According to a new Rasmussen poll, only slightly more people (29%) believe the FCC is doing a "good or excellent" job of
regulating "profanity, sexual content and violence" than
say it is doing a poor job (28%). Just 9% said it was doing an excellent
job, with 20% saying it was doing a good job, 37% fair, and 6% weren't
sure.
Since the FCC does not regulate violent content, however,
and all three are part of the question, those answers are tough to
parse.
According to the poll, violence is their number one issue, however. Asked which type of content was their
biggest problem, violence got 39% of their answers, followed by sexual content, and only 9% profanity.
A majority of respondents (55%) to the survey (of 1,000 adults polled July 27-28) said they thought the FCC should
have the power to regulate "objectionable content" on
radio and TV including violence, profanity and sexcual content (34% said
no, 11% wern't sure). That 55% figure is actually down eight points
from the 2007 survey on the topic, according to
Rasmussen. Since it did not break out broadcast, which is already
regulated, from cable, which is not, it is hard to tell whether or not
that is an endorsement of applying broadcast standards to cable.
The poll did find that a majority of parents with kids at home say content ratings are effective, according to TV
Watch, the online effort by some broadcast networks to promote the ratings/V-chip system over government content
regulation. According to TV Watch Executive Director Jim Dyke, 60% of respondents with children at home said the
current TV rating system is effective in warning users about content.
