A Culture Of Violence

On July 21, 1999, an alliance of U.S. politicians, clergy members, academics, business leaders and citizen advocates launched a public campaign against media violence. Their "Appeal to Hollywood" charged: "American parents today are deeply worried about their children's exposure to an increasingly toxic popular culture." Endorsing an call to action that was ambiguous at best, the petition asserted that something was deeply amiss in the culture of Hollywood and attracted over 5,000 additional signatures. Around the world, coalitions continue to express concern about the frequency and degree of violence in the mass media, especially in children's media. But while some scholars see real danger in violent media messages, others are concerned that focusing attention on media violence obscures more important political, social and economic issues.

How can we moderate violence in entertainment media without infringing on freedom of expression? How can reporters cover crime stories without being accused of "body-bag journalism"? And if popular culture is so "toxic," and we're so dissatisfied with media offerings, why is the TV on in the average American home for over 7 hours a day in the average American home? Why did we spend $6.88 billion dollars at the box office in 1998? Do we need to eliminate violence in media because we can't control our own lust for savagery?

Answers are easy for free-speech extremists or moral crusaders. But resolutions are hard to come by when those engaged with the issue can't agree on the problem. Lets listen to the arguments of legislators, scholars, journalists and teachers before we decide whom to support and whom to challenge.

