by Jack Valenti

About the author: Jack Valenti is president and chief executive officer of the Motion Picture Association of America.

Editor’s note: The following viewpoint is excerpted from Valenti’s May 1999 testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, at a hearing entitled Marketing Violence to Children.

What happened at Columbine High School in Colorado was a senseless act of mindless malice. Every sane American recoils in horror. There is rage in the land. There are outcries to ban, abolish, and quarantine by legislative fiat what many believe to be source beds of fatal mischief....

Accusatory Fingers Point Toward Movies

Let’s discuss movies. Accusatory fingers point toward films as a prime villain. [In 1998] the entire movie industry produced over 550 films. When that many...