A Senate committee today opened yet another front in the new culture wars engulfing Capitol Hill as it considered new legislation to censor television broadcasts. The Senate Commerce Committee is considering legislation introduced by Senator Ernest Hollings, D-SC, to require that broadcasters limit violent video programming to hours when children are not likely to be watching. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has long fought efforts to censor the nation's airwaves, said the Hollings measure is the latest in a long line of proposals to impose government-mandated restrictions on television. The ACLU said that violent programming cannot be easily defined.
Some programs use violence for positive and socially beneficial purposes.
It would be difficult to imagine, for example, a meaningful portrayal of the Civil War without some attention to the carnage that was part of that conflict. And violence depicted in the news similarly remains important to the public, guiding decisions in public policy issues.