EDITORIAL

Take the power
(button) back

Aug. 6, 2009 | The Catholic Sun

Overworked and overextended, parents today can be prone to squander what little quality time they have with their children by sitting them in front of the TV, instead of reading, playing outside or encouraging their creativity. Television has unfortunately become the babysitter for children in many households.

With hundreds of channels and thousands of hours of programming at their fingertips, a world of trouble becomes accessible to young impressionable minds with the push of a button: sex, violence and other potentially mind-altering opportunities await these unsupervised youngsters.

We’re not talking just about primetime television or the latest HBO serial drama; there is plenty to be concerned about on children’s programming found on some of the more youth-oriented cable networks. Some programs lack any remote hint of educational value, others serve as a 22-minute merchandising opportunity, while plenty of others overindulge in simulated violence.

And this is just what’s available with conventional television. With the advent of 24-hour-a-day on-demand programming, Web-based video and on-the-go entertainment with the iPod, it’s hard to imagine if it’s possible for a young person’s mind to become even more mis-wired by today’s secular, disposable pop cultural influences.

Which is why it’s heartening to read about the Federal Communications Commission’s initiative to revisit a two decades-old act governing children’s television. Catholic News Service reports that new FCC chairman Julius Genachowski and the commission are revisiting the 1990 Children’s Television Act, which was enacted to enhance the information and skills that children gleaned from TV programming. This is accomplished, in part, by requiring networks to carry a certain amount of educational and informational programming during times when children are most likely to be in front of the television, and to identify each program as such to parents.

The regulation also limits the amount of commercial advertising that is permissible per hour of children’s programming.

According to CNS, Genachowski recently told a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee that with the proliferation of different media devices and new ways to access programming, such as with the Internet, mobile phones and video games, that now was the time to revisit the 1990 Children’s Television Act.

A new inquiry into the act should revisit the role of programming as it pertains to education and marketing while “recognizing the appropriate roles of the government, parents and the private sector while honoring and abiding by the First Amendment,” he said.

Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., while speaking at the hearing, advocated for legislation that would give the FCC control over violent programming while giving them authority to increase fines for over-the-top indecent content.

CNS reports that according to the senator’s Web site, numerous studies have shown that TV violence can have a severely negative affect on children. On average, it indicates that children are exposed to 100,000 acts of violence by the time they leave elementary school.

In the past, however, fellow senators have rebuffed Sen. Rockefeller’s moves to give more power to the FCC, fearful of treading upon the First Amendment.

It’s reasonable to expect a push and pull between television’s content producers and the government as they try to navigate through this issue while respecting First Amendment rights protecting free speech. It’s this same back and forth that gave us the 1990 Children’s Television Act, and we hope that those with a say in the matter can build upon this foundation to better protect our children from harmful programming.

But we’d be remiss if we failed to remind those with the ultimate authority — the parents — that it is indeed their responsibility to regulate the television (and the Internet, Wii and iPhone). With children comes a great responsibility of nurturing and guiding. It is the parents, we remind, who have the power — and the power button — to filter out today’s noise.