A unified rating system would hep filter content that are not appropriate for young audiences. (Photo : Reuters)
A Chinese psychologist created a rating system for children's TV shows currently being aired in China. This is in response to audience's requests for program changes due to violent content shown in cartoons.
Due to the lack of regulations that would filter inappropriate content for young audiences, Chinese Academy of Sciences' psychologist Lu Yufei improvised a system to rate children's programs.
Lest the Chinese people forget that in 2013, all of China was shocked when news of a 9-year-old boy, in an attempt to imitate a scene from a popular TV show "Weslie," inflicted harm on his friends.
"Weslie" is one of the shows that audiences claim "has too much violent content to be fit for children's viewing consumption." Independent reports stated that in the program "Weslie," the antagonist who is a Gray Wolf has been struck by his partner the Red Wolf 9,544 times and has survived electrocution 1,755 times.
Another popular show titled "Boonie Bears" frequently uses phrases like "stupid fellow" and "go to hell," setting a bad example for the audience.
According to Lu, aside from foul language and violence, scenes that tackle sexual conducts can mis-educate children.
Lu criticized the content providers for being so focused on overall audience ratings without regard to the quality of the shows being aired for young audience.
According to Lu, this utter disregard for responsibility calls for a rating system that will divide audiences into corresponding regulated programs with appropriate content.
Lu divided the children's programs into five categories, based on ages of the young audience. According to Lu, the following is a systematic and effective rating system for shows made for young audiences.
TV-K (ages 2 to 6): No violence, no foul words, no sex-related languages or scenes.
TV-G (ages 6 to 7): Almost no violence, almost no foul words, no sex-related languages or scenes, approval of parents needed before watching.
TV-7 (ages 7 to 10): Approved for 7-year-old children and above. Some violence but comical, occasional foul word, almost no sexual content. Needs parental supervision while children are watching.
TV-PG (ages 10 to 14): Approved for 14-year-old young adults and above. Medium violence, some sexual content, some foul languages. Needs parental supervision while children are watching.
TV-14 (above 14 years): Not for children below 14 years old. Many violence, foul languages, plenty of sexual content.
