    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [February 29, 1996]
    [Pages 344-345]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With Entertainment and Media Executives
    February 29, 1996

        Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. I have just concluded a
    very significant meeting with the leaders of America's media and
    entertainment industries. I am pleased to report on a breakthrough
    voluntary agreement to help parents protect their children from violence
    and adult content on television.
        Our purpose in this meeting has been to find out how we can help
    parents raise their children in the right way and to protect them as
    they raise them. In this high-technology age, our goal should be more
    opportunity, more responsibility, and more community, to make changes in
    the way we do business that will help people to raise their children and
    bring us together as a people even as we grow the economy and enjoy the
    opportunities that this new technological era brings.
        Just a little over a month ago in my State of the Union Address, I
    challenged Congress to pass legislation that requires new television
    sets to include a V-chip, to give parents the power to screen out
    violence and objectionable content in television programs. Earlier this
    month, with the Telecommunications Act, I signed the V-chip into law.
    Since that time, our administration, spearheaded by the Vice President,
    has worked with broadcasters, cable firms, production studios, and
    others to encourage them to find ways to take more responsibilities
    toward meeting our shared goals. I am gratified that the far-sighted
    leaders gathered here in this unprecedented meeting have risen to the
    challenge, and I thank them all.
        As a result of our discussions, the media and the entertainment
    industry has agreed to a voluntary system of ratings for television
    programs. These ratings will be put in place by the end of this year or
    the beginning of next year to help parents decide what programs they
    want their children to watch. And the V-chip will give parents the power
    to block those programs

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    they do not want them to watch from their televisions.
        We're handing the TV remote control back to America's parents so
    that they can pass on their values and protect their children. In the
    next few moments, Jack Valenti will describe the next steps the industry
    will take. But they've already shown that they recognize their
    creativity and their freedom carries with it significant responsibility.
    I applaud them for it, and all Americans are in their debt.
        The work we began here is just that, a beginning. In our meeting I
    invited the industry leaders to come back to the White House to report
    once they have developed their rating systems, and I look forward to the
    work they will do.
        Let me say on their behalf--I know Jack Valenti will say this--but
    this is a complicated and difficult undertaking. They talked a lot about
    some of the challenges that they will face. I think that should cause
    all the rest of us to be all the more supportive of the fact that they
    are doing it, doing it together, and doing it with real deliberation and
    discipline on a specific timetable.
        We also had a very good discussion this morning of the urgent need
    to improve children's programming. It is not enough for parents to be
    able to tune out what they don't want their children to watch; they want
    to be able to tune in good programs that their children will watch. We
    take the Children's Television Act seriously. We want to continue to
    work with the industry to do the very best we can for our children in
    both quantity and quality of children's programming. And I believe the
    executives here today will bring to this challenge the same sense of
    responsibility they have brought to the issue of TV ratings.
        Ultimately, we're trying to raise our children successfully in an
    age of information overload in which the typical child will watch 25,000
    hours of television before his or her 18th birthday. Television is a
    powerful force to bring people together, to entertain, to educate, to
    open our minds and hearts. But we also know that young people are
    exposed regularly to numbing and pervasive violence and other
    destructive behavior when they park in front of the family television.
        I believe what we are doing here today shows how America can meet
    this challenge and many of our challenges by businesses and parents and
    Government all working together, each doing our part. It shows what can
    happen when visionary business leaders do make a commitment to values
    and the common good, as well as the bottom line, and when they live up
    to their responsibilities as corporate citizens of our great country.
        I want to say, too, that I hope the kind of responsibility these
    leaders have shown here today will be matched by other executives in
    other industries, on other problems the American people face in common.
    That is how we can move forward into this new age of possibility.
        Finally, let me give credit where credit is due. This breakthrough
    we see today is the result of literally years of concerns by America's
    parents. Ultimately it is only parents who can prevent our children from
    seeing programs that teach violence that has no consequences or that
    inappropriate behavior is glamorous. So to all the parents of America, I
    say: You will be handed a powerful tool; that you must now exercise it
    with the responsibilities that go with it. And to all the parents who
    have worked for this day, I say a very special thank you, especially to
    Tipper Gore, who has worked on this issue for 20 years, and to the First
    Lady, who has given it so much of her concern.
        America's media and entertainment industry is the world's most vital
    creative force. It would be much more difficult for me to be President
    were it not for the economic advantages in international trade brought
    to us by the creative energies of America's entertainment industry.
        I hope that this agreement today will ensure that that creativity
    will forever be a source of learning and values and responsibilities in
    the lives of our children, even as it continues to be a great source of
    your own success, our entertainment, and America's strength.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:10 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Jack Valenti, president, Motion
    Picture Association of America.