Gore to Oprah: Entertainment industry needs to clean up its act
By The Associated Press
09.11.00
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| Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore shares a laugh
with Oprah Winfrey after the taping of her show this morning in Chicago. Gore
spoke out against violent movies and video games marketed to children, pledging
to give industry officials six months to 'clean up their act' or risk
government sanctions. |
CHICAGO — Looking to solidify gains among women voters, Al Gore
spoke against violent movies and video games marketed to children and stepped
forward to answer Oprah Winfrey's question, "Why should I vote for you?"
Anticipating a Federal Trade
Commission report today saying entertainment labeled for mature audiences
is often aimed at children, the Democratic presidential nominee said he would
give industry officials six months to "clean up their act" or risk government
sanctions.
"If I'm entrusted with the presidency, I am going to do something
about this," Gore told The New York
Times in an interview published today.
Gore said he would encourage the FTC to use its power to prohibit
false and deceptive advertising to crack down on entertainment companies that
undermine their own rating and labeling standards by marketing inappropriate
material to children, the Times
reported. He acknowledged care would have to be taken to avoid violating First
Amendment protections of speech.
The vice president leapt at an invitation to appear today on TV diva
Winfrey's popular talk show.
"Oprah is one of the most admired women in television and her show is
a great forum for Al Gore to talk about his fight for working families,"
campaign spokesman Doug Hattaway said.
Winfrey's daily broadcast from Chicago has, through her book club,
turned little-known authors into best sellers. She said she hoped her
interviews around the theme "Why should I vote for you?" would give similarly
broad exposure to Gore and Republican rival George W. Bush, who is scheduled to
appear on Winfrey's show Sept. 18.
She said she was aiming to allow her 22 million viewers weekly, most
of them women, "to break the political wall and see who each (candidate) is as
a person."
Gore's guest turn on "Oprah" opens a week in which he and running mate
Joseph Lieberman plan to focus on education and raising money for the
Democratic Party, which has been financing the lion's share of Gore's TV ad war
with Bush.
From Chicago, Gore was traveling to a Belleville, Ill., elementary
school for a town meeting on education.
Lieberman, also in Chicago, was headed to Texas later today for a $1.5
million lineup of four fund raisers, but not before he and Gore angled to
capitalize on the FTC report on entertainment violence.
Lieberman, a leading critic in Congress of the entertainment
industry's glorification of violence, hastened to Chicago last night to be at
Gore's side this morning for the taping of TV interviews on the subject.
After a yearlong investigation sparked by the rash of school
shootings, the FTC found that movie, video game and music industries
aggressively market violent films and products that carry an adult rating to
underage youths.
Tomorrow, Gore and Lieberman will reunite to tour Ohio in a pair of
school buses. Later in the week, gala concerts are scheduled to bring the
Democratic National Committee some $7 million.
Gore's emphasis on education was meant to help him put a lock on what
is his strongest advantage among women in months. In the most recent polls, he
leads by between 14 and 20 points among women, whose support for him has waxed
and waned through the campaign and typically determined whether surveys showed
him as competitive or behind.
Pollster John Zogby credited the gains to Gore's focus in the past
three weeks on education and health care, which helped him pick up support
among politically independent women.
"He now leads among independents, and that's because of the lead that
he holds among independent women," Zogby said yesterday on CBS' "Face the
Nation."
Republican activist William Bennett, asked on CNN how concerned Bush
should be about Gore's growing gender gap, replied: "Concerned, but obviously
not defeatist."
Bush has "bold ideas about education, early education, about school
choice, helping children who need help the most," Bennett said. "Al Gore has a
very tough time breaking from the hold of the teachers unions."
Related
Hollywood directors push for rating-system overhaul
Guild says industry must develop system that can be applied to all entertainment media, adopt zero tolerance toward underage admission to mature material.
09.19.00
Senate committee passes bill to restrict TV violence
Measure would limit violent programs to times when children do not make up large part of viewing audience.
09.21.00
FTC report: Entertainment industry markets violent material to youth
Releasing results of long-awaited study, commission urges industry to expand voluntary codes, sanction companies that run afoul of guidelines.
09.11.00
Lieberman condemns 'culture of carnage' at Senate hearing on media violence
Lawmakers use occasion to accuse entertainment executives and to criticize them for failing to show up to defend themselves.
09.13.00
Lawmakers blast marketing efforts of entertainment industry
Sen. John McCain leads committee hearing echoing FTC report’s claim that companies ‘routinely’ market violent products to kids.
09.14.00
Free-speech advocates find Lieberman's record a mixed bag
Al Gore's running mate has opposed flag protection measures but is at forefront of campaign to label entertainment violence.
08.10.00
A panic of biblical proportions over media violence
Ombudsman Have you heard the one about '1,000 studies linking media to violence'? They don't exist.
08.21.00
FTC nearing release of report detailing marketing of violent material to youth
Meanwhile, free-speech advocates debunk theories that causal link exists between entertainment, real violence.
08.29.00
FTC probes entertainment industry's sale of violence to kids
'We're examining the self-regulation put in place by the entertainment industry to see if it works and how it works,' says agency official.
04.27.00
Pinning a label on violence in media
Ombudsman Someone should be keeping track of all the proposals coming out of Congress to regulate what the rest of us can see, hear and say. It is a long and scary list.
06.23.00
