According to sources, the heads of the major media trade
associations will be meeting with Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday to talk
about violence in media and society.
This week, Biden is holding a series of meetings with
various groups, from gun owners and sportsmen's groups to victims' rights
groups -- those meetings kicked off Wednesday -- to various entertainment
companies as the White House has "the conversation" about how to stem
the kind of violence that resulted in mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora and
elsewhere.
According to a source familiar with the planned meeting,
Motion Picture Association of America chairman Chris Dodd, National Cable and Telecommunications
Association president Michael Powell, National Association of Broadcasters president
Gordon Smith, as well as representatives of the National Association of Theater
Owners and the Directors Guild, are among those slated for a Thursday meeting
with Biden.
A White House official speaking on background confirmed that
Thursday's meeting would include "representatives of the entertainment and
video game industries," but was not naming names.
The source said that following his meetings, as well as ones
among cabinet officials, senior White House officials and various stakeholders, "the
Vice President will present his recommendations to the President, who then will
announce a concrete package of proposals he intends to push without delay."
Pressure has been mounting in Washington for discussions
about the role of mental health, access to firearms and cultural influences on
gun violence.
Studios, cable operators and broadcasters through those respective
trade groups have all signaled they would be willing to be part of a
conversation about real-world violence.
NABarguably went the furthest, citing the legislation introduced by Senator
Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which
would mandate a government study of the impact of media violence on real
violence, and saying it was willing to cooperate with Congress on that study.
But NCTA said it was willing to participate in a
"collective discussion," and theMPAA said it was ready to talk as well.
David Cohen from Comcast/NBCU will also be at the meeting, the company confirms.
