Rockefeller Reintroduces Bill to Study Effects of Media Violence
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced a bill last week to authorize a study of the impact that violent videogames and video programming have on children (http://xrl.us/bocbd8). If enacted, the Violent Content Research Act would direct the FTC and the FCC to work with the National Academy of Sciences to determine if violent programming and videogames have any harmful effects on children. NCTA said it supported the bill. NAB, MPAA, and the Entertainment Software Association did not comment.
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"Congress should do everything we can to address gun violence,” said Rockefeller in a news release. “We need comprehensive policies to fully protect our communities. This study is an important element of this approach.” Rockefeller introduced similar legislation less than a week after the deadly elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., but it did not advance before the end of the last Congress. The legislation differs slightly from President Barack Obama’s recent executive order which directed the Centers for Disease Control to conduct research into the relationship between videogames, media images and violence (CD Jan 17 p3).
Rockefeller’s bill aims to evaluate whether violent videogames and violent video programming have harmful effects on children, have a disproportionately harmful effect on children prone to aggressive behavior, or have a direct and long-lasting impact on a child’s well-being, among other provisions. Rockefeller’s legislation would require the National Academy of Sciences to submit the findings of its report to Congress, the FTC, the FCC and the Department of Health and Human Services in 15 months.
The bipartisan bill was cosponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Mike Johanns, R-Neb., Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla. In a joint news release, Heller said the bill is a “step in the right direction towards better understanding the effects of violence on children.” “The reality is we are living in an increasingly violent culture which, when coupled with mental illness, can create a very dangerous situation.” Johanns said: “Our kids are routinely exposed to movies, television and video games that glorify violence and allow them to simulate violent acts. This legislation will allow us to study what, if any, impact this exposure has on our youth, and if it encourages or desensitizes our children to the real-life consequences of violence.”
ACLU Legislative Counsel Gabe Rottman said during an interview Friday the bill “looks very much like an attempt to undermine the basis of the Supreme Court’s holding in the 2011 videogame case.” The Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association ruled unconstitutional a California state law that restricted the sale or rental of violent videogames to minors (http://xrl.us/bkvtkf). The 7-2 opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia said videogames qualify for First Amendment protections and that the government lacks the power to restrict expression because of its message, ideas, subject matter or content. Rottman added that he thought the legislation was “written in such a way that it invites a result that would support those who favor content regulation of interactive media.”