Concern Over Raunchy Thai Soap Opera's Child Viewers

[sydneyjed]

Whats leads to poverty is conditioning within the family unit...If the mother or father aren't achievers and haven't completed an education path to any recognised level then more likely than not the offspring won't...The same in the case of single mothers with no father for the child ,no direction,no financial help ...The mother as a bargirl /prostitute,leaves the child with Granpa,Granma and just visits the village once every few months...What future awaits the child if it is a girl?The poverty factor is a consequence of these circumstances as with no other recognised skills the bars of Pattaya and Phuket are a relatively easy way to make big money in comparison to the rice paddy fields of Issan.

Where can I report my ex and her mother for subjecting my 4 year old daughter to these bad Thai soap operas?

Whoever the authority is should make sure that Thai soap operas that have nothing to do with proper moral values should be screened after bed time.

Thai soap opera teaches kids the act of promiscuity, which leads many to prostitution.

What leads to prostitution is poverty, coupled with the vast market for such services.

[madmitch]

Unfortunately the programmes that are more suitable for children, such as the slapstick routines af the various comedy troupes, is shawn much too late, sfter the nightly soaps and the news.

Thai TV scheduling is determined by the advertisers, plus the compulsory 8pm programme, and as a result we get these awful soaps on every channel at the same time every night.

That's not to forget the afternoon soap repeats and the early evening soaps.

I think one channel has kids' programmes in the early evening for an hour or so.

I have opted for a TV in every room so that my daughter and I are not subjected to the same rubbish that the GF watches. Not very sociable but the no TV option just would not work!

[Thai at Heart]

If you are expecting the tv producers and their corporate sponsors to educate the children of Thailand, i think that you are making a poor choice. While they do have to follow certain guidelines when airing tv shows, their main concern is making money by airing programming. Whatever makes good ratings sells. If the public is displeased with it, then they should ask their government representatives to make a review of the current guidelines concerning what content is permissible, in order to possibly make changes to the current guidelines.

Your comment infers that the Thai population is incapable of independent thought or just plain old common sense. I would hope that is not the case. I certainly dont believe that the government should be babysitting the tv viewing public, unless you want to open the pandora's box of censorship. There are pluses and minuses in an open society, but i believe its worth taking the progressive path, given the benefits in the long run.

Timberboy, I think you are asking a level of consumer activism that isn't even present in the most developed of countries. Sometimes, things should be done for the general welfare of the people. Sounds awfully Orwellian, but it can be done. The dumbing down of TV is moving apace and

There is nothing wrong with TV being used for entertainment, but when it ends up being a deluge of the same programming because the lowest common denominator of making money means that there is no effective choice of programming, there should be some regulation. I could make millions just by opening a TV station and putting scrolling pictures of topless women on TV, but the regulations class this as being inappropriate content.

Well, I think you can see that there is a groundswell of opinion, that in many ways these soaps are inappropriate content for a myriad of reasons, and since many of the TV stations in question are actually government or army run, they should be presenting a far wider variety of programmes with far more beneficial subject matter than these soaps. There should be some limits placed on the amount of these soaps on TV per day, with a greater push towards current affairs, childrens programming, education programmes. Maybe the TV companies will make a little less money, and who knows, Thai people may even pick up a book? Now wouldn't that be a scary thing.

[robsamui]

I am married to an educated thai, educated because her degrees are way ahead than what an average thai would have the ambition to acheieve. However, i am extremely concerned on how to provide a good moral environment for my children as they grow up. The neighbourhood where i live, has about 8-9 houses (of about 40) dedicated to be known as "mia-noi" houses. The kids in the locality are a bunch of robotic humanoids... and any kid in the age range of 15-19 is a complete nuisance to man-kind.

Plus - the thai soap opera's ! Frankly - i cant seem to find one thai show which is worth the time for kids. I often tutor my sis-in-laws kids (eng+maths)... and often treat them to animal planet / discovery / CN.. and they seem to have developed a somewhat dis-taste for thai TV !

