Shelter from the Media Storm: Technology To Protect Kids From The Naked, Nasty and Violent

by Barbara Bader
Winter 1997

In today's society, few American homes are without a television. TVs dominate living rooms, and have permeated into kitchens, bedrooms and other nooks and crannies. Given this, parents face a daunting task in protecting their kids from unwanted violence, profanity and sex in TV programming. Now, with the Internet available through the family TV, parents must also worry about their kids' adventures on the cyber frontier. As the national debate over content rages, what can parents do now to enhance their children's viewing time?

Get Involved

Experts agree that viewing decisions are highly personal and differ from family to family. Unfortunately, no electronic baby-sitter exists for parents to attach to their TV sets that protects their families from inappropriate programming. It takes parental involvement to truly neutralize the negative impact of television.

Fortunately, Congress and the television industry are instituting a technological tool, the V-chip, to aid parents in sifting through the thousands of hours of programs offered every week.

I suppose you can tell kids that they can't watch things at a given rating, but then you've got the forbidden-fruit problem, said Annamarie Pluhar, Director of The Television Project. If you ban something, they want to know why.

According to George Gerbner, Dean Emeritus, Annenberg School of Journalism, sometimes the family friction that results from program bans has a more negative impact than the show would have.

A spark of intelligence in regard to programming can immunize and neutralize. It's more effective than forbidding, he said.

Enhance viewing time, for example, simply by sitting down and watching selected shows with the child. Talk with the child about the content and answer questions, but keep it fun.

Make a TV diary, suggests Cheryl Hirshman, Executive Director, Center for Children's Media.

Create a chart so your child can mark qualities such as how long the show is, breakdown of characters and number of violent acts. Was it a comedy? A newsmagazine? This kind of tool will indicate if kids understand a show's words, humor, the context of any violence, and even where they draw the line between fantasy and reality.

Take Charge of Your TV

Rosie O'Donnell stresses four basic talking points in the free 4-minute video, Taking Charge of Your TV, produced by The Family and Community Critical Viewing Project, which is a partnership of The National PTA, National Cable Television Association , and Cable In The Classroom. These points are:

1) Television programs and their messages are created to achieve specific results.

2) Each person interprets programs and messages differently.

3) Television violence takes many forms.

4) TV programs have an underlying economic purpose.

Most Americans watch TV by the clock, not by program choice. But parents' viewing habits are models for their children, so selective viewing is a must. It's just like going to the movies: choose a movie, watch the movie, then leave the theater. Decide what to watch. When it's over, turn it off, advised Gerbner.

Insist that your children's schools teach media literacy at every level. There's no point in teaching traditional subjects while ignoring the cultural environment kids bring into the school with them. A teacher's role is not to disseminate knowledge, but to sort things out and provide a critique so students can handle what they see every day, Gerbner said.

Just Rate It

Since January, under pressure from Congress and the mandates of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, most types of shows have been rated according to the Parental TV Guidelines. The ratings are based on the age-based movie ratings system of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Representatives from all segments of the TV universe, in consultation with parent, religious, child advocacy and educational groups, came up with the plan.

However, many groups representing families and children objected to the simplistic age-based ratings system because they did not reflect the type of content that caused the particular rating. If a show was rated TV-14 for example, there was no way to know if it was due to violent content or nasty language.

As a result of further talks, most segments of the industry agreed last July to add content information. Networks have used the modified ratings since October 1, 1996. However, two networks--NBC and cable's BET network--refused to use the modified ratings. NBC claimed the amended system misleads viewers because information about TV content requires context, which isn't provided by a single letter.

Parenting isn't simple, said Rosalyn Weinman, NBC's vice-president for broadcast standards and content policy in a July 15, 1997 statement in the New York Times.

Neither is labeling television. In our quick-fix culture, the idea of just pressing a button to protect our children is seductive, but it won't work.

For now, the rating just blinks on for 15 seconds at the start of each show, but it's actually carried to television sets in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of the signal.

A V-Chip Off The Block

Mandated by the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the V-Chip (V for violence) is the hammer that parents can use to enforce the new TV ratings scheme. Congress has mandated that manufacturers begin to offer the V-chip to consumers, which will allow parents or other content monitors to selectively block out programming based on its rating code.

