Rockefeller Will Push For Government Oversight Of Violent Media Content

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) indicated Wednesday that he would continue to push for government oversight of violent media content. He has tried before to expand the Federal Communications Commission's oversight to include violent programming, but without success. Chairman Rockefeller opened a hearing on revisiting the Children's Television Act in a digital world saying that it was not the media "violence and promiscuity" he was so concerned about, but said that would be the subject of future inquiries. He said he had not been deterred by the reactions of his fellow senators to a hearing last year at which he featured a clip reel of violent programming. He said he was shot down, mostly by members of his own party, because of concerns over the First Amendment. "There was an automatic mindset that because the First Amendment exists, you cannot even be talking about this so don't waste my time. I was furious, and I was undeterred."