Editorial: April 25, 1996
I am not in favor of censorship.
I am in favor of the "V" chip.
Perhaps these two positions seem contradictory. They are not. I have thought about this editorial for months, and I know there's going to be trouble over it. I've had arguments about this topic with two close friends.
Technological progress in TV design and digital augmentation of analog video broadcasts allow us to introduce the so-called V chip into new TV-set production. Coupled with the appropriate tagging of programs, the V chip allows you to define what shows you can and cannot watch on your TV, based on sex and violence ratings embedded within the video signal. I've seen many general-press reports claiming that the cost of this feature would add a negligible $1 to the cost of the TV. In many µP-based TVs, there's probably no effect at all on the manufacturing cost.
I do not consider the addition of V-chip technology to be censorship, because you control what you can and cannot watch. Assuming that the TV shows receive ratings in some consistent manner, you should be able to set the V chip to a viewing level that represents your beliefs and tastes.
A precedent for the V chip's rating system exists. The motion-picture industry adopted and refined such a rating system within my lifetime. Despite periodic controversies about modifications, such as the new NC-17 ratings, the film-rating system does not weigh heavily on people's minds. Instead, the system is usable, if imperfect.
So, why now the controversy over a TV-rating system? I think it's because TV enters the sanctum sanctorum, your home. Many of us do not take at all kindly to any intrusion into our homes. That's understandable. What I fail to understand is the sensitivity to an intrusion that you cannot detect unless you activate it. V-chip technology gives parents the ability to regulate what their children see on TV. I call that parental control, not censorship. If you don't want to throttle household viewing, don't activate the chip.
Steven H. Leibson
Editor In Chief