Lawmakers Warn Hollywood to Curb Violent Fare

Confronted by public horror over the Columbine High School massacre, Congress is increasing pressure on Hollywood to curb graphic violence in movies, video games and music aimed at children, or face government intervention.

Federal officials remain wary of regulating entertainment programming because of 1st Amendment obstacles and the difficulty of legislating cultural morality. But the Littleton, Colo., shootings have helped push Hollywood into the role of a vice industry--like Big Tobacco--that requires special attention on public safety grounds.

On Tuesday, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) said he would call for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission into the marketing of violent music and video games targeted at young audiences. And Democrats, many of whom benefit richly from entertainment industry campaign contributions, also called for action.

“None of us wants to resort to regulation, but if the entertainment industry continues to move in this direction and continues to market death and degradation to our children and continues to pay no heed to the real bloodshed staining our communities, then the government will act,” said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.).

As the nation moves beyond mourning and searches furiously for a cause, there is growing sentiment in Washington to crack down on the sort of excessive media violence that some believe fueled the Littleton massacre.

During a three-hour hearing Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Committee, Hollywood was essentially put on notice that Congress expects some change in behavior, although no one is sure quite what.

At issue are films, games and music that the industry voluntarily rates as unsuitable for young audiences, then markets to appeal to precisely the same group--much the way the cartoonish Joe Camel ad campaign beckoned minors to smoke, Hatch and others said.

Ads for video games reading “Let the slaughter begin” and “As easy as killing babies with axes” recently appeared in gaming magazines targeted at teenagers, Hatch said. The same industry that gives films an R rating--unsuitable for children under 17--casts teen idols in high school slasher movies that would most likely appeal to precisely that age group.

“Many Americans were justifiably outraged when it was discovered that tobacco companies marketed cigarettes to children. I believe that we should be equally concerned if we find that violent music and video games are being marketed to children,” Hatch told the panel.

“Why can’t this industry, which is a source for so much good in America, do more to discourage the production and marketing of filth to children? Why shouldn’t the industry help fight the marketing of violence to young people?”

Other proposals included calling on the surgeon general to definitively study the effects of media violence on children. Some senators proposed creating a national commission to examine the root causes of youth violence.

And Hatch said he is already discussing with Internet providers and computer manufacturers more ways to help parents screen inappropriate material.

Although it is not new for Congress to assault Hollywood for eroded morals or lax standards, the Columbine killings appear to have ratcheted up the criticism.

Previous school shootings, like those in Pearl, Miss., and West Paducah, Ky., offered more immediate explanations, such as a rural hunting culture where guns are part of daily life. But Columbine happened in unremarkable suburban America, and the inquiry into the lives of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold has yielded no clear answers, leaving a bewildered nation to focus on reports that the killers reveled in playing the video games Quake and Doom and listened to the grisly music of Marilyn Manson.

“Most parents, although they are not alarmed or revolting in the streets, are deeply worried,” William J. Bennett, co-director of Empower America, testified. “They feel as if they are swimming upstream, fighting against faceless television, movie and music executives who are fighting against them. This is a serious problem.”

For its part, the entertainment community declined to mount much of a defense Tuesday. The heads of the seven major film production companies did not attend the hearing, nor did music industry officials.

“The hearing was clearly more about political theater than real solutions,” said Hilary Rosen, president and chief executive of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, which represents the nation’s five largest music conglomerates. “I didn’t go to it because I felt like recording artists have been scapegoated all week and I didn’t want to provide them with another platform to do it.”

Alone in the hot seat was Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, who argued that home, school and church are the foundations of a healthy child. He cautioned against blaming the motion picture industry for an incident that is rare, citing statistics that show 95% of children are never involved in a violent crime.

“How do you define violence? Films like ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ could be on that list,” Valenti said after the hearing, at which senators showed a gruesome clip from “Scream.”

While some lawmakers threatened government regulation if the entertainment community fails to police itself, the 1st Amendment hurdles loom large. Some senators have already acknowledged their aim is to shame a vast and diverse industry of producers, screenwriters, songwriters, actors and others into doing the right thing when it comes to children.

“The evidence here is enough to demonstrate that there is a troubling trend in the entertainment industry, one that it needs to stop now,” Lieberman said. “I hope that when confronted with this evidence, the movie studios and game makers and record companies will stop this trend before it goes any further.”

In the next major Washington forum on these issues, President Clinton on Monday will convene a White House meeting, attended by educators, members of the media, religious leaders and others, to discuss why children and teens turn to violence.

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Times staff writer Chuck Philips contributed to this story.