I opened up my Parade magazine Sunday supplement to find not only the name of one of my old bosses high on the masthead (which I already knew), but also the issue of TV violence sandwiched between the ads for Danbury Mint special edition Bulldog Christmas Trees and  "ballistic rolls" of 50, one dollar, coins for which I am expected to pay $88 because they will be delivered in cardboard boxes that look like gold bars along with an extra dollar coin so I can inspect it without cracking open my uncirculated roll of perhaps eventually somewhat collectible coins...not..

Actually that was pretty canny timing--the violence story not the dollar coins ad--for a Sunday insert, given that the Senate Commerce Committee Monday confirmed the June 26 date for its TV violence hearing and another TV violence (plus other things) hearing has cropped up for this Friday in the House Telecommunications Subcommittee..It also came two days before Kaiser is scheduled to release another study on the impact of kids on the media.

In the Parade piece, which is all of about 150 words, Parents Television Council President Tim Winter is quoted as saying that "the medical community agrees that exposure to violence is irreparably harmful to kids," though it isn't clear from the quote whether that is TV violence or real violence, the latter which is clearly harmful to kids, though in either case irreparable seems a bit of an extreme characterization.

The other side of the brief debate is represented by Marjorie Heins of the Free Expression Policy Project 

Heins seemed to hit the high notes for the defense, mentioning First Amendment rights, eduation, and parental guidance, all the talking points of the traditional media defenders.
 
The picture Parade used for the story was of Keifer Sutherland on Fox's 24, which may itself have been precient since I hear that a Fox exec may be one of the witnesses at the Senate violence hearing next week--no witnesses have yet been announced.

I'll have to read my Parade a little more carefully from now on. Perusing the Brady Bits portion of that weekly intervew, a journlism job I would like to have along with that column Larry King used to run. Anyway, I learned from that that Jackie Collins is pitching a telenovella idea to the folks behind American Idol,. It's called Rich Girls, something Collins, who has sold some 400 million books, should know something about. She calls it a drama format that would be adapted for various international markets.

No word on whether there would be a part to stab a back in for her sister and prime time soap vet, Joan Collins.