I don't like to complain too much and I've been debating about posting this. However, the more people I talk to, the more I find people saying "Oh yeah, I saw that".
On Sunday just after 11am as people are returing from church and getting the memorial day plans under way, I turned on the TV. Now I have cable but I don't have any of the movie channels. I see no need to pay for movies that I won't watch and I don't need that stuff in my home anyway. Back to my story....
I turn on the TV a flip past two news channels and land on PCNC. The "Pittsburgh Cable NEWS Channel" is an extension of WPXI Channel 11. Now usually I have no problem with the programs on PCNC. You can catch repeat newscats, call in shows and some infomercials. Well on this day, with my 4 year old son standing next to me, I saw a full screen shot of a woman's breasts. Nothing blured, nothing covered. I turned it within a second, but not fast enough to avoid my son seeing it. This was confrimed by his comment about the lady that had no clothes on. Of course, this prompted the inquiry from my wife about what I was letting our son watch.
Turns out PCNC airs this paid program on plastic surgery 3 times a week. The show includes nude shots of women who have used the service.
So I called WPXI who programs PCNC. Mark Barish, the program director is out of town this week but I spoke to his assistant Kim. She was very kind but she told me that while they would not air the show on WPXI, PCNC is cable so they have different standards. When I questioned the decision to air this at 11am on a Sunday morning she told me they do run a disclaimer at the begining of the show. Great, but that does not stop kids or familes from stumbling upon this.
Several people I mentioned this to seemed to know exactly what I was talking about but no a single one of them did anything to complain. If you have seen this, please voice your opposition to WPXI. I sent a letter to the GM today. I will let you know if there is any response.
WPXI/Pittsburgh.com
11 Television Hill
Pittsburgh, PA 15214
Phone: (412) 237-1100
3 comments:
If it's any consolation, your son will probably be much more permanently scarred by your perverse, puritanical over-reactions to stuff like this than he will be by seeing a breast or two when he was four years old.
Well thank you for you thoughts ANONYMOUS. However, he is my son and my "perverse, puritanical over-reaction" tells me it is not a good idea to expose children to pornography. I'm sorry you disagree.
I must agree. The conditions in which your son viewed the breasts were not sexual in nature. The program was purely for medical purposes and did not represent any sort of sexual act.
While it is unfortunate that the youngster viewed it, I think he (and you) must recognize that a breast is part of the human body.
If you've ever turned on the Travel Channel or Discovery Channel, they sometimes show documentaries filmed in areas of the world such as Africa where women do not cover their breasts. It's simply a documentary, not sexual.
I would have been irate if PCNC was airing sexual content, but the fact that it was a medical program, I don't see a problem with it.
Of course, that's just my two cents.
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