White House meeting yields agreement to close loophole on video games over Internet

News wire reports

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton pleaded with the nation's entertainment moguls Monday to protect children from violence in TV programs, movies, music and video games.

The call came following more than four hours of closed-door discussions at a White House summit on youth violence that Clinton organized following the April 20 Columbine High shootings that left 15 dead.

"We know that there is more for each of us to do at home and at school, in Hollywood and in the heartland and here in Washington," Clinton declared in remarks in the Rose Garden.

"We cannot pretend that there is no impact on our culture and our children that is adverse if there is too much violence coming out of what they see and experience."

Columbine High killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were obsessed with violent video games such as Doom and repeatedly watched Natural Born Killers and other movies criticized for glamorizing violence.

Harris also published threats and murderous fantasies on his Internet site.

"The plague of ultraviolent images that are planted like seeds in the minds of children bear bitter fruit in some vulnerable children," Vice President Al Gore said.

"Most can handle it. They've been given the strength to do so by their families and by their faith and by their communities."

Gore said in the meeting a breakthrough occurred "with an agreement between the video game industry and the Internet industry to plug a loophole that now makes it possible for children to get unrated and violent video games over the Internet, where it's impossible for them to buy them in stores."

Participating in the conference were nearly 60 entertainment-industry representatives, gun manufacturers, law enforcement specialists, school officials, religious leaders and members of Congress.

Among those attending were America Online chief executive Steve Case, poet Maya Angelou, singer Gloria Estefan and actor Andrew Shue, former star of Melrose Place.

"Everybody recognizes that they're part of the problem," Case said. "They need to be part of the solution."

In rare praise from a Republican, House Speaker Dennis Hastert applauded Clinton for holding the meeting and urged more discussions to "figure out what's ailing our society and how we can correct it."

But there were dissident voices elsewhere.

The National Rifle Association -- angry at being excluded from the conference -- bought newspaper ads accusing the government of failing to enforce laws already on the books. NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said Clinton was "dusting off every tired old gun-control bill that has been around his administration for the last six years."

The session was designed to lay the groundwork for a national campaign against youth violence, much like other campaigns to curb teen-age pregnancy and to find jobs for welfare recipients.

Clinton directed Surgeon General David Satcher to prepare a report on the causes of youth violence, the first in more than 10 years.

Gore and Clinton praised industry leaders, including America On Line, ABC and CBS for taking voluntary steps to allow parents to regulate the kinds of materials that can be viewed.

"We have to ask people who produce these things to consider the consequences of them, whether it's a violent movie, a CD, a video game," Clinton said.

The president also urged parents to: