The FCC Is Not Listening: 74% Of Americans Say Parents, Not Government, Should Decide What Their Kids Watch On TV

The FCC Is Not Listening: 74% Of Americans Say Parents, Not Government, Should Decide What Their Kids Watch On TV

CHARLESTON, S.C., April 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a report that outlines the ways the agency can regulate violence on television.

The FCC's report dismisses ubiquitously available controls and information available to parents as inadequate-instead, favoring government, rather than parental enforcement. A rating system is currently in place to inform parents about each program's content. And combined with the V-Chip and satellite and cable content blocking technology, parents in the 1/3 of U.S. households with children have the tools they need to enforce their viewing choices. In a recent poll, 74% of Americans said they want parents -- not the government -- to decide what their kids should or should not be watching on television rather than the government. America has spoken. Now government needs to listen.

The FCC's violence report considers ALL televisions programs, even those not intended young children. It fails to recognize the facts --

-- Two-thirds of all U.S. households don't include a child under 18.
-- 180 million sets with V-Chip technology have been sold since 2000 for
the 30 million households with kids, giving parents an effective tool
to choose appropriate programming for their children.
-- 85% of all households have cable or satellite service that includes
additional blocking technology so parents can control their children's
access to programming more suitable for older teens and adults.

Unfortunately, the FCC is only listening to a small but vocal minority who is responsible for the overwhelming majority of complaints to the FCC. One year, a single activist group was responsible for 99% of all program content complaints including complaints from people who had not watched the show they urged the government to restrict. Their definition of violence is so broad that their complaints include campaigns against two sisters tussling with each other on a home video and a medical procedure during one of America's most popular, long-running and award-winning medical dramas. In short, their manufactured campaigns threaten some of America's favorite shows.

"Government officials should spend more time helping parents understand the information available to make smart decisions and the technology available to enforce those decisions, rather than trying to decide what we all can or cannot watch on our own TV sets," said Jim Dyke, TV Watch Executive Director. "Across the board, regardless of age, race, income, education, location, or political philosophy, the majority of Americans believe PARENTS, not the government, should make the decisions about what their families watch."

TV Watch was launched in May 2005 and is the leading national organization to promote parental controls and individual choices as an alternative to increased Government regulation of TV content. TV Watch is a nonpartisan coalition of 27 individuals and organizations including legal and entertainment experts and political and consumer organizations representing

more than four million Americans. For more information about TV Watch, visit TelevisionWatch.org or contact Emily Tyner at (843) 722-9670.

Source: TV Watch

CONTACT: Emily Tyner, +1-843-722-9670, emily@televisionwatch.org

Web site:

http://televisionwatch.org/

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