wfn.org | RELIGIOUS COALITION CHALLENGES GENERAL ELECTRIC,

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

26-May-95

95168    RELIGIOUS COALITION CHALLENGES GENERAL ELECTRIC, 
               OWNER OF NBC, ON TELEVISION VIOLENCE 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--A shareholders' resolution asking General Electric to 
review NBC's programs for excessive violence received 8.2 percent of the 
proxy votes cast on the issue April 26 at GE's annual meeting. 
 
     The resolution was brought to the meeting by a coalition of religious 
groups, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), that own stock in GE, 
which owns NBC.  A similar resolution in 1994 received a 6.7 percent 
affirmative vote.  The level of support for the resolution assures that it 
will reappear on the docket of GE's 1996 annual meeting. 
 
     "Shareholder proposals on social issues rarely garner a majority 
vote," said the Rev. William Somplatsky-Jarman, associate for Mission 
Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) in the PC(USA)'s National 
Ministries Division.  "The goal is a high enough vote to convince the 
company they need to respond positively to the issue.  We clearly achieved 
that." 
 
     Somplatsky-Jarman presented the resolution on behalf of a broad-based 
coalition of religious groups.  "While television is not the only cause, 
and perhaps not even the leading cause, of violence, it does have an 
impact, " he argued, calling attention to more than 3,000 research studies 
which have linked television viewing to violent behavior. 
 
     General Electric responded to the proposal by announcing a $20 million 
advertising campaign featuring an anti-violence message from NBC stars. 
 
     The PC(USA), whose General Assembly has repeatedly called for the 
elimination of violence in the media, was joined in the resolution filing 
by the Sisters of Loretto, Sisters of Divine Providence, Sisters of St. 
Francis of Philadelphia, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Grey Nuns of the 
Sacred Heart, Mercy Health Services, Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth 
and St. Vincent de Paul of New York, and the Order of Friars Minor, as well 
as other religious institutions and individuals.  
 
 

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