Study Says TV’s Blare Obscures Community

Americans are right in thinking that community spirit and civic life are on the wane. The remedy lies in themselves, in turning off the TV and getting more involved with their church, school, neighborhood and family.

Those are the main conclusions and recommendations of the bipartisan National Commission on Civic Renewal, which released a report on its 18-month study Wednesday.

Titled “A Nation of Spectators,” the report includes an Index of National Civic Health, which traces a quarter-century’s decline in organizational memberships, political participation, trust in government and in one another, along with worrisome statistics on crime, divorce and extramarital births. A composite score, giving equal weight to each of these measures of civic life, shows a decline of 25% between 1972 and 1996.

The private commission, headed by former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Republican William J. Bennett, former secretary of Education, said the cynicism and concern many Americans voice, even in relatively prosperous times, cannot be blamed entirely on faulty leadership but involves the indifference of people who spend more time watching television than working with their neighbors.

“Much of what we have done, we have done to ourselves,” Bennett said at a news conference where the report, financed by the Pew Charitable Trusts, was released.

Several suggestions from the 20-member commission are likely to be controversial. The commission staff will help citizen groups pressure the entertainment industry and advertisers to avoid shows featuring “violence, sexual license and the pursuit of immediate intense sensation that a decent civic life seeks to moderate.”