Bid to reduce TV violence

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32880, 1 April 1972, Page 17

Bid to reduce TV violence

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, March 31. The British Broadcasting Corporation has told television producers to “cut down on violence.” In a new code on violence, the 8.8. C. says details of fights and weapons should be avoided.

Violence as an inevitable solution to a fictional situation should be used only in rare instances, says the code. “The added impact of colour television should not be overlooked—gore in black and white has a different effect from gore in colour. “Violence ought not to be presented in ways which might glorify it or present it as a proper solution to interpersonal conflicts.”

The 8.8. C. said that it could not accept an exclusive responsibility towards children, but producers should have regard to their presence,

and therefore to the need for portraying violence only when warranted. The death of a dog or pony might affect a child more than an adult, although a child might take the death of an adult in its stride, it said. Dealing with news and current affairs programmes, the 8.8. C. code says two questions should be asked before violent material is used: What purpose is served by use of this material? Is the purpose sufficiently important to outweigh the objections which its use might evoke from some of the audience? “PART OF LIFE” But, says the corporation, producers must not disguise the fact that violence is part of nature and life. “To exclude all scenes of violence from the screen would be to falsify the picture of life presented to the viewer. A television service which bore no relation to the viewers’ own experience of the world would quickly lose their respect, and ultimately their allegiance.” In the guide on fights and weapons, the code gives a warning against setting examples which could be easily copied. Fists, being less harmful, might seem open to less objection, but could be more readily resorted to by children. and therefore provide an easier example for imitation, it says.