Media and Violence Contradicting Causes

Media and Violence

Contradicting Causes

Is television alone responsible for 10% of youth violence? (Statistics, 2005) Does society need to "shoot" or annihilate the messengers who bring literal and "real-life" acts of violence and bad news? Is media only a mere messenger or, as Cooley (1985 (1996) purports: Bold in depicting violence timid in morals? Does violence depicted in music, video games, movies, magazines, and on TV cause or trigger "real-life" violence? These questions, alongside other concerns related to media and violence are explored in this paper. Regarding the charge that the media instigates violence, the Media Coalition repeatedly argues, "No." ("Shooting the Messenger...," 2000) This organization stresses that current charges that the media incites violence are myths that have transpired for more than 90 years. The accusation that the film and publishing industries were creating a generation sophisticated in sin, was published in an essay in a 1914 issue of the Atlantic, claimed. Novels (half-dime) were labeled as: "traps for the young," the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice claimed. ("Shooting the Messenger...," 2000) in regard to the other questions being considered in this research effort, not all will merit concrete answers, as numerous components factor into the equation of the media/violence controversy. Violence, no matter the root, Primavera (1998) stresses, constitutes a critical problem and leaves individuals feeling timorous, afraid, bewildered and confused. As violence affects more individuals in their own neighborhoods, many wonder who will be the next victim. Some parents question if their children will survive to adulthood. "When violent crimes hit the headlines, people want to lash out at something, anything, and assign blame," David Horowitz, Executive Director of the Media Coalition states. "The media is too often that something, even though, as our report found, there is no causal link between the violent content in the media and real violence." ("Shooting the Messenger..., " 2000)

The Social Science: Studies Don't Support the Conclusion that Media Cause Real-Life Violence: Argues that, at its best, evidence supporting media's link to violence is inconclusive; stresses that research linking media with violent content to children displaying more aggression proves contradictory. How Not to Stop Violence: Contends that censoring and/or content regulation are not effective ways to prevent violence.

The Real Causes of Violence and Crime: Reviews the multiplicity of interrelated social, cultural, familial and cognitive factors that can lead to violence, including family dysfunction, poverty, genetics, and failure to communicate.

How to Help Kids be Smart Media Consumers:

Stresses that parents are the ones who need to teach their children to critically view media; to help them so they understand messages in what they view and/or read, as well as how to best apply media messages to their value systems. ("Shooting the Messenger..., " 2000)

II. Real Life Slices

SECOND TEEN CHARGED in MURDER-for-HIRE CASE teen authorities say was hired as a hit man to kill another boy's father was arrested Monday.

The 16-year-old boy was booked into the Caddo Juvenile Detention Center on one count each of attempted first-degree murder and attempted aggravated burglary, Caddo sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Chadwick said. Detectives determined his identity over the weekend.

Investigators say he took $5 as payment from another 16-year-old boy who wanted him to kill his father. That boy, who was arrested Wednesday on a charge of solicitation for murder, was not getting along with his dad and did not want to follow family rules.

The boy authorities say was the hired killer showed up at the father's Shreveport home this past week with a gun, Chadwick said. Detectives say he threatened the father's girlfriend with the gun when she answered the door. She slammed it and the gunman apparently fled.

The son admitted to his parents that he hired the other boy, Chadwick said.

The sheriff's office will let the Caddo district attorney's office determine whether to charge either of the boys as adults, Chadwick (Causey, 2007)

For three consecutive years, in regard to determining the prevalence of media violence, the Television Violence Monitoring Project examined the numbers of violent incidents on American television, as well as "contextual variables that may make it more likely for aggression and violence to be accepted, learned, and imitated." (Media Violence..., 2005). Results revealed:

Media Violence Facts and Statistics

61% of television programs contain some violence, and only 4% of television programs with violent content feature an "antiviolence" theme.

44% of the violent interactions on television involve perpetrators who have some attractive qualities worthy of emulation.

43% of violent scenes involve humor either directed at the violence or used by characters involved with violence.

Nearly 75% of violent scenes on television feature no immediate punishment for or condemnation of violence.