- Aliza Dichter, editor


Media Violence: The U.S. Response
In the wake of a rash of shootings by students in middle class, Middle-American high schools, the issue of violence in the media has come to the forefront of American public discourse. The Benton Foundation's comprehensive overview of this hot-button issue includes scholarly studies, policy initiatives, and debates. A study by the Parents' Television Council concludes that the television industry ratings introduced in 1997 have actually led to an increase in violent programming. Epidemiologist Brandon Centerwall finds evidence linking exposure to media violence with violent behavior by children, though he warns that proposals to address such violence must not infringe upon free speech. Media critic Todd Gitlin challenges the very idea of focusing on media violence, suggesting that it draws public attention away from the real sources of crime. From Communications Policy & Practice - Benton Foundation, June 17 1999
THE MESSAGES
Living In A Mean World
After 30 years of analyzing TV violence and its effects on viewer perception, researcher George Gerbner concludes that the mass media have become the primary source of the information we use to make sense of the world around us. Gerbner, considered by many to be the dean of media violence scholarship, is not concerned about the impact of violent images per se. His studies have shown that there are distinct patterns to violent conflicts in the media: certain groups are consistently shown to be effective and powerful through their use of violence, while other groups are continually represented as victims. For Gerbner, the real harm is that viewers learn to identify with the groups they see on television. This is the dangerous impact of media violence on culture, according to Gerbner: that white males are essentially trained to see themselves as, and to become, more aggressive; and women and people of color learn to accept, and expect, victimization. From Cultural Environment Movement, August 1 1998
Is Japan Safe From Media Violence?
Critics of the theory that media violence influences real-life violence often point to Asia, claiming that, in comparison with the United States, Asia has equal, if not higher, levels of violence in pop culture media but significantly lower rates of real-life violence. Now, however, crime and violence are increasing among Japanese teens; le Monde diplomatique correspondent David Ensnault asks if the media might be partially to blame.
(Note: full article available to subscribers only) From Le Monde Diplomatique, September 9 1999
Culture Of Fear
Forty to 50 percent of news airtime is devoted to violent topics, irrespective of actual rates of crime, observes Rocky Mountain Media Watch, a non-profit organization that has analyzed local U.S. TV newscasts for five years. As a result, the group concludes, viewers develop an exaggerated sense of the world as a violent and dangerous place. RMMW Executive Director Paul Klite suggests that our violence-obsessed entertainment and news media are "nurturing a culture of sadism." Klite recommends that news broadcasters not only decrease the frequency of violent stories, but also become more sensitive to their potential effects, educate viewers about these effects, and create news stories which seek to make sense of the background and social context of crime, rather than simply churning out tabloid tales of horror. From Rocky Mountain Media Watch, May 24 1999
The News: Women Are Victims
Concerns with media and violence are not limited to the United States. When three scholars from Canada, Singapore, and Thailand got together to discuss media violence, they voiced similar concerns: that media images of violence against women tend to reinforce concepts of women as victims and sex objects, simplifying or ignoring the complicated social, economic, and cultural factors involved in these crimes. Rose Dyson, Ubonrat Siriyuvasak, and Meena Shivdas offer specific suggestions for journalists and news outlets to improve their coverage of violence against women. From World Assoc. for Christian Comm., January 1 2000
Fear Of The "Superpredator"
If the U.S. has developed a fear of the "superpredator," the depraved and violent suburban white teenager emblematic of a new, murderous, societal menace, Mike Males blames Rolling Stone contributing editor Randall Sullivan. Males charges Sullivan with falsely creating an epidemic, giving rise to a moral panic about teenagers and violence and inciting "punitive policies" towards adolescents. From FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting), January 1 2000
White Pathology, Black Culture
Not only does the media's obsession with violence obscure real issues of violence in society, it has a dangerous racial component as well, writes Henry A. Giroux. In Giroux's analysis, the white killers in Hollywood's world are pathological, nihilistic pop culture icons that do not demand identification from their audience. But violence in the black world is presented in ways that suggest that it is a "black problem," that black culture and society are inherently bound up in violence. The result, says Giroux, is that "black powerlessness becomes synonymous with criminality ." From Z Magazine/ZNet, March 1 1995
Murder Training
Traumatize and brutalize them, teach them to laugh and cheer at violence, use human-like targets instead of bulls-eyes, and condition them to believe that killing the enemy is a noble goal. These, says Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, were the incredibly effective techniques developed by the U.S. military to condition soldiers to become better killers. And this is the way we are conditioning our children though violent media and video games, according to Grossman and Media Watch, a 15-year-old organization dedicated to creating "more informed consumers of the mass media." Media Watch is deeply concerned about the sexist and violent messages of "point-and-shoot" video games which are played from a first-person perspective with realistic 3-D effects. In the best-selling game "Duke Nukem," the targets are often half-naked women---prostitutes and sex workers. Media Watch calls for a boycott of Toys 'R' Us, the largest distributor of "Duke Nukem" games. From Media Watch, October 1 1999
It's Only A Game
John Romero was co-creator of "Wolfenstein 3-D", the original "first-person-shooter" video game. He's a rich man now, after revolutionizing the video game industry with Doom and Quake, which evolved in later versions to include incredibly realistic, graphic depictions of blood and flesh and weapons. Talking to Guardian reporter Paul Keegan, Romero doesn't seem too concerned about the attacks on his products: "I make games I want to play. If people don't like it, they don't need to play the game."
(Free subscription required to view article) From Guardian Unlimited, June 1 1999
