Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 1, 1993 TAG: 9307010363
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Associated Press and Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Executives of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox said Wednesday that none of the currently aired series is brutal enough to regularly qualify for the voluntary advisories, though some episodes might.
ABC's new police drama, "N.Y.P.D. Blue" will carry a warning each week, said Tom Murphy, chairman of Capital Cities-ABC. It's the only regular series on any network that will routinely be labeled for violence, the executives said at a news conference.
Industry critics and concerned parents hailed the networks' step, but said the effort to reduce TV violence has a long way to go.
Cartoons aren't included, despite extensive research that contends violence-saturated cartoons make children more aggressive and afraid.
"Clearly, this is a first step," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., who announced the plan Wednesday with Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., and top network executives. Markey said he would press ahead with proposed legislation to require electronic devices to allow parents to block violent shows from airing on their sets.
Cable television, a dominant force in televised entertainment, isn't part of the networks' plan either, although cable giant Ted Turner reportedly favors warning labels. No athletic events will carry the warning.
Some parents complain the warning label - "Due to some violent content, parental discretion advised" - is too vague to be useful.
"It doesn't really tell you much," complained Kimberly Riddle, a Severna Park, Md., mother of two young children who is working on a statewide parents' campaign to monitor children's programming. "They don't give you enough information to make an educated decision."
William S. Abbott, president of the Foundation to Improve Television, said, "There's a lot of holes in it." The group has petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for tough new rules, including a violence rating system, to limit what one congressional critic calls "the torrent of violence" on television.
A typical child witnesses 8,000 televised murders and 100,000 assorted acts of violence by the time he or she finishes elementary school, according to the American Psychological Association.
The four networks can take the lead with these warnings, but can't control syndicators who sell shows to cable or independent stations, said the TV executives, including Warren Littlefield, president of NBC Entertainment and George Vradenburg, executive vice president of Fox Television.
President Clinton wrote letters to CBS, NBC, ABC, TBS and Fox applauding the action and saying: "For the health of our society and the American family, we must continue to find ways to limit the excessive portrayal of violence in our television programming."
Viewers likely will see the advisories most often on televised movies, which in recent seasons have been the leading purveyors of violent fare.
by CNB