Kid’s TV more violent than prime-time

Posted: 3/17/06

Kid’s TV more violent than prime-time

By Enette Ngoei

Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS)—With cartoons leading the way, children’s television programs may be more violent than prime-time programming, a study by the Washington-based Parents Television Council indicated.

The report found 3,488 instances of violence—an average of 7.86 violent instances per hour—in the 443 hours of children’s programming analyzed. There were also 858 incidents of verbal aggression, 662 incidents of disruptive or disrespectful behavior and 275 instances of sexual content.

Brent Bozell, president of the Parents Television Council, pointed to a 2002 study by the council that found the six broadcast networks combined averaged only 4.71 instances of violence per hour of prime-time programming.

“There is more violence aimed at young children than at adults on television today,” Bozell said.

The study focused on before- and after-school and Saturday- morning programming for children ages 5 to 10, looking at eight networks—ABC Family, Cartoon Net-work, Disney Channel, Nick-elodeon, ABC, Fox, NBC and WB.

The Cartoon Network ranked highest for the total number of violent incidents, although the ABC Family Channel had the largest number of violent incidents per episode, with an average of 10.96 instances. The WB had the highest levels of offensive language, verbal abuse, sexual content and offensive or excretory references.

Jim Babcock, representative for the Cartoon Network, said he had not thoroughly reviewed the report.

“We are confident that our standards and practices policies ensure that the programming on our air is age-appropriate.” Babcock said. “All of our shows undergo several reviews throughout the production process to make sure that they are suitable for their intended viewers.”