Broadcast Violence Gets New Scrutiny

Radio and television station owners, already grappling with a government crackdown on sex and profanity, expect to face new scrutiny soon over excessive violence in programming.

Broadcasters are bracing this year for a Federal Communications Commission report on media violence ordered by Congress that some fear will be used to push for new restraints on violent programming.

“Right now, we are in a climate where the government is in favor of content controls as a solution to any problem,” said Jonathan Rintels, executive director of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, a Washington group that represents Hollywood writers and producers.

Concerns about media violence have ebbed and flowed for decades, with Congress holding hearings as far back as 1952. With the explosion in media since then, many parents say they find it hard to shield children against violence in films, TV shows, Internet content and video games.

McLean, Va., obstetrician Gloria Johnson, who has four children, said she recently was taken aback when she heard her 8-year-old son singing the violent lyrics of rapper 50 Cent.

“There’s so much more violence on television than when I was growing up,” said Johnson, 42. “Now every channel has something that you don’t want your children to watch.”

A recent tally conducted by The Times found that violent death is commonplace on several popular television shows. The body count on a single episode of CBS’ “NCIS,” for example, was seven. Fox’s “24” featured six deaths, and NBC’s “Medium” killed off four people.

The latest government rumblings are the most notable since the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado prompted President Clinton to order the Federal Trade Commission to examine whether entertainment companies were properly shielding children and teens.

FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, a Democrat who has championed indecency crackdowns, said he believed that some kind of government or industry intervention was needed to control violent programming.

“Like indecency, I think there is a role for all of us to play,” Copps said. “We’ve got 60 years of studies, most of which conclude there is a connection between violent behavior and violence in the media.”

Watchdog groups such as the Los Angeles-based Parents Television Council and the American Family Assn. in Tupelo, Miss., which have mostly focused their ire on indecency issues, also are targeting advertisers that sponsor violent shows. Other activists, including Oakland-based Children Now and the Rev. Al Sharpton, are urging government action as well.

New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer has gone so far as to investigate radio station WQHT-FM’s “Smackfest,” in which two people take turns slapping each other in the face to compete for $5,000. Spitzer is looking at whether state law was violated because promoters had no boxing license. Owner Emmis Communications Corp. could face fines of as much as $10,000 for each incident.

But experts say the government faces an uphill battle because violence is difficult to define and because of free speech protections. In documents submitted to the FCC last fall, the National Assn. of Broadcasters joined the Motion Picture Assn. of America and other media trade groups to argue that any attempt to regulate violence in the media would violate free speech rights.

Martin Kaplan, associate dean of the USC’s Annenberg School for Communication, said that “as long as sex and violence sells then the programmers and people who supply content will continue to put it out.”

Nevertheless, Congress last year was concerned enough to nearly pass a measure that would have required the FCC to adopt regulations to restrict television violence.

After the proposal was removed from a bill to raise broadcast indecency fines, 39 lawmakers directed the FCC to study the problem of TV violence and report back to Congress this year.

The FCC staff has begun drafting a response and is expected to weigh whether to urge the industry to police itself more vigorously, recommend a greater reliance on electronic program blocking technology or seek new authority from Congress to regulate violent content.

A final report is likely to be delayed several months until new FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin appoints a permanent head of the agency’s media bureau.

In the meantime, some broadcasters are taking steps to help defuse the situation. NBC last month reversed its opposition to labeling the type of violence in shows it airs.

The network said it would add descriptors to the age-based rating system to give parents more information. In announcing the move, NBC Universal Chairman Robert Wright said: “We serve our viewers best by ensuring that they are fully informed about the content of our programs.”

Times staff writer Susan King contributed to this report.