Long story cut short - thai's are a mother load of creative skills... and its time the folks running the parliament did something about their education system. At the end of the day - Education improves society.

Well if you are tutoring them in English I hope you lean how to distinguish between the plural form (Thais) and the possessive form (Thai's), and that the word is a proper noun that requires capitalisation (Thais not thai's).

R

So you finally found something to make a point about.....

Don't you just hate nitpicking pedantic loon's that sift through forums like TV searching for gramaitcal errors etc.

When someone who is semi-literate states that he's tutoring his children then it makes me squirm. If he was an electrician would you want him fixing your wiring? I would never be critical of usual run-of-the-mill mistakes - even yours, although people who are too bone idle to bother with spellcheckers say a lot about themselves.

R

Edited May 6, 2011 by robsamui

[Derifo]

Where can I report my ex and her mother for subjecting my 4 year old daughter to these bad Thai soap operas?

Whoever the authority is should make sure that Thai soap operas that have nothing to do with proper moral values should be screened after bed time.

Thai soap opera teaches kids the act of promiscuity, which leads many to prostitution.

"Thai soap opera teaches kids the act of promiscuity, which leads many to prostitution." Really?????? How do you know this?

If you have a daughter here, let her watch those soaps every night from when she is one and watch her grow up. Then you can decide for yourself.

[MTS1978]

When someone who is semi-literate states that he's tutoring his children then it makes me squirm. If he was an electrician would you want him fixing your wiring? I would never be critical of usual run-of-the-mill mistakes - even yours, although people who are too bone idle to bother with spellcheckers say a lot about themselves.

R

While I personally have a good vocabulary and diction, and I am fairly well spoken and capable of composing texts at levels varying from highly technical, to formal, to casual and sloppy (depending on the mood, context, circumstance, etc.) i am by my own admission borderline illiterate when it comes to spelling etc. and typo's.

I am not the type of person that can "teach" - I am simply not cut from that type of cloth, however if my personality was amenable to it then my level of English is more than adequate to tutor a Thai youth. I work with very well educated Thai's (250 of them) for a global company - some of these guys have PhD’s .... some of the admin girls have masters degrees in English and have studied as far afield as Texas...... they cannot get through one sentence without knowing when to use "is" instead of "are", much less distinguishing between when it is appropriate to use plural (Thais) or possessive (Thai's) form. I do know the difference, and when putting together a client report or a formal document or if I were writing a menu I would know the difference between "French fries" and "French fried" ...... but here on Thai visa, unless I was really trying to bolster a point home to some idiot where I would not surrender the ammunition of bad grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. then really its not something I worry too much about. sure I make the effort, subconsciously - I don't go out of my way to exclude apostrophes and what-not but respectfully, I honestly thought you were nit-picking by pulling a guy for plural versus possessive forms, in a thread where we are all basically just having a rant about having to endure the crap that the Thai populous calls entertainment.

BTW - Respectfully, and retrospectively, I withdraw the word "loon" from my earlier comment. I was having 'one of those days' if you know what I mean.

Edited May 6, 2011 by MTS1978

[ginjag]

No i'm not saying that.

There are already standards with regard to nudity, graphic violence and other issues thatThai tv producers have to comply with.This is seen on tv when certain portions of a scene is blurred out, and an age indicator is currently in use and is shown on the tv screen is aired. Its the parents choice whether or not to apply those measures.

In the USA the Congress and the courts have instructed the Federal Communications Commission only to enforce the indecency standard between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., local time. - when children are more likely to be in the audience. As a consequence, the Commission does not take action on indecent material aired between 10 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. In this way, constitutionally-protected free speech rights of adults are balanced with the need to protect children from harmful content.

If the Thai viewing public feels that a tv show has questionable content, they should forward complaints to the tv station [and additionally to the sponsors of the tv show]. In that way, some response can take place, as in this case where the government minister met with channel 3 management.

