Chapter 14

Question 1: You’ve just been hired to work in the Standards and Practices Department at CBS. Your first task is to devise a list of 5 items that you think constitute inappropriate content for your network’s prime time schedule. In other words, what should be censored? Keep in mind your network still needs to make money so, if you place too many restriction they may lose viewers, which translates into you losing your job, and you would really like to keep your high paying, very prestigious job.

The first thing I would examine is what similar stations are already censoring. I would also look at Hollywood ratings and what they mean. People are accustomed to the ratings and to other TV shows, obviously, and there hasn't been any uproar over content, so I would assume that they find the other programs acceptable.
The obvious issue to examine is sexual content. I would censor anything with the actual act of fornication, and I wouldn't allow nudity either. People aren't expecting to see that much skin when they're watching television. Making out and foreplay would be acceptable, as long as it wasn't too vulgar, which leads us to the next item on the list: language.
I would allow swearing, but not the F-word, since that's the most offensive, in most people's opinions. I would censor racial slurs, unless they were specifically for a purpose--such as an episode that was explicitly about racial relations or characters realizing that they were too prejudiced. If it contributed to a good message, I would be more lenient. The less offensive swear words, like damn and hell would probably be acceptable under all circumstances, and the ones in between would be okay once in awhile, but not frequently.
Alcohol and drug use would also need to be taken into account. Alcohol is more acceptable than drugs, particularly when everyone is of drinking age. However, if they are not, drinking would be okay if it was done for the sake of veracity, or humor. Drugs, on the other hand, are much more serious. I would likely want to censor any gratuitous drug use.
Violence is another big issue. Too much and people feel squemish. Too little and they're bored. I think that any really gory programs would have to have a warning before the program began. I also think that violence without much gore is much more acceptable. Gore is for horror movies. If someone gets punched--or even shot--and there's no blood, I think that people have seen it enough in the media that they wouldn't even flinch.
Serious content, like someone dealing with an addiction, or abusive parents, would likely fall under respective categories, like drug use or violence. I would want to censor out any material that would make people too uncomfortable, but I wouldn't want to completely remove those issues, since they are important and very real in our society.