IP Democracy: TV Violence Regulation Rears Its Head...Again

Like clockwork, the issue of TV violence regulation is once again rearing its head. It seems that about every ten years or so, Congress starts mau-mauing about the need to crack down on the amount and type of televised violence.

The last time this issue got a serious airing on Capitol Hill, Hollywood and the broadcast and cable industries came up with the Parental Advisory System and the FCC ordered that TV sets and set-top boxes be built with “V-chips” for screening out violent programs.

The LA Times’ Jim Puzzanghera has this write-up today of the mounting sentiment in Washington to do something about continued TV violence. The FCC is about to release a study on the matter, and Chairman Kevin Martin — long an advocate of “family values” television — has hinted that the news won’t be good for the TV industry.

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Barack Obama (D-Il), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and John McCain (R-AZ) are all in favor of some kind of crack-down (although McCain prefers to allow customers to purchase channels a la carte as a solution), which will make TV violence a presidential campaign topic. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) wants to expand the FCC’s authority to regulate TV content to include violence — right now the Commission can only regulate indecency and obscenity — and with the Dems in power, Rockefeller is expected to revive his proposal.

First Amendment experts doubt that a no-violence regulatory regime could survive any serious legal challenge by Hollywood or the TV networks, but the dubious constitutionality of limiting TV violence won’t likely be a barrier to legislation. It’s easy for politicians to decry violent programming because few voters would say they are in favor of it and most parents of young children really do have legitimate concerns about what their kids are watching.

Beyond that, though, it’s fun to pin the blame on television and haul, say, Martin Scorsese, up to the Hill for hearings. It’s fun to be lobbied by Clint Eastwood or Keifer Sutherland. And it’s a bi-partisan issue. Democrats and Republicans alike can huddle around a law that limits violent speech.

Let’s just hope that Hollywood, cable and the broadcast industries can cook up some sort of compromise (as they did with the Parental Advisory System) to ward off legislation or FCC action.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 23, 2007 8:54 AM to IP Democracy