January 11, 2007 7:38 AM
TV Violence - What Every Parent Should Know
The Parents Television Council works hard to keep parents informed about the relationship between families and TV. Here are excerpts from what I got in this week's email:
PTC Finds Dramatic Increase of Violence on TVThe Parents Television Council released a new study on television violence, Dying to Entertain, which found that violence on prime time broadcast television has increased 75% since 1998. The television season that began in the fall of 2005 was also one of the most violent ever recorded by the PTC.
"This new study shows that violence on television is alarmingly more frequent and more disturbing than anything we've seen before. . . .
Medical and social science have proven conclusively that children are adversely affected by exposure to [violence] -- yet millions of parents think nothing of letting their children watch C.S.I. or other, equally violent programs. . . .
The industry's proposed solution -- the V-Chip -- is ineffective at protecting children from TV violence. Previous PTC research proved that TV ratings are inconsistent -- even within the networks -- rendering the V-Chip useless. . . .
Experts like Dr. Deborah A. Fisher with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, explain the effects of violence on children. "Given that on average American youth witness more than 1,000 murders, rapes, and assaults per year on television, understanding the consequences of such exposure is an important public health issue. After decades of research and more than a thousand studies, the answer is yes, watching violent content on television affects youth. Although not all those exposed will commit violent acts, the evidence is overwhelming that viewing high levels of violent programming increases the likelihood of aggression," she said. . . .
Over time, violence has shifted from being incidental to the story telling, to being an integral part of the program with more and more programs focusing on graphic autopsy scenes, scenes depicting medical procedures, and extensive torture sequences.
Violent scenes increasingly include a sexual element. Rapists, sexual predators and fetishists are cropping up with increasing frequency on prime time programs like Law and Order: S.V.U., C.S.I., C.S.I. Miami, C.S.I. New York, Medium, Crossing Jordan, Prison Break, E.R. and House.
To read the full article, go here. For PTC's home page, go here.
They do movie reviews too.
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Comments
I recommend reading Neil Postman's "The Disappearance of Childhood". I just finished it and he makes a powerful argument that television is one of the key factors destroying the society's notion of childhood.
Posted by: Ethan | January 11, 2007 8:59 AM
