[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 9 (Monday, March 4, 1996)]
[Pages 389-394]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Roundtable Discussion With Families on Television 
Programming

March 1, 1996

    The President. Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President. I might say, 
aren't we all glad to be in his big, beautiful office here. I love to 
come over here. I want to thank all of you for coming and to say to you 
and to the members of the media who are here, yesterday we heard for 2 
hours from a remarkable assemblage of people who are involved in the 
television industry, people who broadcast the programs; we heard from 
cable people; we heard from the people who write the programs; people 
who represent the actors; producers. It was an amazing assemblage of 
people who got together and came to Washington to announce that they had 
decided to develop a rating system for television programs like the 
movie rating system, and that as the Vice President said, that that 
would be able to be used then when the V-chip becomes available in 
televisions.
    Now, the V-chip, of course, will start coming into televisions in a 
couple of years. And we replace about 25 million televisions a year, I 
think, in America, so it will quickly be a fixture in a significant 
percentage of America's televisions. But the rating system presumably 
will still be helpful for parents even before they have the V-chip.
    We wanted to have you in here today because we want to get a feel 
and we want the country to get a feel for what kinds of things parents 
feel about this rating system and the V-chip, what the young people feel 
about it, what you expect out of it, what do you think it will do, what 
won't it do, what would you like to see, how would you like to see it 
work? And of course, we have some advocates and professionals here who 
can talk about the impact of this on child-rearing in America and on 
childhood.
    I must tell you, this is going to be a very complicated and 
difficult thing for these people in television to do in the sense that 
they have--there are many, many thousands of--tens of thousands of 
programs on all of these television stations, and as we get more cable 
channels, they will multiply exponentially. So the job of rating them is 
very different from

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the job of rating a couple of thousand movies a year. So as they 
undertake this task, I think it's important for the people in the 
entertainment industry and the public at large to get just a feel for 
how parents feel about it, how young people feel about it and kind of 
how it should proceed, because they committed to have this done by the 
first of next year--no later than the first of next year, and perhaps 
sooner.
    So we really just felt we ought to have this conversation today, and 
we thank you for joining us. And maybe we ought to start with you, Mrs. 
Somson. If you could tell the press--everybody, if you could tell the 
press your name when you speak and how you happen to be here.

[At this point, Ms. Somson praised the rating system and the V-chip as 
tools that parents can use to guard what their children will watch on 
television. Another participant then suggested that the V-chip and the 
industry meeting on ratings was a first step in pooling resources to 
produce better children's programming.]

    The President. I want to talk about the better programming in a 
minute because I think that's a big part of it, especially when I ask 
the young people about it. But I want to give the parents who are here a 
chance to say anything they'd like to say about the V-chip and the 
ratings issue, and then I want to come back and talk about the V-chip 
with you. I want you to tell your story.

[A participant said that the technology of what viewers will be doing 
with the V-chip will assist the industry in refining and defining the 
rating system. He then said that he thought that viewers will actually 
vote with the V-chip so that advertisers and programmers will produce 
more family programming.]

    The President. I'm so glad to hear you say that, because there 
were--you made two comments; I just want to say that to kind of resonate 
with the discussion we had with the people from the industry yesterday. 
Ted Turner said, and he went out and said in public, so I'm not saying 
anything in private he didn't say in public--that he strongly supported 
the rating system and what we were doing, what they were doing, but he 
did think it would be very costly. And I think it will obviously cost a 
lot of money to figure out how to do this and then review all these 
programs, to set up the system. But I think he meant he thought it would 
be costly over the long run because programs would not have the same 
viewership and their advertisers would drop.
    I think I see it more like you do; it's a voting system. It would be 
another--it's like the Nielsen ratings, except you won't have--this 
won't be a sample, you'll be able to actually know. You'll be able to at 
least sample all the V-chip homes, you take a representative sample. And 
it might actually change the content of programming so that the market, 
the market forces actually produce more positive programs.
    The other thing you said I think is important, a couple of the folks 
who were skeptical yesterday talked about how this wouldn't be a 
panacea, it wouldn't solve all the problems. And one of the men in the 
broadcasting meeting said--I mean the industry meeting--he said, I'm 
going to take off my industry hat now and tell you that I'm a parent of 
three small children. I'm not looking for panaceas, I'm looking for a 
little help. And I think that's the way all of us who are parents look 
at this. There is no such thing as a panacea; we're looking for a little 
help.
    So you made that point, and I thought it was very good.

[A participant said that the V-chip should reduce family tension because 
it would eliminate repeated discussion of whether a particular program 
is acceptable.]

    The President. Hillary almost fell off the chair when you said that, 
the keeper of the remote. [Laughter]
    Q. So we're really delighted with both the V-chip and the rating 
system.

