Parents Television Council calls for investigation into Skins

January 20, 2011

Skins The folks at the Parents Television Council are doing their best to give MTV’s remake of Skins all the publicity it can – the organisation is now calling for an investigation into the teen drama! The PTC made clear it didn’t like Skins before it even aired calling it the “most dangerous show ever” for children. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why the MTV remake of Skins had such good figures when it premiered. Now the Parents Television Council wants to see an investigation into Skins for Child Pornography and Exploitation – in the process boosting the shows profile no end.

Below is the press release.

– The Parents Television Council ™ today called on the chairmen of the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees and the Department of Justice to immediately open an investigation regarding child pornography and exploitation on MTV’s “Skins.” The New York Times reported today that the network itself is concerned about violating child pornography laws. In addition to the sexual content on the show involving cast members as young as 15, PTC counted 42 depictions and references to drugs and alcohol in the premiere episode. The run-time was only 41 minutes excluding commercial breaks.

The following are excerpts from the letter that PTC President Tim Winter sent Committee Chairmen Patrick Leahy and Lamar Smith. The rest of the Judiciary Committee members, Attorney General Eric Holder and Federal Communications Committee Chairman Julius Genachowski were also sent copies of the letter.

“On January 17, the Viacom-owned cable network MTV aired a teenager-based drama, ‘Skins.’ The episode included all manner of foul language, illegal drug use, illegal activity as well as thoroughly pervasive sexual content. Moreover, future episodes promise much more of the same.

“While that alone is cause enough for concern among parents and families around the country, new information has come to light that is even more disturbing. The New York Times has reported this morning that Viacom executives met yesterday to discuss whether the show might violate federal law regarding the sexual depiction and presentation of minors and has compelled the producers of the show to make certain changes.

“However, many of the actors appearing in the show are below the age of 18. It is clear that Viacom has knowingly produced material that may well be in violation of any or all of the following federal statutes:

“18 U.S.C. § 1466A (2008) Obscene Visual Representations of the Sexual Abuse of Children

18 U.S.C. § 2251 (2008) Sexual Exploitation of Children

18 U.S.C. § 2252 (2008) Relating to Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of Minors

18 U.S.C. § 2252A (2008) Relating to Material Constituting or Containing Child Pornography

“Since it is not necessary for Viacom or MTV to distribute the material in order to be in violation of the law, we call upon your committees to immediately investigate Viacom and MTV for the production of this material. Furthermore, we urge you in the strongest possible terms to compel the Attorney General to mount an investigation by the Department of Justice into whether the production of ‘Skins’ has violated federal law meant to protect minors from exploitation.

“On behalf of our 1.3 million members, I eagerly await your reply.”

The big about numbers is interesting obviously trying to play up their support. However, if that’s the case then at the moment Skins has numbers on its side – over 3 MILLLION viewers tuned in for the first episode. Now these figures will, in all likelihood drop, but with all the publicity now surrounding the teen-drama more viewers may tune in out of curiosity.