E-Petitions

This petition is now closed, as its deadline has passed.

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make urgent representation to the Broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, the broadcasting institutions operating in the UK and film regulators, asking them to stop the use of unnecessary swearing and bad language in their productions (including those available for downloading from websites) and to urge providers of user-generated content to take similar action. More details

Submitted by John Beyer of mediawatch-uk – Deadline to sign up by: 20 May 2009 – Signatures: 5,917

Petition update, 24 August 2009

You signed a petition asking the Prime Minister to "make urgent representation to the Broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, the broadcasting institutions operating in the UK and film regulators, asking them to stop the use of unnecessary swearing and bad language in their productions (including those available for downloading from websites) and to urge providers of user-generated content to take similar action."

The Prime Minister's Office has responded to that petition and you can view it here:

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20390


Prime Minister's Office

More details from petition creator

Concern about the volume and nature of swearing on television made headlines when in November 2008 Michael Grade, the Executive Chairman of ITV, observed that swearing had become “unrestrained” and “indiscriminate”. He also stated that people do not want to hear those words.

In May 2008 the Radio Times conducted an opinion poll, which found that 69% of people believed there is too much swearing on TV. In November 2008 the Sunday Express launched a Clean Up TV Crusade focusing on the excessive use of swearing and the Sunday Telegraph conducted a poll which found that 56% of people thought the f*** word should never be used on TV.

The Office of Communications (Ofcom) in its Communications Market reports for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 found that the majority of people believe there is too much swearing on TV.

mediawatch-uk believes that swearing on TV has reached such proportions that it is threatening the English language, that it is undermining the Government’s policies on Education to improve communication skills and hindering initiatives to restore respect and civility to our society.

