Media Executives Pressed Hard on Violence
Cable, videogame, music and broadcast executives faced tough questioning on the pervasiveness of violent and sexually explicit content at a marathon Tuesday House Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing. During the five hour-plus event, members asked five executives how they ensure music videos, radio shows, albums and games avoid racial epithets, sexism and cursing. But committee members from both parties seemed disinclined to try to ban such objectionable content, citing First Amendment concerns.
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So-called gangsta rap most inflamed legislators, whether it airs on terrestrial or satellite radio, is sold on compact discs or distributed online. Violent video games also drew heat, including Take-Two’s Grand Theft Auto. Witnesses from Radio One, Viacom, Take-Two, Universal Music Group and Warner Music stressed the array of voluntary steps they take to warn parents of racy content, including refusing to air it.
Asked by Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill., to refuse to let certain words onto media or the airwaves, most executives declined. “I would never ban any word,” Universal Music Chairman Doug Morris said. Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick and Warner Music Chairman Edgar Bronfman said it makes no sense to ban certain words. “As hateful language, sir, it is also in the eye of the beholder,” Bronfman told Rush.
Executives said standards and practices departments or the like scrutinize content before it’s made public. “Every show and every music video is reviewed by a diverse group of employees before they air,” said Viacom President Philippe Dauman. Viacom won’t let MTV air any video containing the “'B’ word or the ‘H’ word or the ‘N’ word,” he said. Bronfman and Morris said parents get ample notice of off-color lyrics from warning labels on packaging.
Video-game ratings are “rigorous and independent,” said Zelnick, citing an April FTC report finding most parents satisfied with that system. The interactive entertainment industry, with $18.5 billion in annual sales, sells 92 percent of titles as family and teenage- oriented games, he said. “This shouldn’t be a discussion about finger pointing… Everyone here agrees that the First Amendment must be protected,” Zelnick said, “even speech we don’t like.”
Rush wants to work with industry against what he calls a plethora of violence and sexist content, he said. “This hearing is not a headhunting hearing,” he said. Ranking Member Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said videogame makers have drastically improved disclosure of racy content since he held hearings on that subject and Grand Theft Auto when he chaired the committee. “These hearings do provide pressure in themselves,” said Stearns. “We don’t want to ban the idea of liberty and freedom of speech.”
Some rap is “filth” and its writers “do not deserve the dignity of this committee’s time,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said. However, she doesn’t want to legislate on it. Legislation “puts us on the slippery slope” of regulating speech, she said. Rep. G. K. Butterfield, D-N.C., said the industry has to police content. “We must uphold the First Amendment rights that we have in this country,” he said. “They have an obligation to record music and make their music videos in a responsible fashion.”
Executives disclaimed responsibility for provocative content, saying musicians, producers and their managers have creative control of their material. “It is not our role to censor the creative expression of artists,” said Dauman, echoed by Bronfman. “Our aim is not to create art or to censor it, but to ensure that our artists are aware of the potential impact of what they've created,” Bronfman said. Morris was blunter. “Their words are their words, not mine or anyone else’s,” he said. Asked by Stearns about rapper 50 Cent’s scatological rhymes, Morris said, “he has the right to say whatever he wants.” But Morris and others said members’ observations were food for thought, and will be shared with others in industry. Radio One can’t air curses due to FCC indecency rules, said CEO Alfred Liggins, noting that the Internet lets artists and others air obscene content. “You're still going to have a leak in terms of exposure to the consumer,” he said.
Other executives urged the committee to fight online piracy instead of hectoring legitimate businesses. “We could use your help in trying to reduce the amount of pirated material” available online, Bronfman told Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Tex. “We're just looking today to you and artists in particular,” said Gonzalez. His challenges to companies’ values elicited more gripes about piracy. “The music business is the only business that is being destroyed by criminal behavior and no one is discussing that,” said Morris. “Music is being stolen.” Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., said Morris “was clearly unaware” that the House Commerce and Judiciary committees have investigated the issue. “Frankly, it’s the subject for a different conversation,” said Weiner.
A second panel at the hearing was notable for graphic language, mostly by artists defending their use of “nigger.” Rapper David Banner said he uses it in lyrics because “our generation has assumed ownership of the word,” once used by slave owners, comparing a ban on its use to censorship. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said Banner had to “communicate a more positive message.” He and other members engaged in heated debate with Banner, who also drew barbs from Rush. There’s no excuse to say “nigger,” said the former Black Panther. “I am not going to buy into that.”