NCJ Number
151044
Date Published
1994
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This analysis of violence on television in the United States distinguishes between violence used responsibly and gratuitous violence and concludes that the increasing violence on television results from commercial motives and that government regulation is not the same as censorship.
Abstract
The recent extensive television coverage of the story of O.J. Simpson exemplifies the use of violence without ethical or dramatic justification but instead to keep viewers watching television. Fifty years of research have established that gratuitous violence, particularly when used in combination with advertising, causes fear, anxiety, desensitization, anger, aggression, and, sometimes, emulation. The combination of these social messages and images of greed results in an enormous public health hazard. Despite 40 years of Congressional hearings, television violence has increased and now saturates our cultural environment. The arguments for the First Amendment rights of media corporations have overlooked the First Amendment rights of ordinary citizens, children, and members of the scientific and academic communities who may have unpopular but valuable things to say. As a result, commercial interests determine what is seen and heard. Potential solutions to this problem include making media literacy education part of public schooling, setting aside 25 percent of all channels for noncommercial use, and imposing a 2 percent user fee on commercial television profits to finance noncommercial television. Additional recommendations