TV Violence Pathfinder

 

Introduction

            Almost every person living in the United States of America and abroad has been exposed to television and the media at least once in their life.  Television influences many tasks that all people, young and old, perform in their every day lives.  It gives us information about what is going on in the world around us, along with many other things as well.  Television’s other more popular purpose is to entertain the public.  People watch television for pleasure, it keeps them entertained for hours on end.  Television is a place where anything can be broadcast to audiences of all ages.  Violence is one of these “anything” topics that is usually overlooked as something that is not very harmful to people, especially children.  After all, it’s only TV.  This is where the media is wrong.  Children who are exposed to violence in the media at a young age are sometimes greatly affected by it.  Violence exposure can lead to things severe as death and murder because children who do not know any better see this as a part of life. 

This guide is designed to help those who are researching the effect of media violence on children, and if it is the media or the parents who are responsible for actions taken by children due to exposure to violence via the media.  I personally believe that the media is responsible for any actions taken due to the violent things they show, so most of the sources I will be discussing will be blaming the media for violent children.  However, there will be a few sources discussed from the opposing side.

 

Advice to Researchers

            The best advice I can give to anyone who is researching this topic is to start with opinion articles from GaleNet’s Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.  This has lots of great articles that provide you with many different people’s ideas on this topic, and also gives insight to further reading.  Also, I would actually watch a little TV just to see how often violence is displayed in the media.  The movie Scream or a professional wrestling “sports entertainment” show is a great start.

 

Online Databases

            Since this is such a new issue, most of my sources were found via online databases, primarily GaleNet.  GaleNet’s Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center was where I found my best information. 

·        GaleNet

-          This online database was the most useful to me because it provided me with many different opposing viewpoints on who is responsible for children taking action due to violence in the media.  There were a few articles with specific analyses of different television shows and movies.  Other articles provided a general explanation of why violence in the media is so dangerous.  This database really helped me to more fully understand the basics (not to mention the details) of the issue of media violence and children.

 

Gateway Sites

 “Media Violence.” Media Issues.  2003.  Media Awareness Network.  20 Mar 2003.  http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/index.cfm

 

·        This website provided me not only with lists of statistics and basic facts about media violence, but also gave me many links to very good articles by professionals in this field that I found very informative.

 

“Violence in the Media Theme Page.”  Open Learning Agency.  19 Mar 2003.  http://www.cln.org/themes/media_violence.html

 

·        This website provided me with links to many different organizations discussing media violence.  A few of these organizations talked about different ways of solving violence in the youth that has been sparked by the media, and others discussed the difficult topic of who to blame for violence in children.

“Welcome to My Media Violence Page.” Violence in the Media..  Duke University at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. 19 Mar 2003. http://www.duke.edu/~cars/vmedia.html

·        This website gave links to various other sources of good information covering violence in the media.  It included various bills introduced by the House and Senate of the United States of America, along with other links to various television stations that promote violence.

Specific Web Sites

            “Some Things You Should Know About Media Violence and Media Literacy.” Media Violence and Media Literacy.  2003.  American Academy of Pediatrics.  http://www.aap.org/advocacy/childhealthmonth/media.htm

 

·        This website provided me with basic statistics about media violence and also gave tips to parents on how they could prevent their children from being corrupted by what they see on television.

 

Pungente, John J.  “Information Packet: Violence and the Media.”   The Jesuit Communication Project.  http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/JCP/violence.html

 

·        This website did not really have any very useful information, but it did provide me with a couple of quotes on media violence, and also provided me with additional resources for my research in the forms of videos.

 

“Violence in Media Entertainment.”  Media Violence.  2003.  Media Awareness Network.  Mar 30 2003.  <http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/violence/violence_entertainment.cfm>.

·        This website was helpful to me because it gave an in depth description of how violence has been portrayed to the public over time.  It shows patterns in media’s description of violence and how it appeals to audiences, and how this is harmful to all people, mostly young children.

 

Gerteis, Margaret.  “Violence,Public Health,and the Media.”  1993. Center for Health Communication of the Harvard School of Public Health.  17 Mar 2003.  http://www.annenberg.nwu.edu/pubs/violence/default.htm

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·        This website combined many different opinions from a conference and tied it all together under one report.  It gives different perspectives on media violence, and an overview of the issue at hand.

Online Journals

Appleyard, Bryan and Callahan, Sidney.  “Violence in the Media Should Be Censored.  Opposing Viewpoints: Censorship on Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.  Gale Group.  17 Mar 2003.  http://www.galenet.com

 

·        This article discusses human nature and how violence in the media is causing humans all over the globe to commit things that would not have been committed had it not been for television.  It speaks of ways to censor or rate television shows to try and prevent this from happening.

 

Easterbrook, Gregg.  “The Media Glamorize Violence.”  Opposing Viewpoints: American Values on Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.  Gale Group.  17 Mar 2003.  http://www.galenet.com

 

·        This article delves into violent movies directed at teens that are based on the idea that murdering people is fun.  Gregg goes on to say that giving this message to teens and younger children who have access to movies like these is the root of the problem with the increased amount of juvenile crime in society today.

 

Grossman, Dave.  “Violence in the Media Causes Juvenile Crime.”  Opposing Viewpoints: Crime and Criminals on Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.  Gale Group.  17 Mar 2003.  http://www.galenet.com

 

·        This is a very informative article about the reasons why the media corrupts the minds of the youth into thinking that violence and killing is just a part of life and how children link murder to pleasure and fun.  Grossman uses analogies to army boot camp that are very parallel to how the youth becomes corrupted into thinking that killing is okay.

 

Rosellini, Lynn.  “The Birth of Modern Professional Wrestling: An Overview.”  At Issue: Professional Wrestling on Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.  Gale Group.  17 Mar 2003. http://www.galenet.com

 

·        This article is an expose on the world of professional wrestling, also known as “sports entertainment,” where the sports part takes up only 36 minutes of a 90-minute show.  It gives the background of the life of the man behind one of these shows, and how his childhood influenced him to do what he does today.

 

Valenti, Jack.  “Violence in the Media Should Not Be Blamed for Youth Violence.”  Opposing Viewpoints: Violence on Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center.  Gale Group.  17 Mar 2003. http://www.galenet.com

 

·        This discusses why the media should not be blamed for youth violence.  After all, they are just doing their job—entertaining.

 

Video Resources

            This sounds a little bit silly, but a very good way to inform oneself on violence in the media is simply to go find a TV and flip through the channels a little.  I guarantee you will see something violent within perhaps the first half an hour that you watch.  It’s just a good way to give yourself a basic overview of what the authors of the articles above etc. are talking about.

 

Keywords/Phrases/Subject Headings

            Media violence, youth and media violence, violence in the media, censorship, violence, juvenile crime, media, children and the media.

 

Madeline Good

April 21, 2003

Quest I – Law & Ethics