Senate Holds Hearing on Violence in Media

Sept. 13 -- Some unusual political bedfellows joined forces in Washington today to take shots at the entertainment industry.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, and Lynne Cheney, former chairwoman of the National Endowment of the Humanities and the wife of Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney, were among those participating in a Senate Commerce Committee hearing about media violence.

The committee’s chairman, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona — who made a spirited presidential bid himself earlier this year — led off the hearings by blasting the film industry for failing to send the heads of any movie studios to testify at the hearings.

McCain said he could only conclude that the executives were “too ashamed or unable to defend their products” to appear.

The senator added that industry claims to be shielding adult content from minors through the ratings system were “nothingbut a smoke screen to provide cover for immoral and unconscionablebusiness practices.”

Lieberman said the movie, music and video-game industries had provided a “toxic mix” that had affected children and young adults and “turned some of them into killers” in the process.

“We are saying to Hollywood, work with with us and America’s parents,” Lieberman said. “Help us meet our shared obligation to protect our children and our country.”

And Cheney attacked the film and music industries, singling out the rapper Eminem for criticism and urging all lyrics to be included in compact discs.

But Danny Goldberg, the president of Artemis Records, claimed in his testimony that much of the criticism was misguided, saying government intervention in to the entertainment industry “makes about as much sense as asking Hollywood to restructure health care.”

Report and Politics Mix

The hearings come on the heels of a harsh Federal Trade Commission report claiming the entertainment industry has been peddling adult material to underageaudiences.