40% of programs feature "bad" characters who are never or rarely punished for their aggressive actions. (Media Violence...,2005)

According to the Television Violence Monitoring Project's report, numerous TV programs do not depict violence to be followed by harmful consequences. In violent behavioral interactions depicted on TV, 58% did not reflect pain; 47% did not note any harm; 40% reflected harm in unrealistic manners. In violent TV scenes, 86% did not show blood or gore. Just 16% of violent programs reveal any realistic, long-term, consequences of violence. (Media Violence...,2005) the Television Violence Monitoring Project's report indicates, contrary to the Media Coalition, that a relationship does exist between exposure to violent TV programs and movies and aggressive behavior. Children become more verbally and physically and aggressive, numerous researchers conclude, right after they view violent TV programs and movies.. Aggressive children and teens, this study project also notes, view more violent TV programs than their less aggressive peers. Although this study admits more research is needed in some areas, several studies, this study purports, relate childhood exposure to TV and movie violence to increased aggression in adult years later. (Media Violence...,2005) in regard to violent music videos and aggressive behavior, only a few researchers have explored impact of music videos with violent or antisocial themes. Researchers have, albeit, determined that "exposure to violent or antisocial rap videos can increase aggressive thinking." Currently, no research confirms that exposure directly affects violence and/or physical aggression.(Media Violence...,2005) Violence in video games, according to one recent survey of families with school-age children indicates that "74% of families with school-age children own video game equipment, and school-age children play video games an average of 53 minutes per day." (Media

Violence...,2005) Parents, however, generally supervise their children's and teens' playing video games less than their TV viewing, with 88% of parents reporting regularly supervising TV viewing; while approximately half this number, 48%, routinely supervisee children's and teen's playing video games. Even though video games' impact on violent behavior is not yet specifically determined, the widespread use of violent games causes concern for researchers.

According to 2001 review of the 70 best-selling video games, 89% included violent scenarios/content. In many video games, as violence is presented as necessary for the protagonist's success, 40% contained comic violence; 49% included serious violence. Violence is noted to be the primary focus for 17% of the games. Nevertheless, the number of studies exploring violent video games' impact aggression is minute, with none examining serious violence or being longitudinal. One recent meta-analysis of completed studies concludes exposure to violent video games presents only a diminutive (relative) " effect on physical aggression and a moderate effect on aggressive thinking." (Media Violence...,2005) Primavera (1998) notes the FBI statistics of juvenile arrests (office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Justice Department) reports U.S. prisons are being fill with younger and more violent criminals. This report states that during 1991, 17% of all violent crime arrests, as well as "three of every ten juvenile murder arrests involved a victim under the age of 18."(Primavera, 1998) www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/83a30b5723ce1452fc1c23a104e1a6bf58753eec.html"

CHART: Violent Crime Measures

Violent Crime Measures

Serious violent crime levels declined since 1993 as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey.

2004 NCVS in millions)

Current

2005 NCVS in millions)

Provided by Bureau of Justice Statistics /

Federal Bureau of Investigation as of September 10, 2006. www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/5f3293914a9f3615c1c4b73df3afa3d141e8d286.html"

CHART: Homicide Rates by Age

Homicide Rates by Age

The Uniform Crime Reports overall homicide rate remained stable in recent years.

A rate per 100,000)

Current rate per 100,000)

Provided by Federal Bureau of Investigation as of October 17, 2005. www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/d443e44dd2a2deb109a70155d02d7ca7ecb67047.html"

CHART: Violent Crime Rates by Gender

Violent Crime Rates by Gender of Victim

Violent crime rates declined after 1994 for both males and females as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey.

A rate per 1,000 persons 12 and older)

Current rate per 1,000 persons 12 and older)

Provided by Bureau of Justice Statistics as of September 10, 2006. www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/e6968bb6e62fa3564b904babce9c2cbe13cef7f4.html"

CHART: Property Crime Rates

Property Crime Rates

Property crimes continued to decline as measured by the National Crime Victimization Survey.

A rate per 1,000 households)

Current rate per 1,000 households)

Provided by Bureau of Justice Statistics as of September 10, 2006. www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/e94d9cf9153aa810acb2c6b807cd8bf6c0ad0c55.html"

CHART: Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations

Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations

The estimated number of arrests for drug abuse violations for adults has been increasing, while the number for juveniles stablized.

