British TV turning vulgar due to rise in swearing

LONDON - Television in the UK is now witness to more frequent and open swearing than ever before even after the infamous Jonathan Ross case, it has emerged.

Last year BBC Radio 2 had broadcast a tape of comedian Russell Brand, and presenter Jonathan Ross using offensive language.

This had created a huge public outcry.

However since then the situation does not seem to have improved much.

According to the Telegraph, it was found that the f-word, ’s***’ and ‘p***’ were used 155 times in 25 post-watershed programmes observed last week.

This is quite a leap when compared with a similar monitoring exercise last year, when the words were used only 127 times.

Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA was the topmost in the use of expletives, with the f-word being used 63 times.

The flick Stripes starring Bill Murray on Channel 5 had 14 serious expletives, BBC1’s Traffic Cops had 12, and BBC2’s The Last Days of Lehman Brothers had 11.

Director of Mediawatch-UK, John Beyer, said: “Broadcasters are not really responding to the public concern about swearing on television.

“What happened last year was largely thanks to The Sunday Telegraph. A lot of the comments made by Michael Grade and Jana Bennet were responding to the public concern there was.

“What your results show is broadcasters have paid lip service, made all the right noises, but they haven’t actually done anything to reduce the level of swearing.”

Beyer held Government and industry regulator Ofcom responsible for the content aired.

“With the government not prepared to intervene and with Ofcom failing to really enforce its code on swearing, there’s little that an ordinary viewer, who continues to be offended by this language, can do,” Beyer said.

“I just think it’s a situation that’s out of control,” he added.

However, Ofcom spokesman said: “We regularly carry out research on viewers’ attitudes, including to swearing on TV and radio. The results have not varied much in recent years.

“Most people on balance are reasonably satisfied about the amount of swearing on TV and radio, with older viewers and listeners more concerned and younger ones less so.” (ANI)