Lindsay Wagner's testimony from "S. 1383, Children's Protection from Violent Programming Act of 1993 : S. 973, Television Report Card Act of 1993, and S. 943, Children's Television Violence Protection Act of 1993 : hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congree, first session, October 20, 1993"

HEARING 

BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, 

SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 


OCTOBER 20, 1993 

 

The Chairman. Very good. Ms. Wagner, would you — we would be
glad to receive your statement now at this time.

STATEMENT OF LINDSAY WAGNER, PACIFIC PALISADES, CA

Ms. Wagner. Some of what I have to say will be, of course, re-
dundant, because I am very pleased to hear — first of all, I want to
thank you for allowing me to come and speak my piece today.

The Chairman. Move that microphone a little bit closer first,
please. Yes, thanks.

Ms. Wagner. I have this problem in my business too.

I want to thank you for allowing me to come and speak my piece
today, and I am also very happy to hear that what I am — some of
what I have already decided to say is going to be redundant. So,
that makes me very happy because it is clear that a lot of you are
aware of things that have been painful to me throughout my entire
career.

I am here today first as a mother and second as a member of the
industry being discussed. Intuitively as a parent, walking down the
street with your child of 4 or 5 or 3 or 7, you look across the street
at a safe distance, let us say, and a man is beating another man
or a woman. Would you say "Oh, look, honey, this should be excit-
ing," or do you grab your child and turn his nead away? You would
instinctively shelter your child's vision.

Why? I mean instinctively we know this is wrong. Intuitively we
know this. We are living in a culture today which knows that pain
control, winning at sports, being successful at work, remembering
people's names, and even healing are being accomplished through
visualization, through seeing the desired outcome in our minds
over and over again, reading it from a piece of paper that is tacked
on the wall or stuck in a desk or on the refrigerator. "I enjoy being
slender and fit"; it works.

If as hardened adults our lives can be affected so strongly by
positive input even twice a day for a few months, how can we even
entertain the thought that violent images, violent responses, vio-



63

lent solutions to situations going into a child's open formulating
mind anywhere from 10 to 40 times per day would not create simi-
lar responses or fear of the world or fear of tomorrow, thereby dic-
tating certain attitudes and behaviors?

Now, I admit that censorship is very risky business. However, I
feel that the flip side of that very coin is what we are dealing with.
We are not dealing with art for expression's sake. We are not deal-
ing with a soapbox in a park. We are not dealing with community
theater — or even an open — truly open forum for news. The news is
as competitive as anything else. What we are dealing with is big
business, as many of you have already pointed out, whose main ob-
jective is to turn people's heads and to sell products.

The response to sensationalism and adrenalin addiction, as I call
it, truly is a weakness in our society that is a primary tactic used
to get ahead in our business. Because the TV has become one of
the most powerful influences in our society, it has become increas-
ingly competitive. And they are all running so fast that while try-
ing to keep up— no one really knows how to take a stand, I think,
on this issue without the fear of being run over. And as a result,
our children are suffering and our future is being highly impacted.

With power comes responsibility. And sadly, after 23 years in
this business, I am losing my sense of optimism, and I am here
with you today who are reflecting the same feelings. I feel there is
a need for immediate and hopefully temporary imposing of regulat-
ing measures on the behalf of our children, to help our business
find a better balance between competition and humanness, such as
Senator Rollings is proposing. A safe time, a safe harbor, a peace-
ful place to grow up and then do whatever weird things you want
to do when you are truly responsible for your own life.

And long-term measures which will impact change from within
in our business which are reflected in other ideas that I have been
hearing today that I have only been recently, I mean 24 hours ago,
becoming aware of what is going on here. I am learning about it
here today, what other ideas are on the table.

And I am thrilled and I am happy to be here, and I encourage
you all to keep doing it. I absolutely agree that our parents need
to be educated. We need to know that as a public we can be affec-
tive, people do not know that, they do not know that they have any
power. I think people watch many things by default, but they do
not feel that they have anything to say about it, and I think that
needs to be changed.

I have a lot to say, but thank you anyway.

The Chairman. Very good. Thank you very much, Ms. Wagner.