Public Concerned Over Increase Of Sex On TV

More people feel that there is too much sex on television this year than last year, and the amount of violence portrayed on TV is still the principle concern amongst audiences. The Broadcasting Standards Commission’s (BSC) annual monitoring of public opinion, out today, shows that the number of people who feel that there is too much sex on television has increased from 32% last year to 38%; 22% of respondents sited sex on TV as their main concern, when last year only 12% did so.

According to the BSC’s findings, the watershed is consistently used by parents and other viewers as a yardstick for viewing. This contradicts a study carried out by Audience Selection, published earlier this year, which showed that 22% of adults surveyed said they only observed the watershed sometimes, and 23% of people said that they never took any notice of it (see ‘Only 50% Of Adults Observe The TV Watershed’ Says Survey).

The number of incidents involving violence before the watershed has gone down according to the BSC’s research, but bad language is disapproved of strongly, with 47% of all incidents of bad language broadcast before the watershed thought to be unjustified. Half of the sample felt that there was too much bad language on television.

Stephen Whittle, director of the BSC commented: “The Commission is pleased to note that concern about what appears on screen before the Watershed has gone down. But the Commission urges broadcasters to take note of what audiences have to say about bad language.”

Broadcasting Standards Commission: 0171 233 0544