According to The New York Times (via), the US government is gearing up for yet another review of the marketing of violent entertainment to the young.

Seven years ago the film industry narrowly avoided federal regulation of its advertising practices, as politicians, in the wake of the Columbine High School killings, called executives before a Congressional committee but eventually agreed to let Hollywood police itself.

Now, with the arrival of films such as Saw and Hostel and a flourishing web culture, a new study will examine the selling practices of the film industry.

If the new study were to find that the industry has violated or has outgrown its voluntary standards, it might kick the issue back into the political arena ahead of a presidential election.

There is no suggestion in the article that under-age children are actually managing to see any of the films mentioned, just a lot of vague concerns being expressed that teenagers might be hearing about such films. It will be interesting to see if the Federal Trade Commission, which is behind the report, will attempt to answer the question if why it is so bad that children are aware that there are films that they are not able to see.

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