MUMBAI: In its 41st meeting, it was business as usual for the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC). The executives met to discuss complaints received against the various channels. A couple of these complaints did include the latest season of Bigg Boss and an action against all the complaints received will be taken in the coming week.
However, what is noteworthy is the interactive session held after the meeting. The council along with former BCCC member and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) member Dipa Dixit, broadcasters even from the south and a special guest, Neela TeleFilms producer Asit Modi discussed the portrayal of children on the small screen.
The reason behind getting Modi as the special guest was his successful running show, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, informs a BCCC official. “The show has been on for seven years and we haven’t received a single complaint against it. Also, the show features a lot of children so we thought who else would be better than him to discuss on the topic,” he adds.
The interactive session, after last year’s session on women portrayal, focused on three main issues. One, taking care of children behind the screen as a number of children act as well as participate in shows. The channels need to make sure that they are not only well fed but also shouldn’t miss schools.
Second, depiction of children, as some need to perform dangerous acts, dance on item songs etc which can hurt as well as impact their psyche. And lastly, as TV is the biggest medium of communication, channels need to think of what they should see and shouldn’t see on TV.
“Kids are hooked on to TV these days and some of the animation especially foreign one on kids’ channels receive a lot of complaints from parents. They feel that dubbing in Hindi is not done well for cartoons like Doraemon and it can negatively impact children,” explains the official.
The interactive session gave a room for the channels to put forth their point of view in front of the BCCC as they all agreed upon the fact that since the Council’s formation in 2011, there has been a drastic change in the content on television which is a very positive move.
“The broadcasters said that they are aware of dos and don’ts as they want to work in children’s best interest,” says the official.
With the session done, the focus of the BCCC will go back to the complaints received and to pen down the action needed to be taken to make television more suitable for all age groups.
