Turn down the trash, please.
That was the request Donna Shalala made Friday to the nation's talk show hosts, known for offering a daily menu of porn stars, philandering spouses and bizarre love triangles.Shalala challenged the shows "to use your influence more responsibly, so that we can help give all parents more stamina in their everyday race to save this country's children."
The secretary of health and human services addressed a session of the "Talk Summit" on daytime TV's effects on young people. A day earlier, former Education Secretary William Bennett announced a campaign to rid the air of what he called "cultural rot."
Saturday's daylong session of the Talk Summit drew on-air per-sonalities Rolonda Watts and Mark Walberg, as well as behind-the-camera principals from eight other shows, including "Sally Jessy Raphael," "Geraldo," "Jerry Springer" and "Carnie."
Friday's dinner attracted Springer and Charles Perez, as well as talk show executives and producers.
Springer admitted that his show is "silly" but said the First Amendment protects his right to let unpopular or bizarre views be heard.
"I don't know if the majority wants it," he said. "It's irrelevant. . . . The First Amendment has nothing to do with the majority."
Springer said his audience has never cheered rapists or child abusers or wife beaters. "The kids always come out on the right side of a moral issue," he said.
Burt Dubrow, senior vice president of programming for Multimedia Entertainment, which produces Springer's show and "The Sally Jessy Raphael Show," said people control what they watch.
"If people don't want to watch it, they can turn it off," Dubrow said. "We're not embarrassed about what we do."
The conference was presented by Sonny Fox on behalf of Population Communications International, a nonprofit group that seeks to slow global population growth through the media.
Notable nonparticipants in the Talk Summit included "Donahue" and "Oprah Winfrey," higher-toned shows generally spared the criticism aimed at most of their counterparts.