A respected children’s media expert is lamenting that kids have been sacrificed to sleaze under New Zealand’s TV standards system. Ruth Zanker is a lecturer at Christchurch Polytechnic and a researcher who has specialised in children and the media. She has noted a change. “There is a general sexualising that has gone on with tabloidisation of media – sex is the easy way of making a hit and it boosts ratings. Children are being sacrificed on the altar of ratings,” she says. Zanker has noted an increasing level of sexuality creeping into early prime time as the TV networks chase ratings. It is a difficult time and parents are either unwilling or unable to police their kids’ viewing. Zanker says New Zealand’s broadcasting laws have created the problem. The Broadcasting Standards Authority acts on complaints. But few complain and the BSA has steered at freedom of speech rather the protection of children, she says.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10670696

[Article highlighted on website by Family First NZ - A well-respected charity registered with the Charities Commission. See www.familyfirst.org.nz and www.charities.govt.nz ]

“Young girls having their innocence stolen” by Paula McDowell, Year 10, of Tauraroa  Area School.

“Overdose of bare flesh corrupts our kids” by Zhan Ye Chen, Year 13, Hamilton Boys’ High School, and

“Ears burn from dirty songs”,  Jacqueline Yee, Year 10, of St. Cuthbert’s College.

As a registered charity SPCS seeks to promote the spiritual and moral welfare of communities and it has as one of its objectives:

“To foster public awareness of the benefits to social, economic and moral welfare of community standards and to encourage constructive debate and discussion in this area.”

The Society applauds the young writers of these articles for boldly expressing views that run counter to the liberal mindset found in much mainstream media. Surely it is a sick mindset that champions the gratuitous depiction of promiscuity, pornography and the pestilence of moral vices involving prostitution, pimping and drug-taking, dished up with a regular deluge of obscenities; all for the sake of public entertainment.

The Society also has another objective “To support responsible freedom of expression that does not injure the public good”.

The Society applauds the three NZ Herald writers for their creativity and for being able to responsibly and freely express their opinions. It applauds the NZ Herald for allowing such views to be expressed in a Society where many officials in government agencies, including Crown entities as well as media commentators and academics, regularly seek to vilify conservatives who wish to point out the negative impact and toxic effect of the tidal wave of immorality that engulfs our community.

The corruption and harm associated with the “overdose of bare flesh” (porn sleaze) and “dirty” (obscene) lyrics, thrust upon the community – kids included – by pornographers and musical ‘artists’, is decried by all those who, like the Society seek to uphold community standards – “encourage self-respect and the dignity of the human person”.

The mother of a 14-year old who viewed footage of rape and domestic violence for research has defended the study and says children see worse on news broadcasts.

Dawn Bunker, of Wanganui, said she gave consent for her son to take part in the research and believed he didn’t see anything that wasn’t age-appropriate”.

“I feel it was well worthwhile and done professionally, and at no time felt he could not cope with what he was shown. As he himself put it – ‘You see worse on the TV news, Mum.’”

Mrs Bunker was offended by comments from Bob McCoskrie, of lobby group Family First, who said this week that the fact that parents had consented to their children taking part “says something about the parents”.

Mrs Bunker, a mother of three, said parents had to be censors in their own homes. “Some of the things you see on the news, I’ve kicked my kids out of the room – I’m censoring my children myself, I know what they can handle.”

She said chief censor Bill Hastings was doing a good job.

However, a community lobby group has called for he resignations of Mr Hastings and Dominic Sheehan, chief executive of the Broadcasting Standards Authority, for whose agencies the research was conducted.

John Mills, president of the Society for the Promotion of Community Standards, said Mr Hastings showed appalling judgment. “the society is outraged Mr Hastings has defended his breaking of the law by claiming that, because the younger participants gained parental permission before they they took part in the research, then that was okay.”

The Society is not surprised that over half the sample (56%) of more than 600 adult “primary caregivers” of children aged between six and 13, who were interviewed as part of a report into children’s television viewing habits; were unable to identify 8.30 p.m. as the time after which programmes that are NOT suitable for children are shown on television The report containing this statistic entitled Seen and Heard, dated 6 May 2008, was commissioned by the BSA – the Broadcasting Standards Authority.

In response, the Families Commission issued a media release, calling for the 8.30 p.m. “watershed time” – to be more widely publicised by broadcasters. But is this an adequate response if the Commission is truly concerned about certain so-called “adult-only” material – pornography, sexual violence, graphic violence, blasphemy and obscenity – being viewed, or potentially viewed, by tens of thousands of our country’s children and young persons every night of the year from 8.30 p.m. onwards? Society president John Mills says the Society says “it is a totally inadequate response” and notes “we have written to the Chief Commissioner, Dr Rajen Prasad, pointing this out and called for more effective solutions from him to the problem of children and young persons being exposed to unsuitable, morally corrosive and corrupting television content.”

The Society, together with Media Matters (formerly called Viewers for Television Excellence or VoTE), has been calling for some years for the “watershed time” to be moved from 8.30 p.m. to 9.30 p.m. AND for this time to be more widely and regularly publicised by all television broadcasters. These organisations and many others, also want the BSA to deal properly with complaints over standards of taste and decency and enforce proper standards. Such calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears and have certainly not been supported by Families Commission with its 40 full-time equivalent staff funded by tax-payers.

VoTE and SPCS have pointed out that New Zealand has one of the earliest “watershed times” among OECD countries and a move, at least to 9 p.m., if not 9.30 p.m., would be a positive move in the right direction. “It would help safeguard our children and young persons from exposure to the corrupting, pernicious and morally corrosive influence of television violence, sleazy pornography and repetitive obscenity and profanity,” says Mr Mills. “Of course the change in the watershed time needs to be backed up with good communication to caregivers from responsible broadcasters and government agencies,” he adds.

Society executive director David Lane says…

“It is well-known to informed viewers that offensive and objectionable content, including obscenity, gratuitous sexually explicit material, sexual violence, etc. all regularly feature on free-to-air and paid television programmes from 8.30 p.m to 9.30 p.m. This so-called exclusive “adults-only” time slot is a farce as it is a time period during which a significant number, if not the majority of younger children aged from 11 to 13 years and young persons aged 14 to 17 years, are still up and actively watching TV or engaged in other activities in rooms where a TV is operating. Research commissioned by the BSA has been published that shows that the vast majority of children and young persons are indeed accessing television programmes during this time period when so-called “Adult only content” is screening,”

“The Society believes that the link between the repetitive, addictive and compulsive viewing by children and young persons of objectionable gratuitous content, is morally corrosive and its effect upon a number of vulnerable individuals, leads to violence, criminal activity, sexual dysfunctions etc” Lane says.

“The Ministry of Culture and Heritage has identified New Zealand as having the least regulated broadcasting system in the world,” says Mills “and David Lane has been responsible for putting together a Society submission on proposed changes to the regulatory environment to deal with changing digital media formats etc, which has been submitted to the Ministry.