The FCC will set a timetable establishing when manufacturers must offer the V-chip in all new television sets, but best estimates are about two years, according to industry sources.

"Once the FCC approves a final technical standard workable in future TV sets, the V-chip will be available in set-top boxes in six months and possibly in some TV sets within 12 months," said Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumers Electronics Manufacturers Association. "It will likely be available in most TV sets within two years after the final FCC action."

Want to be sure young Megan or Lance watch only shows rated below TV-14-V? The V-chip lets you lock out any show carrying those ratings or above, whether you receive it in an over-the-air broadcast, or via cable or satellite.

Satellite Distribution

Satellite distributors have offered parental lockout devices for years. We've had an active form of the V-Chip, an MPAA rating code type chip, since 1986, says Harry Thibedeux, manager of industry affairs for the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association. I'm not aware of any satellite system that doesn't have sophisticated multi-level parental controls. Every set-top manufacturer includes the controls.

DirecTV, the leading satellite distributor, has 11 different system manufacturersóincluding majors such as RCA, Toshiba and Hitachiódistributing their DSS system through retailers. The system includes the dish, the receiver (or set-top box) which decodes the signal, and the proprietary remote, and all carry the same parental lock-out features.

DirecTV users can establish a 4-digit PIN number and control access three ways: by setting ratings thresholds, by restricting access to any number of channels, and by setting monthly spending limits on pay-per-view movies. The lock-outs are set using the remote buttons, according to Robert Mercer, DirecTV's manager of communications. The system seems kid-proof, as long as the PIN number remains secret. Since virtually all satellite-delivered services offer cable programming, such as Lifetime or A&E, the parental guidelines icons will pop up on subscribers' screens. Some of the premium movie services, such as HBO, have been using the enhanced system for a substantial period of time, Thibedeux said.

When the V-Chip is active, it will presumably work in tandem with the satellite lock-out devices. The one with the most filtering will dominate, Thibedeux said. As the digital programming streams in from the satellite, it brings more than shows and ratings. The on-screen, electronic program guide is popular with subscribers and is a useful tool for parents because it includes program rating information , according to Thibedeux.

Legislative Happenings

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a lukewarm supporter of the rating guidelines. We hope parents use them and it empowers them to manage the TV watching of young children, said John Earnhardt of the NAB. But we're not so wild about some of the implications, he added, referring to potential First Amendment conflicts.

During the last round of ratings negotiations, some members of Congress promised to prevent any mandatory legislation regarding ratings, content and program scheduling to be enacted for several years, in exchange for voluntary compliance by the TV industry with the enhanced codes.

But two relevant bills continue to wind their ways through the Capitol Hill legislative process. The Children's Protection from Violent Programming Act, nicknamed the Safe Harbor bill, would force compliance with the enhanced ratings. As long as guidelines are voluntary, broadcasters such as NBC can opt out. The bill provides room for the FCC to force broadcasters to designate safe harbor periods that limit violent programs to certain times.

The Television Improvement Act would exempt broadcasters from anti-trust laws so they could work together to resurrect their industry-wide Code of Conduct. The code, which prescribed rules for appropriate programming, was toppled in 1983 in an anti-trust action.

The broadcasters' codes had a useful function, Gerbner said. They had a provision that had an effect of diversifying content. The Safe Harbor bill is a minor improvement to protect those children who go to bed at a reasonable time, he added.

TV on the Net

A growing number of households now access the Internet on their televisions. WebTV Networks, for example, a pioneer in Internet TV convergence, offers programming information and tools for managing children's web journeys.

By clicking the TV Guide Online button, subscribers can view broadcast, cable and premium TV listings two weeks in advance, find celebrity profiles and background on movies and other TV fare. The guide is searchable by specific actors or themes of interest.

Parents can use WebTV's password-based blocking features to block e-mail, permit surfing only among predetermined kid-friendly sites, and block access to all sites blacklisted by Safesearch, which maintains a database of kid-safe sites.

Other convergence Net-top boxes are expected to carry similar web filters.

Parents have a wide choice of Internet filtering software, most of which offer several ways to manage and monitor Internet access.

