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B. Recommendations

To the Broadcast Networks:

The Center for Communication Policy is prepared to discuss any aspect of this report and to fully work with the networks in implementing these recommendations.

1. Scheduling: Programs containing violent themes or images should be programmed in the later hours of the prime time schedule, specifically 9:00 p.m. or later. Special attention should be paid to what has been a trouble spot: Sunday evening. Action theatricals and television movies should be run as late as possible. Until Fox schedules a 10:00 p.m. hour of prime time, it should be especially vigilant in this area, continuing its liberal use of advisories.
2. Promos: The networks should re-examine their policies regarding promos. Attention should be focused on the lack of context in promos, the time periods and shows on which the promos run and how non-violent shows can produce action promos. All promos and theatrical advertisements should be reviewed by the practices and standards department.
3. Theatrical Films: Rethink which films cannot be made suitable for broadcast television, especially action films with 30-50 scenes of violence. These are the films that are nearly impossible to edit. Even if they are edited, little of the story would be left. Continue and expand the practice of extending prime time hours for difficult films.
4. Children's Television: Examine those shows that feature combat as the highlight of the program. Study those shows that attract children and maintain their interest without using extensive fighting.
5. Television Movies: Some crimes and other dramatic stories are so compelling they must be told. But many television movies are about crimes and only serve as a vehicle for violence without a larger context or purpose. These stories do not always need to be told. Be careful about unnecessarily violent titles. Advisories should be much more liberally applied.
6. Advisories: Advisories serve an important function for parents. They need to be applied much more consistently, especially to television movies and theatricals. This is much less a problem for series. Fox has shown that liberal use of advisories does not alienate viewers or advertisers.
7. Tonnage: A few shows contain so many scenes of violence that the overall context of the show is violent. These programs are in greatest need of better writing to find plot devices other than just violence to move the story. This is a particular challenge to development executives.
8. Cinematic Techniques: Emphasis should be paid to techniques that can overly accentuate scenes of violence. These include music, close ups, slow motion and sound effects. All these techniques can improve a scene, but often are used just to enhance the violence. These are not merely incidental areas of television. Reality programs using re-creations are under a special obligation to be careful in the area of technique.
9. Practices and Standards: Recognize that these departments are an inexpensive investment for the networks' own peace of mind. The executives who run these departments at all four networks are extremely knowledgeable and should have unimpeded access to the highest levels of senior management. Except in very rare instances, these departments should have the final say on the treatment of issues of violence. To program standards executives: apply to yourselves the standards you would apply to your competitors.
10. Shows That Deal With Violence Well: Examine how these programs can feature conflict, crime and tension without resorting to contextually inappropriate scenes of violence. Identify the qualities that make these shows successful.

    And as next steps:

11. Monitoring: The monitoring has been so valuable and represents such an important source of information at such a small cost, that it should become institutionalized in the television system and continue to be conducted each year.
12. Follow Up: The four networks should work with the Center in a series of discussions and meetings over the next year to continue to discuss the nature of the problem and the best ways to address it.

To the Television Creative Community:

Recognize the risk that violence in television and film can be used to substitute for good writing. The best writers and producers in television can create characters and compelling stories without unnecessarily filling the program with scenes of violence. Through your own organizations such as The Caucus for Producers, Writers and Directors, the guilds and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences hold meetings and discussions on issues related to the use of violence: showing consequences, graphicness, the need for context and techniques to avoid over reliance on scenes of violence. Include the network's development executives in these discussions.

To the Government:

Understand the important role you play in the issue of violence in the media. Do not underestimate your power to shape public opinion. As much as possible, speak to the television industry with one voice. Use your powerful voice to encourage, persuade, cajole and, when necessary, threaten. Recognize when progress is made. The television violence issue needs sustained leadership from the government. Broadcasters should not have to fear that all understandings and arrangements disappear after every election or change in government.

To Affiliates:

Put pressure on the networks. Let them know what programming you do not like or which is unsuitable for your area. Do so with examples and with detail of the format, themes or scenes of violence you do not consider suitable. In conjunction with the network's practices and standards department, create your own standards for network promotions and your own local and syndicated programming. Network promotions designed for 10:00 should not be run on your station in the afternoon or very early evening.

To Schools:

Media literacy should never replace social studies or science in the curriculum. But television is an important part of students' lives. Teachers should ask their students about what they watch and how accurately it reflects their lives. Discussions of how television deals with gender and racial stereotyping, depictions of historical events and social trends can all be incorporated into existing lesson plans. Teachers can be more media literate and include these concepts in their teaching.

To Parents:

You cannot watch all television with your children, but you can occasionally watch your child watch television. You can ask them about what they watch. What lessons are they assimilating? Can they distinguish between animation and live action? Do they realize that they can settle disputes without resorting to violence? Why do they like some television characters and not others?

Explore some of the technological devices now or soon to be on the market to help you control what your children watch. If your television already has a channel block feature, learn how to use it. Whether or not there ultimately is a V-Chip, look at devices such as The Telecommander or TV Guardian that not only control which programs your children watch, but how much television and at what times.

Make your views known to television stations and broadcast networks.

To Kids:

Question what you watch on television. Discuss what you watch with your parents. When you do not understand something or it seems confusing, ask about it. Compare the world of television with the world you live in. If there are differences, why do you think this is so? How do your favorite shows deal with conflict and with people fighting? Ask yourself: how would you change television? You, too, make your views known to television stations and broadcast networks.

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