The Media And Violence

The debate regarding the media's relationship to violence in society has been a hot issue for most of the past century. From the beginning of the wide use of mass media, from films to radio to television, researchers have tried to explain any association or correlation between media effects and violence. Of particular interest and concern has been the issue of violence in the media and the impact that this has on children. Although important research efforts have increased our understanding of the topic there is still a great that needs to be done in terms of the application and implementation of the findings to policies and television programming.

It has become generally acknowledged by many communications studies that exposure to violence in the media can both influence an increase in the observer's use of violence to resolve situations as well as a desensitization to acts of violence. This exposure to violence in the media makes viewers less critical of real life violence. Since the mass media often represents violence as "happy violence" devoid of pain, suffering and consequences they are not providing the viewer with an accurate or realistic portrayal of violence. Many studies have also confirmed a commulative effect of exposure to violence so researches have tried to trace patterns from childhood exposure to adult social behavior.

In the 1960's the government made a concerted effort to increase the understanding of media effects as well as the influence of violence on television. The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence was in charge of investigating these issues and making recommendations to the President. The media task force's report was titled "Violence and the Media". It was believed that real violence was caused in part by the desire of action groups for media attention. It was also thought that violence in society could be reduced if the news gave groups the ability to enhance their communication. A particular focus of the study was the media's portrayal of violence and the public's personal experiences. The violence in television was shown to be the majority of people's primary source or experience of violence. This reported the media's ability to socialize the viewers to the norms and values of the culture. Previously the ability of television to do so had been disputed the media was seen to on...

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... the children shown as exciting non-violent film. The conclusion was that exposure to violence is related to the acceptance of aggression.

An in depth study done by Lefkowitz, was a ten-year longitudinal study. Questionnaires and interviews were used and the children and parents were asked to rate each other on their display and use of aggression. The results showed that the habits if 8 year-old boys were good predictors of their aggressive behavior through childhood and adolescence. The more the boys watched violent TV at the third grade level the more aggressive they were 10 years later. This study showed a strong correlation between these factors but proof of causation is not possible.

This research leaves analysts with three possible explanations for the interaction of violence and aggressive behavior: 1. Viewing violence leads to aggressive tendencies, 2. Aggressive tendencies lead to the choice of watching violence in the media, 3. Aggressive tendencies and the viewing of violence are both products of some third condition or set of conditions. Due to confounding factors and the complexity of the issue these possibilities will remain the focus of further studies to come.