The 'Wallpaper’ of Children's Lives'
"The 9pm watershed does not seem to exist anymore. Either that or things that are now deemed acceptable viewing content for children are not what I consider to be appropriate."
"What happened to the TV watershed? Does it exist anymore? If so does it apply to all TV channels?"
Parent, Call for Evidence response24.
Broadcasters argue that the watershed is still an effective control and well understood by parents:
"We believe television generally is trusted by parents. Conventions such as the watershed make clear what sort of programming is available at what time."
"The television watershed is an industry standard and is well known and understood by the audience... In all but exceptional circumstances, programmes before 9pm are suitable for general audiences including children."
Broadcasters, Call for Evidence response
25.
The Office of Communications (Ofcom), the broadcast regulator, conducts regular research in this area, including its Media Literacy Audit, research on attitudes towards sexual material on television (Opinion Leader, 2009) and its Media Tracker, which monitors the general public’s attitudes to television content and the watershed.This data shows good levels of awareness of the watershed amongst respondents with children in the household (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Audience awareness of the television watershed
- 93 per cent of respondents are aware of the watershed.
- 74 per cent of respondents think the time of the watershed is about right (up from 72 per cent last year).
- The proportion of people who think the watershed should be earlier has remained steady over the last decade at 9 per cent.
- 72 per cent think the overall level of regulation for television programmes is about right.
Source: Ofcom, 2010
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