NCJ Number
175713
Date Published
April 1999
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This speech examines the impact of violence on television and in video games; discusses the media coverage of shootings at schools; and concludes that violence as public entertainment produces misleading perceptions of crime and violence, affects people's moral responses, and can skew criminal justice policymaking.
Abstract
Television has extended people's visions and has altered perspectives in ways difficult to understand, especially with respect to violence. Media images of violence as fun, alluring, and glamorous were never possible in the past. Today it is possible for viewers of all ages to enjoy video programming at home at all hours. Younger children have become acculturated to violence; the media fills their lives with guns, drugs, kidnappings, and other violence. The four phases of a moral response to a situation are perception, deliberation, choice, and implementation; perception is primary. However, media images of violence distort perceptions. Media coverage of school shootings has intensified fear among parents and children. An issue needing attention is whether media violence encourages further crime. Journalists and the entertainment industry once dismissed a connection between media violence and actual violence; they are no longer so willing to dismiss it. The reasons why rates of violence in the United States than in other stable industrialized democracies should receive more attention. Other important issues are desensitization and lack of empathy and the potential link between media violence and increasing rates of depression. However, free speech is important; censorship is not the solution to media violence. Other options include media literacy efforts, media efforts to cover this issue and the role of the media more thoroughly, and other responses and leadership at every level from families on up. Questions and answers form the audience and introduction by National Institute of Justice Director Jeremy Travis