PTC Praises Netflix for '13 Reasons' Edit

The Parents Television Council, which has pushed Netflix to remove the show until it could demonstrate it could not pose a potential harm to children, praised its decision to edit out a suicide scene from the series' first season.

13 Reasons Why deals with the suicide of a high-school-age girl and the reasons she left behind.

Related: PTC Says Netflix Needs to Do More with '13 Reasons'

“This announcement, and last week’s announcement about removing smoking from its programming, are two big steps in the right direction for the benefit of children; but they must not be Netflix’s only steps," said PTC president Tim Winter. "While we applaud Netflix for making this responsible decision, we call on the company to redouble its efforts to protect children from harmful content."

Related: Study Associates Netflix's 13 Reasons with More Suicides But Draws No Causal Connection

Winter said Netflix is "leading the way forward towards greater corporate responsibility compared to other digital media companies," but he said that needs to continue "despite challenging financial considerations or future competition.”

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.