Speaking to a conference on entertainment and family values, Clinton staked out a position in calibrated contrast to Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., who denounced the industry in May for producing nightmares of depravity.

The president said he, too, believes that there’s too much indiscriminate violence, too much indiscriminate sex and too much sort of callous degradation of women on television.

Yet simply denouncing Hollywood is not productive, said Clinton, who, unlike Dole, has urged cooperation with, rather than condemnation of, the entertainment industry. The question is What are we all going to do about that? he said.

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Clinton said he believes offensive content on television can be brought under control through voluntary restraints on the part of the industry plus technological advances like the v-chip, the proposed device to allow parents to block adult-rated programming.

We need a systematic debate there about what we don’t do and what we do do in our regular programming, the president said.

If we’re going to change American culture, we have to somehow change the media cultureand we have to do it without finger-pointing, he said.

Clinton has long criticized the entertainment industry for excessive violence and sexual content, especially in television programs watched by children. But he has carefully sidestepped confrontation and sought to address the issue through cooperation with the industry.