    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [March 2, 1996]
    [Pages 351-352]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    March 2, 1996

        Good morning. Something remarkable happened this week, something
    that can forever help parents, children, and anybody who cares about
    what our children watch on television. We took an enormous step toward
    controlling the images of violence and vice that can enter our homes and
    disturb our children.
        Television is one of the most influential voices that can enter a
    home. It can be entertaining, enlightening, and educating. But when it
    transmits pictures or words we wouldn't want our children to see and
    hear in real life, television can become an unwelcome intruder, one that
    parents have too often found too difficult to control.
        In study after study, the evidence has steadily mounted that
    television violence is numbing and corrosive. It can have a destructive
    impact on young children. In my State of the Union speech, I challenged
    the Members of Congress to give control back to parents. I asked them to
    require TV's to include the V-chip, a device that lets parents filter
    out programs they don't want to let into their homes and their
    children's lives.
        Congress answered that challenge, and 3 weeks ago when I signed the
    telecommunications bill into law, the V-chip also became law. Now it
    will be standard in new television sets sold in our country. We need
    this.
        To make the V-chip work, I invited leaders of the media and
    entertainment industry to come to the White House to work with us to
    help our families. And this past Thursday I met with the leaders of the
    television networks, the production studios, the cable companies,
    actors, directors, and writers. Their response was overwhelming, and our
    meeting was a great success.
        For the first time ever, leaders of the television and entertainment
    industry have come to-

    [[Page 352]]

    gether as one force and agreed to develop a rating system for their
    programming that will help parents to protect their children from
    violence and other objectionable content on television. They said this
    system will be in place by next January.
        Like the movie ratings have done for 27 years, the ratings for
    television will help parents to guide their children's entertainment
    choices. The system will provide families with a standard they can rely
    on from show to show, from channel to channel. Parents are the best
    judges of what their children should and shouldn't see, and this new
    rating system will help them to make those critical judgments. The best
    programming director for our children is a parent.
        At my meeting with the entertainment industry, we also discussed the
    need for more programming that is suitable for children and that is
    educational and attractive to them. I want to preserve public
    broadcasting and the innovation it has brought in educational shows for
    children.
        These days, a typical child will watch 25,000 hours of television
    before his or her 18th birthday. It's up to us whether these shows
    stimulate their minds or numb them. Let's build on the good shows that
    we have as models for educating and informing our children. I applaud
    the entertainment leaders for what they have done voluntarily. Through
    their action, they are being responsible for the product they produce
    and they are showing greater concern for our American community and our
    children's future.
        With the V-chip and the rating system, we mark a sea change. We are
    harnessing technology, creativity, and responsibility, bringing together
    parents, business, and Government to meet a major challenge to our
    society. After all, it doesn't do a family any good to have a nice
    television if the images it brings to our children erodes their values
    and diminishes their future.
        We should look at this breakthrough as part of a bigger picture and
    as a lesson for even greater achievement. As I have said many times,
    this is an age of great possibility when more Americans will have more
    opportunities to live out their dreams than ever before. But we also
    know that this is a time of stiff challenges as well. If we are to meet
    those challenges, all of us must take our proper responsibility.
    Government must play a part but only a part. Only if each of us measures
    what we do by basic standards of right and wrong, taking responsibility
    for our actions, moving us together, will we be able to move forward as
    a Nation.
        Let me say again: Only if we work together in our businesses, our
    schools, our places of worship, our civic groups, will we transform our
    lives and our country. That is what I mean when I talk about corporate
    responsibility.
        The actions of the television industry show us what can happen when
    visionary business leaders make a commitment to values and the common
    good as well as to the bottom line, and when they live up to their
    responsibilities as corporate citizens of our great country. I hope
    their example will be matched by the executives in other industries to
    address other problems and other challenges we face as a people. That
    means corporations helping to improve our schools, helping to connect
    them to the information superhighway, helping to demand high standards.
    That means corporations finding new ways to protect our environment even
    as they grow the bottom line and improve our economy.
        That means businesses recognizing that workers are an asset, not a
    liability, and that a well-trained work force is any business' most
    important competitive edge. All these things demand a renewed commitment
    from business. And I am confident that the leaders of other industries
    will also rise to the challenge just the way the leaders of the
    entertainment industry did this week.
        We can celebrate a giant step toward realizing the possibility of a
    great instrument of communication in the homes of our families. I
    believe we can meet our other challenges as a Nation in the same way.
    We'll all want to stay tuned for that.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 4:42 p.m. on March 1 in the Roosevelt
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on March 2.