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Need for a
broadcasting law protecting minors
 By
Lubna Zahir Hussain 15/04/2005-While
the Maldives lacks a comprehensive Broadcasting Law, the most
important obligation on any broadcasting organization, be it
television or the radio, must be to protect children from
contents in their radio and television programmes that may
have a harmful influence on the children’s physical, mental
and ethical development.
It is also time that we implement an independent council
consisting of credible people to regulate matters of
programming and broadcasting here in the Maldives. The
broadcasting council should represent the interests of the
citizens in the field of broadcasting and provide for a draft
regulation or law which would provide watersheds for
broadcasting and in turn assist to regulate the creation and
broadcasting of programmes that are of proper viewable
standards, and the same time safeguarding our vulnerable
children.
When I watch our national television, the question that always
pops in my mind is, “What will the children of this country
learn from our daily programmes on our national television and
is it suitable for children?” Of course, I am not saying there
are no children’s programmes. The point is how often do kids
actually sit in front of the television and watch programmes
that are completely unsuitable for their age? And if so, is it
the broadcasting company’s responsibility or is it the
parent’s responsibility? As far as I am concerned, there is a
shared responsibility here.
Fully respecting the independence and responsibility of our
national broadcasting companies, it is important to raise this
issue due to the excessive presence of violence in our small
society. Could our television be a contributing factor to the
rebellious and violent upcoming youngsters in this very
community? Is there parental control of television on national
TV at all times during the day? There is no parental lock
available unlike for the cable television channels. Therefore
the need for a Broadcasting Law that will assist in
establishing programming standards and mechanisms not only
protecting minors but contribute towards building a more
educational and aware society has to be in place soon in order
to rectify the damage that has already been caused.
Protecting minors from content that is not suitable for their
age, and in order to protect them from any harmful influence
on their physical, mental health and ethical development,
national television should restrict the viewing of all
unsuitable and uneducational programmes when children are most
likely to be watching. This includes the viewing of most
Dhivehi love songs, Hindi films and songs, and violent movies
that are only suitable for adult viewing during daytime when
children are most likely to be watching television. The
constant airing of MTV songs, Hindi television soap operas and
many other unsuitable programmes are making our children less
intellectual every day. I am not going to list the names of
the programmes here because there is no space here to do so
and because it might have an undesired influence on those
individuals who are innocently contributing to the above
factor.
It is crucial to provide a television programme guide for
children by the broadcasting agency and by parents themselves.
Therefore, it is important to have either by text or audio or
visual warning which precedes all programmes aired on
television. This should be done on cable TV as well; it is not
only the national TV that should take sole responsibility in
protecting minors.
In this regard, categorization of programmes and the time of
broadcasts must be given proper warning signs. With regards to
cable TV, it has defined children’s channels like Cartoon
Network and so on. However, all other channels do not carry
any warnings. It is important that Star Plus, Star TV and all
other channels aired by cable television operators carry
parental guidance warnings.
Broadcasting agencies in the Maldives should also have
self-regulating standards for airing of content that may have
harmful influence on the physical, mental and ethical
development of children. The relevant government authority
should establish control mechanisms for monitoring of the
application of broadcasting regulations in a consistent
manner.
We cannot deny that violence is a part of the daily social
reality here today and the right of the public to be informed
includes the right to be informed about the different
manifestations of violence in reality. However, the excessive
and unjustified presentation of violence, either physical,
verbal or psychological, may disturb, alarm or offend the
viewers, to render them insensitive to violence, or even
instigate them to imitate the violent acts. Because of that,
especially the broadcasting media treatment of violence has to
be carefully contemplated, to correspond with the context, the
time of airing and the audience expectations.
It may happen that airing of certain content will affect a
child’s psychology and it will be good practice if
broadcasting agencies can actually organise themselves to show
the proper content at the proper time. It would be meaningful
if they could obligate themselves to review the issue of
justification of the presentation of all content with utmost
care, including the context, the airing time and the audience
that is most likely to watch the programme. There is no excuse
for airing programmes or just airing anything for the sake of
airing.
It is clear that television plays a very important role in
today’s children’s lives and therefore the probability of
watching unguided television programmes will definitely
contribute to the psychology of the child as children are
emotionally insecure viewers. All broadcasting agencies, radio
and the television, should pay full attention to the balance
between the right of the majority to be informed and the
necessity of the protection of the minors and vulnerable
categories of viewers, through responsible planning of the
broadcasts and appropriate counsel and warnings to the
viewers.
There is no doubt that television may instigate a wish with
certain (vulnerable) categories of viewers to try and imitate
those acts, and because of this possibility, the broadcast of
all content whether there is violence or not, content that are
easily imitated, should always be justified in the context of
the dramatic or editorial structure of the related programme.
Most Dhivehi songs that are aired on television have a sexual
connotation attached to it and these scenes are harmful to a
child’s psychology as these scenes will accelerate the
maturity of an innocent child’s mind. Special attention should
be paid to rape scenes and other forms of socially deviant
sexual behaviour, especially when the violence is visualized
and the action is prolonged. For this we must be grateful that
we have a nationwide implementation of censorship in this
country as these violent and sex scenes are indiscriminately
censored. I have seen children imitating scenes and dialogue
from Dhivehi films and I am sure this will go on for Hindi
films as well.
In this regard, broadcasting content on the television should
be more informative. This does not imply a restriction of
subjects and events that should be reported. However,
broadcasting agencies are obligated to edit and present all
movies, songs and programmes by taking into consideration the
probable structure of the audience and, prior to the
broadcasts, to provide the appropriate warning so that parents
can guide their children at home. It is not only the visual
scenes that should be planned to be aired at the proper slots
but also the conversations that are not proper for a child to
be heard. For example this includes Dhivehi films, and songs
and Hindi films and songs and programmes and more.
Television has become the housemaid of the century, as a lot
of parents rely on television to keep order in the house or to
pre-occupy their children so they can carry on with their work
peacefully. Therefore, understanding this society, it is time
the government also play a more acceptable and responsible
role in shaping the children of today for a better tomorrow.
It is vital that radio and television programmes fulfill the
expectations of the general audience. And to do this,
broadcasting agencies should provide utmost responsibility in
the process of planning of programme airing for all contents.
The responsible planning of the programming, especially within
the framework of the designated watersheds, is of importance
to the general well-being of the public and the obligation to
protect sensitive viewers lies with the broadcasting agencies
by implementing a proper public warning system either by
verbal or textual messages. Primary responsibility lie with
the agencies to categorize for the general public what is
beneficial to be aired and this must be decided taking into
consideration the expected viewers. The decision whether to
air them should involve careful and responsible evaluation and
proper planning of airing time. This includes the
understanding of family viewing hours and prime time telvision,
too
Ends
Source: Evening
Weekly |
