Senate Bill Supports Research into Media's Impact on Kids
by Mary Rettig and Jenni Parker
March 30, 2005
(AgapePress) - A bi-partisan group of U.S. senators are backing a bill to study the effects of media on kids. Democratic senators Joe Lieberman and Hillary Clinton and Republicans Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum are supporting the legislation, which would allow $90 million to go toward the research.Senator Santorum says he wants to know how the barrage of media that American children get every day has affected the culture. He is curious not only about the effects of the content of media, but also on the consequences of the large amounts of time kids spend engaged with TV, movies, electronic games and computer-based entertainment.
Melissa Caldwell, director of media research for the Parents Television Council (PTC), believes the federally-funded study could shed some light on these areas and others. "I think there's still a lot that we don't know," she says. "There are a lot of gaps in our knowledge about how kids are affected by the media, and I think it would be useful to fill in some of those gaps."
Caldwell hopes this bill will help researchers address a number of issues that have not been thoroughly explored. "In particular, there's been some research -- but it's very limited -- into how kids are affected by being exposed to sexual messages in media," she notes.
Also, the PTC's media research director adds, "I think there's a lot that we don't know yet about how kids are affected by exposure to media. We know that seeing violent content tends to make children more aggressive, but what this additional research may show us is [whether it makes] any difference how much time they're spending watching violent content."
Hillary Highlights the Issue, Gets Helpful Headlines
PTC president Brent Bozell says he is mystified as to why both of the major political camps ignored the issue of the entertainment industry's "corrosive effect on America's moral values" during the 2004 presidential campaign. He points out that a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals that the bedrooms of America's youth have become multi-media centers, featuring everything from the i-Pod, to the Gamecube, to the TV -- all of it "ripe with raunch."
"Sadly," Bozell says, "the children surveyed said most parents don't set or enforce any rules on media usage." However, he notes, even as Kaiser representatives released the study's findings to the public, Senator Clinton was on hand "to lend her star power to the message as their keynote speaker."
The PTC president says Clinton effectively plucked out what may be the most disturbing of the study's revelations. According to Kaiser's research, she noted, 70 percent of kids between age 15 and 17 say they have accidentally come across pornography on the Internet, and 23 percent say this happens often. Also, the New York senator quoted the study's finding that nearly a third of teens admit to lying about their age to access a website, and she highlighted her objections to violent and sexually explicit video games.
Bozell says Clinton's stance helps procure very positive press for her, with headlines like one that appeared in the New York paper Newsday: "Clinton Assails 'Epidemic' of Media Sex and Violence." But while critics might dismiss the senator's stance as political posturing or an attempt to position herself wisely in the debate on unhealthy media messages, the head of the PTC believes she harbors deep convictions on the subject. He also believes she has every intention of making the issue her own and perhaps taking it to the Oval Office in 2009.
For this reason, the pro-family leader says Hollywood muckrakers are advised to see the writing on the wall. "When Hillary Clinton is scolding you in the headlines," he says, "maybe it's time to shape up."
Meanwhile, Bozell says Clinton's would-be competitors need to pay attention as well. He submits that they are being outflanked on "a hugely important issue" -- one likely to become increasingly significant between now and the next presidential election.
