IP Democracy: Senate Panel Approves Study on Video Games

In the hopes of producing scientific results that link violent video games with harm to minors, a group of Democractic Senators have pushed through the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions a measure that would fund a study by the CDC on “the role and impact of electronic media on children.” Spearheaded by Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the bill called the Children and Media Research Act, calls for the Director of the CDC to establish an independent panel of experts to:

(1) review, synthesize, and report on research, theory, and applications in the social, behavioral, and biological sciences regarding the roles and impact of the use of and exposure to electronic media on youth in certain core areas of child and adolescent development; and

(2) establish research priorities regarding such issues.

The bill, which is also co-sponsored by Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)and Sam Brownback (R-KS), further directs the Secretary of HHS to conduct pilot projects and fund additional research on the impact of electronic media on children and adolescents. Initial funding for the research was pegged at $90 million, but now the study’s budget will be determined during the appropriations process.

Although the research is designed to study the impact of all electronic media on children, the bill’s Democratic proponents have supported legislation that would ban the sale of “mature” or violent video games to minors.

Various state and local laws that also ban the sale of violent video games to minors have been struck down by the courts as violations of the First Amendment, with the courts ruling that the government has not proved a compelling interest in implementing such bans. Several courts have stated that there is not enough research regarding the harm to minors to justify abridging First Amendment rights. The research funded by this bill might help establish the government’s interest in curtailing the First Amendment rights of game makers.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on March 9, 2006 7:04 AM to IP Democracy