[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1025-S1026]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BROWNBACK:
  S. 2127. A bill to exempt agreements relating to voluntary guidelines 
governing telecast material, movies, video games, Internet content, and 
music lyrics from the applicability of the antitrust laws, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


                   children's protection act of 2000

 Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
text of the bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2127

       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 ``Children's Protection Act of 
     2000''.

      SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Television is seen and heard in nearly every United 
     States home and is a uniquely pervasive presence in the daily 
     lives of Americans. The average American home has 2.5 
     televisions, and a television is turned on in the average 
     American home 7 hours every day.
       (2) Television plays a particularly significant role in the 
     lives of children. Figures provided by Nielsen Research show 
     that children between the ages of 2 years and 11 years spend 
     an average of 21 hours in front of a television each week.
       (3) Television has an enormous capability to influence 
     perceptions, especially those of children, of the values and 
     behaviors that are common and acceptable in society.
       (4) The influence of television is so great that its images 
     and messages often can be harmful to the development of 
     children. Social science research amply documents a strong 
     correlation between the exposure of children to televised 
     violence and a number of behavioral and psychological 
     problems.
       (5) Hundreds of studies have proven conclusively that 
     children who are consistently exposed to violence on 
     television have a higher tendency to exhibit violent and 
     aggressive behavior, both as children and later in life.
       (6) Such studies also show that repeated exposure to 
     violent programming causes children to become desensitized to 
     and more accepting of real-life violence and to grow more 
     fearful and less trusting of their surroundings.
       (7) A growing body of social science research indicates 
     that sexual content on television can also have a significant 
     influence on the attitudes and behaviors of young viewers. 
     This research suggests that heavy exposure to programming 
     with strong sexual content contributes to the early 
     commencement of sexual activity among teenagers.
       (8) Members of the National Association of Broadcasters 
     (NAB) adhered for many years to a comprehensive code of 
     conduct that was based on an understanding of the influence 
     exerted by television and on a widely held sense of 
     responsibility for using that influence carefully.
       (9) This code of conduct, the Television Code of the 
     National Association of Broadcasters, articulated this sense 
     of responsibility as follows:
       (A) ``In selecting program subjects and themes, great care 
     must be exercised to be sure that the treatment and 
     presentation are made in good faith and not for the purpose 
     of sensationalism or to shock or exploit the audience or 
     appeal to prurient interests or morbid curiosity.''.
       (B) ``Broadcasters have a special responsibility toward 
     children. Programs designed primarily for children should 
     take into account the range of interests and needs of 
     children, from instructional and cultural material to a wide 
     variety of entertainment material. In their totality, 
     programs should contribute to the sound, balanced development 
     of children to help them achieve a sense of the world at 
     large and informed adjustments to their society.''.
       (C) ``Violence, physical, or psychological, may only be 
     projected in responsibly handled contexts, not used 
     exploitatively. Programs involving violence present the 
     consequences of it to its victims and perpetrators. 
     Presentation of the details of violence should avoid the 
     excessive, the gratuitous and the instructional.''.
       (D) ``The presentation of marriage, family, and similarly 
     important human relationships, and material with sexual 
     connotations, shall not be treated exploitatively or 
     irresponsibly, but with sensitivity.''.
       (E) ``Above and beyond the requirements of the law, 
     broadcasters must consider the family atmosphere in which 
     many of their programs are viewed. There shall be no graphic 
     portrayal of sexual acts by sight or sound. The portrayal of 
     implied sexual acts must be essential to the plot and 
     presented in a responsible and tasteful manner.''.

