BBC to provide more warnings of adult content Time of publication: 14.02.2003 |
Patrick Barrett
Friday February 14, 2003
Jana Bennett: 'The watershed is not the only signpost we should use'
The BBC director of television Jana Bennett has admitted she has serious concerns about some of the television content children are exposed to.
Indicating the BBC was preparing to provide greater guidance to viewers about sex and violence in programmes, she said parents were right to be worried about TV content.
"It is hard to make assumptions about what children are aware of," Ms Bennett said.
"I recently had to steer my eight-year-old away from a music channel showing the pop duo Tatu kissing, kissing and kissing some more.
"My eight-year-old informed me they were kissing because they were lesbians. I didn't even know she knew the word."
Explaining why the BBC chose not to broadcast Tatu's video but screened a gay kiss on Casualty last week, Ms Bennett said the BBC had a duty to make parents feel safe and should not court controversy for the sake of it.
"Top of the Pops is an early evening programme watched by children. The latter was a legitimate part of a drama for a mixed audience. Neither decision was taken lightly," she said.
Speaking at a seminar on the impact of TV on the family, organised by the broadcast standards commission and the National Family and Parenting Institute, Ms Bennett said the BBC would reinforce the 9pm watershed with more warnings about content.
"The watershed is still a structural guide that is valuable. It creates a point in the evening where parents and broadcasters must exercise care," she said.
"But I think we all recognise the watershed is not the only signpost we should use. We will take care to provide verbal warnings."
John Yorke, the BBC head of drama who was poached by Channel 4 this week, rejected suggestions that producers were driven by ratings rather than responsibility to their viewers.
He said soaps such as EastEnders and Brookside were fundamentally moral and the issue of morality had been raised in every meeting he had attended to discuss EastEnders storylines.
"We have found that more people watch it if that happens," Mr Yorke said.
"We live in a dark world. EastEnders has always gone into it with a very responsible and mature approach and never cynically exploited issues for the sake of ratings."
Mr Yorke said he took issue with the BSC's censure of EastEnders for its depiction of "Trevor shoving little Mo's head in a tray of gravy".
"As far as we know no one went out and beat up their wife after it but we know a number of women did leave their husbands," he said.
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