[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 31 (Monday, August 5, 1996)]
[Pages 1362-1365]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Children's Television Conference

July 29, 1996

    The President. Good morning. We're delighted to see all of you here 
for this historic meeting. A lot of you have come a long way, some of 
you on the red-eye, and I appreciate the efforts you've made to be here.
    We're here for a clear purpose: to improve and expand educational 
television for our children. The ability of the United States to make 
the 21st century the age of greatest possibility in our Nation's history 
depends in no small measure on our ability to build strong families 
today; to help our parents to succeed not only in the workplace but in 
their most important job, raising good, well-educated, well-balanced, 
successful children.
    That is why we have worked so hard to give our families more control 
over one of the most influential forces in our Nation, television. As 
all of you know better than I, it is now a major part of our national 
landscape. A typical child watches 25,000 hours of television before his 
or her 18th birthday. Preschoolers watch 28 hours of television a week, 
and at least during the Olympics, so do Presidents.
    We have dedicated ourselves to giving parents the power to screen 
out television they believe their children should not see. That's what 
the V-chip was all about. I was proud to sign the telecommunications law 
with the V-chip requirement to give parents the ability to stop 
programming that they think is inappropriate for their young children to 
see.
    You in the entertainment industry have certainly been doing your 
part. Meeting here in the White House 5 months ago, you volunteered to 
rate shows for content. You came together as responsible corporate 
citizens to give America's families an early-warning system. Parents who 
use the V-chip will now be able to block objectionable shows before it's 
too late.
    Together these initiatives constitute an invaluable arsenal for 
America's parents. And I'd also like to point out that this is a 
challenge being met in the appropriate way by people working together 
and coming together, not fighting and drifting apart.
    But that is only half the battle. As Americans we have to define 
ourselves not simply by what we stand against, but more importantly by 
what we stand for. Now we have the opportunity to use the airwaves for 
something positive, educational programming as great as our kids. 
Television can be a strong and positive force. It can help children to 
learn. It can reinforce rather than undermine the values we work so hard 
to teach our children, showing children every day what it means to 
share, to respect themselves and others, to take responsibility for 
their actions, to have sympathy with others who have difficulties, even 
to recognize that ``it's not easy being green.''
    This morning I would like to hear from you about what we can do to 
broaden the range of quality educational programming for children. I 
hope we can focus on three specific issues. First, I'd like to talk 
about the new research that shows how kids can learn valuable lessons 
from TV over the course of

[[Page 1363]]

their young lifetimes. Second, I'd like to find out more about what good 
shows look like. Third, I'd like us to talk about how we can break down 
the barriers to the development and production of quality educational 
programming for children.
    Before we begin, I would like to make an announcement. For the past 
year I've been calling upon the Federal Communications Commission to 
require broadcasters to air a minimum of 3 hours of genuine educational 
programming a week--3 hours a week, 180 minutes a week, about 2\1/2\ 
percent of the entire schedule. Such a requirement would halt a steep 
and troubling decline.
    As recently as the early eighties, the three major networks aired 
several hours more than that of children's educational and informational 
shows. But by 1990, they were down to 2 hours a week or less than 2 
hours a week. The number is inching up now, but we must do more. The 
airwaves that broadcasters use, after all, belong to all of us. And in 
exchange for their use, broadcasters are required to serve the public 
interest. I cannot imagine anything that serves the public interest more 
than seeing to it that we give our children at least 3 hours of 
educational television a week.
    That's why it gives me great pleasure to announce that the four 
major networks, the National Association of Broadcasters, and some of 
the leading advocates for educational television have come together to 
join me in supporting a new proposal to require broadcasters to air 3 
hours of quality educational programming a week. This proposal fulfills 
the promise of the Children's Television Act, that television should 
serve the educational and informational needs of our young people. It 
gives broadcasters flexibility in how to meet those needs. And it says 
to America's parents, you are not alone; we are all committed to working 
with you to see that educational programming for your children makes the 
grade. I urge the FCC to adopt this proposal to make the 3-hour rule the 
law of the land. Television can build up young lives rather than tear 
them down.
    I'd like to say a particular word of thanks to Congressman Ed Markey 
for his work on this issue and a very special word of appreciation to 
the Vice President for his tireless efforts, along with Greg Simon, to 
bring about this agreement. I thank them very, very much. Today we can 
work to imagine television as a force for good, to imagine what 
television for children would look like if it resembled what we imagined 
it was when we were children or when you first got started in this 
business.
    In recent days, as families have gathered to watch the Olympics, we 
have all been reminded about the good that television can bring into our 
homes, how it can bring us together, how it can inspire and educate us. 
This should be our standard. I'm anxious now to get to work.
    And I'd like to invite three people to come up here for some 
comments of their own about the agreement that has been reached: Eddie 
Fritts, the president of the National Association of Broadcasters; Les 
Moonves, the president of CBS Entertainment; Peggy Charren, the founder 
of Action for Children's Television.
    Peggy, Les, Eddie, would you come up.

