United Kingdom

[GB]  Government agrees new programme of action on violence on screen and publishes `V-chip' consultation paper

IRIS 1997-1:1/30

David Goldberg

deeJgee Research/Consultancy

The Department of National Heritage concluded a month's negotiations with the BBC, the Independent Television Commission (ITC), and the Broadcasting Standards Council (BSC) by agreeing on a `programme of action' which is the latest attempt to deal with the public's concern regarding violent programming on television. The programme contains four points: the three regulators will continue their efforts to ensure that programme makers adhere to and maintain the proper standards and that any transgressions will be `firmly' dealt with; the three bodies will work together to `educate viewers' about the principles underlying the codes and guidelines and as regards specific policies e.g. on the `watershed' and scheduling; joint exploration is to take place as to how advance programme information can be best provided, with Government contributing to funding if research on the matter is thought to be useful; and, following the revision of the BBC Producers' Guidelines, the ITC and the BSC will revise their guidelines during 1997. Finally, the BSC is to organise a seminar during 1997 on what action broadcasters could take as regards this issue. The Department also published a paper summarising the results of a consultation on the use of the V-chip. The main conclusion is that much remains to be done to work out `the practicability of the technology' and `the design of a workable classification system'. The DNH calls on the European Commission to do more work on these issues and on the BSC to advise whether more research is needed.