Confusion, Anger Mark Discussion About V-Chip

A panel of prominent show business figures, including three of television’s most influential producers, squared off against the government sponsors of the V-chip in a passionate debate marked by veiled threats of censorship.

And by the time the event at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences wrapped up Wednesday night, consensus between the opposing sides seemed to be as far away as ever. What remained clear is the ever-darkening cloud of confusion over what criteria will be used in rating television programming as the January deadline for the establishment of the system draws closer.

The debate, which was taped for airing tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28, was the first public confrontation on the issue between high-profile producers and the proponents of the V-chip since the TV industry agreed last February, under pressure from Congress and President Clinton, to voluntarily establish ratings for entertainment programs to help guide parents in deciding what their children should watch. The ratings system is still being developed but is expected to be similar to the movie ratings based on age-appropriate categories.

“NYPD Blue” executive producer Steven Bochco, “ER” executive producer John Wells and “Friends” executive producer Marta Kaufman, among others, strongly voiced their opposition to the V-chip technology that consumers would be able to use to block programming according to the ratings. They said it would provide a chilling effect on creative ideas and the selling of television shows.

“There is a real difficulty in having an arbitrary system that removes the messages behind the idea,” said Wells, indicating that children would be prevented from seeing programs that showed the consequences of violence and sexual behavior.

Kaufman said: “I resent the implication that what we’ve done has made the world worse.” Bochco added that concern from advertisers about a show’s ratings would stifle creativity, “and the next generation of ‘Friends’ or ‘NYPD Blue’ or ‘ER’ will never see the light of day.”

Disagreeing via satellite from Washington were Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), advocates of the V-chip who continued to defend the system as an essential tool for parents who want to prevent their children from viewing sex and violence on television. They said Hollywood has glorified violence and sex, which has helped lead to the “coarsening of society.”

“The decision of what children should see should be up to the parents, not the producers in Hollywood,” Markey said.

Lieberman said he was disgusted by references to “masturbation and orgasms” in programs that air between 8 and 9 p.m., saying that children often watch the shows without supervision. Parents don’t have enough advance information about content, they said.

The most heated exchange came when writer-producer Lionel Chetwynd attacked the politicians, saying they were setting Hollywood up as a scapegoat for society’s ills.

“It’s all a charade,” Chetwynd declared. “They’ve made Hollywood a target of opposition in a political season.” He said there was no evidence to link violence on television with violence in America.

He added: “Never before in the history of the republic has the coercive power of the state been enlisted to control or in any way limit the 1st Amendment.”

Countered Lieberman in a thinly veiled threat that referred to other legislators: “I find these comments to be dispiriting. . . . Folks, if you keep on down this road in a state of denial, there’s a group of folks behind me and Markey that don’t have the same concern for the 1st Amendment that we do.”

Jack Valenti, who is spearheading the TV-ratings effort as president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, which administers the ratings system for motion pictures, chimed in moments later as he sat next to Markey and Lieberman.

“I’m not worried about those people in back of you, because we will be in federal court in a nanosecond” if there is any attempt by lawmakers to impose censorship, Valenti said.

Other panelists voicing concerns about the ramifications of the V-chip included Gilbert Cates, dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, and William Blinn, chairman of the Caucus of Producers, Writers and Directors.

Markey said it would be easy for the industry to impose the ratings. He said: “We’re only talking about three or four hours of new material a night. It shouldn’t overwhelm a network.” His remark ignored the vast amount of television produced daily and how it would be rated--daytime soap operas, talk shows, reruns of old network shows, syndicated programming. Lieberman said he also wanted cartoons to be rated.

Valenti said that getting a consensus on the system “is like picking up mercury with a fork. But we will get a consensus.”

* “The V-Chip and Kids” airs at 9 tonight on KCET-TV Channel 28.