Media and Violence
Position Paper
PS101
The relationship between media violence and its harmful effects on children has been strongly supported. What exactly is media violence? Critics of television violence research note that media violence experts measure television violence differently. George Gerbner of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication measures most acts of violence equally, whether accidental or intentional. The National Coalition on Television Violence weighs violence so a minor act like shoving counts as one-third of an act of violence while murder accounts for one and two-thirds act of violence. In 1950, 10% of American homes had a television and by 1960 that percentage had grown to 90%. Today 99% of American homes have a television set and 54% of U.S children have a television set in their bedrooms. So the question is “Is Media Violence Harmful to Our Children?” W. James Potter, from – On Media Violence (Sage, 1999) believes it is. The opposition on the other hand Jib Fowles, from “The Case of Television Violence (Sage, 1999) does not. My opinion is that it does. I will present evidence that media violence does harm our children. “The NAEYC condemns the violent television programming, movies, videotapes, computer games, and other forms of media directed at children. They further believe it is the responsibility of parents and public media to protect children from unnecessary and potentially harmful exposure to violence through the media and to protect children from television content and advertising practices that exploit their vulnerability” (Huston, Watkins, and Kunkel, 1989). Research has concluded that television watching does indeed have a positive and negative affect on children and is considered a highly complex and cognitive activity during which children are actively involved in learning. This further supports their efforts to use the media constructively to expand children’s knowledge and promote development
PS101
The relationship between media violence and its harmful effects on children has been strongly supported. What exactly is media violence? Critics of television violence research note that media violence experts measure television violence differently. George Gerbner of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communication measures most acts of violence equally, whether accidental or intentional. The National Coalition on Television Violence weighs violence so a minor act like shoving counts as one-third of an act of violence while murder accounts for one and two-thirds act of violence. In 1950, 10% of American homes had a television and by 1960 that percentage had grown to 90%. Today 99% of American homes have a television set and 54% of U.S children have a television set in their bedrooms. So the question is “Is Media Violence Harmful to Our Children?” W. James Potter, from – On Media Violence (Sage, 1999) believes it is. The opposition on the other hand Jib Fowles, from “The Case of Television Violence (Sage, 1999) does not. My opinion is that it does. I will present evidence that media violence does harm our children. “The NAEYC condemns the violent television programming, movies, videotapes, computer games, and other forms of media directed at children. They further believe it is the responsibility of parents and public media to protect children from unnecessary and potentially harmful exposure to violence through the media and to protect children from television content and advertising practices that exploit their vulnerability” (Huston, Watkins, and Kunkel, 1989). Research has concluded that television watching does indeed have a positive and negative affect on children and is considered a highly complex and cognitive activity during which children are actively involved in learning. This further supports their efforts to use the media constructively to expand children’s knowledge and promote development