Ratings System

The television industry will unveil today a ratings system that contains more specific warnings about sex and violence than originally planned, but that is unlikely to silence critics who say it is too vague to be useful.Initial plans, which leaked out last week, called for rating shows in six categories based solely on age. That provoked an outpouring of criticism from child advocates who say parents need much more specific information to control the messages coming into their homes.While the ratings will continue to be based on age, information about language, violence, themes and sexual content will now ++ be included, according to sources involved in drafting the plan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The television ratings system being hashed out by industry executives is likely to have five or six categories, similar to those for big-screen movies, according to a published report.Although no final decisions have been made, sources told the Los Angeles Times that the ratings are likely to be G for general audiences and a handful of PG derivatives, which will suggest suitable viewing age. For example, some shows would have a PG-8, representing a show that may be inappropriate for kids under 8.Most programs are expected to be rated either G or PG. Shows such as ABC's "NYPD Blue" and "Walker, Texas Ranger," would get a PG-13 rating, according to the Times.

WASHINGTON -- The most powerful executives in the television industry promised President Clinton yesterday to start rating programs by January 1997, so parents can use new technology to block out shows they don't want their children to see.But while the president hailed the pledge as a "historic turning point," industry analysts said that the ratings system described yesterday would accomplish little more than getting politicians off the networks' backs...

If ABC, NBC and CBS follow Fox's lead in coming days and promise to impose a ratings system for sex and violence on their programs, the word "historic" will be sounded often and loudly from Washington to Hollywood. After all, the networks have resisted calls for a ratings system for more than 25 years.But such self-regulation by the networks may simply be a bad rerun of the movie industry's evasive tactics rather than a watershed development, say media scholars. In their analysis, the proposed ratings system -- which will be modeled on one instituted in 1968 by the Motion Picture Association of America -- is mainly an attempt by the networks to dodge government regulation.

Most people probably wouldn't pay almost $9,000 more for a product than they had to. But that is, in effect, what 138 patients did last year when they went to Prince George's Hospital Center for an angioplasty.2Hospital ... ... ... Cases ... ... Avg. billUM ... ... ... .. ... ... 248 .. .. ... $14,197Adventist ... ... ... ... 186 ... .. .. 11,502Bayview ... ... .. .. ... 203 ... .. .. 10,502P.G. ... ... ... .. .. .. 218 ... .. .. 10,197Md. General ... ... .. .. 134 ... .. .. 9,708Bon Secours ... ... .. .. 191 ... .. .. 9,641Liberty ... ... ... .. .. 162 ... .. .. 9,452Hopkins ... ... ... .. .. 213 ... .. .. 9,315Harbor ... ... ... ... .. 181 ... .. .. 9,097Mercy ... ... ... ... ... 164 ... .. .. 8,891Holy Cross .. ... ... ... 320 ... .. .. 8,874N.

Ever since the Motion Picture Association of America adopted the ratings system in 1968 to advise parents of the sex and violence content of movies, the way films are designated has been a topic of controversy. The major studios soon realized that a particular rating could make or break a project at the box office. Directors pruned and pared scenes to satisfy the ratings board, and distributors and theater owners followed the board's cues in deciding which films to market. But there was never general agreement on the criteria for assigning ratings, and periodically a studio or director's complaint revives the controversy over content that the system was meant to defuse.

The SAT score of the average U.S. high school student will soon be going up 100 points. But that doesn't mean that anyone is getting smarter.Beginning in April 1995, the College Board, based in Manhattan, will be recalibrating its scoring of the SAT. The bottom score will still be 200 and the top 800, but it will be easier for everyone to get higher scores.A 430 score on the verbal section of the SAT will suddenly become a 510 under the new scoring method. A 730 verbal score will become an 800.lTCCollege Board officials know they are opening themselves up to criticism.

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to stave off a federally imposed system of ratings for violence on television, the nation's four broadcast networks have agreed to provide a warning to parents just before shows laden with mayhem are shown.The warning would also be made available to newspapers and magazines that publish television listings, allowing them to establish what would amount to a special coding for violent shows.The agreement, which will be announced by top officials of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox in Washington today and could take effect during the next programming season, comes amid a growing outcry in Congress about the depiction of violence in entertainment programming and its possible harmful effects on some viewers.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- An inner-city gang, rampaging through the streets, comes upon some unsuspecting bystanders and proceeds to crush some heads.The scene isn't from urban America. It's from "Streets of Rage," a video game made by Sega of America, the Japanese company's U.S. unit.Amid concern about this type of video-game violence, Sega said yesterday it would initiate a rating system for its video games similar to the one used by Hollywood."We are particularly concerned that parents buy games appropriate for their children's age," said Tom Kalinske, Sega of America's chief executive.

For years, parents at older schools in poorer areas hav complained that the Harford school system ignores their pleas for long-overdue repairs and renovations.Now, stung by intense criticism, the school system has made public a 30-point rating system used to decide which schools are renovated when.The rating system evaluates older schools, using a point system to measure the need for repairs of everything from plumbing to the school's parking lot. Necessary repairs to some major parts of a school, like the heating and cooling system, receive more points than others, such as windows or floor tiles.