    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [July 10, 1995]
    [Pages 1068-1069]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1068]]

    Remarks at the Closing of Session II of the Family Re-Union IV
    Conference in Nashville
    July 10, 1995

        I just want to say one thing, if I might. Let me, first of all,
    start by saying thank you to all of you for being here and for caring
    enough about this subject to be here and for giving us a chance to
    discuss this issue in a nonpolitical atmosphere of good citizenship. I
    thank you for that. I also thank you for what you've done.

        But I'd like to comment if I could on what's been said and what has
    not been said and end with something Mr. Selleck said. First of all, we
    know that we need to support and get more of the kind of programming
    reflected on the Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, ``Christy,'' the Fox
    Children's Network, and public television, and whoever I left out. We
    know that, we know we need that.

        Secondly, we know we need some guideposts to the future which might
    be what John Cook talked about or another kind of rating system. And at
    least some of us would like to see some parents be able to turn some
    things off now and again, which is why we like the V channel.

        Then you get to the next level, which is what the gentleman from the
    Ad Council talked about. And I agree with--we've got to make sure that
    no matter how far we go with technology, we save some private space
    along the way. Then you get to the question of whether we could
    systematically move the market system a little bit, to take off on
    Gary's comment.

        His is a significant commitment, the Ad Council has made, for two
    reasons. One is, $8 billion over 8 years is $800 million a year. I'll
    tell you how much that is; I just sat there and figured it out. In the
    Presidential elections we spend about $100 million in the general
    election, telling you how great we are, how terrible our opponents are,
    and you see a lot of our ads. So if you spend $800 million a year and
    you do it right, you can make an impact. That's not an insignificant
    thing, and it should be lauded.

        But the other suggestion you made, coming back to what Mr. Selleck
    said, is that the people who do all this should not be defensive; they
    should be open. They should realize there are no simple answers. A few
    years ago, there was an attempt to do what Oprah Winfrey's doing on her
    own on a systematic basis through all different kinds of television
    shows through education. I saw you out there, John. Do you remember when
    I came out there to Hollywood and they had me give a little speech,
    because there was an organized effort to try to say, let's take a year
    and put some positive message about education in all of our programs,
    our cops and robbers programs, our cowboy programs, our--everything. In
    this case, it would be the Internet and all that.

        And they did it for a year. I don't know that we had any way of
    measuring what the results were, but I do know what the gentleman from
    the Ad Council said makes a lot of sense. What I hope will happen is, in
    the end, that there will be some systematic effort which will not only
    have more good programs like ``Christy'' on the air, but which will make
    everybody think before they put their police show on the air or their
    you-name-it, whatever show it is: What picture of women am I presenting
    to America; what message am I sending to these kids about violence; what
    am I doing?

        In other words, if we're going to change the American culture, we
    have to somehow change the media culture. And we have to do it without
    finger pointing, but we've got to be honest about it.

        I think this Ad Council commitment is a good one, but I think what
    we need to do--and maybe Gary's right, maybe you have to change the
    people running the show a little bit--but we need a systematic debate
    there about what we don't do and what we do do in our regular
    programming. I really think that's important. I think if we leave that
    out, we'll leave a big piece of this undone. And I thank you for being
    willing to deal with that.

        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. in Polk Theater at the Tennessee
    Performing Arts Center. In his remarks, he referred to actor Tom
    Selleck;

    [[Page 1069]]

    John Cook, executive vice president of corporate affairs, Walt Disney
    Co.; Gary David Goldberg, television writer and producer; and Oprah
    Winfrey, television talk show host. A tape was not available for
    verification of the content of these remarks.