BSC Report Shows Rising Complaints
The number of complaints relating to taste and decency issues on TV and radio has increased by 46% year on year from 4,920 in 2000/2001 to 7,138 in 2001/2002, according to the Broadcasting Standards Commission’s (BSC) annual report.
The BSC says that much of this increase was due to large numbers of complaints about a few programmes, with the Brass Eye special on paedophilia; the Question Time debate on the events of 11 September; a News Direct programme on foot and mouth disease; and the One Night With Robbie Williams documentary accounting for 24% of the total number of complaints received.
In its report the BSC notes the growing tendency for broadcasters to “overstate or sensationalise” findings in factual programmes and expresses increasing concern over the continued “erosion” of the 9pm watershed on TV. However, it also welcomes broadcasters’ willingness to recognise and remedy their mistakes, without waiting for an adverse ruling.
Last April TV watchdogs published a report showing that the amount of violence being shown on prime-time terrestrial TV has increased over the last four years. Paul Bolt, director of the BSC, spoke of the considerable public concern about violence on television and the need for regulators to remain “especially vigilant” in policing the watershed (see Watchdog Report Shows Rising TV Violence).
Less than a month later the BSC released the results of a study showing that viewers are becoming increasingly concerned about the levels of sex and violence in British soaps, with many feeling that scenes of domestic violence, rape or teenage pregnancy are being used “gratuitously” to drive up ratings. The BSC condemned this practice and urged broadcasters to be more responsible in their “presentation of human life” (see Viewers Concerned About Sex And Violence In Soaps).
BSC: 020 7233 0544 www.bsc.org.uk
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