As our technologies advance and our collective morality decreases, the American people are faced with a dilemma which impacts greatly the foundation of our society. What is acceptable in the media?
Broadcast media is the most widespread, effective, accessible means of conveying information in the world today. With 98% of American homes having a television set, and 2/3 of those homes receiving cable, TV and movies are the most pervasive means of corruption yet known to our society. So readily available, one does not even have to leave his/her home to be affected by it. Even a child, not yet able to read, can access and be affected by broadcast media. The indecency and violence on television, coupled with the pornography, indecency, obscenity, and violence in movies, have a staggering effect on the moral state of our society. In return, the collective moral state of our society, and what is deemed acceptable by the majority, allows television and movies to contain such abhorrent and vulgar materials. The result is a downward spiral of entertainment feeding off of a dwindling moral state while at the same time promoting its degeneration.
HOW MUCH IS DUE TO BROADCAST MEDIA?
The broadcast media, through television and movies, is guilty of promoting an immoral society. Everyone who watches television and movies are effected and influenced by what is seen in them. Children learn that those ways are acceptable. Eventually after so much exposure, which causes desensitization to immoral ways, adults who at first tolerate them begin to accept them as well. Studies on both children and adults have shown them to have more violent tendencies after being exposed to violence in movies and on TV. As for indecenc...
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... can succeed in regaining, rebuilding it's collapsing moral state.
Works Cited
Hundt, Reed. "Television, Kids, Indecency, Violence, and the Public Interest" Speech given at Duke University School of Law. 9 Feb, 1996.
http://www.netreach.net/~kaufman/Hundt.FCC.kids.html
Kaufman, Ron. "How Television Images Affect Children" http://www.netreach.net/~kaufman/children.html
Marks, Alexandra. "Washington Turns Up the Debate on T.V. Violence." Christian Science Monitor. 14 July, 1995.
Weinraub, Bernard. "Los Angeles Bishop Asks for Film Guidelines." The New York Times. 1 Oct. 1992.
(Web Pages without author, cited by number)
1. "Freedom of Expression" http://www.aclu.org/library/pbp14.html
2. "Definitions of Pornography, Obscenity, and Indecency" http://pw2.netcom.com/~mimnyc/obscporn.html
The media has a huge influence on today’s culture and the norms of our society. The media-deviance nexus explains relationships between media and deviance, which helps to explain why media has the impact that it does (Bereska, 2014, pp. 108.). The influence of media is also demonstrated in the television show Friends (Bright, 1994). The media’s influence on sexual norms is huge, especially today because media focuses so much on the idea of sex.
Does entertainment influence society's attitude towards violent behavior? In order to fully answer this question we must first understand what violence is. Violence is the use of one's powers to inflict mental or physical injury upon another; examples of this would be rape or murder. Violence in entertainment reaches the public by way of television, movies, plays, music, and novels. Through the course of this essay it will be proven that violence in entertainment is a major factor in the escalation of violence in society, once this is proven we will take all of the evidence that has been shown throughout this paper and come to a conclusion as to whether or not violence in entertainment is justified and whether or not it should be censored.
For a long time now the debate has been, and continues to be, as to whether or not violence on television makes children more violent. As with all contentious issues there are both proponents and detractors. This argument has been resurrected in the wake of school shootings, most notably Columbine and Erfurt, Germany; and acts of random violence by teenagers, the murders of two Dartmouth professors. Parents, teachers, pediatricians, child psychiatrists, and FCC Chairmen William Kennard and former Vice President Al Gore say violent TV programming contribute in large part to in violence in young people today. However, broadcasters and major cable TV providers like Cox Communication say that it is the parent’s fault for not making it clear to their kids as what they may or may not watch on TV. The major TV networks and cable providers also state it is the TV industry’s fault as well for not regulating what is shown on TV. So who is the guilty party in this argument of whether or not TV violence influences of the behavior young people in today’s society?
addition the average American child will witness over 200,000 acts of violence on television including 16,000 murders before the age of 18 (DuRant, 445). Polls show that three-quarters of the public find television entertainment too violent. When asked to select measures that would reduce violent crime “a lot”, Americans chose restrictions on television violence more often than gun control. Media shows too much violence that is corrupting the minds children, future leaders of our society. In a study of population data for various countries sh...
The entertainment that television is now portraying is not exactly what the younger society of America needs to be exposed to, but unfortunately in today's economy that is the only kind of entertainment that sells. There is so much unnecessary exposure to violence, aggressive behavior, and sexual acts now being broadcasted daily on television, movies, music, and even the news. The broadcasting systems are now targeting younger children and teens. The crime rates have skyrocketed due to delinquent juvenile behavior over the past ten years. The whole viewing society is now becoming very tolerant and at ease with sex and violence. Youth and children are picking up on these behaviors daily. Studies have shown that by the age of 18, the average American teen will have viewed around 200,000 acts of violence on television. The violence and sexual content that television and music are now portraying has negatively influenced younger children and teens to commit murder, exhibit aggressive behavior, and become tolerant of violence and sex.
