Viewfinder : Child psychologists needed
, July 20, 2005
Updated 07:52pmam (Mla time)
Nestor Torre entertainment@inq7.net
Inquirer News Service
THESE past weeks, we've seen official media regulators rapping TV people for their on-camera excesses, finally making broadcast people realize that they can no longer ride roughshod over viewers' sensibilities as they do anything and everything to enable their shows to grab the highest ratings.
This development is noteworthy, but it is only partially effective because it doesn't address the problem head-on: Some TV people do irresponsible work because they haven't been properly taught by their bosses how to serve their audience ethically and well.
In fact, those very bosses are the ones who sometimes pressure their people to throw caution, discretion, and self-possession to the winds in order to crush the competition and attain those all-important top viewership ratings.
So, our networks have to devise a more foolproof and "avarice-proof" way to compel their staffers to tread the straight and narrow. In our view, one of the best ways to do this is for each network to secure the services of a child psychologist.
Our logic goes this way: Adult viewers' sensibilities are important, but they can always switch to another channel if a network's program offends them. Children, however, are less capable of protecting themselves, so they are the viewers who should be most protected from irresponsible and unethical TV practices.
To make sure that nothing a network telecasts has a negative effect on young viewer, each channel should hire a child psychologist whose job it would be to screen everything the channel produces and shows, and point out which elements of video and audio would be offensive to children.
We can all surmise to the best of our ability what would or wouldn't comprise child-friendly television, but child psychologists are trained to determine this on a much more professional and reliable level, so we should listen to them.
After all, the well-being of our youth is at stake. We profess to care about them so much, so our channels should consider this significant step in truly complying with the terms of their franchise to operate.
The first channel to do this would win the appreciation and gratitude of concerned parents and educators, and this would be a big plus point for the network.
Any takers?
While we're at it, we would also like to repeat a suggestion we made sometime ago, that President Macapagal-Arroyo should appoint more child psychologists to the MTRCB. Our argument is the same: we need to protect our children from irresponsible TV-film work, and child psychologists are best suited to this all-important task, so let's make use of their expertise!
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