TV guidelines propose
restrictions for children
RAT)> from page 12
logue and situations.”
The rating “TV-14,” would
mean programs may contain “so
phisticated themes, strong language
and sexual content.” The rating
“TV-M” would means the program
may contain vulgar language,
“graphic violence and explicit
sexual content.”
TV shows on broadcast televi
sion are rarely expected to carry the
“TV-M” rating, broadcasters said,
pointing out that the rating is in
tended to flag more explicit shows
like ones shown on.HBO or
Showtime — cable channels that
people specifically choose to buy.
Before taking effect, the TV
industry s tinal ratings plan must oe
approved by the Federal Commu
nications Commission. Critics hope
to win changes in the regulatory
process.
“Parents are going to scream
bloody murder,” predicted
children’s TV activist Peggy
Charren.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.,
who wrote legislation calling upon
the industry to rate programs, wants
a system that gives viewers more in
formation about a program’s con
tent, including sex, violence and
language.
“Parents want to know is it vio
lence or is it sex? But if it is all in
one huge category, it is fairly use
less,” he said.
Lawsuit aims to eliminate
hidden-camera journalism
Supermarket chain
sues “PrimeTime Live”
for fraud and
trespassing.
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) —
Hidden-camera journalism went on
trial Tuesday in a closely watched law
suit brought by Food Lion over an
ABC “PrimeTime Live” expose that
accused the supermarket chain of sell
ing rat-gnawed cheese and spoiled
chicken.
Seeking $2.5 billion in damages
from the network, Food Lion is suing
not for libel but for fraud and trespass
ing, accusing two ABC producers of
using illegal tactics in going under
cover to get the story in 1992.
The case could help open a new line
of legal attack for companies burned
by hidden-camera exposes. The ques
tion is whether reporters have the right
to pose as employees of the company
they are investigating.
Robert Sack, a First Amendment
lawyer in New York, said corporations
and the news media are watching.
“Reporters don’t always get news
by being wholly up front and forthcom
ing,” said Sack, whose clients include
The Wall Street Journal and Newsday.
“It is likely that important law will be
made by this case precisely because
some variant of this form of behavior
is part and parcel of what reporters do
to get the truth.”
ABC’s report accused the super
market chain of unsanitary practices
such as selling cheese that had been
gnawed by rats and spoiled meat that
had been washed in bleach to cover the
odor. The Salisbury-based chain de
nied the allegations and sued.
Food Lion attorney Andrew
Copenhaver told the jury in his open
ing statement that the two ABC pro
ducers had no intention of working for
the supermarket and spent their time
on the job looking for incriminating
evidence, even encouraging or creat
ing some of the bad conditions seen in
the report.
“ABC claims ... that the cameras
and sound devices were merely bugs
on the wall to record a day in the life at
a Food Lion store,” Copenhaver said.
“Our contention is that the truth is as
far from that as the Earth is from the
|! moon.”
Copenhaver accused the producers,
Lynne Dale and Susan Burnette, of ly
ing to get their Food Lion jobs, then
spending their time “wandering around
the stores, working as ABC producers,
going into offices, looking at time
records on other Food Lion employ
ees. These are things that were not part
of their duties as Food Lion employ
ees.”
He said the women were equipped
with what he called “spy rigs” — hid
den cameras in their wigs and record
ers in their bras.
ABC doesn’t deny any deception
but contends there was no fraud or tres
pass, said ABC attorney Bill Jeffress.
“They did do their jobs. They faked
nothing. They committed no fraud, no
trespass or breach of duty,” he said.
Copenhaver said some 45 hours of
videotape not aired by ABC shows the
producers tried to persuade other Food
Lion workers to sell out-of-date prod
ucts and say bad things about the com
pany. About five minutes of the tapes
were used in the broadcast.
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1,106 stores in 14 states, mostly in the
Southeast. The chain claimed its sales
and stock price suffered after the story
aired.
Last year, U.S. District Judge
Carlton Tilley ruled that Food Lion
could not pursue damages for loss of
reputation unless it could prove that the
report was false and that ABC knew it
at the time.
The lawsuit is part an emerging
trend in which businesses unhappy with
a broadcast report attack how the news
was gathered rather than the truth of
the story — a development that wor
ries Washington-based First Amend
ment lawyer Bruce Sanford.
“The public interest is served by
aggressive enterprise reporting by
news organizations that tell us about
the world we live in,” Sanford said.
The case isn’t the first involving
ABC’s hidden cameras.
Last year, two men who claimed
ABC violated their privacy won more
than $1 million in damages for a
“PrimeTime Live” expose on psychic
hot lines.
In 1993, a Chicago-based chain of
eye care centers sued for $50 million
over another “PrimeTime Live” report,
accusing ABC of defamation, trespass
ing and violating privacy.
Court says kissing couple not pictured
PARIS (AP)—You can’t fight City
Hall—not even with a kiss.
An appeals court has upheld a rul
ing against an elderly couple claiming
to be the young lovers stealing a kiss
in Robert Doisneau’s famed photo,
“Kiss At City Hall.”
The Lavergnes, who are retired,
claimed in 1993 they were photo
graphed without their knowledge in
1950 as they were strolling on the
promenade in front of Paris’ Hotel de
vine.
