The TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board is a private
organization created in December 1996.
The Board created a system of guidelines whose intent was supposed to
provide parents and others with advance cautionary information to help them
make informed choices about the television programs they watch. The Board is responsible for the development
of such ratings as TV PG, TV 14, TV MA, etc.
More specific information on the meaning of the ratings is found at About Us | The TV Parental
Guidelines (tvguidelines.org)
Over the past 10 years the content of programs assigned a
content label of “S=sexual situations” has expanded. Parents and others are now often caught off
guard when television shows or TV movies with the S label have featured intimate
same sex relationships in the content of the program. An additional content label of SSR=intimate same
sex relationships would be helpful to clarify the content of the program to
follow. This factual label statement on
the content of the program will assist parents and others in making decisions
on whether they want their children, themselves or others in the household to view
the program.
The Board consist of approximately 18 members and
representatives of 5 “public interest” members.
The members are from: Fox
Corporation; ABC, A&E Networks; American Academy of Pediatrics; Boys and
Girls Clubs of America; Call for Action; CBS; Discovery Inc; Entertainment
Industries Council; HULU; Lifetime Networks; National PTA; NBC Universal; Sony
Pictures Entertainment; Turner Broadcasting System; Univision and the Viacom
Media Networks. As of this writing the
Board has refused to divulge who are the 5 public interest members.
I recently contacted the Board through their listed phone
number (202) 570-7776 and email address TVOMB@tvguidelines.org. My phone calls were not returned. I did
receive several standard response email replies supposedly from the Board. These emails did not indicate that the Board
had met to consider the SSR label suggestion, or my suggestion that the content
warning be kept on the screen for 60 seconds instead of the current 15 second policy. I also attempted to contact each organization
with a representative on the Board. Only
Marie Dyak, the member representing the Entertainment Industries Council
responded. Her response stated that the
Board was not considering a descriptor for same-sex-situations and that the
Board felt the current descriptors accurately reflected the content of TV
shows. When I pointed out that her email
did not reflect her being the President of the Board and asked her if she was
speaking for the Board in it’s entirety, her response was she was only speaking
for her organization not the Board .
Last night, around 9:30 pm I received a response from the email
account of the Board. It regurgitated
the information on the Board’s website, but did not address whether the entire
Board had met to discuss the issue. The
response attempted to infer that it was a social value, social policy, and
moral judgment issue which is not the case.
It is simply clarifying the content of a TV show so the viewer is
forewarned about the content of the show.
I responded to the email that the Board still has not shared with me who
are the 5 public interest members! I
also pointed out that the response did not address when the Board met to
discuss the issue and what was the vote of the Board.
If you are a consumer and viewer of the various forms of
entertainment on TV or streamed to you, I urge you to contact the Board at (202)
570-7776 and email address TVOMB@tvguidelines.org
to give them your opinion on the need for an expanded designation of the label
S=sexual situations. For example the
label for V=violence has been expanded to now include the label FV=fantasy
violence (children’s programming only).
The Board has operated behind closed doors. The Federal Communications Commission needs
to review the actions and policies of the Board to see if the Board is truly
meeting the needs of consumers. The
needs of consumers/viewers for clarity on the content of TV programs must be
addressed. No one knows the names or background of those on the Board.
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