Senate panel rates entertainment ratings

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Connecticut, at the Senate hearing Wednesday

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sex and violence in entertainment were the subjects of a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday that focused on evaluating and improving entertainment ratings systems.

Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, D-Connecticut, said it appears that too often ratings for movies and television programs are inaccurate and should be more uniform in their standards.

"There's too much trash, too much violence and ultra-sexual activity without any sense of the consequences and that's bound to have an effect on society," Lieberman told CNN. "I fear that the public may demand more regulation because they fear that our children and our country is being made more violent and more immoral by what's being seen."

During his opening remarks at the hearing, Lieberman leveled strong accusations against entertainment ratings systems.

"There have been specific criticisms about their reliability, visibility and understandability," Lieberman said. "And there've been general complaints that the ratings don't provide parents with enough information about content, about the levels of sex, violence and vulgarity in the product to make the right choice for their children."

Lieberman quoted a 2000 Gallup poll that said that 74 percent of parents surveyed said that movie, music and television ratings were inadequate.

Lieberman did, however, have good things to say about the ratings system for video games. "No ratings system is perfect," he said, "But I think this is the best one around."

Ranking committee Republican Fred Thompson, R-Tennessee, urged caution.

"We find ourselves, basically, in a supervisory capacity ... with regard to a private industry who's engaged in a constitutionally protected activity," Thompson said in his opening remarks. "That's a serious matter and it bears some consideration and some discussion.

"We have to realize that, when it comes to legislation or congressional imposition of mandates or regulation and the imposition of fines, that we do not constitutionally have the power to do that."

Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, offered four proposals aimed at improving the nation's entertainment ratings system:

-- Ratings systems should develop clear and comprehensible standards, accessible to parents and consumers.

-- Ratings and labeling decisions should be made by an independent body.

-- Entertainment companies should make ratings and labeling decision process open to public scrutiny.

-- More information on content should be available, rather than relying on age-based ratings alone.

Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, defended the nation's movie rating system and said he was opposed to any changes.

Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tennessee, makes a point

"Frankly I will confess to this panel that privately I take issue every now and then with the rating of a film, and I think the rating board might have erred. But if there are errors in the accuracy of a movie rating, it is a matter of a judgment call and not an exile in integrity," Valenti said.

Hilary Rosen of the Recording Industry Association of America read a statement by rap artist Russell Simmons that said efforts by Congress to limit the expression of recording artists was "largely about race" because many of the performers being criticized for their lyrics are African-American.

"We are committed to speaking the truth," Simmons' statement said. "We must continue to tell the truth about the street if that is what we know, and we must tell the truth about God if that is who we have found. Part of telling the truth is making sure that you know and talk more about what you know then speak or do music to appease those who are in power."

Rosen, president and chief operating officer of the group, denied accusations that the recording industry intentionally markets music with inappropriate content to children. Since 1985, the RIAA has instituted a voluntary program of placing warning stickers on recordings with content that might be inappropriate for children.

On Friday, a House subcommittee held hearings on a bill that would prohibit the targeted marketing to minors of adult-rated records, movies, video games and other entertainment material.

In June, a study of 55 adults published in the journal Pediatrics concluded that a mandatory universal ratings system for all media products needs to be created.

"The current alphabet soup of systems is too confusing and even contradictory for parents to use effectively." wrote Dr. David A. Walsh and Dr. Douglas A. Gentile, who headed the study.

Last September, the Director's Guild of America Task Force on Violence and Social Responsibility urged the film industry to adopt references that more clearly delineate a film's "intended" audience.

"Under the current system, all children under 17 are treated equally. However, while some films may be appropriate for older children to see with parental accompaniment, some are inappropriate for younger children under any circumstances," said Director Rob Reiner, reading the task force's statement. "This problem needs to be addressed."

"The NC-17 rating that currently exists has been an abject failure," he said. "Many films that should not been seen by minors are recut so that they receive a hard R rating. This has the effect of not only compromising filmmakers' visions, but also greatly increasing the likelihood that adult-oriented movies are seen by the very groups for which they are not intended."