Their faces had been very cleverly superimposed on to the heads of the actors in the films by computer. The sergeant has been suspended and could face charges of actual bodily harm over the mental anguish the WPC suffered. Giving the Broadcasters a Good Kicking The most worthless of censors, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, have published a study of programmes shown during 1999 which highlighted a major increase in the amount of violence contained within terrestrial television programming, but attributed the rise in part to the coverage of the Kosovo conflict contained in news and current affairs programmes. The revelation was met with concern by Gerald Kaufman, the chairman of the culture select committee, who urged the authorities to keep a tight rein on all broadcasters. Kaufman cautioned against sanitising the news in response to the study saying a broadcaster's duty to accurately portray event outweighed concerns about violence.
News organisations have a duty to show people what is going on around the world.
The study also showed the number of violent programmes was decreasing at 65 per cent compared to 70 per cent two years ago, but those that did showed a marked increase in the amount of violent scenes contained in the programme. In recent years the level of violence in television soap operas has risen dramatically as EastEnders and Brookside claim to reflect British society more accurately. While the BSC survey identified news and current affairs as a cause for the rise in TV violence, light entertainment shows were singled out as the primary cause of increased strong language. Strong language is at record levels on terrestrial TV with 43 per cent of all the evening programmes monitored containing it. On satellite channels strong language increased by 44 per cent, with less than three quarters after 9pm.