MTV's poisoning our kids

COMMENTARY Marriage and Family

MTV's poisoning our kids

Mar 18, 2005 4 min read
COMMENTARY BY

Visiting Fellow

"This study is proof positive that there is an element of Hollywood deliberately attempting to poison the minds of children. The ultimate insult is that their method has parents pay them to do it."

This astounding statement is one that every parent, and anyone concerned about our culture and its affect on children, must investigate.

Brent Bozell spoke these words over lunch as we discussed a recent study of programming content on MTV conducted by his organization, the Parents Television Council.

In case you're not familiar with Brent, in addition to his work with PTC, he's also the president of the Media Research Center http://www.mediaresearchcenter.org/ and the nation's leading expert on all things media. The author of one of the most important works on the media today, Weapons of Mass Distortion, Bozell is the eyes and ears for decent parents everywhere who just might not be able to follow every egregious action of an entertainment industry that is out of control.

First, a warning: The descriptions of the MTV programming described in Bozell's study and this article are very graphic -- and very real. They are not for the faint of heart. But if you have a teen, and pay for cable television access in your home, you must read the report.

Why? Because, as stated in the study, "MTV is the most recognized network among young adults ages 12 to 34, according to Nielsen Media Research. It is watched by 73% of boys and 78% of girls ages 12 to 19. Boys watch for an average of 6.6 hours per week and girls watch for an average of 6.2 hours per week."

Rest assured, if you don't have a block on your cable television, chances are, your kids are watching MTV. And if you don't have an understanding with other parents when your kids are in their homes, chances are, your kids are watching there.

One of the most alarming findings in the amazing Parents Television Council study of MTV's Spring Break programming (March 20-27, 2004):

"In 171 hours of MTV programming, PTC analysts found 1,548 sexual scenes containing 3,056 depictions of sex or various forms of nudity and 2,881 verbal sexual references. That means that children watching MTV are viewing an average of 9 sexual scenes per hour with approximately 18 sexual depictions and 17 instances of sexual dialogue or innuendo. To put this in perspective, consider that in its last study of sex on primetime network television, the PTC found an average of only 5.8 instances of sexual content during the 10 o'clock hour -- when only adults are watching."

For the strong of stomach who want to know more about what comes on in the afternoon just as tweens and teens are getting off the school bus and turning on the tube in America's largely unsupervised homes, here's just one example:

One Bad Trip 3/20/04 2:00 p.m.

Human-sundae eating competition: Three guys lie on stage; whipped cream is placed on their legs and chests. The three girls each straddle a guy and lick the whipped cream off.

Nate: "She's eating whipped cream off some dude's [bleeped 'f---ing'] chest right now."

Nate: "If she goes anywhere near his junk, she is so wrong."

Next, the girls switch places and have whipped cream placed all over them, including a cherry on each breast. Guys straddle them and lick the whipped cream off. The camera zooms in close.

Nate: "Some dude is about to eat [bleeped 's--t'] all over her body.

Melissa, in a voiceover: "It's a little bit strange having some random guy lick whipped cream off of me."


Then there's the example of the standard MTV "music" content:

Pete Pablo - "Freak-a-Leak"

"How u like it, daddy (the way she do it from the front)?

How u like it, daddy (the way she do it from the back)?

How u like it, daddy (then bring it down like that)?

"And she know why she came here

And she know where clothes suppose to be (off and over there)

[Bleeped 'Sniff a lil' coke, take a lil' X, smoke a lil' weed,'] drink a lil' bit

I need a girl I could freak with

And wanna try [bleeped 's--t'] and ain't scared of a big [bleeped 'd--k']

And love to get her [bleeped 'p---y'] licked by another [bleeped 'b---h']

Cause I ain't drunk enough to do that [bleeped 's--t']

I've previously written about how MTV seeks to manipulate America's children and how broadcast networks are targeting America's youth. Just thought you might want to know it ain't getting' any better.

And in case you didn't realize it, MTV is owned by Viacom, the same company that owns CBS (of Janet Jackson's Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction" and Rathergate fame.) Surprised?

Rebecca Hagelin is Vice President of Communications and Marketing at the Heritage Foundation.

First appeared on WorldNetDaily.com