The Parents Television Council has called on Netflix to remove “13 Reasons Why” from the teen category from its streaming service.
- The organization made the announcements just days before Netflix’s next shareholder meeting on June 4.
- The newest season of “13 Reasons Why” is expected to drop June 5.
Tim Winter, the organization’s president, said in a statement emailed to the Deseret News:
“You cannot simultaneously say ‘13 Reasons Why’ is intended for young viewers while rating the show as only appropriate for mature audiences. You cannot simultaneously normalize the use of narcotics to children while eschewing depictions of tobacco products to children. And you cannot apply a PG-13 or TV-14 rating to programming which, by the industry’s own guidelines, requires an R or TV-MA for explicit dialogue. We call on Netflix immediately to remove ‘13 Reasons Why’ from its ‘Teen’ programming category and to cease marketing other explicit content as appropriate for children.”
“As Netflix works to increase its dominance in the streaming video market, the company must act with greater corporate responsibility, particularly to the millions of families who are customers. It seems that with every step Netflix takes in a positive direction, there are more decisions the company makes to negate those changes. Case in point: Netflix recently announced improved parental controls – something we advocated for – but our new research proves that those improved controls do not, and cannot, protect children from explicit adult content if that adult content is rated as appropriate for teenaged children.”
“We call on the Netflix leadership to do the right thing. And if they won’t, then we call on Netflix shareholders to hold the company to account for such grossly irresponsible behavior.”
The show can currently be found under “teen” programing on Netflix even though it is rated TV-MA. The show has included moments of graphic suicide, sexual assault, sodomy, underage drinking and other moments of mature viewing.
Research on the show
- As I wrote about for the Deseret News, a study found that there was a 28.9% increase in suicides in American children ages 10-17 in the month following the release of “13 Reasons Why.” The study was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
- Leading Utah suicide expert Greg Hudnall told the Deseret News: “I’m all about educating people on prevention. I’m all about suicide prevention. What I’m not about is sensationalizing suicide.”