MAKING TELEVISION SAFE FOR KIDS

(2 of 3)

Until recently, however, broadcasters ignored the law. After researchers discovered that stations throughout the country were claiming cartoons and old episodes of Leave It to Beaver and The Jetsons met the law's requirements, the fcc began a proceeding to make them clean up their act. There are more good children's television shows today than there have been in more than a decade, but even now 60% of the programs broadcasters claim meet the minimal requirements of the Children's Television Act air between 5:30 a.m. and 7 a.m.

If we want to change the system, we should not be deterred by false choices. The choice is not between free speech and the marketplace on the one hand, and governmental censorship and bureaucracy on the other. The choice is to serve the needs of children and use the opportunities presented by the superhighway in the digital age to enrich their lives. If we turn away from that choice, the consequences of our inaction will be even greater educational neglect, more craven and deceptive consumerism and inappropriate levels of sex and violence-a wasteland vaster than anyone can imagine, or would care to. Let us do for our children today what we should have done long ago.

At minimum, public policy should focus on three goals:

-- It should meet the child's need to be prepared for life as a productive citizen. Television, the nation's most powerful teacher, should be a conduit for the generational transmission of democratic values and the values of simple decency.

-- It should meet the child's need to be protected from harm that comes from continuous exposure to violence whose primary purpose is to serve as a conveyance for commercial matter.

-- It must give every advantage to parents, helping them not only to control the passage of strangers in and out of their home but also to be better parents; it should place a premium on parent education and support, including parent-to-parent support.

Now is the time for americans to rebuild our television system. Translating the public interest into a commitment to our children will take time and public debate. We challenge the American people to demand that debate and participate in it, for in the long run it will take a combination of broad education, wise parenting, corporate responsibility, and smart and forceful lawmaking to improve children's telecommunications.

We propose, first of all, that Congress give broadcasters two alternatives: either make an enforceable commitment to meet a specified standard of programming service for children on each of however many channels they operate, or forgo public service to children and pay for their use of the spectrum.