The photograph ^ is one ot
Doisneau’s most famous pictures, sym
bolizing the carefree sensuality of post
war Paris. The couple embraces pas
sionately while people pass by indif
ferently.
The couple said they recognized
themselves on the basis of a bracelet
and clothes.
They lost their case after Doisneau
acknowledged he had paid two mod
els to po9e for the picture.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) —
Farofi Young, country singer whose
string of hits included die classic Willie
Nelson song “Hello Walls,” died Tues
day of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
He was 64.
He died at Columbia Summit Medi
cal Center, said Melanie Lamb, hospi
tal spokeswoman.
A suicide note was discovered with
him Monday when a friend found him
at his home, wounded. The note de
tailed Young’s plans to kill himself,
police said.
Young, whose hits also included
“Sweet Dreams,” “It’s Four in the
Morning” and “Live Fast, Love Hard,
Die Young,” had been depressed re
cently about health problems, friends
said. He had emphysema and recently
underwent prostate surgery, said his
lawyer, Grant Smith.
Donald Reeves Sr., a neighbor, said
the performer “wasn’t his same old
exuberant self’ the past three months.
Besides a series of hits on the coun
try charts from the ’50s onward, Young
was a successful businessman and oc
casional movie actor. He founded and
later sold the country music fan maga
zine “Music City News.”
His nickname, The Singing Sher
iff, came from a role he played in the
“Hidden Guns.” Among his other films
were “Raiders of Old California” and
“Daniel Boone.”
Young was known for aiding the
careers of younger artists and
songwriters. He recorded the songs of
Nelson, Don Gibson and Bill Ander
son early on, and Kris Kristofferson
earned rent money waxing as a laborer
for Young.
Country stars like Roger Miller and
Johnny Paycheck played in Young’s
band before going on to careers of their
own.
Nelson’s “Hello Walls” was a No.
1 country hit in 1961 and also made it
into the top 20 on the pop charts.
Among his other hits, some of
which Young#wrote: “Country Girl,” “I
Miss You Already,” “Your Old Used
To Be,” “Backtrack” and “Wine Me
Up.” He also had hits as part of a duet
with Margie Singleton, such as “Keep
ing Up With The Joneses.”
Bom in Shreveport, La., Young got
his start on KWKH Radio’s “Louisi
ana Hayride,” inspired by the music of
Hank Williams Sr.
_ • • 1 Matt Haney/DN
Universal Studios criticized
for distributing profane music
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Former Education Secretary Will
iam Bennett, an outspoken conser
vative voice on issues of morality,
said Monday Universal Studios Inc.
is violating a commitment not to
distribute profane or violent music.
Universal Studios, formerly
MCA Inc., sells music recordings
under the MCA and Geffen labels.
“MCA now joins other corpo
rations in America in trying to make
as much money as it can out of the
wreckage of civilization,” Bennett
said at a news conference. “Their
word is not worth anything.”
When Interscope Records
moved to MCA in February, MCA
• said they “would not profit from or
distribute music they found offen
sive,” said Bennett’s aide, Christian
Pinkston. Interscope artists included
“gangsta” rapper Snoop Doggy
Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur.
So far, MCA has failed to live
up to its commitment, according to
Bennett, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D
Conn., and C. DeLores Tucker of
the National Political Congress of
Black Women, who previously have
teamed up to criticize “gangsta” rap
and other music containing violent
and sexually explicit lyrics.
“Gangsta rap, pornographic pe
dophile rap, containing those insidi
ous thuggish and denigrating lyrics
is race-driven, drug-driven, vio
lence-driven, and, the bottom line
for these drooling corporate execu
tives, monstrously greed-driven,”
Tucker said.
MCA Music Entertainment
66
Gangsta rap...is race-driven, drug
driven, violence-driven, and, the
bottom line for these drooling
corporate executives, monstrously
greed-driven.”
C. DeLores Tucker
The National Political Congress of Black Women
Group said Tuesday it is monitor
ing the content of its releases and
“as a result of the process, MCA has
chosen not to release certain music.
This is a subjective process and not
everyone will always agree with
these decisions.”
Hilary Rosen, president of the
Recording Industry Association of
America here, said MCA declined
to release “Death Row’s Greatest
Hits,” an album of gangsta rap.
“MCA passed on distributing
that record, and it’s probably going
to make a lot of money,” Rosen said.
“Just because Mr. Bennett and Ms.
Tucker found some record that
MCA does distribute and they don’t
like, that’s always going to happen.”
Bob Bernstein, spokesman for
MCA Music, refused to identify
music that MCA has declined to
release because of objectionable
content.
MCA’s acquisition—a deal val
ued at $200 million — came after
Time Warner Inc. dropped its
Interscope stake in September 1995
in the midst of attacks over explicit
lyrics.
Among the critics were Bennett
and Bob Dole, then a candidate for
the Republican presidential nomi
nation.
As part of the agreement, MCA
reserved the right to pass on “ob
jectionable” records Interscope
might be considering releasing.
Gangsta rap accounts for less than
onerfiflh of Interscope’s sales.
Records deemed unacceptable
were to be manufactured, distrib
uted and marketed by unrelated
companies, and MCA would not
share in the profits.
“It will be done on a case-by
case, record-by-record basis,” said
Doug Morris, chairman of the MC \
Music Entertainment Group.
