Groups Praise Bush's Statement about TV: "The best weapon is the off-on button"

[Gary Ruskin]

Commercial Alert				October 18, 2000

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, October 18, 2000	

For More Information Contact:
Jennifer Kurz, TV-Turnoff Network: (202) 518-5556
Gary Ruskin, Commercial Alert: (202) 296-2787 

Groups Praise Bush's Statement about TV: "The best weapon is the off-on
button"

TV-Turnoff Network and Commercial Alert applaud Texas Governor George W.
Bush for saying at yesterday's presidential debate that in the battle to
prevent TV and popular culture from undermining the values we pass onto
our children, "the best weapon is the off/on button and...eating dinner
with [your children]."

The average American child witnesses 200,000 violent acts on television
by age 18 and see 20,000 commercials every year. The average child will
spend over 1,000 hours watching television this year, far more than the
900 hours they will spend in school.

"Parents today face an avalanche of violent, sexually-explicit and
commercial-laden material. Governor Bush is right on target: the best
way to protect children is to turn off the TV and turn on life," agreed
Frank Vespe, Executive Director of TV-Turnoff Network.

Many children are now required to watch television in school. Channel
One, a marketing company, delivers two minutes of advertising and ten
minutes of lite "news" to about eight million students in 12,000
schools.

"We already have values-based education in the schools.  The problem is
that it's Channel One's values.  That means promoting materialism,
violent entertainment, and low-grade sensuality to impressionable
schoolchildren," said Gary Ruskin, Director of Commercial Alert. "If
Bush and Gore want to encourage strong values among our children, they
ought to get Channel One out of the public schools."

Commercial Alert opposes corporate exploitation of children and the
excesses of commercialism, advertising and marketing. Commercial Alert's
web address is <http://www.essential.org/alert/>.

TV-Turnoff Network, formerly TV-Free America, is a national nonprofit,
nonpartisan organization that encourages children and adults to watch
much less television in order to promote healthier lives and
communities. TV-Turnoff Network organizes National TV-Turnoff Week each
year in April. Since 1995 more than 24 million Americans have turned off
their television and re-engaged in life. National TV-Turnoff Week, 2001
will be April 23-29. In addition, TV-Turnoff Networks acclaimed More
Reading, Less TV program helps students acquire a deep and long-lasting
enjoyment of reading. Visit us on the web at <http://www.tvturnoff.org>.
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Gary Ruskin | Commercial Alert 
1611 Connecticut Ave. NW Suite #3A | Washington, DC 20009
Phone: (202) 296-2787 | Fax (202) 833-2406
http://www.essential.org/alert/ | mailto:gary@essential.org
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