Statement by TV Watch on January 2011: Anticipating Children's Media Policy in the Obama Era Roundtable

CHARLESTON, SC -- Jim Dyke, the Executive Director of TV Watch, has released the following statement following The Kaiser Family Foundation and the American Center for Children and Media's roundtable discussion titled January 2011: Anticipating Children's Media Policy in the Obama Era :

"Today's roundtable highlights a very relevant and much needed discussion of who will dictate what children watch on television and whether the government is going to enter homes and take control of the remote or leave that responsibility where it belongs - with parents.

"As a candidate, President Barack Obama said, 'Turn off the television, turn off the video games...government can't do everything.'

"Parents want to effectively manage what their children are watching on television. Eighty-six percent of parents believe more parental involvement is the best way to keep kids from seeing what they shouldn't see on television. The current ratings system gives parents the opportunity to understand program content before it ever hits the screen allowing them to make an informed decision about which programs are appropriate. Armed with this knowledge, parents are able to take advantage of parental controls - the blocking technologies offered by cable and satellite companies or the v-chip that is already included in their television set.

"With an administration stressing the importance of personal responsibility and increased awareness of media technologies, we are confident that parents will be empowered to be firmly in control of what their families watch."

About TV Watch

TV Watch was launched in May 2005 and is the leading national organization to promote parental controls and individual choices as an alternative to increased government regulation of TV content. TV Watch is a nonpartisan coalition of 27 individuals and organizations including legal and entertainment experts and political and consumer organizations representing more than four million Americans. For more information about TV Watch, visit TelevisionWatch.org or contact Adam Temple at (843) 722-9670.