Regulation, Industry Self-Regulation

Media industry self-regulation evolves as a response to external criticism and is often implemented as a way to preclude threats of legislation. Public and legislative concern about media reflects society's normative ideal of what media should and should not do in our culture. Particularly where children and adolescents are concerned, there is tremendous interest in mitigating the potentially negative effects of media content and media use and encouraging the positive contributions media can make. But, while calls for government oversight are made, First Amendment guarantees of free speech and free press prohibit most direct government interference in content-based decisions. Pressuring media to self-regulate is a way to address concerns without having to raise the specter of constitutional issues.

Self-regulation, by definition, puts media industry personnel in charge of overseeing their own media products. Skeptics must be persuaded the industry is making a genuine effort to address the collective concerns of the public. Self-regulation may also, however, be more agile than government regulation in response to changes in the industry such as new technological developments.

Ratings systems are the most evident form of selfregulation that addresses issues with which parents are concerned. The movie industry has age-based ratings. The music industry has warning labels attached to the packaging of recordings with explicit lyrics. Television programs are rated with a combination of age-based and content-based distinctions. Video games are assigned age-based ratings, and some basic content information is available on packaging. Each of these systems is administered either by individual media producers or by an industry trade association. None of the systems uses psychologists or child development experts to help assign ratings. Each of the ratings systems is unique, which makes it difficult for parents to keep track of what each rating truly means. There has been some movement to create a uniform ratings system that could be applied across different forms of media, but so far this service is available only through for-profit companies.

The other prominent media self-regulatory systems apply to the advertising industry and are encouraged by the Federal Trade Commission. Of particular interest regarding children and adolescents is the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU), a division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. This group was formed in the mid-1970s at the request of the advertising industry. Their primary function is to review advertising directed at children under 12 and to ensure that it is true and accurate and takes into account the level of cognitive development of its target audience. Some areas of advertising that receive scrutiny include food products (especially junk food), alcoholic beverages, and violent or explicit media content, especially movies, music, and video games.

Other forms of self-regulation are less well known. Many media organizations have codes of ethics, or a list of standards and practices by which they are to abide. Specific news outlets, from the Cedar Rapids Gazette to the New York Times have policies designed to address day-to-day challenges. Professional organizations like the American Society of Media [Page 707]Photographers spell out more generalized principles for their members. The difficulty with such codes is that they are often so general as to be useless in particular situations, or so specific that they don't address a wide range of controversial material. These internal codes are also not made widely available to the public, as media organizations fear they may face legal sanctions for violating their own written standards.

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