AS A panacea for society鈥檚 inclination towards violence, the V-chip comes
cheap. The device, no bigger than a thumbnail, costs just 60p when fitted into
television sets on the factory floor. Once in place it will allow parents to
censor programmes and advertisements they consider too violent or sexually
explicit for their children.
Politicians have jumped at this simple technology, developed two years ago by
a Canadian engineering professor, as a way of meeting growing concerns over
televised sex and violence. In February, the US government decreed that from
1998 all new TV sets will have to be fitted with V-chips. Since then the V-chip
has been embraced in principle by the European Parliament, and endorsed by
several British politicians.
The idea is simple. Broadcasts are classified according to their levels of
violence, sex, bad language or by an age classification system similar to that
used in cinemas. The rating is then sent as a coded signal鈥攐ver the air or
via cable鈥攁nd picked up by the V-chip (the V stands for Violence) in the
TV. By punching a secret four-digit number into their sets, parents are able to
instruct the chip to scramble programmes containing violence or sex beyond the
level they consider acceptable.
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The European Parliament has passed an amendment to the 1989 Television
Without Frontiers broadcasting directive that mirrors the American legislation.
If the Council of Ministers backs the amendment it could become law in every
European Union country. In Britain, debate on the V-chip is hotting up.
鈥淎nything that can add to the armoury of parents trying to protect their
children has to be good,鈥� says the Liberal Democrat MP David Alton, a well-known
campaigner against screen violence. Alton has gained support from backbench MPs
for an amendment to the Broadcasting Bill now passing through Parliament.
Virginia Bottomley, the national heritage secretary, appears interested, though
she insists that any decision must be preceded by debate between government and
regulatory authorities, broadcasters, programme makers and parents.
But despite the political enthusiasm, opposition to the technology in Europe
is growing, with many in the broadcasting, advertising and electronics
industries claiming the V-chip is unnecessary and impractical. 鈥淭he Americans
have come to their conclusion for a reason,鈥� says Ross Biggam, European affairs
executive at the Independent Television Association (ITVA), which represents
Britain鈥檚 13 main commercial TV companies. 鈥淭hey want to impose content
regulation because currently they have virtually none. I don鈥檛 see the need for
it in Europe or Britain, where regulations and classifications are widely
耻苍诲别谤蝉迟辞辞诲.鈥�
John Bayer of the National Viewers鈥� and Listeners鈥� Association, which
campaigns against TV violence, is also sceptical. 鈥淭he BBC is currently
reviewing its production guidelines, the Broadcasting Standards Council have a
code of practice and the ITC [Independent Television Commission] has a programme
code,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he V-chip seems to signify the failure of those measures.鈥�
MEPs are proposing a pan-European ratings system for the V-chip in which
every category of programme has a classification of 1 to 5, with 5 the most
liberal and 1 the most restrictive. Parents could instruct the V-chip to refuse
programmes rated above 2 on the violence scale, for example, or above 3 on the
sex scale. A pan-European system would, however, require a central European
ratings body. According to Biggam, the cost of such a project would be enormous,
and cultural differences would make its task virtually impossible.
鈥淭here simply isn鈥檛 a common European standard in terms of taste and
decency,鈥� he says. 鈥淪weden has very different views about the role of
advertising and broadcasting in its society. It is relaxed about pornography but
strict about advertising aimed at children. In Britain we are quite the
opposite.鈥� Karsten Hoppenstedt, the German MEP who raised the debate in the
Parliament, admits this could pose a problem. 鈥淣o one knows how it would work
yet. It may be for the Council to find a middle way between the member states鈥�
individual rating systems. The Council is discussing how a trans-border system
could work and I am sure they will find a way.鈥�
Others are more pessimistic. 鈥淚 simply cannot see how a European rating
system is possible,鈥� says Roy Perry, a British MEP who is on the Parliament鈥檚
media committee. But Perry also points out that separate rating systems for
individual countries would go against the whole concept of Television Without
Frontiers, which aims to establish a common programme production and
distribution market throughout the European Union.
It is also unclear whether the V-chip, if it were used in Europe, would black
out entire programmes or individual scenes. In the first pilot phase of an
experiment in Canada, where the V-chip is on trial in 200 homes, each scene was
encoded. However, blackouts at crucial moments created considerable frustration
among viewers; it is now believed the US will encode whole programmes.
