Lieberman on Media Marketing to Children

Re “Back to the Culture War,” editorial, June 22: I can understand why editorial pages criticize public officials for saying one thing and doing another. But I am having a hard time understanding why The Times would criticize me for doing this year exactly what I said I would do last year to stop the marketing of adult entertainment to children.

Last fall, after the Federal Trade Commission found that the movie, music and video game industries had been routinely and aggressively marketing adult-rated products to children, I joined Vice President Al Gore in challenging these industries to clean up their act. We pledged to pursue narrowly tailored legislation to put an end to such deceptive practices if these industries did not seriously self-regulate.

Two months ago, the FTC issued a follow-up report, finding that while some progress has been made, two of the three industries had not adopted the core reforms the FTC had recommended, and all three were continuing to target adult material to children. So I joined with Sens. Herbert Kohl (D-Wis.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) in introducing a bill that would give the FTC authority under its false and deceptive advertising laws to impose civil penalties on companies that market adult-rated products to children behind the backs of their parents.

You can take issue with the merits or legality of that legislation. But I fail to see the grounds for calling this initiative “exploitative” or questioning my motives for introducing it. I couldn’t be any more consistent on this issue. I condemned the targeting of violence to children long before last fall’s campaign (at a hearing in May 1999), I promised to do something about it during the campaign and I have upheld that promise after the campaign.

If you talk to the parents I have, you’ll find that they have a hard job raising their kids today. The entertainment industry is making that job significantly harder by targeting hyper-violent, sexually explicit material directly to kids. Neither the government nor the entertainment industry raises kids; parents do. But we can each make it easier for parents to do their job.

Sen. Joe Lieberman

D-Conn.