Who’s Protecting Kids, and From What?

Sen. John McCain’s Counterpunch (“Content Ratings Intended as a Guide for Parents,” Aug.18) was yt another example of the conservative Arizona Republican pumping out a smoke screen ad hiding in his well-dug political rabbit hole while failing to answer any of the questions regarding his own moral dyslexia.

Once again, I ask the senator, how can you claim you’re protecting children from ficitonal television violence when you did nothing to protect real children from the real violence of handguns by your votes against the five-day waiting period and the Brady Bill?

Isn’t it interesting that the senator took this opportunity to not only vilify me personally (and my colleagues in the television industry who are trying to uphold the 1st Amendment) but alsoto attack one of my series, “New York Undercover,” which just happens to be a two-time National Ass. for Advancement of Colored People Image Award winner for best drama series and the No. 1 drama in African American households for the past two seasons? He also mislabeled the show as PG when the bulk of the episodes carried a TV-14 rating.

Back in July, when this media sparring began after Sen. McCain sent out a press release in response to my comments during an NBC Television Critics Assn. session, I contacted his office(no call back) and publicly offered to debate him. Later that week, offers came in from several outlets, including CNN and “The Today Show” to do just that. He declined, declaring, “I really don’t see the point.” I guess “the point” is better made in 1,000 word self-serving monographs than by potentially politically dangerous debate. That’s because Sen. McCain knows that the entire ratings controversy is a Beltway issue, not a real-world, real-parent issue.

The senator went on to make a specious comparison between labeling ingredients on a soup can and labeling television programming. He asked, “Does government control the content of a can of soup when it requires that the ingredients be listed on the label?”

Senator, there’s a big difference between factual labeling (tomatoes, salt, onions) and subjective branding (violence, dialogue, fantasy violence) by myriad content police. The accurate analogy would be if soup companies were forced to give their products subjective labels, e.g. “tomatoes, some not ripe, some rotten. . .onions, which may give you heartburn.”

As I previously wrote, “The creative community is not an out-of-control group of video pornographers. We, too, are parents concerned with what images dance before our children’s eyes. ‘PG’ means parental guidance. Those are the only initials of the new ‘voluntary’ system that have real meaning. Let parents be parents.”

I find it interesting that Sen. McCain has been so aggressively targeting me, as well as this politically bullet-proof issue. I’m still willing to debate in any neutral public forum. I know I’m not running for president, but then, I hope he isn’t either.

DICK WOLF

Universal City

Editor’s note: Wolf is executive producer and creater of NBC’s “Law & Order” and “Players” and Fox’s “New York Undercover.”