[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 541 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 541

    To express the sense of the House of Representatives concerning 
                        violence on television.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 1996

 Mr. Castle (for himself, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Gilchrest, Mr. Greenwood, Mr. 
  Gilman, Mr. Solomon, Mr. Inglis of South Carolina, Mr. Wicker, Mr. 
   Lipinski, Mr. Durbin, Mr. McKeon, Mr. Heineman, Ms. Lofgren, Mrs. 
Myrick, and Mr. Portman) introduced the following resolution; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
    To express the sense of the House of Representatives concerning 
                        violence on television.

    Resolved,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The House of Representatives finds as follows:
            (1) Children are exposed to significant amounts of violence 
        on television:
                    (A) The average American child spends 28 hours per 
                week watching television.
                    (B) The American Psychological Association found 
                that the average child views up to 8,000 made-for-TV 
                murders and 100,000 acts of violence by the end of 
                grade school.
                    (C) The Center for Media and Public Affairs found a 
                41 percent increase in television violence between 1992 
                and 1994.
                    (D) The recent 1994-1995 National Television 
                Violence Study completed by Mediascope found that among 
                programs that contain violence, only 15 percent are 
                preceded with an advisory or any sort of content code, 
                73 percent of perpetrators go unpunished in violent 
                scenes, and 1 out of 4 violent interactions on 
                television involve the use of a handgun.
                    (E) Since 1955, television characters have been 
                murdered at a rate 1,000 times higher than real-world 
                victims.
            (2) Viewing violence harms children:
                    (A) Three national studies--the Surgeon General's 
                Commission report (1972), the National Institute of 
                Mental Health 10-year followup (1982), and the report 
                of the American Psychological Association's Committee 
                on Media in Society (1992)--reviewed hundreds of 
                studies to arrive at the irrefutable conclusion that 
                when children view violence their behavior becomes 
                increasingly violent.
                    (B) Studies have found that children exposed to 
                substantial media violence can experience other ill 
                effects including desensitization and apathy toward 
                violence, distrust of others, and an exaggerated sense 
                of fear and paranoia of being a victim of violence.
            (3) Even the most vigilant and concerned parents will not 
        be able to monitor their children's television viewing habits 
        at all times.
            (4) The commitment of broadcasters is necessary to address 
        the level of violence viewed by children and its harmful effect 
        on them.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

    It is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (1) national broadcast television networks should not air 
        violent video programming between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 
        p.m., the hours when children are reasonably likely to comprise 
        a substantial portion of the audience; and
            (2) legitimate news programs, documentaries, educational 
        programs, and sporting events should not contain violence in 
        excess of what is needed to convey the information intended 
        during these hours.
                                 <all>