[A participant said the V-chip and rating system is a vital first step 
for working parents who can't always be present when their children are 
watching television.

[Vice President Gore then introduced Dr. Robert Phillips, Deputy Medical 
Director, American Psychiatric Association who discussed the powerful 
effect that free and gra- 

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tuitous violence on television has on children. He thanked the President 
and Vice President for their work in facilitating the industry and 
parents to work together to create a stronger and more healthy 
environment in which children can use television in a productive and 
useful way.]
    The President. Hillary, do you want to comment on that, based on 
what you said in----

[At this point, Hillary Clinton said the more parents understand the 
link between what children see on television and their behavior, the 
more willing they will be to implement the rating system in their homes 
and to be ready to use the V-chip when it is available.]

    The President. I want to get to the young people here. And let me 
tell you, it's okay if you disagree with us about this. We want to hear 
what you really think. But I want to ask the doctor one more question. 
Before I had this job, as I used to say, back when I had a life--
[laughter]--I was Governor of my State when I ran a big prison system 
and a big criminal justice system, obviously. And then I was attorney 
general, and before that I taught criminal law. So I've been following 
issues of crime and violence closely from that perspective for more than 
20 years now.
    For most of my time, it was an article of faith that 75 percent of 
all the violent crimes in America were created by people between the 
ages of 17 and 26. And that there was almost a hormonal problem. If you 
could literally just get violent people and put them somewhere until 
they were 27, you could let them out and then they would not do that 
again. That there really almost seemed to be sea changes.
    Now we see an astonishing thing. With the crime rate going down 
among people 18 and over, and I might add, drug use going down among 
people over 18, and violence going up among people under 18, as well as 
casual drug use. And I think there are plainly other reasons for 
increasing violent behavior among young people, including the lives that 
many of them have to live, virtually raising themselves on some of the 
meanest streets in America. But I gather from what you said that you 
really believe that the sort of cumulative, almost deadening impact of 
all this media-generated violence is at least partly the explanation for 
rising rates of violence among juveniles.

[Dr. Phillips agreed with the President, and pointed out that the 
increase in juvenile crime was a multifactorial problem. Vice President 
Gore then pointed out that some of the other factors involved would be 
addressed at the President's White House Conference on Youth Violence on 
March 7. He then thanked the industry for taking the steps that they 
agreed to.]

    The President. I thought maybe we ought to start with Catherine next 
to me because Catherine Murphy actually passed the first V-chip bill--
[laughter]--in the United States of America. I think you all need to 
know that. It wasn't us; it was her. And so I think you ought to hear 
her story, and I'd like to know how you came to propose this legislation 
and what you think of it.

[At this point, Ms. Murphy referred to the ``mock Senate'' she attended 
with girls from around the world, and mentioned that the Girls Nation 
Senate president vetoed the ``Senate's'' proposed legislation on the V-
chip.]

    The President. They'll do that to you. [Laughter] Let me ask you 
this. Do you believe--I want to ask and then I want to go around to the 
students here--how do you think the V-chip should be used? And how much 
difference do you think there is in the age of the children in terms of 
the regulation of the programming?

[The participant described her family's television viewing and past-time 
habits, and mentioned that most young children watch too much 
television.]

    The President. You watch television a lot?

[A participant discussed his preference for outdoors activities and said 
he only watches the news and a couple shows on television. Talking about 
his peers, he said they base their lives on television and what they see 
there.]

    The President. If you've actually seen that in your friends who 
believe it----
    Q. Yes.

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    The President. ----that they're acting, they model what they do 
based on what they see on television.

[The participant confirmed that his peers model themselves after 
television show characters and voiced his support of the V-chip.]

    The President. What about you? You're eleven, right?

[A participant said that he spends most of his time playing on the 
computer and asked if there will be a V-chip for computers.]

    The President. Let's talk about that because that's going to be a 
big issue.

[Vice President Gore pointed out the need for an industry-wide system to 
rate computer games and allow parents to screen the Internet to prevent 
material inappropriate for children.]

    The President. What do you think? Do you think your mother should 
have some influence over what you watch on television or should you 
decide?

[A participant said that parents should have influence over what 
children watch on television and described children in her class who 
pretend to be characters that they see on television.]

    The President. Playing out what they saw on TV.
    Q. Right.
    The President. What about you all?

[A participant said that children tend to act out television shows 
instead of playing and expanding their imagination. Another participant 
referred to recent studies on television viewing habits and suggested 
that parents need to encourage children to be critical viewers.]

    The President. What do you think?

[Vice President Gore, prompted by a participant's remark that children 
get scared by some television programs, said the V-chip would give 
parents a tool to help children avoid watching programs which may be 
harmful. Other participants said that the parents should teach their 
children to be critical viewers and encourage them to participate in 
constructive activities and hobbies. Several participants elaborated on 
the negative influence of violent programs on children. A participant 
then pointed out the useful, positive influences of television.]

