TV Content Worries Obama, but He Pushes Parental Control

Democratic Presidential Hopeful Concerned About Internet, as Well

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/1/2008 12:05:00 PM

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) said Thursday that he is concerned about TV content and that he believes as president, it would appropriate to "work with the industry" to address issues of sex and violence, including the marketing of violent films in TV shows, but he believes parental control, not government control, is the best response.

He also said he was concerned about the Internet, as well as TV.

When asked by Doyle McManus, Washington bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, whether there was too much sex and violence coming out of Hollywood, he said that as a parent, as well as a presidential candidate, he was concerned, in the process managing to cite both cable and broadcast. "My daughters are mostly on Nickelodeon, but they know how to work that remote," he added.

While Obama said he rejected the idea of censorship and felt that parents had the primary responsibility for controlling content, he also warned the TV industry to be careful how it markets movies on TV.

"I'm also concerned [about] some of the violent, slasher, horror films that come out,” he added. “You see a trailer, and I'm thinking, 'I don't want my six-year-old or nine-year-old seeing that trailer while she's watching American Idol.’"

Obama has been one of the more media-centric candidates, weighing in heavily on the media-ownership debate -- he is concerned about the effects on localism and diversity -- at a Federal Communications Commission public hearing in Chicago in advance of the FCC vote to loosen the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules.

An excerpt of the transcript follows.

Wolf Blitzer: Welcome back to the Kodak Theatre. This will be the final round of questions. We have several questions. If both of you can keep your answers relatively brief, we'll get through some other subjects. We'll begin with Doyle.

McManus: Sen. Obama, we're in Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world. The audience here in the Kodak Theatre includes many of the nation's most influential directors, producers and actors. Now, for many years, parents have worried that there's just too much sex and violence coming out of Hollywood. Do you agree with that? And if you do, what will you do about it if you're elected president?

Obama: Well, I've got a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old daughter. So I look at this not just as a legislator or a presidential candidate, but as a parent. And as a parent, yes, I am concerned about what's coming over the airwaves. Now, right now, my daughters mostly are on Nickelodeon, but they know how to work that remote. (Laughter)

And, you know, the primary responsibility is for parents. And I reject the notion of censorship as an approach to dealing with this problem. (Applause)

I do think that it is important for us to make sure that we are giving parents the tools that they need in order to monitor what their children are watching. And, obviously, the problem we have now is not just what's coming over the airwaves, but what's coming over the Internet.

And so for us to develop technologies and tools and invest in those technologies and tools, to make sure that we are, in fact, giving parents power -- empowering parents I think is important.

The one other thing I will say is -- I don't mean to be insulting here -- but I do think that it is important for those in the industry to show some thought about who they are marketing some of these programs that are being produced to. (Applause)

And I'm concerned about sex, but I'm also concerned, you know, some of the violent, slasher, horror films that come out. You see a trailer, and I'm thinking, ‘I don't want my six-year-old or nine-year-old seeing that trailer while she's watching American Idol.'

And sometimes you see that kind of stuff coming up. I think it is appropriate, in a cooperative way, to work with the industry to try to deal with that problem. And I intend to work in that fashion when I'm president of the United States of America.