Policy Forum: Parental Power: TV Indecency, the FCC, the Media

As I consistently oppose any legal mandate for age verification doors, I will be following this interesting sounding panel next Wednesday. -Steve

On Wednesday, May 10th, the Cato Institute will host a policy forum, Parental Power: TV Indecency, the FCC, and the Media's Response.

http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=2858 -- you can watch this event live or recorded at that link.

The forum will offer discussion of a new nongovernmental effort to inform parents about a recently developed, simplified program that will enable parents to control all TV programming coming into their homes, with comments from the FCC. Jack Valenti, Former President and CEO, Motion Picture Association of America, Penny Nance, Special Advisor, Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, FCC; and Roger Pilon, Director, Center for Constitutional Studies, will discuss these issues at the forum.

Steve,

The problem with educating parents is, they dont want to be educated :(

I really do beleive that most parents these days would rather blame others for their childrens behavior, how many times have we heard that its the fault of 'that video game he was playing' or 'that movie he watched' or, the best one 'that band he listened to all the time' fact of the matter is, until parents start becoming more 'legally' responsible for keeping a watch on what their children are doing, nothing will change.

We have the V-Chip installed in our TV set and, we have it programmed to not allow certain programs on the TV unless we unlock it, we dont even have children. The only reason we have that type of control setup is for when our neices come down from up North.

The same is true about the internet, they are allowed to use it but, either Gary or myself or their grand parents are always present.

One of the girls uses MySpace on a regular basis, she wasnt allowed to sign up to the service until her parents, grand parents, Gary and I all agreed that it would be safe for her to do so.

Yet, id venture a guess that at least 80% (potentially more) of the parents with an internet connection, dont even know what their kids are doing online, as for what they are watching in their bedrooms, forget about it.

Educating parents is definately part of the long battle but, that is only a small part, the US needs to start making parents fully responsible for their childrens actions both online and, in the real world we live.

How many of you would have gotten a spank if your mother or father had caught you doing half the crap kids get away with today? I know i feared answering my mother back and, id have never thought of doing it because i knew the second i did, as soon as dad got home, he'd have beaten my ass... Deservedly.

Parents really dont have any control of their children at all these days and, that really is a shame, they do need educating but, i strongly feel that ost of what they are taught, will be forgotten within a couple of weeks :(

Regards,

Lee