HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD? – AT 12:31 P.M. ET:  Leave it to Hollywood to drag in a famous man to front its pseudo soul-searching.  From Variety:

Spurred by the multitude of sexual abuse scandals, top Hollywood executives have tapped Anita Hill to chair the newly formed Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace.

The commission made the announcement Friday following a meeting convened by Kathleen Kennedy, Bob Iger, Ari Emanuel, Maria Eitel, Nina Shaw, and Freada Kapor Klein.

“The Commission will not seek just one solution, but a comprehensive strategy to address the complex and inter-related causes of the problems of parity and power,” said Kennedy. “The fact that so many industry leaders—across film, television, music, digital, unions, agencies, ATA, AMPAS, television academy and guilds—came together, in one room, to explore solutions speaks to a new era.”

Hill went public in 1991 with allegations of sexual harassment during the Senate confirmation process for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Since then, in addition to teaching law and policy at Brandeis University, Hill has been active in discussions on the legal and cultural developments around harassment as well as gender and racial equality.

She has chaired the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Association and is a member of the Boards of Directors of the National Women’s Law Center and the Boston Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.

COMMENT:  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  We'll wait for the result.  I hope they do a good job.  But what really will work is creating an atmosphere of responsibility, an understanding that, laws or no laws, your behavior will be a factor in your career. 

When I was at NBC, at the Tonight Show, many years ago, the Standards and Practices Department did create a kind of atmosphere that discouraged bad behavior.  I think it was effective, if not totally so.  But that's where you begin.

December 16,  2017