Seanad debates
Tuesday, 4 November 2003
Broadcasting (Funding) Bill 2003: Second Stage.
Without sounding too prudish, I wish to take broadcasters to task for some of what they produce and offer to the viewing and listening public. There is no doubt that standards have fallen sharply across the industry in the last few years. Programmes which would never have seen the light of day a decade ago are now mainstream fare, which is very unfair to today's audiences, to parents trying to maintain reasonably high standards and to young people who are given a grossly distorted picture of what is acceptable. One constituent of mine who supervises teenage discos tells me of the continuing drop in standards of moral behaviour of a percentage of our teenagers. He is not critical of them, and he would not say that today's young generation is worse than any which has gone before. I believe that too and am proud of the young people whose standards in many areas of life are higher than those of previous generations. Unfortunately they see examples of behaviour, day and night, from a variety of TV channels, which have desensitised them and convinced them that liberal behaviour is quite acceptable and that sexual freedom should be their most important aspiration.
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