I am from USA and i watch Thai TV . People have to realize that these soap opera's are for entertainment purposes only, and is not to be taken as reality.

Yes i agree that young children and young teenagers should not be viewing this type of programming. However, it is the parents responsibility to monitor what their children watch on the TV at home, not the government. That compromises freedom of expression and information. Thailand is a democracy ,not a dictatorship. The governments job is to run the country, not to police what tv show you watch in your living room.

Channel 3 does have a responsibility to its viewing public, as far as what is proper for viewing when it comes to children, because children are impressionable and have not matured to the degree where they can distinguish what is right and wrong when it comes to viewing television programming that contains mature social themes. Certainly they would not want to intentionally promote a negative message to young viewers.

I agree with the governments "suggestion" to channel 3, to run captions saying viewer discretion is advised. This is what is done in the USA. It alerts the parent that the programming maybe questionable for viewing by children.

The parents are responsible for raising their children and teaching them moral values.

The television stations should be the ones to decide what programming appears on their stations.

To employ government censorship with regard to tv programming compromises a free and open society.

It's not like there is only one tv station. If you are not happy with the tv show on one channel, you have the freedom to select another channel.

Additionally you can contact the television station to express your displeasure with regard to a particular tv show.

So it seems you are saying that tv stations should be free to show anything, with no boundaries?

Timberboy, I am not disagreeing with you in general, but to suggest forwarding complaints to t.v. companies/and the rest is a no.no. here in Thailand, the phone call will never be answered--the letter will never be acknowledged--you have to take what your given here, like it or lump it.

Imagine the same story example--write to the police to complain re-corruption. Tell Issan people they are wrong to support the red shirt cause, stop the jet ski wallers single handed. these are no go. It would be nice to have a complaint answered, Thai people do NOT complain in general they are afraid to.

[scorecard]

If you are expecting the tv producers and their corporate sponsors to educate the children of Thailand, i think that you are making a poor choice. While they do have to follow certain guidelines when airing tv shows, their main concern is making money by airing programming. Whatever makes good ratings sells. If the public is displeased with it, then they should ask their government representatives to make a review of the current guidelines concerning what content is permissible, in order to possibly make changes to the current guidelines.

Your comment infers that the Thai population is incapable of independent thought or just plain old common sense. I would hope that is not the case. I certainly dont believe that the government should be babysitting the tv viewing public, unless you want to open the pandora's box of censorship. There are pluses and minuses in an open society, but i believe its worth taking the progressive path, given the benefits in the long run.

I am from USA and i watch Thai TV . People have to realize that these soap opera's are for entertainment purposes only, and is not to be taken as reality.

Yes i agree that young children and young teenagers should not be viewing this type of programming. However, it is the parents responsibility to monitor what their children watch on the TV at home, not the government. That compromises freedom of expression and information. Thailand is a democracy ,not a dictatorship. The governments job is to run the country, not to police what tv show you watch in your living room.

Channel 3 does have a responsibility to its viewing public, as far as what is proper for viewing when it comes to children, because children are impressionable and have not matured to the degree where they can distinguish what is right and wrong when it comes to viewing television programming that contains mature social themes. Certainly they would not want to intentionally promote a negative message to young viewers.

I agree with the governments "suggestion" to channel 3, to run captions saying viewer discretion is advised. This is what is done in the USA. It alerts the parent that the programming maybe questionable for viewing by children.

The parents are responsible for raising their children and teaching them moral values.

The television stations should be the ones to decide what programming appears on their stations.

To employ government censorship with regard to tv programming compromises a free and open society.

It's not like there is only one tv station. If you are not happy with the tv show on one channel, you have the freedom to select another channel.

Additionally you can contact the television station to express your displeasure with regard to a particular tv show.

So it seems you are saying that tv stations should be free to show anything, with no boundaries?

timberboy, it's not just this topic, it's the whole picture- the t.v. producers should put on the screen a variable assortment, the soaps in general are a bad influence to the population, hence the problems here, they are a reflection of what Thais see on the box. It's not a matter of changing channels as nearly all at peak view time are the same rubbish-Hi-So anger and so on.

