Television Violence

• Date: 1985 - Present

• Location: USA

• Subject: Behavior & Political/Economic/Social Opinion

• Medium: Television

• Artist/Author/Producer: various

• Confronting Bodies: U.S. Congress

• Dates of action: June 1993+

• Location: Nationwide

Description of the Art Work

Television programs (broadcast and cable) that feature violent elements.

Description of incident

Censorship-minded people like Illinois Senator Paul Simon seemed to win a victory of sorts at an August 1993 conference on TV violence in Los Angeles. The meeting was organized by the National Council for Families and Television, and attracted more than 600 members of the entertainment industry, academics and various watchdog groups. Simon's bottom line to the TV people in attendance was this: Start cleaning up your act in 60 days, or Congress will be thinking of ways to regulate what can be shown on television and when it can be shown.

At one point 11 pieces of legislation aimed at curbing TV violence were on the table, including the Children's Protection from Violent Programming Act, introduced by Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC); The Markey Bill (Rep. Ed Markey, D-MA), which would force TV manufacturers t. Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS); Rep. Jim Slattery (D-KS) and Rep. John Bryant (D-TX). For their part, programmers seemed unwilling to agree with the premise that violence in society is caused by violence on television.

In August 1993, an articlet monitoring and regulation unless they become more socially responsible. President Clinton criticized Reno's endorsement of the bills, saying he did not want her office to trample First Amendment rights.

By January 1994, the spin doctors in Simon's office were working overtime on a report thatBS and NBC. Simon's sudden loss of bluster may have had something to do with the decision of a federal appeals court in Washington a month earlier. The court struck down Federal Communications Commission rules banning the broadcast of so-called "indecent" material during most broadcast hours.

.I" and "Hawaii Five-O." And the network honchos further argue that they regularly take a pass on showing movies that will inevitably be picked up by independent and cable outlets, which will then beat the networks in the ratings.

In October 1993, Attorney General Janet Reno told lawmakers that she feels the regulation of violence is constitutionally permissible, and threatened programmers with Government monitoring and regulation unless they become more socially responsible. President Clinton criticized Reno's endorsement of the bills, saying he did not want her office to trample First Amendment rights.

By January 1994, the spin doctors in Simon's office were working overtime on a report that Simon was "moving away" from the idea of legislation against television violence following "positive and constructive" meetings with the heads of Showtime, HBO, ABC, CBS and NBC. Simon's sudden loss of bluster may have had something to do with the decision of a federal appeals court in Washington a month earlier. The court struck down Federal Communications Commission rules banning the broadcast of so-called "indecent" material during most broadcast hours.

Results of incident

So far, no legislation has been passed to regulate TV violence. In May 1994 a coalition of cable TV operators commissioned Mediascope, a not-for-profit group based in Studio City, CA, to monitor violence levels on TV, for a three-year period beginning in September 1994. The study is expected cost the cable networks and their trade group about $1.2 million annually.

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