Clinton Backing of V-Chip Fails to Sway Broadcasters

NEW YORK —  While they officially welcomed President Clinton’s call for a White House meeting on violence and children’s programming, executives at the broadcast television networks said Wednesday that they are not likely to change their opposition to the V-chip device he favors to screen out violent content.

“We are opposed to a ratings system that separates us from our audience by a technological device,” CBS Vice President Martin Franks said in an interview. “[Theatrical] movies have ratings--but they don’t stop people at the turnstile.”

“We’re obviously going to meet with the president to discuss ways to improve programming,” said another network executive who requested anonymity. “But Clinton backs the V-chip--and our position is that the V-chip raises serious 1st Amendment issues.”

In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Clinton reiterated his support for the V-chip, a device that can be built into TV sets and used by consumers to block programming that they deem objectionable. Legislation to mandate such technology is now pending in Congress but it will not work unless the broadcasters agree to put electronically encoded ratings on their programs for the V-chip to read.

Clinton called on the television industry to create a ratings system, as the movie industry has done, and invited industry executives to a meeting next month to “work with us in a positive way on concrete ways to improve what our children see on television.”

Broadcasters say that the V-chip proposal is unworkable and unconstitutional. Some say that it also has the potential to scare away advertisers who might not want to be associated with a program that is earmarked as high in violence. Broadcasters intend to oppose the V-chip in court on free-speech grounds if it becomes law.

In calling on Congress to pass the telecommunications bill containing the requirement that TV manufacturers install V-chips in new sets, Clinton said that the technology is “not censorship” but a means of “empowering parents to assume more personal responsibility for their children’s upbringing.”

But even if the Clinton administration loses on the V-chip, an aide to Vice President Al Gore said Wednesday, it intends to press the TV industry to adopt a movie-style ratings system that could be used both on-air and in TV listings, and to promise to carry at least three hours a week of educational programming for children.

“This meeting won’t be only about the V-chip,” said Greg Simon, chief domestic policy advisor to Gore. “Even if the telecommunications bill doesn’t pass and we don’t win on the V-chip, we still believe there’s a lot the networks can do to help parents and improve children’s programming.”

Several network executives complained that the industry was being used for political purposes as the presidential campaign heats up. But they acknowledged that Clinton’s speech would increase the pressure on them to respond to parental concerns about what their children see on television.

“It’s hard not to feel the pressure being ratcheted up when you have the president talking about children’s programming in a speech heard by 60 million people,” said CBS’ Franks. “Outside New York and Hollywood, nobody loses votes” by criticizing the networks.

White House officials said that executives from all of the major broadcast networks as well as some cable-TV networks would be invited to the meeting, which will be scheduled for late February.