Television or radio broadcasts, print press and online press will have to give warnings about or viewer discretion advice for broadcast or publication contents not suitable to children from October 1.
Under Ministry of Information and Communications Circular 09/2017/TT-BTTTT, such warnings must be brief, clear, and easy to understand, remember and notice, and clearly express such cautions as provided contents are not suitable to children and reader, audience or viewer discretion is advised; parental guidance is advised when children read, listen or view contents; or the program or film contains disturbing scenes and elements, parental guidance is recommended.
Besides, publications for children must show the sentence “Parents and adults should guide children in reading” on the title page or back cover. Such publications are also required to clearly state their readers’ age groups on the title page or back cover such as books for six-year-old kids, for those aged between 6 and 10 years, or for those aged between 11 and under 16 years.
Under the new regulation, television or radio broadcasts, print press, online press and publications, when using children or children’s photos to illustrate publications, or programs reporting on cases of negative acts and law violations, must have the consent of their parents or guardians, if the children are aged under 7 years, or the consent of these children and their parents or guardians, if the children are aged 7 years and more.
Entertainment, music, art performance, story-telling, animated film, game show, reality show and similar programs must be broadcast at least 10 minutes per time, one time per week. Time for broadcasting must be between 06:00 hours and 22:00 hours daily, with priority given to the time frame from 18:00 hours to 21:00 hours in children-specialized sections on the channels, the Circular said.
Meanwhile, print press and online press are required to publish news and articles for children and disseminating information about children accounting for at least five percent of their weekly contents, and two percent for specialized cultural and social magazines.- (VLLF)