The media, including television programming, cartoons, film, the news, as well as literature and magazines, is a very powerful and pervasive medium for expression. It can reach a large number of people and convey ideas, cultural norms, stereotypic roles, power relationships, ethics, and values. Through these messages, the mass media may have a strong influence on individual behavior, views, and values, as well as in shaping national character and culture. Although there is a great potential for the media to have a positive and affirming effect on the public and society at large, there may be important negative consequences when the messages conveyed are harmful, destructive, or violent.
The media has changed significantly over the past decades. Technology has modified our abilities to expand our communication network, and it allows companies to spread their commercials over many different continents. Research done by Roberts (1993) shows that adolescent and children are often very influenced by media that involves sexual or violent conduct. This research is based on media involving children and adolescents, however this does not eliminate the effect media has on adults (Singer & Singer, 2001, p. 269).
Senate Committee on the Judiciary. “Media Violence Causes Youth Violence.” Mass Media. Ed. William Dudley. Farmington Hills, MI: Thompson Gale, 2005. 121-130.
The government should not control the content of television shows and limit the amount of weekly violence shown. The responsibility of controlling the viewing of television shows expressing acts of violence should specifically be in the hands of parents. Parents are becoming too reliant upon governmental provisions with respect to raising their children and television violence is becoming an excuse for criminal acts. Children, especially younger children, are impressionable, but with proper guidance from a parental source in regards to television viewing, kids are not likely to act out violent television images.
Thompson, Robert J. “Tv Violence and Self Regulation”. britannica.com. 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 7 Jan.
Society has been bombarded with violence from the beginning of time. These concerns about violence in the media have been around way before television was even introduced. Nevertheless, there have been numerous studies, research, and conferences done over the years on television, but the issue still remains. Researchers do acknowledge that violence portrayed on television is a potential danger. One issue is clear though, our focus on television violence should not take attention away from other significant causes of violence in our country such as: drugs, inadequate parenting, availability of weapons, unemployment, etc. It is hard to report on how violent television effects society, since television affects different people in different ways. There is a significant problem with violence on television that we as a society are going to have to acknowledge and face.
...net availability and television shows watched. Censorship has a great deal to do with drugs, societal values, or violence. But people also need to know the difference between right and wrong, and knowing how to behave correctly is what affects society. Seeing someone shoot someone else on television is not going to make me go out and kill someone. But, being brought up thinking that the only way to get ahead in life is to steal or kill people then a person may do those types of things, and that is media influence. There are certain key elements in the media that help maintain the entertainment alive and add to the excitement to movies and other programs. However, pornographic material, extremely graphic violence, and shows that give ideas to people that would encourage them to engage in actions that are harmful to themselves or other people should be censored.
of violence or tunes into their parents favorite soap opera might find an increasingly amount of exposure to violent acts and sexual content. Children are very vulnerable to such influences and often do not know the difference between right and wrong and the difference between reality and fantasy (Dritz, Russel 1996). As the years go on and television seems to be too censored to most, studies have continued to prove the increasing numbers of children associated with violence and sexual behavior. Although a seemingly older statistic, the Neilson Index averaged American children to watch 18,000 television murders before he or she graduated from high school (Tucker, Larry A. 1988). Could this be a reason for an increasing amount of murders and violent acts among children today?
By the time a child reaches the age of one, they see about 200,000 acts of violence on television. (Nakaya, 3). The Media has been becoming more and more violent over the years. A poll in an issue of Times Magazine, from 2005, showed that 66 percent of Americans think that there is an abundant amount of graphic acts of violence on televisions (Nakaya, 18). People are exposed to thousands of acts of violence through video games, television, and movies. Many studies show that media violence increases violent behavior in in humans. Studies show, violent video games, and graphic television have physiological effects on children. The government has very few regulations on media violence. Some people believe the government shouldn’t limit content because others might be insulted by its material. Media violence is such a broad topic and has such a large presence in daily lives, so we cannot simple get rid of it. The Federal Communications Commission stipulates, “By the time most children begin the third grade, they will have spent the equivalent of three school years in front of a television set.” Even though the government shouldn’t censor the media, Media violence is becoming a serious issue because it is becoming more violent, it makes people behave violently, and it has little regulations.
Television violence, and media violence in general, has been a controversial topic for several years. The argument is whether young children are brainwashed into committing violent real-world crimes because of violent and pugnacious behavior exposed in mass media. In his article “No Real Evidence for TV Violence Causing Real Violence”, Jonathan Freedman, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and author of “Media Violence and Its Effect on Aggression: Assessing the Scientific Evidence”, discusses how television violence, claimed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), does not cause real-world aggression among adolescents. The FCC determined to restrict violent television programming to late night hours only because their “scientific research” proves of increasing aggression among young viewers (Freedman Par. 2). Freedman goes on to explain that the FCC has no substantial scientific evidence stating that there is a correlation between fictional violence and real-world aggression among young audiences. He has completed research in 1984 and 2002 on the relationship between media violence to actual acts of violence on the street. Because he has completed research projects related to this topic, Freedman’s statistical evidence shows that there is a reduction in youth violence and it essentially does not cause real-world crimes (Freedman Par. 1). The FCC continues to claim that exposure to media violence does in fact increase aggression, and yet their readers continue to believe their fabrications. Freedman argues that people who research media violence tend to disregard and omit the opposing facts. No one type of violence is more effective on aggression than another type. There is no evidence showi...