[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
[February 29, 1996]
[Pages 343-344]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



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

    Good morning. Let me once again welcome all of you to the White 
House and thank you for coming for what is a truly historic meeting. 
Many of you have come from a long way away, and I am gratified by this 
astonishing and positive turnout.
    Three weeks ago today, I signed the telecommunications bill. This 
is, as all of you well know, truly landmark legislation that will free 
the full force of American ingenuity and creativity. It will help us to 
better enrich minds, to create more jobs, to help us understand one 
another, to help us enjoy more entertainment, and to help us grow 
together into the future.
    Those of you who are gathered here today will be the ones to unleash 
this American ingenuity. Arguably, you are the most powerful cultural 
force in the world. But we know, too, that freedom and creativity can 
truly thrive in a free society that is also a responsible society.
    In the State of the Union Address I challenged Congress to pass the 
telecommunications bill and to include within it the V-chip. Congress 
did that, agreeing that we should try the V-chip to give parents more 
control over the content of television programs their children watch, so 
that those that young people plainly should not watch would at least be 
subject to some parental control and influence.
    I asked you here today so that we could discuss our common 
responsibilities to help our children and our families. I believe the 
telecom

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bill and the V-chip and, perhaps most important of all, this entirely 
voluntary gathering of your industry embodies what I see as the three 
great challenges this country faces as we go through this period of 
remarkable transformation. The telecom bill plainly will create more 
opportunities in this new era. The V-chip and your endeavors will enable 
us to exercise more responsibility to promote the strength and values of 
family. And if we do these things in a completely voluntary and open 
way, it will help us to come together as a national community.
    There are so many forces in America today that are operating to 
divide the American people, and I think we should work on uniting 
ourselves. It's been my experience and observation that when this 
country is united, we are never defeated; we always achieve what we set 
out to do. And you have gone a long way toward helping build that kind 
of community by your very presence here today, and I thank you for that.
    We are here to discuss how we can best fulfill our common 
responsibilities in two ways: first, how we can give parents more 
control over what their children see on television; and second, how we 
can improve children's programming.
    Two months ago I doubt that many people thought that this meeting, 
or any meeting like this, could have even occurred. But we have now made 
so much progress, and we're on the verge of making new progress. I am 
excited about what I think we can achieve here today for our children, 
our families, and our future.
    And let me say again, for an industry that gets more than its share 
of criticism, I think it is worth noting that you have all put aside all 
your vigorous internal, competitive rivalries and dealt with what I 
think is a very profound set of questions for the future. And so I thank 
you for being here. I welcome you here, and I must say I'm very much 
looking forward to our discussion.
    And I'd like to ask the Vice President now, who has worked so hard 
in helping to organize this meeting, to make a few opening remarks, and 
then we'll get down to work.

Note: The President spoke at 10:42 a.m. in the State Dining Room at the 
White House.