But Are The Studies Flawed?
Content analysis methods and studies of media effects have been criticized for a number of reasons: using broad, unspecific definitions of "violence" which equate cartoons with news reports; inaccurately presuming audiences to be passive, unthinking receivers; and relying on faulty research techniques to measure media-influenced personality changes. But while the World Association for Christian Communication recognizes these critiques, it finds a substantial body of evidence which supports the theory that media violence does affect viewers. Comparative content analyses from the United States, the U.K., Israel, and Germany have shown strikingly similar patterns in the way violence is represented in the media of all four countries. Consistently, media portrayals of violence ignore social factors; misrepresent the demographic facts, frequency, and outcomes of violence; and present violence as a natural, effective means of conflict resolution. From World Assoc. for Christian Comm., January 1 2000
Angry, Violent Men
In September 1999, Children Now released the results of a study designed to examine media messages about gender and masculinity and their impact on American boys. The national poll revealed that "almost three fourths of children describe males on television as violent and more than two-thirds describe men and boys on television as angry." The study also found most children say movies and video games are more violent than television shows, supporting similar results from the study's content analyses. From Children Now, September 1 1999
Missing The Point
Music, clothes, video games, films, and websites have all been looked at as factors and causes inciting kids to violence, influences leading to the 13 shootings in U.S. schools since 1996. Is this simply an opportunity for censorship and dress codes, for increased regulation and moral crusading? Jim D'Entremont argues this cultural finger-pointing is misdirecting public focus from the real issues at hand: "the crushing conformity of superficially 'diverse' U.S. culture, the quality of U.S. education, the purportedly classless nation's preoccupation with status, and the institutionally legitimized violence of the state." From Index on Censorship, July 1 1999
THE RESPONSES
How To Read Violence
There's a formula to media violence, and understanding it can help you make judgements about the media you consume, what is appropriate for children, and how to talk to children about media violence, asserts Media Literacy teacher Barbara Osborn. Osborn provides guidelines to help identify and deconstruct the messages in violent media. From Center for Media Literacy, January 1 1993
Selling Killing To Kids
Do the U.S. media and video game industry market violence to kids? This seemingly rhetorical question is the focus of a new one-year, $1 million study by the Federal Trade Commission. President Clinton announced the study in June, 1999, as part of the government's focus on the dangerous effects of media violence. One goal of the study is to examine whether media and game industries are undermining their own rating systems by marketing products to children younger than the product's rating specifies. From Connect to Kids - Benton Foundation, June 30 1999
Truth In Labeling Or Censorship?
The Media Violence Labeling Act of 1999, on the table of the U.S. Senate, would require the music, television, film, and video game industries to jointly develop an enforceable ratings system for violent content. But First Amendment advocates fear an excuse for censorship, and are concerned that an arbitrary definition of "violent content" would stifle artists and stigmatize works that explore issues of violence or use violence in an important, meaningful way. From Freedom Forum, September 3 1999
Reporting The Real News About Violence
Journalists generally write about violence from a law-enforcement and criminal justice perspective. But are they missing an important part of the story? For 20 years, U.S. public health institutions have recognized violence as an epidemic, applying public health methods of data collection, statistical analysis, risk assessment, and community initiatives to address violence as a public health crisis. The Violence Reporting Project helps journalists learn about this information and incorporate it into their news coverage. In this Nieman Report, the Project's leaders explain the value of the public health perspective and outline specific steps for newspapers to transform their violence coverage and measure the effects of such changes. From Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, August 19 1999
No More Body-bag Journalism For KTCA
Local U.S. TV news has long been criticized for the unwritten policy, "if it bleeds, it leads." Public television station KTCA in Minnesota has decided to challenge that formula with a news program that highlights community events and positive initiatives over crime and violence. Receiving a zero score from Rocky Mountain Media Watch's Mayhem Index, which charts violence in TV news, this expensive experiment has proved successful. In the four years since this article was first published, "Newsnight Minnesota" has won the approval of critics and a small but growing audience. With a current nightly audience of 300,000 viewers, the show has been honored with American Journalism Review's "Model of Excellence" award in 1999. From Current, December 18 1995

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AS THE MEDIA WATCH THE WORLD, WE WATCH THE MEDIA.


"At minimum, media violence may be most influential in modeling the use of deadly force as the primary, if not the only, way to solve problems and resolve interpersonal conflict."

Elizabeth Thoman, founder and president, Center for Media Literacy
from "Making Connections: Media's Role in our Culture of Violence"," 1999


"That media violence contributes to a climate in which violence is legitimate—and there can be no doubt of this—does not make it an urgent social problem..... It seems likely that a given percent increase in decently paying jobs will save thousands of times more lives than the same percent decrease in media bang-bang."

Todd Gitlin, "Imagebusters," The American Prospect, No. 16 (Winter, 1994)


"This is a work of fiction not meant to be instructional in any way. Please spend your time looking for the irony, and do not take notes on the execution of violent acts. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Thelma and Louise" screenwriter Callie Khouri's proposed film disclaimer
from "Screenwriters Defend Their Violent Scripts" Freedom Forum, 10/28/99

RESOURCES

Center for Media Literacy's guidelines help parents talk to their kids about TV violence.

Jay Dover suggests "Twenty Ways to Create a Caring Culture"

Media Education Foundation's extensive resource guide lists publications and organizations concerned with media violence.