[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
[October 15, 1996]
[Pages 1833-1835]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Second Annual Report on Television Violence and an 
Exchange With Reporters in Albuquerque
October 15, 1996

    The President. Good afternoon. I want to thank Dr. Cole for being 
here today and for the extensive study that he has conducted. I want to 
thank Senator Paul Simon and the executives of the four major networks 
who agreed that this study should be done and then saw to it that it was 
done.
    Nothing is more important than strengthening our families and 
helping our parents to teach their children good values. We know that 
television can be a positive force or a destructive force in the lives 
of our children. Every parent knows that exposure to TV violence can be 
numbing and send the wrong message to their kids. And parents whose 
children grew up watching programs like ``Sesame Street,'' as our 
daughter did, know that television can teach as well as entertain.
    Parents need our help to protect their children from harmful or 
inappropriate forces from outside the home and help them pass on their 
values to their children. This is something our administration cares 
deeply about. Tipper Gore sounded the first alarm almost a decade ago in 
her book ``Raising PG Kids In An X-Rated Society.'' And Hillary wrote 
eloquently about this in her book. Today's comprehensive report shows 
that where broadcast television is concerned we are moving measurably in 
the right direction, away from violence and toward more programming for 
children. We have a long way to go, but we are making progress for our 
children.
    The study notes several positive trends over the past year, 
including a decrease in the number of TV series and made-for-TV movies 
with frequent violence; fewer broadcasts of violent films originally 
released in theaters; fewer children's series with sinister combat 
violence; an increase in the use of advisories about violence. The 
picture is not all bright. Theatrical movies are still the most violent 
programs when they're broadcast on television. Even promotional ads for 
these films are violent. Some primetime specials have begun to feature 
real and staged animal attacks. Emerging broadcast networks are showing 
a higher percentage of violent shows.
    So there is work still to be done. But this work has been begun, and 
it is bearing fruit. Everyone has a responsibility in bringing this kind 
of change: parents, the entertainment industry, government, each of us 
as individuals. Step by step, working together, our administration, 
especially the Vice President and I, have worked to make television 
better for our families, since my first year in office when I commended 
the leaders of broadcast television for their decision to include 
parental advisories on violence. We have challenged the entertainment 
industry to find their way back to family pro-


[[Page 1834]]

gramming, and challenged parents to do their part as well.
    We insisted that the Telecommunications Act require new TV sets to 
include a violence chip, a V-chip, that will give parents the ability to 
screen out violent or inappropriate programming for their young 
children. In my State of the Union Address, I challenged broadcasters to 
develop voluntary rating systems that would enable the V-chip to work. 
And earlier this year in a conference at the White House, the 
entertainment industry showed very good citizenship in agreeing to set 
up a voluntary rating system.
    Over a year ago I asked the FCC to broadcast air at least 3 hours of 
educational children's programming each week. Last July, I invited the 
leaders of the entertainment industry and children's television and 
others to meet me in the White House to discuss how to improve the 
quality of children's television. As a result, I reached agreement with 
the broadcasters on a proposal under which each broadcaster now will air 
3 hours a week of educational children's programming. The FCC adopted 
the proposal, and the market for educational television for children is 
now booming.
    I want to commend the entertainment industry for stepping up to this 
issue. And of course, I want to thank the thousands of parents across 
our country who served as a conscience and a prod for so long. The 
progress we're making shows how we can best meet our challenges: working 
together, employing common sense, and finding common ground.
    It accomplishes nothing simply to rail against violence. That's like 
yelling at the TV or the movie screen alone in a room. We will continue 
to sit down, to work with entertainment leaders, to fight for the public 
interest. I'm confident we will continue to make progress for our 
families, and again, I want to thank Dr. Jeff Cole for the fine work 
that he has been doing. I'd like to ask him to come up now and make a 
few remarks about the report.
    Dr. Cole?

[At this point, Dr. Jeffrey I. Cole, director, UCLA Center for 
Communication Policy, gave a brief update on the study.]

1996 Election

    Q. Mr. President, Bob Dole says that you are willing to take 
responsibility for doing things like this or even the drop in the crime 
rate but not for problems, especially ethical ones, within your 
administration, things like firing the Travel Office figures or even 
towards acceptances of questionable campaign donations by the Democrats 
and by the campaign. I wonder what your response to that is?
    The President. Well, we're going to have a debate tomorrow night. 
But I have not only tried to take responsibility for the things that I 
have some responsibility for, good and bad, but also to share 
responsibility for the good news with the American people who are 
responsible for helping to create the 10\1/2\ million more jobs and 
bringing the crime rate down, and in the case of where we're going to be 
tomorrow night, in San Diego County, reducing the problem of illegal 
immigration. So I tried to follow a balanced report.
    Senator Dole takes the position if it's good, I didn't have anything 
to do with it, and if it's bad, I must have stayed up all night planning 
it. So that's just politics, and we'll see some more of that, I'm sure. 
But we'll have time to discuss that in the debate.
    Q. Will your campaign contributions be returned?
    Q. Mr. President, I'm wondering if you're worried about TV violence 
tomorrow night. Specifically, what goes through your mind when Senator 
Dole, as he is in a speech right now, questions your personal integrity 
and that of the administration itself?
    The President. Well, he's been doing quite a lot of that, and I'll 
have a chance to answer that at the appropriate time.
    Q. Nothing----
    The President. No, what I--again I will say, you know, my view is 
this country is better off than it was 4 years ago. And we have worked 
hard to make it so. And we've worked hard by concentrating on ideas and 
issues, not insults. We've spent very little time worrying about our 
opponents. And we spent a lot more time being concerned about the 
American people. I expect to do that tomorrow: issues, ideas, not 
insults. And the American people can simply make up their own mind. 
They'll have a lot of time to evaluate it; they can make up their own 
mind.
    Q. He just finished his toughest attack so far on your integrity. He 
called your administration self-righteous, self-serving, arrogant, 
swaggering. It says you personally do not keep your word. Are you 
worried about this new tactic they're using?

[[Page 1835]]

    The President. No.

Television Violence

    Q. Does Senator Dole get some credit for speaking out against 
Hollywood violence? Would he be entitled to some of the credit for this 
plan?
    The President. Well, this project in particular was underway well 
before Senator Dole ever said anything. I think that anybody who speaks 
out in a constructive way is doing a responsible thing.
    You know, I went to California in December of '93 and challenged the 
entertainment industry to work with me to reduce violence and to improve 
the quality of programming. We had people from all the networks meeting 
with me in early '94, and then they reached this agreement to work with 
Senator Simon and Dr. Cole in doing something which I think is quite 
important.
    So I would hope that all Americans would be continually coming to 
grips with this, because we want to have total first amendment freedom 
of speech, but we also want to have a society in which the culture 
supports families in raising their children. There is no more important 
job; there is no more important agenda. So I think anyone who speaks out 
in an affirmative way can make a positive contribution.
    And again, I want to say that, Dr. Cole, it's rather remarkable to 
me that this unusual partnership with all of the networks and Senator 
Simon and UCLA has worked out well, because you can tell by what he said 
today that nobody's attempted to censor him. He's been given full 
freedom to evaluate these programs, to report on them, and to say what 
he thinks.
    Do you want to say anything about that?
    Dr. Cole. No, I appreciate that, and it has been an absolutely 
independent project. We also extended an invitation to Senator Dole to 
be fully briefed on this if he would like, and we're waiting to hear if 
he's interested. But he has every opportunity to be briefed in the same 
way the President has been.
    The President. Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:55 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Pyramid Hotel.