National League of Cities Eyes Media Violence
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/17/2007 11:12:00 AM
The National League of Cities (NLC) used Monday's shootings at Virginia Tech as a springboard for a media violence conference in Indianapolis April 17.
“In recent years [he could have said hours], our communities have witnessed far too many incidents of extreme violence by and against children and youth,” said Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, president of the National League of Cities.
While he said many factors play a part, he also said a "prominent" concern "is the heightened exposure of children to graphic violence in video games, television, movies, and music.
According to NLC, the conference focused on strategies for raising public awareness rather than calling for government intervention. They included better v-chip education--the cable and broadcast industries are in the midst of a campaign to do just that--and parental controls for content delivered on wireless devices.
But raising awareness might not be enough, said Peterson, though he said that action would likely take the form of "partnering with industry and other interested organization," an approach similar to the one being advocated by the FCC and legislators on the issue of childhood obesity.
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