Current signatories

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  • Vivienne Hatton
  • Rev Dr Cameron McPherson
  • Carol Baird
  • William Nicholls
  • William Baird
  • Sarah Warren
  • Susan Booth
  • Mary Withers
  • Ronald Webster
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  • Lesley Craddock
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  • John Warner
  • Sally Gingell
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  • Netta Cawthornne
  • Iris Sengun
  • P S Aiken
  • jeni hewitt
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  • Pat Johnston
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  • June Nelson
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  • PATRICIA BAMFORD
  • Campbell Blair
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  • A.C.White
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  • Denise M Hind
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  • J Beck
  • Roy Dunderdale
  • Hilary Fenby
  • Graeme Foster
  • Richard Selby
  • Janette Maxwell
  • Mary Bassett
  • Esther Rue
  • Brendan Clancy
  • J Wilkie
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  • ALISON WALLACE
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  • Ethel Herriot
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  • Alan Bird
  • Claire Thompson
  • Louise Curran
  • Ruth Thomson
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  • David Brown
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  • Victor Przybylinski
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  • michelle connolly
  • Karen Miller
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  • Gareth Isaac
  • Peter Steer
  • Lydia Eaton
  • R M Lawrie
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  • Edwin Penman
  • Hannah Prittie
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  • Angela Harrison
  • Rosemary Cornick
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  • Ian Cuthbertson
  • CAROLE MCLEAN
  • alastair sinclair
  • Elisabeth A Mein
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  • James McLaren
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  • Eleanor Dickson
  • Debbie Cannell
  • Ruth Lawrie
  • ROBERT CRAWFORD
  • John Renton
  • james whitelaw
  • Carol Walker
  • Stop swearing on TV
  • Ruth Mair
  • Audrey McDonald
  • Caroline Milne
  • Agnes C Guthrie
  • Willie Buchan
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  • Michael Kelly
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  • Eleanor Rennie
  • Judith Knapman
  • KAREN LAU
  • Tom Macdougall
  • Moira Henderson
  • alex thurlow
  • Fiona Crawford
  • Anne Clayton
  • Bogi Vang
  • Jonathan Fleming
  • J & A Hunter
  • Alex Mitchell
  • Yvonne Cobley
  • William J N Michie
  • Patricia MacQuarrie
  • alan stapley
  • Ian Townsend
  • Alan Clayton
  • Charles Knox
  • Jamie Grant
  • Marina MacKenzie
  • Alan T Mckean
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  • Margaret Stanfield
  • Nancy Duncan
  • David Nicholson
  • Reverend William Parker
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  • Christine Craig
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  • Gordon Davey
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  • Nicol Dimeo
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  • Neil Urquhart
  • J Maurice Wade
  • JIM MCALPINE
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  • Rosemary A Cameron
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  • R Jamieson
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  • Tim Prince
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  • Douglas Henderson
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  • Bill Culbard
  • Malcolm Morison
  • Michael Potter
  • Sheila Munro
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  • Iain M MacLeod
  • Ho Lee Fuk
  • Robert Pender
  • Ann Robertson
  • Walter Blair
  • Neil Robertson
  • Jane Kelly
  • John Stark
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  • Mark Fleming
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  • Lewis McCracken
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  • Gillian Hutton
  • PAULINE MILLAR
  • MICHAEL POWLESLAND
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  • Ron Wadsworth
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  • Sarah-Jane Biggart
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  • Caroline Farquhar
  • Patricia Anne Jones
  • J.Arnott
  • STEPHEN CARVELL
  • William Miller
  • Michael John Fielder
  • Anne Brodie
  • Marion Briggs
  • Alistair Campbell
  • Ted McDonald
  • Maggie MacDonald-Anderson
  • J Bain
  • Martyn Cooper
  • Martin Shaw
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  • Donna Boyd
  • Elma MacKay
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  • Sheila Brown
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  • Keith James
  • Derek Wood
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  • Jason Connell
  • PEARL HOUSTON
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  • MIchelle Minty
  • Sandra Sutherland
  • Stuart Edward Full
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  • andrea boyes
  • James Nicol Millar
  • Patricia Robertson
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  • Ann Weir
  • Kate Lidwell
  • Rosemary Cowie
  • Afaf McConville
  • Mora Anderson
  • Elizabeth Welsh
  • Angus Rothnie
  • Morris park
  • S. J. McCormick
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  • Arthur Hembling
  • james smith
  • Michael Richards
  • Lilias Boyd
  • Lesley Woodbridge
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  • Richard Gordon
  • Frances Kelly
  • John Parslow
  • Alison Orr
  • Robert Graham
  • Jim Crooks
  • Christopher Hill
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  • Jeanne-Marie Martin
  • Anne Pearson
  • margaret vince
  • Mrs Anne Stearn
  • M Noble
  • marion mathers
  • Louis Frew
  • Samuel Mensah
  • sandra anderson
  • Dianne Holland
  • Lesley Illingworth
  • Trevor May
  • Irene May
  • bill and moira wallace
  • Steven Peter Hamilton
  • andrew whyte
  • john crawford
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  • Elaine Smith
  • carolyn cooper
  • Linda Strachan
  • KIRSTY SPENCE
  • Peter Macklin
  • Irene Kilgariff
  • Bethanie Holmes
  • Gareth D Cordiner
  • Emma Cordiner
  • Kenneth Park
  • Catherine Calder
  • Elaine Hutchinson
  • David Illingworth
  • Alfred Cordiner
  • Regan King
  • James R M Murdoch
  • Alexander wilson
  • Susanne Kenney
  • Younes
  • Andrew Copus
  • Christopher Johnston
  • robert buchan
  • Sheila Goldsmith
  • Althon Kerrigan Pring
  • Karen Wilson
  • Ryan King
  • James Grant Gebbie
  • Barbara Butters
  • A MacDonald
  • Elizabeth MacKenzie
  • Stephen Cornick
  • scott nicol
  • Jeremy Kent
  • Irene Addison
  • N Meredith Jones
  • Anne Rae
  • James Sim
  • Tom Greig

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