Audience attitudes towards “harmful” and “offensive” media in Ireland are changing, according to research from media regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, which claimed that the internet had played a role in making things such as sexual content and nudity less taboo than they once were.
The report also found that the vast majority of respondents aren’t concerned about encountering potentially offensive media across the range of platforms that it’s available, but did find that women were more likely to be concerned than men.
The Audience Perspectives on Harmful and Offensive Media Content report examines the attitudes of adults and children regarding potentially harmful or offensive content on television, radio, cinema, home entertainment, and video-on-demand (VoD) services.
“Harmful material” was defined in the report as that which may cause mental, psychological, or physical harm.
Meanwhile, offensive material was noted as being subjective in nature, and it was stated that “there can be no guarantee that content will be free from offence, and there is no right not to be offended”. However, it defined “undue offence” as occurring when an individual or group of individuals believe content has “crossed a line that results in serious or widespread offence, beyond what can reasonably be justified”.
In light of that, the types of potentially harmful or offensive content considered for the purposes of the research were violence; sexual content and nudity; dangerous or harmful behaviours; and strong language.
Almost 70 percent of the adults surveyed reported not having concerns about seeing such material, while 33 percent said that they were concerned about encountering it.
Across every adult age group, those who weren’t concerned primarily attributed their lack of care to not being easily offended (62 percent), or because they felt that programmes and content should show “the realities of life, good and bad” (47 percent).
Over half of the adult respondents believed that either content providers and/or Government already regulate content effectively, reinforcing their lack of concern about what they encounter.
Of the minority of adults who described themselves as concerned about seeing or hearing harmful or offensive content, 56 percent reported being most concerned about “dangerous or harmful behaviours” or “violence” in the media they consume.
Conversely, they were least worried about strong language.
A clear majority of adults said that they would continue to watch each of the categories of potentially harmful/offensive content, even if they were warned about it ahead of time.
They were also more likely to identify age classifications as the more appropriate measure to inform and protect audiences, over and above other measures like content warnings, regulator standards and monitoring by broadcasters.
Substance abuse was the form of ‘dangerous or harmful behaviour’ that caused most concern among respondents, while graphic violence was the most concerning sub-type of violent content.
Reality TV was the genre that those who expressed concern were most troubled by, followed by drama and fictional programming, a pattern that held for both non-parents expressing their concern, and parents expressing their concern.
When it came to the differences between parents’ and non-parents’ levels of concern, 52 percent of parents were concerned about seeing or hearing such material, compared to non-parents who were less concerned (23 percent).
Of the parents who described concern, they were found to be generally less concerned about their older children than their younger children, the focus groups carried out as part of the research revealing that parents continue to view themselves as the primary “gatekeepers” of the content their children engage with.
The researchers additionally claimed that the internet has played a role in how people view various forms of media and its contents:
“For example, online discourse in relation to the #MeToo movement seems to have influenced how adults interpret media that includes sexual content and nudity, and some types of potentially harmful or offensive material do not appear to be as taboo as they once were. Indeed, parents consider that much sexual content and nudity is appropriate for older children, if it is consensual, its portrayal is healthy and realistic, and it could help educate their children. At the same time, children highlight how the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated transition to the online domain have resulted in their increased exposure to both sexualised and misogynistic content.”
News content was identified during the focus groups, with parents reporting that the volume of news on social media and the “graphic details” reports often contain could be “distressing” and “inappropriate” for children.
“Parents find it harder to safeguard their children against potentially harmful or offensive content, when something in the news becomes a societal talking point and is amplified on social media,” the report states.
There was found to be a gap between children’s media experience and their parents’ perceptions of their media experience, parents perceiving that older children’s exposure to certain types of content is less than that reported by older children themselves.
Older children in the focus groups considered that they were exposed to too much violent content, which also applied to the categories of dangerous or harmful behaviours and sexual themes and nudity.
“While it may be the case that older children are so immersed in the online world, that their perspectives are shaped by content or conduct they encounter in that domain, this finding highlights an apparent disconnect between adults’ and children’s perspectives,” the report found.
The research was funded by Coimisiún na Meán and the Irish Film Classification Office in collaboration with the Ombudsman for Children’s Office.