Rasmussen Reports has conducted a pair of related polls checking American attitudes towards indecent content. A majority believe that the current ratings system used to warn off viewers about racy content in a program is effective; however, even more believe the FCC should retain power to police the television and radio airwaves.
On TV ratings, 54% said that the current system works just fine. And before the content watchdogs start jumping up and down about the weakness of that result, it must be noted in no uncertain terms that only 28% think they lack effectiveness. That means those that understand how to use the system and trust its accuracy outnumber the skeptics by almost a two to one margin. 18% were undecided.
According to Rasmussen, about half of the respondents indicated they do in fact avoid programming based on ratings.
However, 64% believe the FCC should retain the power to regulate profanity, violence and sexual content on television and radio. That majority definitely overwhelms the 24% who disagree. Only 11% are undecided on this one.
RBR-TVBR observation: Programmers are very aware that there is a large contingent of the audience that has no interest in being shocked or titillated. Howard Stern had his fans when he was on broadcast, but the vast majority of listeners used their tuning device and listened to something else. We suspect that vast majority will still have plenty of programming choices no matter what the Supreme Court says.
