I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2159

To require the Federal Communications Commission to evaluate and publicly

report on the violence contained in television programs, and for other

purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 19, 1993

Mr. DURBIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Energy and Commerce

A BILL

To require the Federal Communications Commission to

evaluate and publicly report on the violence contained

in television programs, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Television Violence Re5 port Card Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) Television is bringing an epidemic of vio9 lence into the American home. 25 percent of prime
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1 time television shows contain ‘‘very violent’’ mate2 rial, according to the National Coalition on Tele3 vision Violence.

4 (2) This epidemic has been growing steadily

5 worse. Prime time violence tripled during the 1980’s,

6 the American Academy of Pediatrics reports.

7 (3) Shows aimed at children are especially vio8 lent. According to a University of Pennsylvania

9 study, children’s programming contains over 30 vio10 lent acts per hour, an all-time record.

11 (4) The average child watches 8,000 murders

12 and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing elemen13 tary school on television.

14 (5) The National Institute of Mental Health

15 states that violence on television leads to aggressive

16 behavior by children and teenagers who watch vio17 lent television programs. There is overwhelming evi18 dence that children tend to imitate the behavior they

19 see on television.

20 (6) The growing international media market

21 has put a premium on ‘‘action’’-type television shows

22 that require little verbal translation, making violence

23 a major United States export to the rest of the

24 world.
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1 (7) It is not the role of government to tell peo2 ple what to watch or broadcasters what to show, but

3 the Federal Government should bolster the ability of

4 families and communities to make these decisions

5 themselves.

6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF TELEVISION VIOLENCE RE7 PORT CARD PROGRAM.

8 (a) REGULATIONS.—The Federal Communications

9 Commission (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Commis10 sion’’), shall, by regulations promulgated not later than

11 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, establish

12 a program for—

13 (1) evaluating and rating television programs,

14 with respect to the extent of the violence contained

15 in those programs; and

16 (2) publishing such ratings in the form of a

17 Television Violence Report Card.

18 (b) PROGRAM SELECTION.—Under the program re19 quired by subsection (a), the Commission shall—

20 (1) select, within each quarter of a calendar

21 year, at least 1 week for the Commission to evaluate

22 the extent of the violence contained in each of the

23 programs carried on any of the national broadcast

24 television networks, or on cable television systems

25 (in the case of programs available to a substantial
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1 percentage of the households that subscribe to cable

2 television service nationally), during that week’s

3 prime-time and Saturday morning time slots; and

4 (2) ensure that at least 1 of the weeks selected

5 under paragraph (1) in any calendar year is a

6 sweeps week.

7 (c) VIOLENCE RATINGS OF PROGRAMS AND SPON8 SORS.—After evaluating the television programs described

9 in subsection (c), and in accordance with criteria estab10 lished by the regulations promulgated under this section,

11 the Commission shall—

12 (1) rate those programs in terms of the extent

13 of the violence they contain; and

14 (2) rate program sponsors in terms of the ex15 tent to which they sponsor television programs that

16 contain a high degree of violence.

17 (d) REPORT CARD.—In the quarter following any

18 quarter for which the Commission has made evaluations

19 under this section, the Commission shall publish in the

20 Federal Register a Television Violence Report Card that

21 reports the violence ratings by the Commission under sub22 section (c) of the programs so evaluated and the sponsors

23 of those programs.

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