That is the commitment they make in exchange for free access to the public airwaves. And it is the FCC's job to enforce that compact. Consider first the amount of violence on network and local broadcast television. Under pressure from a complaining public, broadcasters have modestly reduced the gratuitous murder and mayhem in prime time, and implemented a rating system to work with the V-chip. Yet on-air violence remains pervasive and excessive.
Matters are worse when it comes to sexual content.
As even the casual viewer has noticed, there has been an explosion of crude, rude, and lewd material in prime time. That's a 77 percent increase in 18 months. In 10 years, the amount of sexual material in prime time has increased by more than 300 percent, while the use of crude language increased by more than 500 percent. It's not just the quantity but the quality of the dialogue and the depictions that is so troubling. As the Kaiser and PTC studies have clearly documented, the sexual references and behaviors have become far more graphic and explicit.