News Release
For Immediate Release: May 9, 2016
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
AFA of PA Joins Coalition Urging FCC to Evaluate TV Content Ratings System’s Failure to Protect Children from Harmful TV Content
(Harrisburg) – In a letter addressed to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler and each FCC Commissioner, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide pro-decency organization, joined the Parents Television Council and 26 other organizations and individuals concerned about the media’s impact on children urging the Commission “to take immediate steps to evaluate whether the existing age-based television content ratings system is serving the needs of parents and families.” The full letter can be found here.
The PTC also launched a petition so that members of the public can join the chorus of voices calling for change of the TV Content Ratings System.
“It has been proven over and over again that parents cannot trust the current TV rating system. Instead of curtailing the objectionable material that children are exposed to, it has allowed producers and writers of television programs to increase the number of scenes with foul language, violence and sexual content during prime time. The movie rating system, run by an independent board, works; the TV Content Rating System, a self-policing entity, does not work. Concerned parents across the country can attest to that,” commented Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
“This broad coalition of organizations and individuals is urging the FCC to review the woefully-ineffective TV Content Ratings System, which is failing to protect children from harmful and explicit TV content on both broadcast and cable television. Signatories to this letter span the political spectrum, thereby demonstrating the severity of an issue in urgent need of attention by our public servants in Washington,” said PTC President Tim Winter.
“The TV Content Ratings System is an FCC-sanctioned regime that was ostensibly created to help parents protect their children from explicit television programming. Instead, parents are being deceived by a system that serves as a Trojan Horse for delivering age-inappropriate content into living rooms around the country on a daily basis. Not only do the TV networks face a financial conflict of interest in rating programs accurately, but the integrity of the system is handed to an ‘oversight body’ that is controlled by the very same TV network executives who rate the programs wrong to begin with.
“As a first step, we are urging the FCC to overhaul this self-serving Oversight Monitoring Board, and as our letter states, ‘to review and revise the statues under which the TVOMB is organized to better ensure consistency, transparency, accuracy and accountability; and to guarantee that the ratings are serving the families for whom they were intended, not merely providing cover for the entertainment industry. We are also asking concerned Americans to sign our petition so their voices calling for reform can be heard,” Winter added.
“A review and overhaul of this arcane and opaque process is long overdue, and I hope a thorough review will provide an opportunity to use current technology for a more open and responsive ratings system,” said Nell Minow, Movie Mom™, and daughter of former FCC Chairman Newton Minow.
The 28 coalition members include: The Parents Television Council; American Family Association; American Family Association of Pennsylvania; American Decency Association; Awake America Ministries; BarbWire.com; The Brushfires Foundation; Brad J. Bushman, Ph.D., The Ohio State University; Citizens for Community Values; Citizens for Community Values of Indiana; Delman Coates, Ph.D., Mt. Ennon Baptist Church; Concerned Women for America; Enough is Enough; Family Research Council; Hawaii Christian Coalition; Industry Ears; Institute for Healthy Families; Institute for Youth Development; Jewish Institute for Global Awareness; Media Research Center; Meridian Magazine; Mission America; Morality in Media; Nell Minow, Movie MomTM; National Center on Sexual Exploitation; One Million Moms; Rap Rehab; Southern Evangelical Seminary.
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