CAGW: Senators Propose Redundant Media Research Study

CAGW: Senators Propose Redundant Media Research Study

WASHINGTON, March 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today criticized Senators Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), and Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) for reintroducing the Children and Media Research Advancement Act (CAMRA), which will set up a $90 million program to research what countless other studies have already documented -- the effects of television viewing and other media on children. CAGW named Sen. Lieberman Porker of the Month when he introduced the same legislation in August, 2004.

"This proposal is just one expensive rerun," CAGW President Tom Schatz said. "For decades this issue has been studied to death, always yielding the same results. Calling for yet another taxpayer-funded study belittles the ability of parents to use common sense in deciding what shows are appropriate for their children."

The American Psychiatric Association maintains that "The debate is over ... For the last three decades, the one predominant finding in research on the mass media is that exposure to media portrayals of violence increases aggressive behavior in children." By 1995, more than 1,000 studies had demonstrated a connection between violence in the media and aggressive behavior in some children, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Just last month, the University of Birmingham in the U.K. released yet another comprehensive study -- drawing on six North American studies -- concluding that violent imagery in the media has an effect on children's arousal, thoughts and emotions. In addition, clean television advocacy groups like Children NOW, the Children's Digital Media Center, and Common Sense Media scrutinize every hour of television, issue reports on new video games, boycott advertisers, and write editorials.

CAMRA will fund six years of "energizing research into all types of print, digital and electronic media (including computer games, television, and the internet) on the cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and behavioral development of children from infancy through adolescence." To justify such an expensive and wide-ranging effort, Sen. Lieberman has asserted that "no one is looking out, in a systematic way, for what our children are looking at."

In August, Lara Mahaney of the Parents Television Council remarked, "To spend $90 million on something we already know is just a waste of money."

The millions of dollars already being spent on research and advocacy are not enough for Sen. Clinton, who calls sex and violence in the media "a silent epidemic."

"The not-so-silent epidemic Senator Clinton and her colleagues should be most concerned with is the rabid spending in Congress and the monstrous deficit created by redundant and useless programs such as this," chided Schatz. "Senator Clinton in particular is clearly aware of the effects of violence in the media; she has commented on them countless times. Taxpayers need more comments and action on wasteful spending, not the creation of another worthless study."

Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation's largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

Source: Citizens Against Government Waste

CONTACT: Tom Finnigan or Lauren Cook of the Citizens Against Government Waste, +1-202-467-5300

Web site: http://www.cagw.org/

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