Ms. Loren Siegel Interview

Interview with
Ms. Loren Siegel

Siegel We interviewed Ms. Loren Siegel from the American Civil Liberties Union. Ms. Siegel is the head of the Public Education Department at the ACLU. She has been at the ACLU since 1981 and is a lawyer. She has two teenagers.

What is the purpose of the ACLU?
The purpose of the ACLU is to protect the rights of individuals. The ACLU has been around since the 1920’s when women did not have the right to vote.

What is the ACLU’s position on the V-Chip?
The ACLU is against the legislation that the congress has tried to pass. They do not think that Congress has the right to require that all television sets be equipped with the chip.

Do you think that TV violence is a problem?
There is no scientific proof that watching television will make a child violent.

Much of our research states that violence on TV causes children to act violently. What does the ACLU think about this statement?
The ACLU does not agree with this statement. There have been many studies in lab research on this topic, never once have they found proof that this statement is accurate. The ACLU believes that the violence children are exposed to through television does not affect them as much as real life experience with violence.

Both Representative Markey and the inventor of the V-chip, Tim Collings believe that the V-Chip does not go against the First Amendment. In fact they both agree that the ACLU is wrong!
I'm not surprised. The First Amendment states that one of the rights of the individual is freedom of speech or expression. The government can not pick and choose what it likes and doesn’t like about freedom of expression. It cannot be restricted if it is not causing direct harm. The legislature is telling the television industry that they must include the V-Chip in every television produced. The V-Chip censors anything even remotely violent, ranging from documentary coverage to news to wrestling!

back to interviews or read our interview with Mr. Moulton or Mr. Collings.