[[Page S1026]]

       (10) The National Association of Broadcasters abandoned the 
     code of conduct in 1983 after three provisions of the code 
     restricting the sale of advertising were challenged by the 
     Department of Justice on antitrust grounds and a Federal 
     district court issued a summary judgment against the National 
     Association of Broadcasters regarding one of the provisions 
     on those grounds. However, none of the programming standards 
     of the code were challenged.
       (11) While the code of conduct was in effect, its 
     programming standards were never found to have violated any 
     antitrust law.
       (12) Since the National Association of Broadcasters 
     abandoned the code of conduct, programming standards on 
     broadcast and cable television have deteriorated 
     dramatically.
       (13) In the absence of effective programming standards, 
     public concern about the impact of television on children, 
     and on society as a whole, has risen substantially. Polls 
     routinely show that more than 80 percent of Americans are 
     worried by the increasingly graphic nature of sex, violence, 
     and vulgarity on television and by the amount of programming 
     that openly sanctions or glorifies criminal, antisocial, and 
     degrading behavior.
       (14) At the urging of Congress, the television industry has 
     taken some steps to respond to public concerns about 
     programming standards and content. The broadcast television 
     industry agreed in 1992 to adopt a set of voluntary 
     guidelines designed to ``proscribe gratuitous or excessive 
     portrayals of violence''. Shortly thereafter, both the 
     broadcast and cable television industries agreed to conduct 
     independent studies of the violent content in their 
     programming and make those reports public.
       (15) In 1996, the television industry as a whole made a 
     commitment to develop a comprehensive rating system to label 
     programming that may be harmful or inappropriate for 
     children. That system was implemented at the beginning of 
     1999.
       (16) Despite these efforts to respond to public concern 
     about the impact of television on children, millions of 
     Americans, especially parents with young children, remain 
     angry and frustrated at the sinking standards of television 
     programming, the reluctance of the industry to police itself, 
     and the harmful influence of television on the well-being of 
     the children and the values of the United States.
       (17) The Department of Justice issued a ruling in 1993 
     indicating that additional efforts by the television industry 
     to develop and implement voluntary programming guidelines 
     would not violate the antitrust laws. The ruling states that 
     ``such activities may be likened to traditional standard 
     setting efforts that do not necessarily restrain competition 
     and may have significant procompetitive benefits. . . Such 
     guidelines could serve to disseminate valuable information on 
     program content to both advertisers and television viewers. 
     Accurate information can enhance the demand for, and increase 
     the output of, an industry's products or services.''.
       (18) The Children's Television Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-
     437) states that television broadcasters in the United States 
     have a clear obligation to meet the educational and 
     informational needs of children.
       (19) Several independent analyses have demonstrated that 
     the television broadcasters in the United States have not 
     fulfilled their obligations under the Children's Television 
     Act of 1990 and have not noticeably expanded the amount of 
     educational and informational programming directed at young 
     viewers since the enactment of that Act.
       (20) The popularity of video and personal computer (PC) 
     games is growing steadily among children. Although most 
     popular video and personal computer games are educational or 
     harmless in nature, many of the most popular are extremely 
     violent. One recent study by Strategic Record Research found 
     that 64 percent of teenagers played video or personal 
     computer games on a regular basis. Other surveys of children 
     as young as elementary school age found that almost half of 
     them list violent computer games among their favorites.
       (21) Violent video games often present violence in a 
     glamorized light. Game players are often cast in the role of 
     shooter, with points scored for each ``kill''. Similarly, 
     advertising for such games often touts violent content as a 
     selling point--the more graphic and extreme, the better.
       (22) As the popularity and graphic nature of such video 
     games grows, so do their potential to negatively influence 
     impressionable children.
       (23) Music is another extremely pervasive and popular form 
     of entertainment. American children and teenagers listen to 
     music more than any other demographic group. The Journal of 
     American Medicine reported that between the 7th and 12th 
     grades the average teenager listens to 10,500 hours of rock 
     or rap music, just slightly less than the entire number of 
     hours spent in the classroom from kindergarten through high 
     school.
       (24) Teens are among the heaviest purchasers of music, and 
     are most likely to favor music genres that depict, and often 
     appear to glamorize violence.
       (25) Music has a powerful ability to influence perceptions, 
     attitudes, and emotional state. The use of music as therapy 
     indicates its potential to increase emotional, psychological. 
     and physical health. That influence can be used for ill as 
     well.

