Boxer urges scrutiny of gun makers, less on Hollywood
By HERBERT A. SAMPLE
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
September 12, 2000
WASHINGTON - With one of her home state's biggest industries under attack here, California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer on Tuesday chided entertainment companies for marketing violent products to children but stressed that the advertising practices of gun makers also should be scrutinized.
Boxer, who is to testify Wednesday before a Senate panel reviewing a federal report on the marketing of violent music, movies and video games, said in an interview that entertainment companies should be criticized for urging children to buy products that the industry itself warns was inappropriate for them.
But returning to an argument the senator used last year when she defended the industry against efforts to force a reduction in the level of violence in its merchandise, Boxer said gun makers also must share the blame for a violent society.
"My point is, when you're wrong, you're wrong. And they (entertainment industry firms) are not right on this," she said. "But that doesn't mean that that's all we should focus attention on."
The Federal Trade Commission on Monday released the results of a yearlong inquiry into marketing practices by the businesses that produce and sell motion pictures, music recordings, and computer and video games.
It concluded that those firms "routinely" target children under 17 for products that industry rating panels had deemed should not be seen or used by minors or that warranted parental caution.
The commission stopped short of recommending legislative changes. Instead, it called on the industry to improve its own marketing practices, to upgrade compliance at the retail level and to increase parental awareness of ratings and warning labels.
Vice President Gore, the Democratic nominee for president, went a bit further by threatening changes in deceptive advertising laws. And Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican nominee, said he would work with the industry to reduce violence but would also remind parents of their responsibilities.
On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard said his agency would examine whether broadcasters are promoting inappropriate programming when children are likely to be watching television.
The Walt Disney Company also announced several moves, including pledges to better describe the content of its R-rated films and a to avoid targeting minors when conducting market research for R-rated movies. The ABC network, owned by Disney, will refuse ads for R-rated films between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
But while the folks who produce movies, video games and music CDs were roundly criticized Monday and are likely to be again today during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing, entertainment is a vital industry to California - to the tune of billions of dollars in the state's economy and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
As would most elected officials of big, home-state businesses, Boxer has been protective of the entertainment industry's interests on Capitol Hill.
"It's very important to California," she said in the interview. "We need to remember, that for all the bad examples that some people hold up ... let's not forget Barbra Streisand. Let's not forget Frank Sinatra. Let's not forget 'Schindler's List.' Let's not forget 'The Titanic.' Let's not forget 'Saving Private Ryan.'
"The fact is that most of the product that comes out that we ship around the world has been a force for good," she added. "That's why I feel that for there to be nothing but negativity toward an industry that has been in many ways so good for our country is sad."
Boxer said she disagreed with Gore's suggestion that the entertainment industry is deceptively marketing its products. "I don't see where the false advertising is," she said. "They're advertising a movie, and they're advertising it to kids, which they should not be doing, but that's not a law, that's a rating system."
She also said the industry should be left to regulate itself because the Constitution limits what government can do.
"If you lived in the Soviet Union, you could become the content police," she said. "But in America, we don't control content. And we have a Constitution."
Boxer stressed that other factors also are to blame for a violent society, such as domestic violence. But she focused her attention on the youth marketing practices of gun makers, examples of which she will cite to the Senate panel.
"If we lead the American people to think that this is our only problem in terms of violence, then we don't deserve to be here because we are allowing marketing to go on, without even a study, of weapons to children," she said.
(Herbert A. Sample is a Washington reporter for Scripps-McClatchy Western Service.)
Copyright © 1999-2000, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
------------------
"The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside
the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12)
By HERBERT A. SAMPLE
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
September 12, 2000
WASHINGTON - With one of her home state's biggest industries under attack here, California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer on Tuesday chided entertainment companies for marketing violent products to children but stressed that the advertising practices of gun makers also should be scrutinized.
Boxer, who is to testify Wednesday before a Senate panel reviewing a federal report on the marketing of violent music, movies and video games, said in an interview that entertainment companies should be criticized for urging children to buy products that the industry itself warns was inappropriate for them.
But returning to an argument the senator used last year when she defended the industry against efforts to force a reduction in the level of violence in its merchandise, Boxer said gun makers also must share the blame for a violent society.
"My point is, when you're wrong, you're wrong. And they (entertainment industry firms) are not right on this," she said. "But that doesn't mean that that's all we should focus attention on."
The Federal Trade Commission on Monday released the results of a yearlong inquiry into marketing practices by the businesses that produce and sell motion pictures, music recordings, and computer and video games.
It concluded that those firms "routinely" target children under 17 for products that industry rating panels had deemed should not be seen or used by minors or that warranted parental caution.
The commission stopped short of recommending legislative changes. Instead, it called on the industry to improve its own marketing practices, to upgrade compliance at the retail level and to increase parental awareness of ratings and warning labels.
Vice President Gore, the Democratic nominee for president, went a bit further by threatening changes in deceptive advertising laws. And Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican nominee, said he would work with the industry to reduce violence but would also remind parents of their responsibilities.
On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard said his agency would examine whether broadcasters are promoting inappropriate programming when children are likely to be watching television.
The Walt Disney Company also announced several moves, including pledges to better describe the content of its R-rated films and a to avoid targeting minors when conducting market research for R-rated movies. The ABC network, owned by Disney, will refuse ads for R-rated films between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
But while the folks who produce movies, video games and music CDs were roundly criticized Monday and are likely to be again today during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing, entertainment is a vital industry to California - to the tune of billions of dollars in the state's economy and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
As would most elected officials of big, home-state businesses, Boxer has been protective of the entertainment industry's interests on Capitol Hill.
"It's very important to California," she said in the interview. "We need to remember, that for all the bad examples that some people hold up ... let's not forget Barbra Streisand. Let's not forget Frank Sinatra. Let's not forget 'Schindler's List.' Let's not forget 'The Titanic.' Let's not forget 'Saving Private Ryan.'
"The fact is that most of the product that comes out that we ship around the world has been a force for good," she added. "That's why I feel that for there to be nothing but negativity toward an industry that has been in many ways so good for our country is sad."
Boxer said she disagreed with Gore's suggestion that the entertainment industry is deceptively marketing its products. "I don't see where the false advertising is," she said. "They're advertising a movie, and they're advertising it to kids, which they should not be doing, but that's not a law, that's a rating system."
She also said the industry should be left to regulate itself because the Constitution limits what government can do.
"If you lived in the Soviet Union, you could become the content police," she said. "But in America, we don't control content. And we have a Constitution."
Boxer stressed that other factors also are to blame for a violent society, such as domestic violence. But she focused her attention on the youth marketing practices of gun makers, examples of which she will cite to the Senate panel.
"If we lead the American people to think that this is our only problem in terms of violence, then we don't deserve to be here because we are allowing marketing to go on, without even a study, of weapons to children," she said.
(Herbert A. Sample is a Washington reporter for Scripps-McClatchy Western Service.)
Copyright © 1999-2000, The Knoxville News-Sentinel Co.
------------------
"The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside
the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12)
