The proposal by the Government to insist that all televisions be fitted with V-chips has as many drawbacks as it has advantages. The V-chip will enable parents to black out, say, R-rated programs, or MA-rated programs and higher and so on.
At present the chip works for cable but has not been tested for Australian free-to-air conditions or for Australian classifications. Even if parents want to use the V-chip, present classifications are unlikely to cater for the myriad of personal choices and strictures required. Objections to violence, erotica, language and so on vary among different parents. Some parents object more to violence, but less to some depiction of sexual conduct, for example. Other parents think the other way. Present classifications do distinguish between the two to some extent, but inevitably parents will either have to ban some material they do not mind their children seeing, or will allow some material they would object their children to seeing. This drawback alone is enough to show that the V-chip is not substitute for parental control, and that the opinions of the classifiers, as they will admit, can only be a guide.
The trouble with the V-chip is that it has the potential to make the classifiers guide become law in some households.
A further practical drawback is that, as most adults know, the first port of call in learning how to work any new technology is a teenager. Inevitably, they will work out ways of circumventing the chips. Then there is the practical question of what to do with existing TV sets.
The main drawback, however, is that the V-chip is likely to result in an abdication of parental control and responsibilities. Some parents will imagine that by setting up the V-chip they have done all they need to do. There is more to the exercise than blocking some programs. The question of what television is viewed in a home is better resolved in a way that addresses the complexity of family relationships and the need for children and parents to exercise self-control, which no V-chip can do for them.
The government’s V-chip move paints it as censorious, regulatory and imposing of group standards when it comes to social issues, in contrast to its stand on economic matters which is generally one of giving individuals maximum freedom in a deregulated environment. With the V-chip it is spreading the cost (at a conservative $10 a head) of social control on everyone.
The V-chip proposal came out of an investigation following the Port Arthur massacre and related concern that media violence causes actual violence. The link is very dubious. And now the worry about violence is to be carried into the sphere of censoring for sex and language. In doing so the government, through Communications Minister Richard Alston, has expressed some unwarranted and unnecessary criticisms about the Office of Film and Literature Classification. He said they should have shorter terms because they might come desensitised and represent a broader cross-section of the community, including parents. In fact their ages range from 24 to 54; eight have care of children; five have been teachers and two have farming backgrounds; and board members regularly rotate. Moreover, they are not directly responsible for TV classifications.
The V-chip and the comments about classification must be put down to the government desiring to be seen to be doing something. It would be better to apply some of its economic philosophy and put the responsibility where it lies … on individuals.