Use Of Profanity On TV Increasing, Study Shows

LOS ANGELES -- There's too dang much cussin' on TV these days -- and it's creeping into the family hour, according to a new report by a watchdog group.

Researchers found that television writers are including more four-letter words in their primetime scripts these days.

The Parents Television Council studied six broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB and UPN -- during the two-week November sweeps period in 1998, 2000 and 2002.

The group found a jump in profanity on every network and in every time slot. The study found during the so-called "family hour," from 8 to 9 p.m., foul language increased by more than 94 percent between 1998 and 2002.

And profanity rose by 109 percent during the 9 p.m. hour in the same period.

The group is crying foul over the results. It says the TV industry needs to "get serious" about reducing what it says has become a "flood of vulgarity" coming into homes via television.

"Once prime-time television decides to absorb something, it becomes a stamp of normalcy. It's no longer controversial. It's no longer a big deal. It makes it a casual, accepted sort of thing," said Syracuse University professor Robert Thompson.

The report says that once the initial taboo is broken and the shock value wears off, more and more curse words fall into the category of "acceptable" language, and TV must try to up the ante by introducing new words to prime time TV's obscene lexicon.

But what's the big deal? With so many other dangerous influences bombarding children, should parents really be concerned if their teen swears?

Some experts say cursing is a precursor for other types of aggression.

"Very often, rudeness and cursing are the beginning of an escalation toward violence. Words, our words, are like our hands. They can soothe and heal, but they can also strike, which means they can hurt," said P.M. Forni, co-founder of the Civility Project at Johns Hopkins University.