CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY.

SEC. 320. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY. (a) Findings.— The Senate finds that— (1) the National Commission on Children report states that “The news and the entertainment media have tremendous potential to educate children and expose them to other cultures and new ideas” and recommends “that the recording industry continue and enhance its efforts to avoid the distribution of inappropriate materials to children”; (2) the National Commission on Children report states that “In a free society, there will always be tension between freedom of expression and upholding common social values. Censorship is the antithesis of what we embrace. Forging common values will never depend solely on laws, but also on persuasion and example. Success will require thoughtful action and self-restraint by individuals and major institutions with the ability or potential to influence children’s moral development. This makes the task of parents, public leaders, educators, 106 STAT. 1418media executives, entertainers, and advertisers more difficult, but no less important.”; (3) the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development’s executive summary of its publication Fateful Choices: Healthy Youth for the 21st Century states that, “The news and entertainment media are significant influences on the attitudes and behavior of young adolescents .... Great efforts, short of censorship, should be made to purge the media, particularly television and rock music programs, of their orgy of mindless violence . . . The news and entertainment media should be enlisted in efforts to promote health, to reduce substance abuse, violence, irresponsible sexual behavior, and to provide a better understanding of sound nutrition and physical exercise.”; (4) the Massmutual American Family Values Program 1991 study states “Parents are challenged by the entertainment industry. While three out of four respondents think parents should be the primary influences on children, 68 percent think television, movies, rock music and videos are the biggest influence on developing children’s values. While parents understand their own responsibility in teaching family values, a significant number indicated that the entertainment media could help by providing better role models for both parents and children.”; (5) in the June 1992 Journal of the American Medical Association article “Television and Violence”, the author, Dr. Brandon S. Centerwall, states, “In a recent meta-analysis of randomized, case-control, short-term studies, exposure to media violence caused, on the average, a significant increase in children’s aggressiveness as measured by observation of their spontaneous, natural behavior following exposure.”. (b) Declarations.— The Senate— (1) supports the concept that corporate America and the officials of all American institutions can and should contribute positively to individual thought and conduct as key contributors to a healthy, responsible society and individual human dignity; (2) believes that corporate and institutional entities, their management and stockholders, as well as their advertisers and sponsors, should exercise positive and constructive oversight of their activities without the sole test of their contributions based on profits, sales, and publicity; (3) strongly believes that corporate America and the officials of all American institutions weaken the moral fiber of the Nation by hiding behind the faceless masks of such corporations and institutions in a relentless search for profits, sales and publicity without regard to the moral content of their products and services; (4) believes that the exercise of citizenship encompasses individual and community actions to promote responsible behavior and values; and (5) strongly encourages the officers, employees, and shareholders of all American corporations and institutions to insist upon the acceptance of personal responsibility for the moral flavor, content and repercussions of the activities, products and services of their corporations and institutions.