[At this point, Mr. Fritts, Mr. Moonves, and Ms. Charren made brief 
remarks.]

    The President. The first subject we're going to talk about is the 
influence of television on children. We have some good presentations 
here. I would like to call on the First Lady to begin.

[Hillary Clinton introduced conference participants and moderated a 
panel discussion on the influence of television on children.]

    The President. Thank you very much. I think, to stay on schedule, we 
need to move to the next topic. It's clear that there's a consensus here 
and that the evidence supports the fact that television can be, has 
been, and is in many cases a positive force in children's lives. So I 
think we ought to discuss a little bit about what makes a successful 
children's television program. And I'd like to ask Mrs. Gore to lead the 
discussion, and I'll turn it over to her now.

[Tipper Gore introduced additional conference participants and moderated 
a panel discussion on how children's programming can be developed.]

[[Page 1364]]

    Mrs. Gore. Now, Mr. President, we've finished with this particular 
part of the program and would like your comments.
    The President. First of all, I love this. I wish we had all day to 
listen to you all talk about this.
    We want to talk now about whether there are barriers to more and 
better children's programs and, if so, what they are. And I guess I 
would like to begin by welcoming the advertisers that are here and 
thanking them for their commitment to this announcement we've made today 
and to this cause generally. I thought what Ms. Laybourne said about 
being a worrier--a lot of the things she said I thought were quite on 
point. And I think that the role of advertisers in sort of changing the 
whole look of how we approach this issue could be quite critical. So I'm 
delighted that you're here.
    And we're now going on to a section about how we should define and 
recognize and then deliver quality on these programs and what barriers 
there are and how we would go about taking them down. And so I'm going 
to call on the Vice President to take over the last section.

[Vice President Gore introduced additional conference participants and 
moderated a panel discussion on impediments to developing children's 
programming.]

    The President. Let me thank all of you, first of all, for coming. 
And those of you who participated in this historic agreement, I'm very 
grateful to you. You have done a good thing for your country today.
    I do not want to leave us on a down note, but I want to put this in 
the context of what I think the real stakes are of what we're discussing 
here. And I leave you with this thought, a challenge to think about 
another barrier that has nothing to do with the production of the 
programs or even getting advertising, which is how are you going to get 
these programs to the kids that need to see them the most, the kids that 
are most at risk in our society, and how are you going to reach their 
parents?
    And I want to just ask you to think about these two facts. One is, 
while we are, at least inside our administration we are very happy that 
the crime rate has gone down for 4 years in a row in America--it's a 
wonderful thing, 4 years in a row of a dropping crime rate--the rate of 
random violence among people between the ages of 12 and 17 is going up. 
Cocaine use has dropped by a third, but the rate of random drug use 
among people between the ages of 12 and 17 has been going up since 1991. 
Fact one.
    Second thing. When school starts this fall, 51.7 million children 
will enroll in schools. And it's the first time since I, the oldest of 
the baby boomers--since the baby boomers were fully in school that there 
has been a class of schoolchildren bigger than the baby boom generation, 
which means we have a few years to turn these trends around or reap a 
whirlwind from it.
    Basically, if you look at all the aggregate statistics in our 
country, it seems that most things are moving in the right direction 
after years of being troubled. But there are just so many of these kids 
out here that are either virtually raising themselves or their parents--
almost all of whom, I believe, would like to do a good job--they want to 
do a good job, but they're not sure how they should do it. So one huge 
barrier here that we have not discussed because it's sort of beyond our 
purview, but that a lot you who are brilliant at marketing things to 
people and reaching people, is how do you reach the parents?
    You know, I had a pretty good education, but I learned a lot because 
Chelsea was into ``Sesame Street'' and ``Where in the World Is Carmen 
San Diego?'' When I met the co-leaders of San Marino at the Olympics, I 
knew where it was because Chelsea got me into ``Where in the World 
Is''--[laughter]--not because I had a degree from the foreign service 
school at Georgetown. I'm just saying, how do we reach the parents? This 
is a serious issue.
    And secondly, if you cannot reach the parents, is there some way to 
reach the kids anyway? We're trying to give schools more funds, for 
example, to open early and stay open late. Is there some way to redirect 
the programs in there so that--and work with the schools so that they 
will show the programs to the kids in the after school area. You really 
need to think about this because the kids that need what you're doing 
the most

[[Page 1365]]

may have barriers that we haven't even discussed today.
    I want to make one last point. I think it would be very good for the 
adults of this country, including all of us who work in the White House, 
if Mr. Rogers' poem could be read once a week on primetime television.
    Thank you, and God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 10 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Geraldine Laybourne, president, 
Disney/ABC Cable Network; and Fred Rogers, host, ``Mr. Rogers' 
Neighborhood.''