Will the FCC control Television Violence effectively?
Television Violence is a serious problem. However, that does not mean that giving the FCC more power is the solution. In fact, there is reason to believe that giving the FCC more power will make the problem worse.
First, the FCC already has the power to regulate sexual content on TV. Under their wise guidance, between 1998 and 2005 the amount of sexual references on TV doubled. I see no reason to expect that they would have any more success controlling violence.
Second, last fall the FCC was caught red-handed censoring reports that conflicted with their policy goal of loosening restrictions on media ownership. The taxpayer-funded reports found that locally owned stations produced more local news (surprise! surprise!). So, the FCC ordered the reports destroyed. When the reports surfaced, all the FCC officials denied any knowledge of the reports. Obviously, these officials cannot be trusted with any power, especially not the power to control what billions of Americans see on their televisions every day.
Finally, parents have the power to control the content their children see on TV already. Many are just not using it. If you want your kids to watch less violence, you need to boycott TV violence in your homes; stop letting your children watch TV in their bedrooms unsupervised; stop letting your children watch cartoon violence; stop letting your children watch so much TV; and start spending more time teaching them non-violent ways of responding to the world (which means watching less TV).