COVER STORY : AT THE CENTER OF THE DOLE FIRESTORM

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) got plenty of attention when he scolded Hollywood about sex and violence in movies, TV and pop music. But, as The Times reports today (see Page A1), Dole’s comments aren’t changing the face of show business. Yet. The creative and business powerbrokers will tell you they’ve always been thoughful about what they produce. Here, then, are some snapshots of life on the front lines:

AL TELLER

Chairman, MCA Music

In some ways, the recent debates over controversial content in pop music remind Al Teller of why he got into the business 25 years ago.

“Music was a very important contributor to the cultural reality of society,” says Teller, 50. “So much of the music of the ‘60s reflected the social movements--civil rights, the sexual revolution, rise of the feminist movement, the drug culture, Vietnam. That was all part of the music.”

Music still has the capacity to express more viewpoints than other mass-media arts, he says.

But among major record company heads, Teller is perhaps the most vocal with concerns that the industry’s legacy is being used as a shield behind which executives can hide from taking responsibility for what they release.

“There will always be part of music that is pushing the edges and creating controversy, and I don’t find anything wrong with that,” he says. “I don’t want anyone posturing to put themselves in the position to say what music should be about.”

“[MCA] as a company decided two years ago that we weren’t going to get into gangsta rap. We knew it would cost us some business.”

Teller is involved in two panels--the Recording Industry Assn. of America’s group, which is evaluating the effectiveness of current stickering policies, and Vice President Al Gore’s National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council--studying how to strike a balance between freedom of speech and protection of children. Teller insists, however, that the answer does not lie in imposed restrictions.

The father of a 21-year-old says: “There are a lot of things--movies and TV programs and music--where if I had a young child I would not let him or her watch. But guess what? That’s a parent’s right and obligation and responsibility.”