BACKSTORY

Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/18/2000

A Democratic senator from Connecticut and long-time media-violence critic takes the industry to task in a hearing on the issue in Washington. No, not Joe Lieberman. The senator was Thomas Dodd (right). The year was 1964. Dodd was chairman of the Senate Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee, which was convinced that TV was contributing to youth violence. The hearing was the latest in the series that stretched back at least to 1952 and that had, at one time or another, targeted such shows as Route 66, The Rifleman and The Untouchables. This was how B & C framed the story on Aug. 3, 1964: Dodd "pried open the creaking door to a chamber of television's alleged horrors-excessive violence and sex-let the public take a peek inside, quickly slammed it shut and posted a warning to the television networks that he might open it again if they failed to reform."