BSC PUBLISH UPDATE ON REGULATION

THE Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) have published their ‘Briefing Update 8 – Concerning Regulation’.
The survey looked at public attitudes towards broadcasting regulation including that for children’s viewing and listening.
Of those questioned 90 per cent thought that television should be regulated and 80 per cent said the same for radio. Of the large majority who voted for regulation, 67 per cent said that the protection of children was their primary reason.
When prompted, a number of those questioned, 71 per cent of respondents with children at home, said that they had prime responsibility for what their children watched pre-Watershed. This figure jumped to 87 per cent post-Watershed. However the importance to respondents of the Watershed underlines the feeling that broadcasters also share in this responsibility. The majority of respondents said the Watershed would be necessary even if pre-transmission warnings were given.
When asked what concerned them, the portrayal of violence was mentioned most often as a spontaneous concern. While concern about swearing, offensive language and the depiction of sex has remained relatively stable, there is a general increase in recent years in the percentage of respondents saying there is ‘too much’.
Just under a third of those questioned said that they have access to the Internet via a home computer; a similar proportion of homes with children say their children have access at home. 55 percent of parents said that they always know what their child is looking at on the web, whilst just over a quarter said they usually know. Most respondents think that the Internet should be regulated, although substantial percentages wonder how this would be achieved.
Lord Dubs of Battersea, Chairman of the BSC, said the report reinforced the message that although parents acknowledged that they have a responsibility to ‘regulate’ what their children viewed and listened, they also believed the responsibility was shared with the broadcaster. (CD)