[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 973 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 973

   To require the Federal Communications Commission to evaluate and 
 publicly report on the violence contained in television programs, and 
                          for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                May 18 (legislative day, April 19), 1993

Mr. Dorgan (for himself and Mr. Conrad) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require the Federal Communications Commission to evaluate and 
 publicly report on the violence contained in television programs, and 
                          for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Television Violence Report Card Act 
of 1993''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Television is bringing an epidemic of violence into the 
        American home. Twenty-five percent of prime-time television 
        shows contain ``very violent'' material, according to the 
        National Coalition on Television Violence.
            (2) This epidemic has been growing steadily worse. Prime 
        time violence tripled during the 1980's, the American Academy 
        of Pediatrics reports.
            (3) Shows aimed at children are especially violent. 
        According to a University of Pennsylvania study, children's 
        programming contains over 30 violent acts per hour, an all-time 
        record.
            (4) The average child watches 8,000 murders and 100,000 
        acts of violence on television before finishing elementary 
        school .
            (5) There is overwhelming evidence that children tend to 
        imitate the behavior they see on television. The National 
        Institute of Mental Health states that violence on television 
        leads to aggressive behavior by children and teenagers who 
        watch violent television programs.
            (6) The growing international media market has put a 
        premium on ``action''-type television shows that require little 
        verbal translation, making violence a major United States 
        export to the rest of the world.
            (7) It is not the role of government to tell people what to 
        watch or broadcasters what to show, but the Federal Government 
        should bolster the ability of families and communities to make 
        these decisions themselves.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION VIOLENCE REPORT CARD PROGRAM.

    (a) Regulations.--The Federal Communications Commission 
(hereinafter referred to as the ``Commission'') shall, by regulations 
promulgated not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this 
Act, establish a program for--
            (1) evaluating and rating television programs, with respect 
        to the extent of the violence contained in those programs; and
            (2) publishing such ratings in the form of a Television 
        Violence Report Card.
    (b) Program Selection.--Under the program required by subsection 
(a), the Commission shall--
            (1) select, within each quarter of a calendar year, at 
        least one week for the Commission to evaluate the extent of the 
        violence contained in each of the programs carried on any of 
        the national broadcast television networks, or on cable 
        television systems (in the case of programs available to a 
        substantial percentage of the households that subscribe to 
        cable television service nationally), during that week's prime-
        time and Saturday morning time slots; and
            (2) ensure that at least one of the weeks selected under 
        paragraph (1) in any calendar year is a sweeps week.
    (c) Violence Ratings of Programs and Sponsors.--After evaluating 
the television programs described in subsection (c), and in accordance 
with criteria established by the regulations promulgated under this 
section, the Commission shall--
            (1) rate those programs in terms of the extent of the 
        violence they contain; and
            (2) rate program sponsors in terms of the extent to which 
        they sponsor television programs that contain a high degree of 
        violence.
    (d) Report Card.--In the quarter following any quarter for which 
the Commission has made evaluations under this section, the Commission 
shall publish in the Federal Register a Television Violence Report Card 
that reports the violence ratings by the Commission under subsection 
(c) of the programs so evaluated and the sponsors of those programs.

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