Big Changes for TV Censorship in 1970's

The 1970's brought major changes in TV censorship. Why?Primarily this change was caused by the refining of techniques used to measure the viewing audiences. According to The Museum of Broadcast Communications, "Ratings researchers began to break down the viewing audience for individual programs according to specific demographic characteristics, including age, ethnicity, education and economic background. In this context, the baby boomer generation--younger, better educated, with more disposable income--became the desired target audience for television programming and advertising."

The ground-breaking show, "All in the Family" rammed through previous barriers placed on TV content, marking the beginning of time when conversations about sexuality, both homo and heterosexuality. "Frank discussions of sexuality, even outside of traditional heterosexual monogamy, became the focal point of many of the comedy's narratives." Racism was another major staple of the show's content, as barriers began to crumble between the TV of the 1950's and 70's.

However, the new "taboo" content did not go unnoticed or unpunished. In 1973 the Supreme Court released the following statement. "It is neither realistic nor constitutionally sound to read the First Amendment as requiring that people of Maine or Mississippi accept public depiction of conduct found tolerable in Las Vegas or New York City." Thus, the government decided to leave it to states and smaller communities to make the judgement on what is and isn't appropriate for TV broadcasting.

I personally think that this statement by the Museum of Broadcast Communications perfectly defines the difference between TV of the 1950's and TV of the 1970's: "Whereas censorship in the 1950s and 1960s was based on the presumed standards and tastes of the white middle-class nuclear family, censorship in the 1970s became a process of balancing the often conflicting values of marginal social groups."

Today, TV programming is colorful. There's something for everyone, and thus TV reflects the social progress made in the U.S.