Parents Have Spoken: They Want Control of Their Remote

Parents Have Spoken: They Want Control of Their Remote

Poll Shows Americans Think Government Shouldn't Determine Content

CHARLESTON, S.C., June 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The courts and parents have spoken: parents have the tools and information needed to make their families' television viewing decisions. On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit overruled the Federal Communications Commission's recent indecency decisions and stated that parents had the tools and information needed to block unwanted content from their televisions. And a recent study shows that 74 percent of Americans believe that parents should have the right to decide what their kids should or shouldn't watch on television.

However, a vocal minority of activists still continue their push for increased government control over what you watch on television. These same activists continue to tell only part of the story with hopes that the government will impose its viewing preferences on all of us.

They tell us that complaints are a sign of America's outrage over programming but they don't tell you that the majority, many times up to 99 percent of complaints per show, are generated by their own online complaint campaigns, and filed by people who have not even watched the show they are complaining about. They tell us that parents' content blocking tools don't work, yet they have created their own to promote what they define as official family friendly approved shows. They tell us parents aren't using parental controls but they don't tell you that, according to a recent Census Bureau report, an overwhelming majority of Americans use the number one parental control -- actively monitoring what their children watch. They tell us Americans want more government regulation but when actually asked, Americans say that parents should make the decision, not government.

"Parents don't need any more lectures from pro-censorship activists. Rather, the activists need to listen to what Americans really want. Parents have the tools they need to make informed decisions about content," said Jim Dyke, TV Watch Executive Director. "This poll shows that universally, regardless of age, race, income, education, location, or political philosophy, a majority of Americans believe parents, not the government, should make the decision."

In a poll conducted by Kelton Research on February 26, 2007, 74 percent of Americans surveyed said they believe parents should decide what their kids should and shouldn't watch on TV rather than the government taking control of what they watch.

Poll Results

1. THE GOVERNMENT, through the courts, is seeking greater authority to regulate the content of broadcast programming offered by television networks such as NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX. They say the television networks have gone too far in what they show, and argue that increased government involvement is necessary to protect children from seeing potentially offensive material.

OTHERS argue that more government regulation is not the answer. They say television viewing is an issue of personal responsibility, and that parents have numerous tools such as show ratings, content warnings and the V-Chip to make informed decisions about what their children watch. Ultimately, they believe parents, not government, should make the decisions about which television programs their children will be permitted to have access to and watch. Having now heard both sides of the argument, do you believe the courts should side with...

Response Total %

Those Who Want Parents To Decide What Their
Kids Should Or Should Not Be Watching On TV 744 74%

The Government And Grant Them More Control
Over Television Content 227 23%

Don't Know/Refused (Do Not Read) 29 3%

All decimals are rounded to the nearest percentage point. This may result
in certain numerical totals adding up to slightly more or slightly less
than 100%.

The poll's overall margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.1 percent.

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 http://televisionwatch.org/ or contact Emily Tyner at (843) 722-9670.

Source: TV Watch

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

Web site:

http://televisionwatch.org/

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