
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 16, 1993                   TAG: 9312160139
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A16   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

GROUPS WANT TV VIOLENCE OFF PRIME TIME

The government should pressure the entertainment industry to adopt a television code similar to Canada's that restricts violent programs to late night and early morning, opponents of TV violence recommended Wednesday.

A coalition of 20 advocacy groups sent their plan to Attorney General Janet Reno, who told a Senate committee this year that Congress should legislate against TV violence if the industry does not cut dramatized murder and mayhem on its own.

The coalition, organized by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., wants the industry to severely restrict violence in children's programming.

It would allow violent shows after 10 p.m. and until 6 a.m., a restriction which would be enforced by the Federal Communications Commission.

It also supported legislation to require that TV sets be adapted so parents can block violent shows.

The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters recently announced a national code against gratuitous and glamorized violence and limitations on when programming containing brutality can be shown.

by CNB