Parents want help from government, media makers Media portrayal of drug abuse, alcohol, and inadequacy of ratings cause concern Greater availability of easy-to-use parental controls desired

A United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) national survey of parents about media’s impact on their children finds parents are deeply concerned about inappropriate content in media and want help from the media industry and government to be able to control it. The Parents’ Hopes & Concerns About the Impact of Media on their Children study was commissioned in response to a notice of inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The major findings of the survey highlight parents’ deep concern about inappropriate content in media and a desire to be able to better control it. Over 80 percent say they want to be able to control access to media content that depicts violence, sex, illegal drug use, alcohol abuse and profane language. Of special concern are media portrayals of illegal drug use and alcohol abuse, which currently are not considered by many ratings and parental control systems. On the issue of being engaged in monitoring their children’s media usage, over 90 percent of parents say their family has rules about what media their children can use and watch, and more than half say they use parental controls for television, Internet and video games. Two?thirds say there are three factors that would increase their use of parental controls: better understanding of parental controls; ability to block television ads they think contain inappropriate content; and greater availability of media products with parental controls already set. Three?fourths of respondents say makers of media products should do more to help protect children from inappropriate media content, while 58 percent say government should also do more Full results can be viewed on line at http://www.usccb.org/comm/Parents-Hopes-Concerns-Impact-Media-on-Children.pdf