The most popular titles are:

• Cybersitter (_ HYPERLINK http://www.cybersitter.com) __http://www.cybersitter.com)_
• Cyber Patrol (_ HYPERLINK http://www.airtime.co.uk/cyberpatrol.html) __http://www.airtime.co.uk/cyberpatrol.html)_
• Surf Watch (_ HYPERLINK http://www.surfwatch.com) __http://www.surfwatch.com)_
• Net Nanny (_ HYPERLINK http://www.netnanny.com) __http://www.netnanny.com)_
• Safe Surf(_ HYPERLINK http://www.safesurf.com __http://www.safesurf.com_)
• Cyber Snoop (_ HYPERLINK http://www.pearlsw.com) __http://www.pearlsw.com)_

These titles typically work in several configurations. They can prevent access to user-defined key words and phrases, sites, URLS, news groups, and chat rooms. They can restrict children from releasing personal information over the Internet. Approved and prohibited site lists can be added to a screening database.

If Moms and Dads really look at the Internet as a large city, the same rules apply, like don't talk to strangers, said Gordon Ross, president and CEO of Net Nanny. Net Nanny creates an audit trail so parents know where their children roam. If rules are broken, Ross said, then they might consider blocking access.

Some Internet Service Providers also offer filtering services. America Online, for example, has special child or teen accounts as well as customized control over e-mail, the Web, chat rooms, instant messages and news groups.

The web site for WorldVillage (_ HYPERLINK http://www.worldvillage.org __www.worldvillage.org_ is a good references about kid-safe sites, search engines and filtering software.

Summing It Up

Clearly, some tools out there help parents manage family viewing. But the hue and cry about unsuitable content at heart relates to what the producers create and what the distributors make available. Some critics say the implementation of the ratings guidelines is just another way for the industry to continue business as usual. After all, these very people apply the ratings to their own programs. The ratings and gadgets just pass the buck back to the consumer, while the industry shoulders little responsibility for program content.

Viewers have power, but we don't use it, Hirshman said. We can work with community access TV and provide alternative programming that would be helpful to our children. Encourage libraries and children's museums to invite media literacy speakers. Join the National TV Turnoff Week every April. Let kids produce their own videos, so they understand better what they watch. There are so many ideas intelligent adults can come up with.

(Sidebar)
A Guide to the Ratings

The ratings system set to be implemented in October includes specific content ratings added to the existing Motion Picture Association of America age-based ratings. The content ratings include:

• FV: Fantasy Violence (Cartoon)
• V: Violence
• S: Sexual Content
• L: Strong Language
• D: Suggestive Dialogue

These content indicators will be attached to the current age-based ratings:

For programs created solely for children, the following age-based ratings apply:

• TV-Y: All children. This program is designed to be appropriate for all children. Whether animated or live-action, the themes and elements in this program are specifically designed for a very young audience, including children from ages 2-6. This program is not expected to frighten younger children.
• TV-Y7: Directed to older children. This program is designed to be appropriate for children who have the development skills needed to distinguish between make-believe and reality. Programs in which fantasy violence may be more intense or more combative than other programs in this category will be designated TV-Y7-FV.

For programs created for all audiences, the following ratings apply:

• TV-G: General audiences. Most parents would find this program suitable for all ages. It contains little or no violence, no strong language and few or no sexual situations or dialogues.
• TV-PG: Parental Guidance Suggested: This program contains material that parents may find unsuitable for younger children. Either the theme itself calls for parental guidance, or the program contains one or more of the following: moderate violence (V), some sexual situations (S), infrequent coarse language (L) or some suggestive dialogue (D).
• TV-14: Parents Strongly Cautioned. This program contains some material that many parents would find unsuitable for children under 14 years of age. This program contains one or more of the following: intense violence (V), intense sexual situations (S), strong course language (L), or intensely suggestive dialogue (D).
• TV-MA: Mature Audiences Only. This program is specifically designed to be viewed by adults and therefor may be unsuitable for children under 17. This program contains one or more of the following: graphic violence (V), explicit sexual activity (S) or crude indecent language (L).

Barbara Bader is a free-lance writer and editor of The Television Project newsletter.

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