Court Hands Broadcasters a Shield
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Legislators who have pushed for regulating screen violence, led by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), were dealt a very real blow by the Supreme Court last week. The court ruled in Brown (formerly Schwarzenegger) v. Entertainment Merchants Association that a California ban on selling or renting violent video games to minors is a violation of the First Amendment.
Here are some quotes from the majority opinion that broadcasters can cite the next time the TV violence issue is raised:
“Under our Constitution, ‘esthetic and moral judgments about art and literature…are for the individual to make, not for the Government to decree, even with the mandate or approval of a majority.’” (The quote language is from the Playboy case, in which the court found that available blocking technology rendered a content ban overly restrictive.)
“California has [wisely] declined to restrict Saturday morning cartoons, the sale of games rated for young children or the distribution of pictures of guns.”
“[A]s a means of assisting concerned parents [the law] is seriously overinclusive because it abridges the First Amendment rights of young people whose parents [and aunts and uncles] think violent video games are a harmless pastime.”
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Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.