Violence in the Media

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Violence in the Media

• By
• Sara Lewis

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History of the TV

• Introduced in 1939 at the Worlds Fair.
• Three original broadcast systems NBC, ABC, and
  CBS. We added one more, FOX.
  
• In 1949 about 2 of people had a TV, then in
  1955, 64, in the 1960s 93, not days only about
  2 dont have a television.
  
• The reason for not having a TV in the 60s was
  because you lived in an area were you couldnt
  get a signal.
  
• People have always been concerned about the
  effects of television. In the very beginning they
  were already concerned about time spent watching
  TV, violence, and school performance.

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Violence Concerns

• The first congressional hearing about television
  violence was in 1952.
  
• There are 3 major avenues of affect direct
  effects, desensitization, and the mean world
  syndrome.
  
• Direct Effects those who watch a large amount of
  violence tend to be more violent or are more
  likely to use violence to solve a problem.
  
• Desensitization they will be less sensitive to
  violence in the real world, other people feelings
  and willing to tolerate violence.
  
• Mean World Syndrome people will believe that the
  world is just as mean as the TV portrays it and
  may become scared to leave. They believe that the
  world is a bad place.

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Violence Research

• Researchers took 100 preschool children and
  watched and recorded their behavior on the
  playground. After that the children were split
  into three groups. One of the groups watched
  Batman (violent) another watched Mr. Rogers
  (pro-social) and the last group watched a neutral
  show about learning. All three groups watch a
  half hour a day, three days a week, for four
  weeks. After the children were done watching
  their shows the researchers watched and recorded
  the children's behavior again. The kids who
  watched Batman had grown more violent by starting
  fights and braking their toys or other kids
  toys. The kids who watch Mr. Rogers became more
  polite, were nice to others and helped their
  teachers. The kids who watched the neutral
  television show had no change in behavior.

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Policy Shifts

• In 1961 TV violence became entirely undeniable.
  The Chairman of Federal Communications
  Commission, Newton Minow, was preparing for his
  inaugural address to the National Association of
  Broadcasters. He decided to watch television for
  a week. In his address this was his response to
  the television...

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Policy Shifts (cont.)

• "When television is good, nothing -- not the
  theatre, not the magazines or newspapers --
  nothing is better. But when television is bad,
  nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in
  front of your television set when your station
  goes on the air and stay there without a book,
  magazine, newspaper, profit-and-loss sheet, or
  rating book to distract you -- and keep your eyes
  glued to that set until the station signs off. I
  can assure you that you will observe a vast
  wasteland. You will see a procession of game
  shows, violence, audience participation shows,
  formula comedies about totally unbelievable
  families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence,
  sadism, murder, western bad men, western good
  men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence, and
  cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials -- many
  screaming, cajoling, and offending."

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Policy Shifts (cont.)

• When Minow said this overall violence on
  television was at an all time low.
  
• Thirty years later Minow did the same thing. This
  is what he had to say
  
• "In 1961, I worried that my children would not
  benefit much from television, but in 1991, I
  worry that my grandchildren will actually be
  harmed by it.

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Effects of Violence

• Potential effects of many hours of violent
  viewing include increased violent behavior
  obesity, decreased physical activity and fitness,
  insomnia, seizures, impaired school performance,
  increased sexual activity and use of tobacco and
  alcohol, decreased attention span, decreased
  family communication, and desensitization.
• Eight-year-old boys who viewed the most violent
  programs growing up are more likely to engage in
  aggressive and delinquent behavior by age 18 and
  serious criminal behavior by age 30.

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Reducing Violence

• Pay attention to the programs your child watches
  and watch some of it with them.
  
• Set limits on how much time they watch TV. Maybe
  remove the TV from the kids bedroom.
  
• Point out that the actor has not been actually
  hurt but doing that in real life would cause the
  person great pain or could result in death.
  
• Refuse to let the child watch shows known to be
  violent and explain to the child what is wrong
  with that show.
  
• To offset peer pressure contact other parents and
  make agreements on time in front of the
  television and kinds of shows they can watch.

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Actions Taken

• President Bill Clinton approved legislation on
  putting what is called the v-chip in all
  television sets. It allows parents to dictate
  what is seen on their TV screen.
• Though it is a step in the right direction it
  will only work if the parent cares and if the
  parent has access to the v-chip.
  
• Another problem is that kids now days learn
  technology just as fast, or faster, than their
  parents.

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Possible Solutions

• More parents need to be informed of the effect
  violence on TV has on their kids. It wont help
  everyone because there are still parents who
  dont care but it may help some of them.
• More violent shows could not be able to be aired
  at certain times of day.

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