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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ The Hollywood Reporter April 26, 2000 FTC wants a sneak peek Federal investigators reportedly pressing studios for marketing plans on violent films By David Finnigan and Brooks Boliek Federal investigators are asking the major studios to turn over media and marketing plans for certain movies to determine whether the entertainment industry is peddling violent fare to young audiences, sources familiar with the probe said. The move is part of the Federal Trade Commission's almost yearlong investigation into entertainment practices, which President Clinton ordered in the wake of the April 20, 1999, massacre at Columbine High School. Sources said stacks of boxes of evidence have been turned over to the FTC, which launched the informal investigation into how violent entertainment is marketed to the country's youth. The probe has prompted studios, music companies, video game makers, theater-chain owners and their respective trade associations to hire at least 30 separate law firms to advise them. FTC staffers are planning a late summer release of the report to President Clinton and Congress, though Washington sources said that release could be delayed until after the November presidential elections. The Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention donated at least $250,000 to its joint study with the FTC of entertainment marketing. One source familiar with the investigation said FTC investigators have raised questions about the relationship between studios and the MPAA's voluntary ratings board. Some question if the board is too willing to modify its ratings decisions about explicit fare under pressure from the studios, which fund the MPAA. Federal officials are also concerned about exhibitors' effectiveness in enforcing ratings restrictions at theaters. Another FTC question posed to studios' outside legal counsel focused on the advertising of R-rated movies on broadcast television, asking why more explicit fare is plugged on NBC's youth-driven sitcom "Friends" instead of ABC's older demographic-driven "20/20." [...] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------