Vicky Rideout Quotations

The positive side of that is that TV shows and movies can really help people see the connection between what might be an abstract Washington policy issue and real people's lives, even though it's fictional real people,

While many parents have used the ratings or the V-Chip, too many still don't know what the ratings mean or even that their TV includes a V-Chip.

I think the bigger picture message they're getting is how the health care system in this country is structured really makes a difference in people's lives.

The market is expanding rapidly, with all kinds of brand-new product lines for little kids. But the research hasn't advanced much. There really isn't any outcomes-based research on these kinds of products and their effects on young children, and there doesn't seem to be any theoretical basis for saying that kids under 2 can learn from media.

I don't think that there are a lot of folks sitting around looking to 'ER' to give them an exact procedure that they ought to follow to file an appeal to an insurance company,

We know this is an absolutely critical period for children's development -- for their intellectual development, their social development, their physical development. But we need to make sure the media that they are using are not only not harming that development, but are actually enhancing it.

What we are saying is, if you have sex on your TV show, consider looking for a chance to incorporate a safer-sex message. It's not going to be appropriate every time, but it can make a difference.

I would suggest that parents want to probably take a look at how much time their kids are spending with media and how much time their kids are spending in other activities,

What we are taking is a Dow Jones industrial average of sexual content.

I think parents' media use is probably an important influence on kids' media use.