
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994                    TAG: 9406300552 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A5    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE 
DATELINE: 940630                                 LENGTH: WASHINGTON

4 NETWORKS TO FINANCE STUDY OF TV VIOLENCE \

{LEAD} ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox have commissioned UCLA's Center on Communications Policy to issue annual reports on TV violence, beginning with the fall TV season, the networks announced Wednesday.

The monitoring effort, which will analyze violence in context rather than count individual acts, is the latest step taken by the networks to head off federal regulation of TV violence.

{REST} It was undertaken at the behest of Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., a leading critic of TV violence who praised the broadcasters Wednesday for their willingness to regulate themselves.

``This marks a significant step forward,'' Simon said at a Capitol Hill news conference. ``What we're seeing here is the beginnings of a cultural change, in the depiction and glorification of violence.''

The monitoring by UCLA is expected to keep pressure on the networks to curb gratuitous violence. The networks have already reduced the number of action shows and violent TV movies they air.

UCLA was chosen as the independent monitor because the Center for Communications promised to study the depiction of violence on individual shows, rather than merely count incidents of violence as past studies have done. The networks expect to spend $400,000 to $500,000 a year on the project.

The violence report will focus on the prime-time schedule of the four networks, including series, TV movies and miniseries, and will also include Saturday morning children's programs. Sports and news programs are excluded.

To compare violence on the over-the-air networks to other sources, the study will also study selected syndicated programs, cable programs, commercials and video games.

The assessment will take into account such factors as the extent and nature of the violence, the motivation for the violence, the relevance of the violence to plot and character development, the consequences of the violence and the time of airing.

{KEYWORDS} TELEVISION VIOLENCE CHILDREN STUDY by CNB