A in millions)

Current in millions)

Provided by Federal Bureau of Investigation as of September 18, 2006. www.whitehouse.gov/goodbye/3ae6b1ac94aa97e6650780f280890a7c81100e47.html"

CHART: National Correctional Populations

National Correctional Populations

The number of adults in correctional population has been increasing.

A in millions)

Current million in millions)

Provided by Bureau of Justice Statistics as of November 30, 2006. (Social Statistics Briefing Room, 2006)

More Statistics

Violence in the Media

Huston and colleagues have estimated that the average 18-year-old will have viewed 200,000 acts of violence on television (Huston, a.C., Donnerstein, E., Fairchild, H. et al. Big World, Small Screen: The Role of Television in American Society. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.)

41% percent of American households have three or more televisions (Nielsen Media Research, 2000).

56% of children ages 8-16 have a television in their rooms (Annenberg Public Policy Center, 2000. Media in the Home 2000)

Percentage of television-time children ages 2-7 spend watching alone and unsupervised: 81 (Kaiser Family Foundation, 1999. "Kids and Media @ the New Millennium.")

Television alone is responsible for 10% of youth violence. (Senate Judiciary Committee Staff Report, 1999.)

Average time per week that the American child ages 2-17 spends watching television: 19 hours, 40 minutes (Nielsen Media Research, 2000)

Percentage of day care centers that use TV during a typical day: 70 (Tashman, Billy. "Sorry Ernie, TV Isn't Teaching." New York Times. Nov 12, 1994.)

Hours per year the average American youth spends in school: 900 (Barber, Benjamin. Harper's. Nov 1993: 41)

Hours per year the average American youth watches television: 1,023 (Nielsen Media Research, 2000) (Statistics, 2005)

The Media Coalition, founded in 1973, reportedly "defends the First Amendment right to create and distribute books, magazines, recordings, movies, videotapes and videogames; and defends the American public's First Amendment right to have access to the broadest possible range of opinion and entertainment." Members consist of U.S. publishers: librarians, booksellers, publishers, periodical distributors, recording and videogame manufacturers and retailers. Members include:

American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression

Association of American Publishers

Freedom to Read Foundation

Interactive Digital Software Association

International Periodical Distributors Association

Magazine Publishers of America

National Association of College Stores

National Association of Recording Merchandisers

Publishers Marketing Association

Video Software Dealers Association ("Shooting the Messenger...," 2000)

Greene & Krcmar (2005) report that during the past decade, media-effects' researchers concluded that exposure to television violence can in fact, results in aggressive behavior and that TV / movie violence can influence individuals to imitate violent acts. The ongoing problem continues, however regarding "the lack of agreement concerning the relations among personality factors, media use, and negative behavioral outcomes."

More than 3,500 research studies have been completed in the U.S., and throughout the world, since the 1950s, utilizing numerous investigative methods to investigate whether or not a link to exist between exposure to media violence and subsequent violent behavior. "All but 18 have shown a positive correlation between media exposure and violent behavior." Findings from the approximately 3500 studies include:

Epidemiologists studying a broad array of factors associated with violence, including poverty, racial discrimination, substance abuse, inadequate schools, joblessness and family dissolution, found that exposure to violent media was a factor in half of the 10,000 homicides committed in the United States the previous year.

Numerous studies indicate that a preference for heavy metal music may be a significant marker for alienation, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, suicide risk, sex-role stereotyping, or risk-taking behaviors during adolescence.

Research to date indicates that interactive media have an even more potent and lasting effect on violent behavior than passive media forms like television and movies. Several studies have shown that after playing violent video games, children and adolescents become desensitized to violence, have increasedlevels of aggressive thoughts and behavior, and act hostile toward others.

Studies designed to test the theory that experiencing media violence leads to a catharsis, a reduction in actual aggression due to the vicarious release of hostility, actually found increased overt aggression because of lowered inhibitions after experiencing media violence.