      SEC. 3. PURPOSES; CONSTRUCTION.

       (a) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to permit the 
     entertainment industry--
       (1) to work collaboratively to respond to growing public 
     concern about television programming, movies, video games, 
     Internet content, and music lyrics, and the harmful influence 
     of such programming, movies, games, content, and lyrics on 
     children;
       (2) to develop a set of voluntary programming guidelines 
     similar to those contained in the Television Code of the 
     National Association of Broadcasters; and
       (3) to implement the guidelines in a manner that alleviates 
     the negative impact of television programming, movies, video 
     games, Internet content, and music lyrics on the development 
     of children in the United States and stimulates the 
     development and broadcast of educational and informational 
     programming for such children.
       (b) Construction.--This Act may not be construed as--
       (1) providing the Federal Government with any authority to 
     restrict television programming, movies, video games, 
     Internet content, or music lyrics that is in addition to the 
     authority to restrict such programming, movies, games, 
     content, or lyrics under law as of the date of the enactment 
     of this Act; or
       (2) approving any action of the Federal Government to 
     restrict such programming, movies, games, content, or lyrics 
     that is in addition to any actions undertaken for that 
     purpose by the Federal Government under law as of such date.

      SEC. 4. EXEMPTION OF VOLUNTARY AGREEMENTS ON GUIDELINES FOR 
                   CERTAIN ENTERTAINMENT MATERIAL FROM 
                   APPLICABILITY OF ANTITRUST LAWS.

       (a) Exemption.--Subject to subsection (b), the antitrust 
     laws shall not apply to any joint discussion, consideration, 
     review, action, or agreement by or among persons in the 
     entertainment industry for the purpose of developing and 
     disseminating voluntary guidelines designed--
       (1) to alleviate the negative impact of telecast material, 
     movies, video games, Internet content, and music lyrics 
     containing violence, sexual content, criminal behavior, or 
     other subjects that are not appropriate for children; or
       (2) to promote telecast material that is educational, 
     informational, or otherwise beneficial to the development of 
     children.
       (b) Limitation.--The exemption provided in subsection (a) 
     shall not apply to any joint discussion, consideration, 
     review, action, or agreement which--
       (1) results in a boycott of any person; or
       (2) concerns the purchase or sale of advertising, including 
     (without limitation) restrictions on the number of products 
     that may be advertised in a commercial, the number of times a 
     program may be interrupted for commercials, and the number of 
     consecutive commercials permitted within each interruption.
       (c) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Antitrust laws.--The term ``antitrust laws'' has the 
     meaning given such term in the first section of the Clayton 
     Act (15 U.S.C. 12) and includes section 5 of the Federal 
     Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).
       (2) Internet.--The term ``Internet'' means the combination 
     of computer facilities and electromagnetic transmission 
     media, and related equipment and software, comprising the 
     interconnected worldwide network of computer networks that 
     employ the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol or 
     any successor protocol to transmit information.
       (3) Movies.--The term ``movies'' means theatrical motion 
     pictures.
       (4) Person in the entertainment industry.--The term 
     ``person in the entertainment industry'' means a television 
     network, any entity which produces or distributes television 
     programming (including theatrical motion pictures), the 
     National Cable Television Association, the Association of 
     Independent Television Stations, Incorporated, the National 
     Association of Broadcasters, the Motion Picture Association 
     of America, each of the affiliate organizations of the 
     television networks, the Interactive Digital Software 
     Association, any entity which produces or distributes video 
     games, the Recording Industry Association of America, and any 
     entity which produces or distributes music, and includes any 
     individual acting on behalf of such person.
       (5) Telecast.--The term ``telecast'' means any program 
     broadcast by a television broadcast station or transmitted by 
     a cable television system.
                                 ______