For foul weather turn on your MTV_22105

Posted: 2/18/05

For foul weather turn on your MTV

By Michael Foust

Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–For years, parents have complained about the sexually explicit and vulgar content of programs on broadcast television. As it turns out, a cable channel marketed to their teenaged children–MTV–may be even worse.

A study released by the Parents Television Council found MTV has considerably more sexual content and foul language than its counterparts on primetime broadcast television (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc).

The study–which surveyed 171 hours of MTV programming–found that the cable channel has an average of nine sexual scenes per hour and 8.9 “un-bleeped” uses of foul language per hour.

By comparison, the 9 o'clock hour on the broadcast networks has 5.8 sexual scenes per hour and 6.5 uses of foul language per hour. That hour, the final one of the primetime lineup, usually has more adult-themed programming–meaning that round-the-clock MTV programming is more offensive than broadcast TV's “adult hour.”

According to Nielsen Media Research, MTV is watched by 73 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls ages 12 to 19, the study said.

MTV's reality programs contained the most sexual content, according to the study. Its music videos had the most foul language and violence.

In fact, the study showed that MTV's depictions of violence were higher than that of broadcast TV. There were six incidences of violence per hour on MTV, compared to broadcast TV's 5.8 incidences per hour during the 9 o'clock time slot.

In addition to the 8.9 “un-bleeped” foul words per hour, MTV programming also had 18.3 bleeped profanities an hour, the study found.

“This should be a wakeup call for parents everywhere to take drastic action to protect their children's eyes and ears from this immoral indoctrination,” said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families.

Thomasson suggested that parents either severely restrict TV-viewing, purchase equipment to lock certain channels or get rid of the television altogether.

“What I'm suggesting can be very good for families,” he said. “When your children are raised on TV, they're not your children anymore. They belong to MTV, they belong to anti-family forces.”

The Parents Television Council's study was based on MTV programming between March 20 and March 27, 2004. Much of it included MTV's spring break coverage.

The study is dubbed: MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs and Alcohol.

In the entire 171-hour study, the Parents Television Council documented 1,548 sexual scenes, containing 3,056 depictions of sex or forms of nudity and 2,881 verbal sexual references. They found 1,518 uses of unedited foul language and 3,127 bleeped profanities, and 1,068 violent incidents.