New PTC Research Shows Blurred & Pixilated Nudity Increasing on Broadcast TV and Being Rated as Acceptable for Children

Parents Television Council

Data Exposes Flaws in TV Rating System and in FCC Proposal to Limit Indecency Complaints

Release Date: 6/4/2013

LOS ANGELES (JUNE 4, 2013) – New research from the Parents Television Council shows that blurred or pixilated full nudity is increasingly being shown on primetime broadcast television shows, and that almost 70% of this type of nudity is being shown on TV-PG rated programs.

The PTC found that there were almost as many shows containing blurred or pixilated full nudity in only the first 4 months of 2013 (N=16) as aired during the entire 2011-2012 television season (N=22). (Additional data is found below.)

“Most parents instinctively know that they need to monitor what their kids watch on television, but our new research shows that it would be almost impossible for them to protect their kids from blurred or pixilated nudity on TV since most broadcast TV networks are rating these shows as acceptable for young children,” said PTC President Tim Winter.

“This data exposes the huge flaw in the TV ratings system: that the TV networks rate their own content and are financially motivated not to give a TV show a higher rating, otherwise advertisers would likely flee.

“Our findings are also alarming because if this kind of nudity continues to increase – as we believe it will – and the FCC’s proposal to essentially stop enforcing the broadcast indecency law goes into effect, then it’s certain that the networks will continue to push the limits of decency even further. We have documented in the past that there is a phenomenon called ‘ratings creep,’ what’s not acceptable to show on TV in previous years eventually becomes acceptable. We cannot let that happen. Our children deserve to be protected. The FCC needs to enforce the indecency law – period. And if it doesn’t, then Congress needs to ensure that this happens and that children are protected,” Winter emphasized.

One of the PTC’s Chapter Directors, Claudia Wadzinski, said that it has always been difficult to protect her three children from inappropriate content on TV, and that these new findings will make her job even harder. “It is shocking to me as a parent that TV networks apparently find it appropriate to show full nudity blurred or pixilated during hours when my children may be watching. Even if my kids are watching TV with me, I don’t want them to be exposed to this kind of inappropriate content. But how am I supposed to protect my kids when the TV ratings are so low? Shows with this kind of nudity should be rated TV-MA, and I know a lot of parents who would agree,” she said.

The findings of the new PTC research are as follows:

(NOTE: This study focuses on instances of blurred or pixilated nudity on all primetime broadcast TV shows. The study excludes animated shows, partial nudity, obscured nudity, as well as the use of a black box to hide sexual body parts. The study period ran from January 1, 2013, through April 26, 2013.)

• There were almost as many shows containing full nudity in only the first 4 months of 2013 (N=16) as aired in the entire 2011-2012 television season (N=22). Based on these numbers, we project that the broadcast networks are on course to increase the amount of full nudity on primetime programming by 61%.
• Almost 70% of the full nudity depicted on primetime television during the first 4 months of 2013 was delivered by TV-PG programming (69%).
• 88% of the shows that depicted full nudity on primetime programming during the first 4 months of 2013 were shows that aired at 9:00 pm or earlier.
• 94% of the shows did not contain an "S" descriptor warning parents to the presence of heightened sexual content.
• All TV-14 rated shows containing full nudity aired 9:00 or earlier.
• Every instance of full nudity that aired 9:00 pm or after aired on a TV-PG rated show.
• Collectively, NBC and ABC accounted for 88% of the full nudity that aired on primetime broadcast television. Shows included: Modern Family (ABC), Happy Endings (ABC), Suburgatory (ABC), Parks and Rec. (NBC), Betty White Off Your Rocker (NBC), Whitney (NBC), Go On (NBC), Cops (Fox), and Survivor (CBS).
Content descriptions can be found at: http://w2.parentstv.org/Main/Research/PRDataSample.aspx.

To speak with a representative from the Parents Television Council, please contact Kelly Oliver at (703) 307-9404 or email at kelly@kellyoliverpr.com

BIBLE PROPHECY FULFILLED? Electronic Tattoo or Ingest a Pill in Place of Typing Passwords!!!

 By Joanna Stern

@joannastern
Follow on Twitter

May 31, 2013 12:25pm

 

The average person inputs a password 39 times a day, with power users typing that string of letters and numbers up to 100 times a day, Motorola’s head of Advanced Technology & Projects Regina Dugan revealed at the All Things D conference this week.
But even then that password, as a series of recent hacks have shown, isn’t always secure.
Sure, there are ways of authenticating beyond passwords, including two-factor authentication which requires a user to input a password and a code that is sent to their phone, but Motorola’s dreaming up a way of keeping our passwords even closer to ourselves — literally.
At the conference Dugan showed off two ways of turning your body into a password.  With an electronic tattoo, she said, people would be able to just wear their password on their skin.
“We are thinking of a variety of options for how you could do better at authentication. You can start with near term things like tokens or fobs, but you can also think of a means of authentication that you could wear on your skin for a week at a time,” she said. “We are talking about an electronic tattoo.”

