Web site takes on offensive television

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    By Chris Diggins

    Citizens are saying enough is enough to network television.

    That”s the message that entrepreneur Steven DeVore is trying to get across by launching CleanTV.net, a Web site that monitors offensive television programs and allows users to instantly send e-mail complaints to those that support offensive programming.

    “There is a problem out there, there has not been a way for people to vent their frustrations in a constructive way,” DeVore said. “We provide the forum for people to come in … and take in a daily dose of what”s out there, then provide a way for people to effectively effect change in the media.”

    DeVore said the Janet Jackson incident at the Super Bowl halftime show only served to expose a broader range of people to the increasingly more risky and offensive fare that has become a recent staple in network television programming.

    “We have a large number of people who don”t regularly watch TV, who were for the first time exposed in a concentrated dose to how bad network television really is and how bad it has degenerated,” DeVore said. “It”s those people who are angry, and we”re providing a platform for them to express their anger.”

    The site, developed by Devour and his son Stephen, a recent BYU graduate, allows users to read over reports that detail offensive content found in network programming. Another feature allows users to contact local stations and advertisers and instantly express their displeasure with programming via e-mail.

    The aim of the Web site is to influence change in the media by taking action against not only stations that show offensive programs, but also advertisers that support those programs. According to DeVore, if consumers pressure advertisers to cease supporting offensive programming, then networks will stop producing offensive programming to cater to the needs of those advertisers.

    “Once local network affiliates begin to lose revenues from local advertisers, they will begin to demand the networks provide less offensive fare,” reads the CleanTV.net mission statement. “Once the networks begin losing national advertising accounts they will get the message: The majority of Americans are fed up!! Enough is enough!! The key to success is to go after the ”goose” that lays the networks” ”golden eggs” — the advertisers.”

    CleanTV.net makes it easy for users to go after these golden geese by providing them with instant e-mail links to networks and advertisers. This allows busy people, who otherwise would not normally have time to get involved, to express their opinion about the type of shows they want networks to offer.

    “A Web site can definitely aid in voicing the public”s opinion and can hopefully influence these networks to change the material broadcast,” said Meagan Villaneda, 21, from Kaysville. ” Many individuals are getting away with certain content in today”s society and it is all right, I believe, to speak out against those things. It helps in making a difference and creating a better society.”

    CleanTV.net will launch officially on March 1, with original intentions to focus primarily on changing the television programs broadcast to Utah Valley. Due to overwhelming national support for the site, most major media markets around the country will be covered at the launch with expansion into others to follow quickly.

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