Not my turn of phrase, but the description chosen by the BBC for a large scale piece of research they conducted in the wake of the incident featuring Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand and some tasteless remarks broadcast on Radio 2. The research is indeed extensive, and the headlines are helpfully summarised in a report which makes for some interesting reading.
According to this research, we are more worried about slipping standards of behaviour in society generally (50% of those surveyed) than in programmes on television (just 14% of those surveyed). Dig a little deeper into such concerns as there are about television and we find swearing at the top of the list, followed by violence on television and sexual content on television.But this statistic hides some clear difference between different groups of viewers – younger men being the most tolerant of stronger language and parents of younger children and older viewers being most sensitive. And it seems that there is no simple list of words that you should or should not broadcast, as we react to the specific circumstances, the time of broadcast, who is uttering the words and how they are being used and our familiarity with the programme and the individuals. So the conclusions the BBC are drawing seem to be proceed with caution but always ask the question “is this word really necessary?”
We’ll be debating the issue on the next edition of The TV Show - Channel 4, Saturday 4 July, 5pm – so if you’d like to let us know what you think, please add your comments below. If your comment is a good one, we will be inviting you to join the audience for the show. Obviously we will have to work within the moderation rules for this site, so if you want to include a particular swear word, asterisks are recommended!
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So last month you dedicated the issue to an issue with ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent – and this month it’s issues at the BBC.
The TV Show was set up to be about C4 programmes, and although if you had time I would like to see wider TV issues debated, with half an hour a month you seem to be covering wider issues in favour of issues directly related to C4.
Such as why has nobody been sacked for allowing the channels highest rated programme to lose half it’s audience in one year?
Those who hate it may not mourn the loss of Big Brother – but I’m sure they’ll be the first complaining when you have to cut the dozens of hours of PSB programming the profits from BB paid for.
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