While flipping through the television channels on Monday night (April 30), I inadvertently came across a series of adverts on E-tv providing porn SMS services to anyone with a cell-phone.
Although it was flighted after 22h00, the fact that the next day was a public holiday and thousands of children were probably awake, made the hard core explicitness of the ads deeply disturbing.
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A few years ago the media broke the news that children as young as 8 were downloading hard-core sexually explicit images to their cell-phones and sharing it with their friends.
The sharing of these pornographic images between minors eventually led to “sexting” in which children produced their own sex video-clips and shared these child-porn images with friends.
As a result, child-on-child sexual abuse skyrocketed in South Africa and remains a major concern.
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I launched a campaign against E-tv’s pornographic ads which resulted in the WASPA Code of Conduct agreement between SA broadcasters and the cell-phone service providers.
But that was many years ago and E-tv continues to exploit the lack of broadcasting regulations to broadcast the most appalling sexually demeaning ads to millions of curious children.
The Advertising Standards Authority and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of SA support e.tv’s ‘right’ to broadcast pornographic adverts on late night TV, provided the ads are flighted after the “watershed” of 21h30. This self-regulation helps the media justify their shocking behaviour.
Over the past decade, many reports emerged of minor children engaged in sexual abuse of other children following exposure to pornographic images on e.tv and other channels.
This morally reprehensible exploitation of women & children will continue if you and I do not act.
I have requested a meeting with Dina Pule, the Minister of Communications. She instructed me to meet with the Director General of Communications to discuss the growing concern of TV porn.
The objective is to request that the Department of Communications amend the broadcasting licensing criteria to prohibit all forms of pornographic content on national television.
ICASA already declined Top-TV’s license application for pornographic channels on the basis that it exploits and demeans women. Even COSATU agreed that porn on TV is dangerous for society!
Without the amended legislation, South African broadcasters will continue to exploit and manipulate the lack of regulation to sexually exploit men, women & children for profit.
You can write to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and implore them to rule against porn SMS ads on E-tv for the sake of the dignity of women and the safety of vulnerable children.
Please write to complaint@asasa.org.za. The porn SMS adverts were flighted on e.tv on April 30 during the “Taxi Driver” movie and featured graphic images of hard-core pornography.
Please also pray for my meeting with the DG and for breakthrough in the battle against porn.
I would like to publish a shorter version of this article in the NOW magazine if I have your permission. View the NOW at http://www.nowmag.org. Edgar
With the avent of smart phones the porn industry can now spread their smut everywhere, and it can be more easily accessed. Is it not possible to approach the relevant regulatory authority in this country to do what the UK is going to do – that is to pass a law which will compell all internet service providers to filter out all porn sites. People that want to view such material will have to have a special ‘opt in ‘ mechanism.