UK broadcasters have a responsibility to combat the worst effects of pornography and AI, according to the boss of Channel 4.
While these issues might be considered “a bit outside the remit of a TV company,” Alex Mahon told the Media & Telecoms & Beyond 2023 Conference that the industry “will always have a power to influence and to help, pointing out where trends and technologies make life better and where they make it worse.” “If we have that power as Public Service Broadcasters, then we also have a duty to do it,” she said.
Unveiling Channel 4 data on the viewing habits of Gen-Zs, Mahon said “thinking about content that gets to Gen-Z also extends to pornography.”
Alex Mahon. “Algorithms are not written for the benefit of young British people.”
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“We cannot ignore the reality that one in 10 of the UK’s young has seen porn by the time they are nine years old and 42% of young people say they believe girls enjoy physically aggressive sex,” she added. “Public service media must address this and let young people see portrayals of healthy relationships, consent, and safe sex.”
On AI, which was a hot topic at today’s Conference, Mahon said Gen-Zs are the first generation where the rapidly-developing technology “will be a prominent, maybe dominant, feature of what they read and see.”
“Those algorithms may be innocent or malign, but of one thing we can be pretty sure: they are not written for the benefit of young British people and the challenges they face; they have no allegiance to truth or honesty,” she explained.
An example of what broadcasters can do can be seen in the form of double BAFTA-winning Channel 4 drama I Am Ruth, said Mahon, which starred Kate Winslet as a mother struggling to cope with her daughter’s depression in the social media age. In a powerful broadside, Winslet used Sunday’s BAFTA acceptance speech to call for “the people in power to criminalize harmful content.” Meanwhile, Channel 4 recently commissioned a factual drama, Consent, about the impact of social media on a group of students at a fictional private school.
More generally, Mahon set out Channel 4’s approach to attracting Gen-Z viewers as “creating programing that informs and educates them about contemporary issues and promotes debate.”
She said shows should be of disproportionate interest to young viewers in areas such as mental health, gender, sexuality and body image, while reflecting their lives “without judgement,” in the vein of upcoming drama Queenie.
“While this is television with public purpose, it’s not ‘eat your peas’ TV,” said Mahon. “We make shows they want to watch – like It’s a Sin or Consent – because they’re entertaining and frequently fun, whatever other merits they possess.”
Mahon, who played a huge role in the reversal of Channel 4 privatization, said “the positive throughout all the political tumult had been a focus on one simple question: ‘Why are we here?’”
