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Statement of Ted Stevens
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Hearing: Impact of Media Violence on Children
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Tuesday, June 26, 2007
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Thank you Mr. Chairman. As a father of six and a grandfather of eleven, with more coming, and more great-grandchildren coming soon, I share your feelings about this. But I think we have to tread a lot softer than you indicate, if we can. Because the constitutional restraints that have been imposed upon us in the past will certainly be restrained upon us if we go too far in terms of trying to regulate this industry, which is so vast and so diverse. Now you can pull down movies on your computer sitting at a desk where your parents think you’re studying. You can pull down movies to an IPOD. There are so many different ways to get to movies other than broadcasting and cable today that the whole question comes down to, I think to really, the movies industry itself. Although, even there, there are portions of the industry that are making movies that are not subject to the restraints that were self-imposed on the movies industry. I think that Jack Valenti, our late friend, started a process of trying to educate Americans, and particularly parents, on how they can control what their children watch in their home. I don’t know that even that’s effective in trying to control what they watch on their IPODs or on their computer or on the various devices that are available today. Clearly the Supreme Court has laid down some guidelines in the past and I fear that if we go beyond the concept of trying to make sure that we have a rating program that works and a program that works as far as giving parents every tool they need to protect the smaller children, by the time they get to the teens, they’ve got all these devices today that give them access to actual broadcasts from outside the country. It is not something that is easily regulated and the more that we put down too harsh rules on televisions that are in their home; the more they are going to acquire the facilities, the capability, and the technology to watch what they want to watch. I think there is a little bit of education involved here, as far as parents are concerned. My attempt to restrain my children watching programs is that I just didn’t buy the television and as you know, the Mayor lived about three houses down the block and he finally stopped me and said “Stevens, why are your kids always in my front room?” He had a television. It’s a simple matter; children will go where they want to go, to watch what they want to watch. As a practical matter, what we’ve got to do is be mindful of the constitution and do our best to put down the kind of regulation that will work. I do hope that we can achieve that and I am anxious to hear, really, I heard you say that you don’t believe that this has accomplished anything. I think the program that Jack Valenti has started after our three listening sessions in the last Congress has had some effect and I am anxious to hear whether we will get to have some real, good statistics on that, but I admire you holding the hearing. I hope that we can bring about some change, but I am fearful of going too far and losing control altogether. Thank you.
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