It's National TV-Turnoff Week!

[NJCher]

Check out the Web site--there's lots of interesting information there, especially about how each hour of TV watched corresponds to a nine percent increase in a four-year old's risk of bullying others in grade school.

http://www.tvturnoff.org/04-05bullyingstmnt.htm

This is the press release for the kickoff:

TV-TURNOFF WEEK KICKS OFF ACROSS THE NATION

WASHINGTON, DC – TV-Turnoff Week 2005 kicks off today with events across the US and in several foreign countries. The national kick-off event took place at Arlington Traditional School, a public elementary school in Arlington, Virginia, where the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports joined representatives from Kaiser Permanente and TV-Turnoff Network to encourage students to break free of TV.

Last year, more than 19,000 organizers planned TV-Turnoff Week events, and an estimated 7.6 million people participated in TV-Turnoff Week.

"Thousands of organizers across the country and around the world are inspiring millions of children and adults to turn off TV see what life is like when they do more and watch less," commented Frank Vespe, TV-Turnoff Network Executive Director. "We commend them for making this Week a true celebration of all that life has to offer beyond the screen."

Organized groups participating include schools, religious groups, Scout troops, libraries, Native American tribes, Tae Kwon Do studios, hospitals, and many others. These organizations participate for many reasons: to promote active lifestyles and good health, to foster reading and academic achievement, or simply to encourage families to spend more time together.

Nearly 70 national organizations, including leading educational organizations like the National Education Association; health and medical organizations such as the National Medical Association, American Medical Association, and Kaiser Permanente; and literacy groups such as Reading Is Fundamental, lent their support.

"TV-Turnoff Week has captured the imagination – and the support – of dozens of major organizations and millions of children and adults," Vespe commented. "It is clear that more and more people now realize that when we turn off the TV, we don’t let life pass us by."

TV-Turnoff Network is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging children and adults to watch much less television in order to promote healthier lives and communities. The organization’s website is www.tvturnoff.org.


Cher

[rndmprsn]

1. it's been turn-off cable and networkTV news for me...

since the election...haven't missed it at all actually. c-span and internet news/forums, papers/mags etc give me a MUCH wider and intelligent news spectrum than cabal or network news ever could...

[tomreedtoon]

2. Next: "It's National Stop Using Toilet Paper Week!"

These dunderheads get publicity for this event every year. And it always gets something like 1/10 of one percent of the viewing public to participate.

Wouldn't it make more sense for these pretenders to buy video cameras and editing software, and try CREATING the kind of television they believe people want to watch?

Well, maybe it wouldn't, because it would probably resemble the kind of stuff that made PBS the broadcast equivalent of the insane old granny locked up in the attic. I worked at a PBS station, and two thirds of the standard programming they run is as bad as infomercials.