READ MORE AT ABC NEWS

Apple Removes Ministry App Aimed at Battling Habitual Sins

By Katherine Weber , Christian Post Reporter

June 1, 2013|1:03 pm

The Apple Corporation has recently pulled from its iTunes store a mobile app created by Setting Captives Free, a nondenominational ministry which offers free courses aimed at helping users battle "habitual sins," such as sexual impurity, substance abuse, self-injury, and gambling.

The app was pulled by Apple following protest over one of the courses, titled "Door of Hope," seeks to free users from "the bondage of homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ and the cross!"
"If you will apply the biblical principles found here, you can walk through the Door of Hope into a new life with Christ, free from sexual impurity and self-gratification," the course description reads.

READ MORE AT THE CHRISTIAN POST

Samuel Rodriguez: Religious Freedom Is an Endangered Species

By Napp Nazworth , Christian Post Reporter

May 31, 2013|5:54 am

WASHINGTON – Freedom of religion in 2013 can best be described as an endangered species, argued the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, at the Ethics and Public Policy Center's 2013 National Religious Freedom Conference Thursday in Washington, D.C. He urged those in attendance, representing many different faith communities, to "rise up" and defend that freedom by speaking truth to power with civility and grace.

Rodriguez began by reminding his audience of all that faith does for them personally and for their communities: "We gather today as Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs motivated by a spirit of interfaith cooperation. We are here by faith and for faith."

READ MORE AT THE CHRISTIAN POST

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Preaching in Moore: Faith That Stands Up to the Storm Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/05/26/preaching-in-moore-faith-that-stands-up-to-the-storm/#ixzz2UifNfJEO

By Elizabeth DiasMay 26, 2013

Churches across Moore, Okla., have transformed into disaster relief centers this week — the area is, after all, about as Bible Belt as America gets. The city website lists over 80 churches, and nearly a third are Baptist. Church after church has turned sanctuary into donation drop-off site, and lobby into insurance filing center or food bank. This Sunday, pastors are offering another type of assistance, one intended to feed the soul: preaching.
Pastor Ted Miller of Crossroads Church has led his 1,500-member church for only one year, and this is his first time pastoring a community though a tragedy of such magnitude. While none of his immediate church members lost their lives, all have walked through the valley of the shadow of death this week. Many families had children at Plaza Towers Elementary and faced the traumatic reality of little ones missing. Thirty-two families in his congregation suffered total or significant property loss.
Miller’s main Sunday message is to remind parishioners that the tornado’s May 20 destruction was not God’s judgment. Equating natural destruction with God’s plan can be a dangerous theological path to tread — God is not mad, he says, but rather the opposite is true. God comforts people in the midst of their grief. “God is our refuge and strength, our ever-present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear though the Earth should change and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,” he says, quoting Psalm 46. Miller also points to the New Testament book of Romans, in which the Apostle Paul tells of the Earth’s groanings. “The earth groans, weather patterns change, they come and go with climate changes,” Miller explains. “A natural disaster and an act of God are not the same thing.”

Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/05/26/preaching-in-moore-faith-that-stands-up-to-the-storm/#ixzz2UifLBd8t

2 years after Joplin tornado, survivor ministers in Moore

MOORE, Okla. (BP) -- Gary Hunley had seen it all before. As he surveyed the damage left behind from last Monday's EF5 tornado in Moore, Okla., he saw an all-too-familiar scene of overturned cars, metal signposts bent to the ground and houses reduced to rubble.

Almost two years to the day before the historic Moore tornado, Hunley's home was destroyed by an equally historic tornado in Joplin, Mo., which killed 158 people. Since then Hunley, the leader on his Spring River Baptist Association Disaster Relief team, has participated in numerous Southern Baptist Disaster Relief responses. Yet because of the amount of damage in Moore, the latest assignment has brought back a variety of memories.

"I understand it," Hunley said. "I saw it yesterday for the first time. It was like Joplin -- the scene, the smell, the look on people's faces. Some are trying to be uplifting and act like everything is okay. They're hiding it though; I can see it on their face. I feel so sorry for them."

READ MORE AT BAPTIST PRESS