There are technical difficulties too. It has yet to be decided how the
encoded signals would reach the home. The preferred way is via vertical blanking
interval lines, the spare capacity on analogue TV sets, which do not carry
picture information. In Europe these are already occupied by Teletext services,
which are not available in the US. While engineers for the ITC鈥攚hich
regulates independent broadcasters鈥攕ay they are looking at the possibility
of finding space on Teletext lines, Hugh Peltor, director of the British Radio
and Electronic Equipment Manufacturers Association, says: 鈥淭hough it is
theoretically possible to squeeze a function into Teletext, frankly something
would have to move out.鈥�
The ITC has pointed out that because an average TV set lasts at least a
decade, it would be some time before the majority of sets in Britain were fitted
with V-chips. Research also suggests that when a family buys a new set, the old
one often ends up in a child鈥檚 bedroom. And children are quite likely to be
capable of cracking the code designed to prevent them viewing censored
programmes. The ITC fears that people who do not bother to switch off their
children鈥檚 television sets during disturbing scenes would be unlikely to program
their V-chip. 鈥淚t may not address those parents who do not currently take
responsibility for their children鈥檚 viewing,鈥� comments Robin Duval, deputy
director of programmes at the ITC. Biggam adds: 鈥淭he V-chip would offer
two-tiered protection. If you can afford a new set then you can protect your
children, but if you can鈥檛, you do not have that luxury.鈥�
The V-chip has raised the issue of responsible broadcasting as well as
responsible viewing. Since the 1960s, the ITC has relied on a 9pm watershed
before which nothing unsuitable for children should be broadcast. Now there is
concern that the V-chip would leave TV companies free to broadcast what and
whenever they liked. 鈥淲ith the watershed, people can feel confident,鈥� says
Bayer. 鈥淥ur concern is that the V-chip allows broadcasters to say they don鈥檛
need to take that responsibility.鈥�
Meanwhile, broadcasters on commercial channels fear the V-chip would deter
advertisers from buying airtime on adult-rated programmes. According to Andrew
Brown, director-general of the Advertising Association, the device could also
鈥減lay havoc鈥� with the reliability of audience data on which advertisers depend.
鈥淚f advertisers don鈥檛 know what they are buying it could threaten the commercial
basis of broadcasting,鈥� he says.
Broadcasters also suspect that if a pan-European ratings board were deemed
impractical, or if Britain went ahead and legislated on the V-chip without
cross-Europe consensus, they could be saddled with the formidable
responsibility鈥攁nd cost鈥攐f rating programmes. Arthur Pober,
executive director of the American Entertainment Software Rating Board which is
responsible for drawing up a rating system for the V-chip in the US, calls it a
鈥淗erculean鈥� task.
The first problem is establishing a definition of violence. How, asks Pober,
do you distinguish between the violence of Bugs Bunny and Schindler鈥檚
List? If you decide, as the American government has, to exempt all news and
sport, then what constitutes news and sport? 鈥淚s wrestling a sport or
entertainment? Do we classify an entire series under a single rating? The
permutations begin to become quite large.鈥�
Even if all the problems are overcome, and the V-chip can be made to work,
there are still questions over what it can achieve for society. Jeffrey
Goldstein, a professor of psychology at the University of Utrecht in the
Netherlands, who has just completed an analysis of the 1996 US National
Television Violence Study, says that only a small percentage of people are
affected by TV violence. They are male, adolescent or older, and already
predisposed to disorder. In Britain, Bottomley has been at pains to remind the
public that there is no clear evidence of any causal link between TV violence
and real-life crime.
Opponents of the V-chip point out that Britain has enviably low levels of
violence on television and a strict code for broadcasters. There is a growing
feeling that moves to adopt the V-chip in Europe are premature. 鈥淣obody knew
what the V-chip was four months ago,鈥� says Biggam. 鈥淧eople have rushed into it.
It has never been demonstrated in this country, and although it has been
trialled in Canada it has not yet been proven.鈥� Bottomley is equally cautious,
鈥淭he impracticalities of its implementation may far outweigh any benefits,鈥� she
says.
Pober admits that the US rushed legislation through before important
fine-tuning had been done, and counsels Britain not to follow suit. 鈥淲hile the
technology has been voted into law none of these issues have been explored or
solidified in order to make the V-chip operational,鈥� he says. Bottomley has
suggested that other, more flexible technological developments might make the
V-chip obsolete even before it is introduced. In the meantime, parents will have
to make do with the existing technology and just switch off.