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American Morning

FTC Report Blasts Music Industry Marketing Habits

Aired April 24, 2001 - 10:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to Washington and a sour note for the music industry. In a report due out today, the Federal Trade Commission is expected to blast the industry for continuing to market explicit recordings to children, despite promises to shape up.

Our Jeanne Meserve joins us now from Washington. She's got some reaction to that report -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Leon, that report is out, and that is exactly what it does. It says that the movie industry and the video game industry have started to limit their advertising of violent material to children, but the music industry has not.

Joining me now from Capitol Hill is Senator Joseph Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut. Senator, you have threatened to introduce some legislation to deal with this situation. What would your legislation do?

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: I have, Jeanne. Let me just say, first, that there's some good news in this report, and it makes me feel good because this was a problem a bunch of us and a lot of parents focused on, which is that the entertainment industry is rating some stuff as only appropriate for adults and then turning around and marketing it to kids. That's wrong.

We asked for an FTC investigation. It came out last September, and made a very strong case, and here in this report, you see a lot of progress, including by some of the entertainment companies that probably are going to make a little less money because they've stopped marketing adult-rated stuff to kids, and I appreciate that.

MESERVE: But not from the music industry.

LIEBERMAN: The music industry hasn't done much at all, and the movie industry could do more. So, I think we ought to take -- what I want to do this Thursday is introduce legislation that takes this standard of fairness, puts it in law and says if you rate -- I don't want the government to rate -- if you're a movie or a music company or video game company, you rate a property as only good for adults, then it's just not legal to market it to kids. That's deceptive and unfair advertising.

MESERVE: Now, in the press release issued with this report, the chairman of the FTC is quoted as saying that government intrusion in decisions about content raises serious First Amendment concerns. Do you feel your legislation does that?

LIEBERMAN: I do not, and in all the work that I've done over almost a decade now in trying to speak for myself as a parent and also for other parents in this country, appealing to entertainment industry to draw some lines, I've always worked very hard not to get the government near censorship because I believe in the First Amendment.

MESERVE: Well, what do you say to those who say this is all about artistic expression?

LIEBERMAN: It's their right to express themselves artistically in whatever way they want. but if they themselves and the rating committees rate a movie, a video game, a record as only appropriate for adults, it's just not fair and right to turn around and market that same movie or video game or record to our children. It's kind of an end run on America's parents and on the rating system. That's not right, that's not censorship, and that ought to be illegal, and that's what my legislation would do.

MESERVE: The recording industry points out that for years it has had parental advisories on recordings. Is that not enough?

LIEBERMAN: No, it's not enough. The parental advisory that the record industry puts on music is the least comprehensible, least informative of any rating system in any entertainment media. But secondly, the point here is are you turning around and marketing this adult-rated stuff, the stuff you put your sticker on, the sticker on the record, to kids, and you shouldn't do that.

And that's what this FTC report calls for, that's what they criticize the record industry for doing, and that's what my legislation would try to hold up as standard. I mean, there's focus on this now, and there's been some very good action by some of the entertainment industry, but I want to put it in law so this basic principle of fairness and good advertising goes on long after the rest of us are gone.

MESERVE: And we have to leave it there.

LIEBERMAN: OK.

MESERVE: Senator Joseph Lieberman, thanks so much from joining us from Capitol Hill.

LIEBERMAN: Thank you.

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