Batangas Today

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Whatever Ever Happened to Censorship on TV?

Our children are exposed to a violent culture on TV: people slapping one another during confrontations; women pulling each other’s hairs instead of sitting down and talking about their differences.

Growing children will learn that it’s okay to be violent because they watch it every day.



Adult TV programs that contain graphic violence and excessively intimate scenes should be shown during late evenings, when the kids are already in bed.

It’s insincere and impractical for TV stations, or the Board of Censors to classify a program as for adults when they approve a time slot when children are fully awake.

Naturally, they can always have a peak of what’s going on, even if the parents send them away. For most poor families, they would be baby-sitting while watching an adult program, and what do you expect? Their children would be watching with them.

The next question I would like to ask is this: Why can’t TV stations, consider the monetary rewards last and prioritize in helping the country develop the non-violent character of children by choosing the plot of their stories judiciously?

They should demonstrate that peaceful negotiations can resolve conflicts and NOT violence. It’s not only sexually explicit scenes that we should censor from our children, but we must also ascertain that they don’t get exposed to too much violence, or else, they would eventually develop a violent character too.

It’s the responsibility of parents, teachers, the church, TV directors/producers, and movie producers/directors, to ensure that good examples are shown to the children from each aspect of society.

What we plant now and cultivate in our children, these we shall reap after a few years more. Don’t be one of the victims of your indifference today.

Act now and express your thoughts about how to curb violence in children’s programs and early evening programs.