NCJ Number
151049
Date Published
1994
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This historical analysis of the mass media and violence notes that the media has long focused extensively on violence and that this focus has long been a source of public and governmental concern.
Abstract
Michael Kunczik states that the debate on the effects of the presentation of violence has a long tradition. Every new media was considered to have a negative influence and was sharply criticized by authors of culturally pessimistic backgrounds. Socrates, the Odyssey of Homer, the classical Latin authors, and medieval literature all described and justified violence. Themes of violence were central to 16th Century poetry and to early novels. The periodical press that came into being in the 17th Century was also a source of controversy due to its focus on murder, executions, and catastrophes. For fear of unwanted contents in the media, the European totalitarian governments established censorship to control the press. Over time, censorship was repealed, although democratic governments maintained protection of youth and minority groups. Mark Twain is also known to have made some concessions while writing Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. As these examples demonstrate, the discussion on violence in the media is longstanding and marked by periodic changes, particularly when new media emerge. In any society, individual violence and institutional violence are interdependent. In Germany, discussion of violence in the media is widespread. The most recent initiatives on the restriction of the freedom of communication are alarming, because they have reversed the issues of cause and effect ignore historical experience.