Violence In The Media

Violence in the Media

In my essay I will be examining the controversy of violence levels in the media. Although there are many people who express the opinion that there is way too much violence in television for example, there are just as many who feel differently. Without viewer statistics, television would not be what it is. The viewers choose what they want to watch and that is taken into consideration. The more people tune into high violence-filled programs, the higher the ratings for violence become. Surely that cannot be pinned upon the show’s producers. Television prides itself in giving America what it wants, and America wants violence.

Around the year 1923, the Federal Radio Commission was formed. They were in charge of regulating what could and could not be aired over the radio. When television came along, the name of the organization was changed to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). They set the standards of television viewing and also provide options for those who disagree. Last year, the FCC adopted rules requiring all television sets with screens 13 inches or larger to be equipped with features to block the display of television programming based upon its rating. This technology is known as the "V-Chip." The V-Chip reads information encoded in the rated program and blocks programs from the set based upon the rating selected by the parent. Thus, the FCC allows violence but also provides an alternative for parents who think their child is exposed to too much violence (whatever that threshold may be, as it is determined by the parent, whereas the V-Chip is programmed by the parents.)

Though I do not watch much TV, I am aware of the rising display of violent content on TV. Whether it is through prime time sitcoms or cartoon channels, one can not deny that there is more violence. Cartoon violence used to be very fictional and easy to distinguish as the opposite of reality. Now however, in gruesome, explicit, and too often unrealistic portrayals of death and violence, the flexible minds of children are being not being torn by the moral issues of violence and anger, but the line between reality and fiction has become severely blurred. Death is seen as temporary in most cases, such as cartoons where the character killed comes back week after week only to be killed.

But that’s what America wants! Our thresholds of violence are becoming more and more expanded as we see something, get over the initial “shock” it may have and crave more.