Is TV too rude?
Published: Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 4:21PM
Explicit sex, gruesome violence and profanity – does television need to clean up its act? On the night of Jonathan Ross’s return to his chat show following the Andrew Sachs controversy, Tonight explores whether or not broadcasters have gone too far in stretching the boundaries of taste and decency.
IS TV TOO RUDE?
Have broadcasters have gone too far in stretching the boundaries of taste and decency? The head of television programming for the BBC has called the controversial joke played on Andrew Sachs by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross “an act of broadcasting madness” and has made reassurances that the corporation has since taken lessons about “sensitivities around language.”
The same content and a selection of other clips are played to a viewers’ jury representing different generational age groups to gauge whether TV bosses are letting performers go too far.
In an interview to be featured on ITV1’s Tonight programme on Friday, Bennett, BBC director of Vision, says of the Sachs-related broadcast: “I heard all of it. Um, it was with a great sinking feeling that this was an act of broadcasting madness going on. And, and it didn’t feel like the sort of thing that we would have chosen to broadcast. And indeed, then finding out that we had, made that feeling even, even worse. So, I thought it was a great error, in terms of both as a recording but then more importantly because it was pre-recorded, that we then broadcast it.”
The BBC said that there were a total of 1,420 complaints across a range of different areas for Friday Night with Jonathan Ross in 2008. There were 214 complaints about Jonathan Ross's Radio 2 programme during 2008, of which a very small proportion were about bad language - the series averages around 3 or 4 complaints a week on a variety of areas.
The BBC said that these are programmes which are on air week in, week out for almost all year round. And to put these figures in perspective: there were 1,195 complaints about Newsnight in 2008 and 3,132 about the Today programme on Radio 4.
There were also 632 complaints about the drama George Gently being dropped from the schedule as a result of the Wimbledon Men’s Final over-running.
Jana Bennett’s comments feature in the Tonight episode Is TV Too Rude?, which explores whether or not broadcasters have gone too far in stretching the boundaries of taste and decency. The programme also features interviews with Peter Fincham, ITV1’s director of television, channels and online, and Julian Bellamy, head of programming for Channel 4.
All three broadcasting chiefs are asked to defend controversial clips that have aired on their networks featuring either swearing or sexual content.
The programme also features the results of a survey of over 2000 respondents on their views about taste and decency in television programmes. (The details of which are below).
67.5 per cent think standards within television programmes are declining
51.2 per cent think there is too much swearing in television
34 per cent of people think there is too much sex and nudity on television (55.2% disagree)
42.4 per cent of people say they’ve been offended by something they’ve watched on television this year
60 per cent of people say the 9pm watershed is at the right time; while 24.6 per cent believe it’s too early.
Additional Information can be found at:
BBC Trust
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust
Channel 4
http://blogs.channel4.com/thetvshow