I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1855
To exempt agreements relating to voluntary guidelines governing telecast
material, movies, video games, Internet content, and music lyrics from
the applicability of the antitrust laws.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 18, 1999
Mr. SMITH of Texas (for himself, Ms. LOFGREN, and Mr. HUTCHINSON) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To exempt agreements relating to voluntary guidelines gov-
erning telecast material, movies, video games, Internet
content, and music lyrics from the applicability of the
antitrust laws.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Children’s Protection
Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Television is seen and heard in nearly every
United States home and is a uniquely pervasive
presence in the daily lives of Americans. The average
American home has 2.5 televisions, and a television
is turned on in the average American home 7 hours
every day.
(2) Television plays a particularly significant
role in the lives of children. Figures provided by
Nielsen Research show that children between the
ages of 2 years and 11 years spend an average of
21 hours in front of a television each week.
(3) Television has an enormous capability to in-
fluence perceptions, especially those of children, of
the values and behaviors that are common and ac-
ceptable in society.
(4) The influence of television is so great that
its images and messages often can be harmful to the
development of children. Social science research
amply documents a strong correlation between the
exposure of children to televised violence and a num-
ber of behavioral and psychological problems.
(5) Hundreds of studies have proven conclu-
sively that children who are consistently exposed to
violence on television have a higher tendency to ex-
hibit violent and aggressive behavior, both as chil-
dren and later in life.
(6) Such studies also show that repeated expo-
sure to violent programming causes children to be-
come desensitized to and more accepting of real-life
violence and to grow more fearful and less trusting
of their surroundings.
(7) A growing body of social science research
indicates that sexual content on television can also
have a significant influence on the attitudes and be-
haviors of young viewers. This research suggests
that heavy exposure to programming with strong
sexual content contributes to the early commence-
ment of sexual activity among teenagers.
(8) Members of the National Association of
Broadcasters (NAB) adhered for many years to a
comprehensive code of conduct that was based on an
understanding of the influence exerted by television
and on a widely held sense of responsibility for using
that influence carefully.
(9) This code of conduct, the Television Code of
the National Association of Broadcasters, articulated
this sense of responsibility as follows:
(A) ‘‘In selecting program subjects and
themes, great care must be exercised to be sure
that the treatment and presentation are made
in good faith and not for the purpose of sensa-
tionalism or to shock or exploit the audience or
appeal to prurient interests or morbid curi-
osity.’’.
(B) ‘‘Broadcasters have a special responsi-
bility toward children. Programs designed pri-
marily for children should take into account the
range of interests and needs of children, from
instructional and cultural material to a wide va-
riety of entertainment material. In their total-
ity, programs should contribute to the sound,
balanced development of children to help them
achieve a sense of the world at large and in-
formed adjustments to their society.’’.
(C) ‘‘Violence, physical, or psychological,
may only be projected in responsibly handled
contexts, not used exploitatively. Programs in-
volving violence present the consequences of it
to its victims and perpetrators. Presentation of
the details of violence should avoid the exces-
sive, the gratuitous and the instructional.’’.
(D) ‘‘The presentation of marriage, family,
and similarly important human relationships,
and material with sexual connotations, shall not
be treated exploitatively or irresponsibly, but
with sensitivity.’’.
(E) ‘‘Above and beyond the requirements
of the law, broadcasters must consider the fam-
ily atmosphere in which many of their programs
are viewed. There shall be no graphic portrayal
of sexual acts by sight or sound. The portrayal
of implied sexual acts must be essential to the
plot and presented in a responsible and tasteful
manner.’’.
(10) The National Association of Broadcasters
abandoned the code of conduct in 1983 after three
provisions of the code restricting the sale of adver-
tising were challenged by the Department of Justice
on antitrust grounds and a Federal district court
issued a summary judgment against the National
Association of Broadcasters regarding one of the
provisions on those grounds. However, none of the
programming standards of the code were challenged.
(11) While the code of conduct was in effect, its
programming standards were never found to have
violated any antitrust law.
(12) Since the National Association of Broad-
casters abandoned the code of conduct, program-