BET & MTV programming "predatory"?

MTV and BET show adult content once every 38 seconds, according to a new study released by the Parents Television Council and the Enough is Enough Campaign. The groups analyzed three programs: BET’s “106 and Park”, “Rap City” and MTV’s “Sucker Free”.

While many may not object to the fact that adult content is shown on the channels, others object to adult content—which included sex, violence, obscenity and profanity—shown to children under 18.

“What BET and MTV are offering to children on these three programs is full of offensive and vulgar content, the likes of which cannot yet be found on broadcast television. Being in the trenches fighting for better indecency enforcement and cable choice on behalf of millions of American families, we thought we’d seen it all – but even we were taken aback by what we found in the music video programs on MTV and BET that are targeted directly at impressionable children,” PTC President Tim Winter said.

Industry Ears co-founder Paul Porter goes a step further than Winter, calling the industry out of touch and predatory.

“The study boldly validates that BET’s ‘Rap City’ and ‘106 and Park’ focus solely on commercial rap. The high level of stereotypical imaging is a sign of an out of touch industry that is holding on to mid 90's themes,” he told HipHopDX.

The findings of the study reveal the following:

· The PTC documented 1,647 instances of offensive/adult content in the 27.5 hours of programming analyzed during the December 2007 study period, for an average of 59.9 instances per hour, or nearly one instance every minute.
· 746 sexually explicit scenes or lyrical references in the 27.5 hours of analyzed programming from the December study period for an average of 27 instances per hour, or one instance every 2.2 minutes. Sexual content was even more common in the March test period, with an average 40 instances per hour, or one instance every 90 seconds.
· From the December broadcasts, the PTC documented 221 depictions of violence, including deaths depicted or implied, explosions, implied violence, punching/hitting, rioting, threats and weapons; this data equates to an average of 8 instances per hour, or one instance roughly every 7.5 minutes. Violence also became more frequent in the March analysis, averaging one instance every 6.3 minutes.

For more: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6765