Sinful & Suggestive?

A gingerly investigation of the sex-and beer-filled jungles of television was begun last summer by a congressional subcommittee (TIME, June 16). Last week the committee came to a tame conclusion: TV is well able to police itself. In its final report, submitted by Chairman Oren Harris of Arkansas, the committee said that TV is sometimes guilty of "offensive, objectionable or suggestive" material, of "poor taste" in advertising some products, and of placing "entirely too much emphasis on crime programs." However, the committee noted, "substantial improvements" have been made, e.g., the plunging necklines of women performers have been triced up. Other critics of TV were less content:

P:In Huntington, W. Va., Lawrence H. Rogers, vice president of station WSAZ and WSAZ-TV, banned the song / Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus because "it violates a provision against songs in which children describe parents' misconduct, and implies an insult to Santa Claus and the sacred occasion of Christmas."

P: In Indianapolis, the Methodist Ministerial Association asked station WFBM-TV to have two of its announcers stop quaffing beer on the TV screen because they "unconsciously do our children such harm as years cannot remove."

P:In Chicago, Daily News Critic Jack Mabley emptied both barrels at Cowboy Roy Rogers. Mabley reported that in a single episode of the Roy Rogers Show, "two men beat an old man . . . The old man is permanently blinded by the attack. Two men beat a dog about the head with a pistol . . . The men again attack the g as he is leading the old man on a mountain trail. The old man cries for help, tries to find the dog, and plunges over a cliff to his death on the rocks. A veterinarian who is a thief kills an injured companion with an injection of poison as the man lies in bed. The dog is doped, but attacks a man. Two men kidnap a girl, then beat her." The show, said Mabley grimly, "was written and produced expressly for children and put on the air over the NBC network at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, so that it could catch all children ... It's frightening to see these five-and six-year-old tots sitting spellbound before TV sets, soaking up this sadism. It is the height of irresponsibility for a network to so callously disregard the well being of children."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.