    The President. I'm so glad to hear you say that as well. But that--I 
don't know how much time we have left, but I think we ought to hear from 
the young people especially on the flip side of this because we believe 
it's important, we applaud the industry for developing the rating system 
and making it compatible with the V-chip.
    But the Children's Television Act, which was passed a couple of 
years ago, also calls upon producers of the television programs to 
develop more and better programs that will be appealing to children in a 
positive way.
    And I just want to make two points and then ask anybody who wants to 
comment to comment. There were two interesting ideas which came out 
yesterday. One is, the people who were there, not us, the Vice President 
and I just watched, but in the room there, in the industry, there was a 
genuine argument about whether, particularly younger people, would be as 
likely to watch any kind of educational program as they would a sort of 
a violent cartoon or something. And there was a woman there from the 
Discovery Channel who was a very powerful advocate and said, that is not 
true. If you make education entertaining, it will be watched. And she 
gave some examples. That's the first thing: would you like to have more 
positive programming on television?
    The second thing I think's important to point out, one of you sort 
of inched up to it when you were talking about the Internet, young 
people on the computer. All these technologies, the Vice President knows 
100 times more about this than I do, but it looks to me like they're all 
merging. I mean, it won't be very long before you can call up any movie 
you want on your computer and before a lot of the things you see on your 
television screen are interactive.
    So that I think that basically we're watching, we're seeing a 
process--and that, by the way, will engage more young people because as 
they become more computer literate, if they have interactive programs on 
television, it will bring them up. Or if they can call mov- 

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ies up on the computer, it will, so we really need to also focus on the 
positive things that we ought to be doing for our children.
    And so, what do you think? Do you think, would young people be just 
as likely to watch more constructive programs if they were genuinely 
entertaining, or do you believe there's just an inherent predisposition 
to watch the violence?

[A participant stated that if children were fascinated by interesting 
programming, it would open doors of opportunity for them. Hillary 
Clinton pointed out the concern of the industry that older children will 
not choose programming for themselves that is educational, and asked how 
we can send a message to the industry that this is not always true. A 
participant then stated that she preferred watching nonviolent movies.]

    Mrs. Clinton. You are an exception--[laughter]--based on the numbers 
that are out there.
    Q. I think also it has to do with where I live and the family 
upbringing that I had.
    Mrs. Clinton. That's exactly right.

[At this point, a participant discussed programming for high school 
children and suggested that the industry involve teenagers in 
programming. Another participant discussed how strengthening the 
Children's Television Act impacted on the quality of programming. Vice 
President Gore then said that it is up to parents to choose the programs 
they want their children to watch and the V-chip will be a tool to aid 
them in their efforts.]

    The President. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for 
being here, especially the young people. Thank you, doctor, it's good to 
see you again.
    Dr. Phillips. Good to see you, Mr. President.
    The President. I want to thank Tipper Gore when she first proposed a 
rating system for records it was considered heresy. And now she's lived 
and worked hard at this long enough to make it a matter of American 
conventional wisdom in television.
    And let me say that for Hillary and for me, based on our experience 
over the last 15 or 20 years, maybe the most important reason to have 
this conversation today was the point that Catherine made when she first 
talked about her work for the V-chip, and that is that technology is 
intrinsically action-oriented, but neither intrinsically good nor bad. 
It depends on the values and the action of the people in control of the 
technology. And while this gives more--the V-chip and the ratings 
information will give more power to parents, it's utterly useless unless 
they use it.
    And so what I'm hoping that this did today is to convince other 
people in other community settings and every community in our country to 
begin to discuss these matters and to begin to now, if their community 
does not have an advocacy group like the one you are involved in, 
perhaps to form one or at least figure out how friends and neighbors can 
get together and figure out how they're going to use this ratings 
information and figure out how they're going to use the V-chip as the V-
chip comes in.
    But I was glad to hear Mrs. Somson say what she did about this. You 
don't have to wait for the V-chip to make use of the ratings 
information. You know, most parents are still influenced--most children 
still have some influence about what their parents say, and parents are 
influenced by their children. So I just want to encourage that we need 
that every place in America.
    But this law that was passed, and this remarkable effort by the 
industry will not amount to a hill of beans if the parents do not take 
action in their homes and if in each community the community activists 
who know how to make the most of this don't work with the parents to do 
it.
    Thanks a lot. It's great to see you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:55 a.m. in the Vice President's 
Ceremonial Office, in the Old Executive Office Building. In his remarks, 
he referred to Ted Turner, chief executive officer and president, Turner 
Broadcasting Service, Inc.

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