TV
"Too much swearing on TV," says watchdog
Published Wednesday, Jul 16 2003, 12:10 BST | By Neil Wilkes
Independent watchdog Mediawatch-UK has today accused TV broadcasters of "promoting a grunt culture" with an "overuse" of swearing in programmes.
The "f word" was used almost 1,500 times in films on the five terrestrial channels in the first half of the year, claims the report, titled 'The Daily Grunt.'
The biggest offender was five's screening of gangster movie Goodfellas, which had 212 instances of the word. In sceond place was Reservoir Dogs, shown on Channel 4 at 11.15pm, with 197 uses of the "f word," not to mention 39 "sh*ts".
"The evidence in this new report, The Daily Grunt, shows there has been a consistent effort to promote obscenity, swearing and profanity against the wishes of most people," said John Beyer, director of Mediawatch-UK.
"The present level of obscene, abusive and insulting language on television is unacceptable and out of step with public expectations, as established by the regulators in their own research."
The report went on to call for broadcasters to "take immediate meaningful steps" to cut down on swearing in television programmes.
The "f word" was used almost 1,500 times in films on the five terrestrial channels in the first half of the year, claims the report, titled 'The Daily Grunt.'
The biggest offender was five's screening of gangster movie Goodfellas, which had 212 instances of the word. In sceond place was Reservoir Dogs, shown on Channel 4 at 11.15pm, with 197 uses of the "f word," not to mention 39 "sh*ts".
"The evidence in this new report, The Daily Grunt, shows there has been a consistent effort to promote obscenity, swearing and profanity against the wishes of most people," said John Beyer, director of Mediawatch-UK.
"The present level of obscene, abusive and insulting language on television is unacceptable and out of step with public expectations, as established by the regulators in their own research."
The report went on to call for broadcasters to "take immediate meaningful steps" to cut down on swearing in television programmes.
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