Are you for real in suggesting contacting the t.v. station ???

If the schools cannot do a good job, the parents do not show much interest, Maybe the t.v. is a last resort to at least give some guidance.

Some 30 years ago there was a lot of research about this subject (not conducted by tv stations) in Australia.

I can recall that some of the findings included:

- Many housewives did believe that the soaps were real / were a total relection of life.

- Many housewives avoided other family responsibilities so that could watch the soaps.

- Many housewives often cried during these programs especially when there was sadness / break up of realtionships, etc.

- Many housewives belives that continuous marriage problems, infidenilt were 'normal', and they would often be depressed because their own marriage did not have these 'normal' features.

There was action taken to remove some of the programs.

I also recall some similar research in Canada, years back, and from memory similar findings.

[wallcracks]

Where can I report my ex and her mother for subjecting my 4 year old daughter to these bad Thai soap operas?

Whoever the authority is should make sure that Thai soap operas that have nothing to do with proper moral values should be screened after bed time.

Thai soap opera teaches kids the act of promiscuity, which leads many to prostitution.

Where can I report my wife for for subjecting me to crappy Thai soap opera's? I am subject to this abuse everyday pls help me.

LOL we have something in common...

(That s why I got 2. Tvs ....

But what I do not understand is why the ministry don t care about if they show some Horror and Ghost Movies at Lunch Time or in the afternoon for every Kid to look.

A view kisses and they go up the tree or what?

Thai Culture has changed anyway especially the young ones If they want or not, maybe the ministry should not forget that we do not life anymore in the 18.th Century.

and first of all Stop sending Horror and Ghost Movies in the afternoon.

[timberboy]

Wow ive been reading the responses to my comments and i am surprised and a bit astonished.

In the USA the era of the evening or prime-time soaps was back in the 1980s. The most popular ones were Dallas and Dynasty. They were highly provocative for their time, and ran for many years on the major television networks, even becoming popular in some international markets as well.

Two other shows that were created a bit later, and i feel were of much more respectable story quality were Knots Landing and Falcon Crest.

All of these shows were based on rich and hi-so class also. But from what i have seen on dvds ,most of these shows did not exhibit the level of anger and cruel behavior that i have seen on some Thai soaps, which surprises me, im always thinking that western tv programming would have more of that type behavior.

It seems to me that Thailand might well need to expand their horizons beyond the basic tv stations. Maybe Thailand needs its own cable tv industry similar to what we have in the USA. With the birth of cable tv/dish technology, came many new television production companies and additional choice of television stations. We werent limited to the "big three" networks anymore. I think i have a choice of 300 different channels to watch, and believe me ,theres alot more than soaps on tv at 8pm.

Anyways i hope that there will be some positive effect from the ministers inquiry to channel 3.

[powderpuff]

Oh, and the hypocrisy of this "concern" is disgusting.

They are concerned about people cuddling and loving each other... but obviously they don't care about all the abuse women are subjected to in these soaps. This is to me far more disturbing and damaging to children.

Spot on. These shows promote men slapping women (the reverse could never happen because the censors would be all over that). And most anyone are free to slap the servants.

I'm sure that's how life was in the old days & continues behind closed doors today. But to promote it as normal is wrong.

In my country - the United States if a spouse slaps or hits the other & police are called someone is going to jail for battery. The DA will press charges. The old days of giving the wife or husband a black eye are over.

Hitting a servant is despicable considering the wages they earn.

Do you laugh at a hysterical fight where some demented woman is screaming at the top of her voice & every other word is Ka & Krup? I do. Hey it's just a show right?

[FOODLOVER]

Isn't this considered "Vocational Training"?

LOL

[robsamui]

When someone who is semi-literate states that he's tutoring his children then it makes me squirm. If he was an electrician would you want him fixing your wiring? I would never be critical of usual run-of-the-mill mistakes - even yours, although people who are too bone idle to bother with spellcheckers say a lot about themselves.

