UK Public Can Accept More TV

Swearing Than You Think

Ofcom, the UK’s Office of Communication confirms that the public attitude
towards the use of bad language on national television has softened in recent
months. Ofcom is the independent organisation which regulates the
broadcasting, telecommunications and wireless communication sectors in the
UK. The organisation also has the legal responsibility to set out policy to maintain
the decency of materials that are being broadcasted nationally.

Ofcom commissioned a research to find out what terminologies are accepted by

the public and what are considered as offensive. The research was carried out
through discussion groups and one on one interview in areas such as Scotland,
Wales and England. The research was conducted on a general national sample of
94 participants and 35 participants for research on minority groups.

The research aims to help Ofcom staff in determining what terms are accepted
as vulgar because they are dealing with complaints from the public about bad
languages broadcasted over the air every day. It will give the staff a good idea
where the line is drawn in this very grey area.

The research report says that words such “loony”, “nutter” or “poof” can be used
by programme hosts at any time of the day. Ofcom said the public seemed to be
willing to accept or tolerate some mild swearing during the day. However, the F-
word is still unwelcomed and prohibited from being used before 9pm every night.

And then, there are the medium level swearing words such as “s**t”, “w****r”
and “b***h”. The research report suggested that the public has a more relaxed
attitude towards these words but there are two schools of thought here. Some
adults are against these words being broadcasted before 9pm, while another
group would not mind hearing them earlier in the evening.

Without much surprise, words such as “f**k” or “c**t” are still considered as
highly offensive by the public and should only be broadcasted after 9pm. An
interesting fact is that Gordan Ramsay, the infamous bad mouth chef swore for
about 240 times, which the F-word appeared 180 times during a 100 minute
programme broadcasted on Channel 4. Of course, many parents would be
concerned that their children will receive a bad influence from the frequent use
of profanity on TV.

Many controversial terms such as “mental”, “lezza”, or “Jesus Christ” have also
been categorised by Ofcom as socially acceptable. Many have voiced their
concerns that the results of the research are going to encourage the public to
take a more relaxed view toward TV swearing and also signalling to broadcaster
to continue pushing the envelope.

The Ofcom research results have been criticised because the methodology of
research was biased in that it took too many minority group participants. The
critics argued that the research should have been carried out by doing a
completely random selection on the public.

However, Ofcom has released a statement saying that the organisation does not
propose any changes to its already robust rules. The research is aimed to gauge
the public’s reaction and their general attitude towards the use of offensive
language so that Ofcom can keep monitoring the issue.