Does New TV Rating System Provide Worthwhile Service?

Tue., Dec. 24, 1996

Doug Floyd Interactive Editor

Television programming is about to join the list of commodities that warn and inform consumers about their own contents.

Ratings already alert parents about motion pictures that include sex (aka adult situations), violence or the kinds of words that are described in reasonably polite company by only the first letter. Many tape and compact disc packages put buyers on notice when the lyrics inside may be stronger than something you’d read on, say, a cereal box.

As for cereal boxes, they list the nutritional value of the contents. Alcoholic beverage containers remind expecting women that the baby on board might not benefit from a highball. Cigarette packages carry the surgeon general’s notorious warning - actually now a series of warnings.

So, after all this experience with labeling, will the age-based rating system about to be implemented for television programs alter anybody’s viewing habits?

Would a different rating system, offering more specifics about what the rated content actually is, be an improvement? Or do rating systems accomplish anything worthwhile anyway?

It’s enough to drive you mad

It probably won’t come up for a public vote, but drivers in Washington might be paying state and local sales taxes when they fill their tanks with gasoline beginning sometime next year.

Outgoing Washington Gov. Mike Lowry says such a step - which lawmakers can take without ballot approval - is needed to put state, city and county transportation systems on sturdy financial footing.

Given the current condition of streets and roads in the Spokane area, not to mention what they’ll look and drive like after this winter, Lowry may find some backers here.

Currently, the full state and local sales tax impact would be about 10 cents a gallon. That’s at present, of course. Gasoline, at present, is about 25 cents to 30 cents a gallon cheaper than it was less than a year ago. If the price goes back up, compute the 8.1 percent tax bite on the increase, too.

Apart from the effect this would have on individual motorists, who presumably would be paying to improve the roads they drive on, what would such a tax hike do to service station operators in a border county such as Spokane? Will penny-pinching Spokane County drivers start making it a point to fill up on the other side of the state line whenever they venture into Idaho?

, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone; or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.

“Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone; or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.

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