R

While I personally have a good vocabulary and diction, and I am fairly well spoken and capable of composing texts at levels varying from highly technical, to formal, to casual and sloppy (depending on the mood, context, circumstance, etc.) i am by my own admission borderline illiterate when it comes to spelling etc. and typo's.

I am not the type of person that can "teach" - I am simply not cut from that type of cloth, however if my personality was amenable to it then my level of English is more than adequate to tutor a Thai youth. I work with very well educated Thai's (250 of them) for a global company - some of these guys have PhD’s .... some of the admin girls have masters degrees in English and have studied as far afield as Texas...... they cannot get through one sentence without knowing when to use "is" instead of "are", much less distinguishing between when it is appropriate to use plural (Thais) or possessive (Thai's) form. I do know the difference, and when putting together a client report or a formal document or if I were writing a menu I would know the difference between "French fries" and "French fried" ...... but here on Thai visa, unless I was really trying to bolster a point home to some idiot where I would not surrender the ammunition of bad grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. then really its not something I worry too much about. sure I make the effort, subconsciously - I don't go out of my way to exclude apostrophes and what-not but respectfully, I honestly thought you were nit-picking by pulling a guy for plural versus possessive forms, in a thread where we are all basically just having a rant about having to endure the crap that the Thai populous calls entertainment.

BTW - Respectfully, and retrospectively, I withdraw the word "loon" from my earlier comment. I was having 'one of those days' if you know what I mean.

OK - points taken, fair enough, and we'd better make this the last one as it's now getting off-topic!

You may like to take a peek at this . . .

http://walkinthewords.blogspot.com/2009/05/grocers-apostrophe.html

R

[webfact]

Culture Ministry satisfied with TV soap's self-censoring

BANGKOK, 9 May 2011 (NNT) – The Ministry of Culture is satisfied with the response of the producing team of the notorious television soap opera ‘Dok Som Si Thong’ (Golden Orange Blossom) after the series has been widely criticized.

Culture Minister Nipit Intarasombat complimented the producer for the immediate response by displaying caution as well as deleting some inappropriate and violent scenes out as requested by the ministry.

The minister said the ministry is working on a new stipulation requiring television soap operas which are rated suitable for viewers aged more than 18 years and 20 years, to be aired only after 22.30 hrs and midnight respectively.

Mr Nipit reasoned that there will be no need to delete any scenes out if the measure is enforced. He admitted that it cannot help if children will still watch those adult rated television shows when they are broadcast in late night.

The minister however indicated that it is the authority of Prime Minister’s Office Minister overseeing media operation Ongart Klampaiboon to assign reallocation of soap opera broadcasting time.

The popular soap ‘Dok Som Si Thong’ (Golden Orange Blossom) aired on Channel 3 has been widely criticized for improper expressions of the leading character and the story's moral itself.

-- NNT 2011-05-09

[xminator]

"Concern over raunchy soap opera's child viewers"

Should just take away "rauncy" and "child", because I'm a bit worried about thai soap opera viewers in general...

[sarahsbloke]

I quite like these soaps and watch them now and again.

AS this show had an 18+ age rating on screen much of the time I don't see a problem (I didn't watch it).

Last Sunday I was watching the soap on channel 7, age rating 13+

The end of the show had a young village girl, tricked into entering a brothel, cowering and crying in a corner as a middle aged man threw his clothes on her.

Some of the soap themes are adult. That's what the age advisory notices, corner screen, are for.

Spot on. These shows promote men slapping women (the reverse could never happen because the censors would be all over that). And most anyone are free to slap the servants.

You've not watched 'Baa Nang Sua' have you?

Honestly, some of the self righteous comments from people who nothing about any of these shows are just too silly.

Edited May 9, 2011 by sarahsbloke

[Macmundi]

TV programmes are irresponsible and uncontrolled. The producing companies should be shut down for moral neglect.