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Morning News

Hollywood Executives to Testify at Senate Hearing on Media Violence

Aired September 27, 2000 - 9:01 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to start this morning with the battle against selling sex and violence to the nation's young people. It's the big issue on Capitol Hill this morning. Hollywood executives will be on the hot seat.

And as CNN's Kathleen Koch now reports, the executives are armed with a plan to police themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Movie studios are promising to clean up their act before Congress forces them to. They're pledging to stop running previews for R-rated movies during G- rated films and during television shows like "South Park," watched by children under 17.

JACK VALENTI, MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA: If we have made some mistakes in the past, it is our intention not to repeat those mistakes in the future. I think we've looked at this with a steady, unblinking gaze to try to do what we believe is right.

KOCH: Studios also plan to add descriptions to ads so parents know why a film gets an R rating, such as "V" for violence, "L" for graphic language, and "S" for sexual content. And finally, studios say they'll pressure theaters to do a better job of keeping kids out of R-rated movies.

The moves come after a scathing Federal Trade Commission report found 80 percent of movies, 100 percent of music recordings and 70 percent of electronic games with violent content are marketed to children under 17.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), COMMERCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: Their hubris is stunning.

KOCH: Hollywood executives were notably absent at the first Senate hearing on the report. Still, Sen. John McCain welcomes the proposed changes if they can be enforced.

MCCAIN: We have to be very vigilant about what they do and also make sure the language of what they're doing is very tight, and that we have commitments from the studio heads on the congressional record that they will do these things. KOCH: Congress had hoped the entertainment industry would police itself and is now shying away from intervening legislatively. At the same time, lawmakers are scoring points with voters for cracking down on those who peddle violent material to children.

DAVID BRODER, "WASHINGTON POST": It's become a matter of competition now between Democrats and Republicans as to who can be most upright and who can find the cleverest ways to denounce this bad stuff.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: It's not expected that these pledged reforms will dampen the chance of fireworks at this morning's hearings. Lawmakers believe Hollywood has a lot of explaining to do for its past marketing conduct and they want some answers.

Reporting live on Capitol Hill, I'm Kathleen Koch.

KAGAN: Kathleen, thank you very much.

The Senate hearing on marketing violence to children is scheduled to begin in about 30 minutes from now. We will bring you portions of that live here on CNN MORNING NEWS.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

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