Think of the children! A brief history of tenuous TV censorship

Conservative group The Parents Television Council urged Netflix to hold off on airing S2 of 13 Reasons Why lats year until “experts in the scientific community have determined it to be safe for consumption.” The first season of the teen phenomenon drew acclaim and controversy for its frank and often graphic depictions of challenging topics such as suicide, rape, and gun violence.

Backlash to 13 Reasons Why prompted Netflix to coddle the first season of the series with televisual bubble wrap, adding warnings and crisis hotline cards to each episode. The streamer further announced it would be releasing a series of resources for viewers watching the second season and a custom introduction from the cast of the show describing the graphic nature of the story.

The streaming giant did so in response to the findings of a global research study exploring how teens and parents responded to 13 Reasons Why. According to the PTC, these measures were commendable but aren’t enough.

PTC President Tim Winter mused that though “we may never know the full extent of how grave the influence was,” the impact of 13 Reasons Why was apparently obvious.

“Millions of children watched; the Google search term for how to commit suicide spiked 26 percent; and there were news reports of children literally taking their own lives after the series was released.” Referencing the findings of the global research study, Winter griped Netflix cannot "now feign ignorance should tragedy strike.”

You say “safeguarding” – we say “censorship”, buddy. This isn’t the first time (nor will it be the last) the American public has been sheltered from the apparently toxic content of a TV show. As this brief timeline of the history of TV censorship reveals, the apparently all-too-delicate sensibilities of children & adults alike have been overly protected in North America for decades.