Youth support govt TV ratings

The Media-Making Youth Network yesterday threw its support behind the government's TV content and airtime classification proposal, saying that most quality programmes - such as "Kob Nok Kala" (Think Outside the Box) - were screened too late at night. They urged television stations to adjust schedules to provide young viewers with child-friendly shows.

Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University hosted a seminar for 70 youths from Thailand, the Philippines, the United States and Australia to brainstorm on improving TV programming.

Tipsuda Chadee, 17, a Wat Khemapirataram School student representing Thailand's Media-Making Youth Network, read out a statement saying the network wanted the government and TV producers to support high-grade, child-oriented productions.

They also called for a stage for youths to express and participate in making media materials for their peers.

She said her group supported the rating scheme, especially the designation of timeslots to protect young viewers, and wanted broadcasters to arrange worthwhile productions such as "Kob Nok Kala" for the period that young viewers could enjoy.

Citing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - which urges states to encourage media to publish useful information to society and promote guideline development to prevent children from harmful information - she said the slate of TV offerings these days gave the young generation no choice.

Programmes in general portrayed similar things in similar ways. They did not stimulate youngsters' curiosity and learning, while those programmes targeting young viewers also lacked attractive presentation.

Chutima Jaikhong, a junior at Sukhothai Thammathirat from www.thailandkid.com, said nearly all channels ran soap operas soaked with violence and romance, which were not educational for kids and even prompted them to grow up prematurely in a negative way, watching these programmes without parental guidance.

The new rating system would come in handy, she said.

Jonas Delleveaf, an 18-year-old representative from the Philippines, said his predominantly Catholic country has a rating system supervised by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

It assigns symbols to programmes that indicate their content and viewing groups and thus TV programmes were not violent.

He urged Thailand to have a rating system in place and parents to be responsible by providing guidance to young viewers.

The Nation