Meta-analysis, a process by which the results from many different research studies are analyzed as a whole, shows that the strength of the correlation between exposure to media violence and aggressive behavior is larger than that of condom non-use and sexually transmitted HIV, lead exposure and lower I.Q., passive tobacco smoke and lung cancer or calcium intake and bone mass, relationships which pediatricians accept as fact and on which we routinely base preventive medicine. ("REPORT on VIOLENCE..., 2000)

The following represent some of the Media Coalition's recent projects:

EMA v. Henry: www.mediacoalition.org./legal/EMAvHenry/Oct%2011%20Order.pdf" U.S. District Court Grants Preliminary Injunction

October 11, 2006 --U.S. District Court Judge Robin Cauthron today granted a motion for preliminary injunction in EMA v. Henry. The decision bars enforcement of an Oklahoma law that would have banned the sale of materials with "inappropriate violence" to minors by adding a definition of "inappropriate violence" to the state harmful to minors law. (Latest News, 2007)

ESA v. Foti: LA Video Game Ban Unconstitutional

November 30, 2006 -- Ruling from the bench, U.S. District Court Judge Brady today permanently enjoined a Louisiana law that would have banned the sale of video games with violent content. The law would have banned violent content if the content met a three-part test that lawmakers based on the Miller/Ginsberg test, which was established to determine what sexual content may be considered harmful to minors. Plaintiffs in the case included Entertainment Software Association and Entertainment Merchants Association. (Latest News, 2007)

ESA v. Swanson: Eighth Circuit Argument

February 12, 2007 -- Oral argument will be heard today in ESA v. Swanson (formerly ESA v. Hatch) before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judges Wollman, Smith, and Benton will hear the argument. Media Coalition members submitted an amicus brief in this case arguing that video games, even those with violent content, are protected by the First Amendment. The brief also argued the law improperly delegates power to a private rating system. (Latest News, 2007)

III. but... Yet...

Messenger. But yet, madam-

Cleopatra. I do not like 'but yet.'" (Shakespeare 1996)

But yet...

As, the most individuals watch up to seven hours of television each day and children between the ages of two and five view approximately 28 hours a week, questions arise. One: Is media (e.g.: TV, movies, music, newspapers and books) permitting violence to pervade society so rampantly that it poisons the minds of youth and makes them violent? Primavera (1998) cites Bandura, Ross & Ross (1963); Cannon (198)9; Lande (1993); Wilson & Hunter (1983) to report that children repeatedly exposed to media violence may incorporate acts/behaviors into their learning process. Primavera (1998) also contends, however, the non-violence phenomenon includes numerous complex components that also need to be examined, such as an individuals' internal dilemmas, relationships with their families and friends, involvement with educational and religious institutions, as well as society in general.

The Media Coalition, a first amendment advocacy organization published an extensive survey, "Shooting the Messenger: Why Censorship Won't Stop Violence." ("Shooting the Messenger...,." 2000) This report assesses and amalgamates numerous studies, along with of a multitude of statistics, to reportedly debunk the prevarication a causal link exists between violence depicted in the media and violence occurring in real-life. Although research posits various causes for violence, none of the paragons reportedly link directly to media violence, the report contends.

Horowitz states:. "Children process the messages they receive in the context of their value systems. By giving children the tools they need to understand what they are seeing and hearing, parents can help their children absorb a wide range of media and messages consistent with the positive values taught by parents, teachers and peers." ("Shooting the Messenger...," 2000) Recommendations include encouraging adult guidance, heeding voluntary media ratings and teaching media literacy. Primavera (1998) stresses that consideration of a multiplicity of factors, along with an individual's specific personality factors are necessary to understand by violence in regard to media. Consequently, alongside research examining media's impact on violence, other components, including but not limited to physiological/chemical factors of aggression present an additional dimension to consider:

Human behavior could be affected by physiological and chemical influences which could be triggered by environmental stimuli (Eichelman, 1987). A case in point is that of Mr. Blake whose violent and homicidal behavior was found to be linked to an undiagnosed temporal lobe epilepsy (Siegel, 1993). The fact of the matter is that all emotions have been found to be controlled by specific brain functions in the limbic system and other parts of the brain. This has been supported by numerous research with animals and observations of brain injury patients. It has been found that the hypothalamus, the anterior poles of the temporal lobes, the amygdala, and the orbital frontal context are all involved in controlling aggression (Allison, 1993) and that an injury to these parts of the brain will impact on aggressive behavior (Silver & Vydofsky, 1987a; 1987b). That is not to say that all aggressive behaviors are to be explained by some kind of brain injury although histories of severe head injury have been found among some criminals and among men accused of abusive behavior (Allison, 1993).