What can't be shown on TV before 9 pm ?

D

demoivre

Registered User
Messages
2,835
I was always of the belief that the likes of strong language, violence etc. could only be shown after 9 on the TV. Last night on RTE 2 between 8 and 9 there was a documentary on regarding journalists reporting from war zones ( I came across it by chance while flicking around between channels - I missed the start of it ). It contained some of the worst scenes of violence I have ever seen on TV including the cold blooded murder of a US journalist in Nicaragua - profoundly disturbing stuff imo and I certainly wouldn't have liked my kids to have seen any of it which could easily have happened given it was before nine and they are on hols. Is it the case that this type of programme is supposed to be shown after 9 ?
 
..saw this as well and if you saw the bit about Sierra Leone it was much more graphic and distrubing ( if thats possible) than the US journalist in Nicaragua.It showed kids being beaten by soldiers and other mind numbing stuff.

It was a powerful and shocking display of mans utter cruelty to their fellow man. My kids are too young and were in bed but if 11/12/13 year olds saw this it could be very distressful for them.

Hard to know what to say, it needs to be shown but if shown at 11pm very few see it.
 
I saw a few minutes of that programme also and have to agree that it would be very disturbing for children. I'd complain to RTE, but I've come to the conclusion that RTE programme schedules are determined by morons. They show programmes at inappropriate times, find it impossible to start a programme at the correct time (an 8.30pm start time seems to mean anywhere between 8.25 and 8.35), and have no idea at all what widescreen TV is about, even the newest of movies are shown in old style 4:3 format and then the ad breaks are widecreen.

However I do think this programme was one of the worst pieces of scheduling I've ever seen. In fact now that I’ve written this I am going to complain to RTE.
 
Timing aside, I thought this was a fantastic program. I don't think the reality of war is brought home to us very often anymore, what with the Americans banning filming of bodybags and violence in dramas sanitised so much that it's hard to believe a punch in the face hurts.

It gave a really interesting insight into the mindsets of war correspondents, although I have to say that I wouldn't have as much respect for them now as I would have had before. Not to diminish the importance of their work, whatever the motivation, to me the media (biased, I know!) seem to imply that their efforts are almost altruistic, whereas the glory-hunter/adrenalin junkie aspect didn't really occur to me.

The scheduling was poor alright. Apart from the scenes of violence and the filming of rotting corpses and mounds of dead bodies, there were references to 9 year old sons being forced to rape their mothers (among other awful things)!

The week before they ran a show on the fall of communism in Romania and the rule of Ceausescu, which also showed the dictator and his wife being shot to death but it wasn't as graphic. BTW if there is anyone out there with a tape of this show, I would be very grateful fro the loan of it.

Rebecca
 
Having reviewed the following
http://www.rte.ie/about/organisation/ProgrammeMakersGuidelines.pdf
and paying particular attention to pages 19 and 30 I can't believe that this programme went out between 8 and 9 pm.
There are several breaches of the Broadcasting and Violence guidelines on page 19 and on page 30 we are told in bold type that " 21 is fixed as the time up to which nothing is shown that is unsuitable for children " and they define a child as 15 or under.
I am with Dave D and am going to complain to RTE also.
 
All it takes is channel hopping at the wrong moment and you could be confromted with a gruesome image. That could be enough to give some kids nightmares.
 
I hadn't thought about the channel hopping possibility, but is this really such a big deal? Compare it to the kind of dysfunctional family/society images that they are going to get on Eastenders/Fair City/Emmerdale every day of the week? Compare it to the wall-to-wall pink fluffy Barbie adverts that they will get on Nickelodeon all day long. Compare it to the false, unattainable body images that they will get on Top of the Pops. Compare it to the celeb fests/Cribs/glorified karaoke X-factor stuff that teaches them that the only route to 'success' is through singing other people's songs.

I'd be more worried about this stuff that is deemed 'suitable' for kid viewing.
 
I too have me doubts about what children should and shouldn't be exposed to and what damage is done from showing some "real life" violence/war footage as opposed to dramatised/animated violence or bubble gum TV. However, it has to be said that this program would have shocked/disturbed me even at 11 pm. Not that it is necessarily a bad thing for a 28 year old woman to be given a sharp reality check now and then but it was the stuff that nightmares are made of and not your average documentary in content, style or approach.

Rebecca
 
As per seagull's comment. I started channel-hopping when one of those house improvement programmes came on. I turned over to rte2 just as some poor Liberian was being machine-gunned to death at close quarters. Not sure i'd go so far as to complain but it was a very poor choice of time-slot for the subject matter.
Gearoid
 
Well my original question was can this stuff be shown before 9 which I always considered to be the de facto cut off point for kids stuff and adults stuff - the issue is about the timing of the programme. It seems very obvious to me that the programme was in clear breach of the programme makers guidelines on a number of counts, so on that basis I have complained to rte and will let you folks know what they say but they can take 20 days to reply ! What programmes we decide to be suitable viewing for our kids during kids TV time is a different matter imo.
 
The 9 O'Clock Watershed is a self imposed convention used by the Broadcasters. It is not enshrined anywhere. They are perfectly entitled to go against their own guidelines and conventions.

Certainly there is a widespread belief on the part of the public that the Watershed is official, and if RTE are going to disregard it they should advertise that fact heavily to dispell any false sense of security that parents have that TV before 9 will be suitable for Children.

-Rd
 
I'd bet a fiver that in this particular case, no-one in RTE reviewed the documentary before it was screened. I doubt if it was intentional to show this stuff at 8.30 pm.
 
I didn't see it but if this is true it's horrible and well worth complaining about. I would be interested to hear the outcome of it. Did you complain?
 
I complained to the ASAI about the Lucozade "zombie" advertisement being shown before 9PM (as did a few others judging by their report) and they rejected the complaint. Subsequently I heard that the BCI [broken link removed] that it was unsuitable for broadcast before the watershed. Go figure...
 
I complained to RTE before about a radio program going out at 1900 which covered some severe human rights abuses and forced canibalism involving captured family members. I can't remember the name of the program, but it was a current affairs one.

Their response was along the lines of " . . . well it has to be told . . . and this is the time that this program goes out at" - they didn't seem to appreciate the issue that the content might be viewed as unsuitable for the time of day, particularly given that people would be eating their dinner.

In fairness, I think it was a one-off, but they didn't see that it might be unsuitable at all.

z
 
zag said:
I complained to RTE before about a radio program going out at 1900 which covered some severe human rights abuses and forced canibalism involving captured family members. I can't remember the name of the program
Click to expand...
[broken link removed]?
 

Well I e-mailed my complaint to RTE re above. The only question I asked of them was why did the programme go out between 8 and 9 which was clearly in breach of the Programme makers guidlines. Here is the reply.

Dear *****,
A belated reply to your e-mail about the scheduling of
the documentary 'Reporters at War' on RTÉ Two on 31
October, sent earlier this month. The following is the
response of Andrew Fitzpatrick, Head of Schedule
Planning, to your complaint.
"We thought long and hard about the scheduling
of 'Reporters at War.' It is an extremely well made and
thought provoking examination of the role of the
Reporter in war and yes, while it does contain some
upsetting images, which have been previously shown in
contemporary news reports, the context is a serious one
and is in no way gratuitous. The nature of modern
war is in itself disturbing and violent and this was
reflected in the programme."
Please be assured that your complaint was included in
our Audience Log at the time it was received and
circulated to senior programme management for
information and discussion.

With best regards
Nina Ward
RTÉ Information Officer

I never questioned how well made the programme was or the disturbing nature of war , I simply questioned the scheduling of the programme - it's a pity they chose not to answer me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register