really offensive (although offence accounts for the largest proportion of complaints received by the ITC). If asked to choose one channel, ITV is still the first choice of 40% of viewers, with 35% choosing the BBC. A noticeably smaller percentage of viewers however were satisfied with ad levels on cable and satellite channels, with only 49% of viewers saying that current levels were acceptable: 45% of subscribers considered present levels of advertising too high.
Interest in digital television was not as high as awareness: 79% of viewers said they were aware of DTV but just 4% of respondents reported being ‘very interested’ in receiving digital TV (this was prior to the announcement made by Sky Digital last Wednesday offering free set-top boxes (see Newsline), and ONdigital’s decision to give them away free with TV’s purchased for over £200). A third of respondents involved in the survey had multi-channel services at home, and satellite viewers tend to be more interested in DTV than terrestrial-only or cable subscribers.
ITC: 0171 255 3000