Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 21, 1993 TAG: 9310210225
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"Government intervention is neither the best option nor the first we should try," Reno said, urging lawmakers to give the industry a few more months to prove it can change.
"But if significant voluntary steps are not taken soon, government action will be imperative," she said.
Parental advisories and the industry's standards for depicting violence are positive, but "extremely small, itty-bitty steps," she told the Senate Commerce Committee.
Entertainment industry executives who appeared before the panel said this season's lineup is laden with comedy and much less violent than before.
They assured lawmakers that more action is coming, including anti-violence public service announcements and a TV special on alternatives to violence to be shown simultaneously by all the networks.
But their arguments didn't seem to convince committee Chairman Ernest F. Hollings, D-S.C., who has introduced a bill that would restrict violent programming to late-night hours when children would be least likely to see it.
During the hearing, Hollings played a tape of a scene from the CBS situation comedy "Love and War" that aired Monday.
The show is set in a New York restaurant-bar, and this week's segment opened with a brawl.
Punches and furniture fly, and bottles are broken over heads in a highly choreographed sequence reminiscent of bar fights in cowboy dramas of the past.
One of the characters tries to stop the fighting and shouts over the din, "You all see too much violence on television."
Hollings was not amused.
"That was slapstick," said Howard Stringer, president of CBS Broadcast Group. "The producer was satirizing TV violence. The attempt was not to glorify violence, but to make it look ridiculous."
Besides Hollings' bill, the Senate is considering a measure by Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad, both North Dakota Democrats, that would have the Federal Communications Commission report quarterly on how much violent programming is broadcast.
Sen. David Durenberger, R-Minn., has a bill that would require warning labels, and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. introduced legislation that would prevent promotional spots for violent shows from airing during children's programming.
"Too much of today's programming neither uplifts, nor even reflects our national values and standards," said Reno, who has used her post to campaign against violence in society.
by CNB