Rating battles

Published on November 3, 2007

There have been endless arguments since the system began operating in December last year. A group came out demanding that more refined ratings be used for children's programmes.

In my previous columns, I've pointed out the inappropriate ratings given to some programmes. For instance, a show broadcast by TITV on Saturday afternoons was given the "Thor", or general rating, but contained scenes of women in revealing clothes.

My misgivings were confirmed by the rating-monitor results that came out earlier this week.

The Media Monitor, sponsored by the Thai Health Foundation via the "six tax" system, said that all free channels have been rating their programmes wrongly. The biggest culprit was TITV with 64.5 per cent of their programmes unsuitably rated, followed by Channel 3 with 58.9 per cent; Channel 5, 57.7 per cent; Channel 11, 52.5 per cent; Channel 8, 51.7 per cent; and Channel 7, 35.9 per cent. 

Some programmes were "overrated" - where the rating promises a lot more than the programme content has to offer - while others weren't given a high enough rating.

The findings, collected through closely monitoring channels from October 1 to 7, showed that all channels had given a high proportion of the programmes a "Thor", or general rating. More than 50 per cent of the shows on channels 3, 5, 9 and 11 were rated general, while those rated "Nor 13" - restricted for children under 13 - and "Nor 18" - restricted for children under 18 - made up the rest of the ratings.

The study also discovered that no channel offered "Por"-rated programmes, or shows for children aged between three and five. In fact, some channels didn't have a single show for children.

The research concluded that Thai TV channels were rating their programmes wrongly just to capture a wider audience. That's the only explanation I can see for the huge proportion of "Thor"-rated programmes.

So, who's to blame for all this?

TV channels say they should be given free rein in rating their programmes because they're afraid that handing the power over to the authorities could mean censorship.

But, the most interesting point is finding out what the Public Relations Department plans to do with these results, especially since it governs TITV - the biggest culprit for rating channels inappropriately.

Comments can be sent to e_nang30@yahoo.com.

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