EDITOR – As a father of two young girls I am very aware of the media and all the material that is being pushed onto our family with or without our consent.
Take for example our free to air TV channels like eTV. On 13 June at 8.30pm, I happened to be flipping through the channels and eTV showed a bare-breasted woman on the floor having sex with a man.
On 16 June 2013 at 8pm, eTV was screening the movie District 9, which meant that by 8.30pm we were already subjected to aliens hacking away at mangled carcasses and racist displays that I would rather forget. This happened to be on Father’s Day as well.
I was very fortunate that both my daughters were in bed at this time, but I could not help but wonder what sort of information is going to be fed to them and their children if this is the current state of our media.
On a Saturday morning my children watch some cartoons and during this time SABC and eTV advertise other shows that are definitely not for kids. Not to mention some of the adverts as well.
Now I do understand that these movies and adverts have age restrictions and have been approved by several boards, but what about having a sense of responsibility to families and children.
What about those many child-headed homes in South Africa, what forms of control do they have on what they are subjected to, if the media channels are not more responsible with their content.
I am not asking for a restriction on the movies, but I am asking for some responsibility on the part of the media channels that are free to air. As a parent I do take responsibility for what is fed into my children and our family’s lives, but at this rate my TV may have to remain permanently off if we do not have some responsibility from our broadcasters.
I have submitted an official complaint to the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. I have also put a copy of the complaint on my website FYO www.emilswanepoel.com and welcome anyone who agrees with me to contact me on Facebook, Twitter or email.
Emil Swanepoel
Glen Hills
