Violence and the media

1. Violence and the media

2. America is an especially violent country in terms of interpersonal violence American popular culture is “awash in violence” There is reason to think that the latter may be one reason for the former The problem

3. Many fables and fairy stories are quite violent • Hansel and Gretel • Little Red Riding Hood • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe • Sleeping Beauty • Snow White • Peter Pan Popular culture has been violent for a long time

5. Recent scholarly analysis looks beyond the mere total of violent acts in media content. More subtle distinctions regarding depictions of violent acts and the role of violence in the story have come to be considered as important as the volume. What does this say about violent depictions?

6. The NTVS staff found 80 experiments where some contextual feature of media violence was manipulated to see how it affected outcomes. Based on these studies, the NTVS staff identified the following contextual features in violent media that can affect young viewers: National Television Violence Study (NTVS)

9. Amount of violence in prime time by channel type

10. Amount of violence in prime time by genre

11. Parents Television Council (PTC) findings

12. PTC findings

13. PTC findings

14. PTC findings

15. Amount of violence across subgenres of children’s programming Source: Wilson, Smith, Potter, Kunkel, Linz, Colvin & Donnerstein, 2002 Journal of Communication

16. Proportion of Prime Time shows containing violence, 1993-2001 Source: Signorielli, 2003

17. Severity of violence, Prime Time 1993-2001 Source: Signorielli, 2003

19. Character attributes of perpetrators Source: NTVS

20. Context of Violence in Children’s vs. Nonchildren’s programming: Nature of perpetrator Source: NTVS

21. Nature of Violence in Prime Time Portrayals, 1993-2001 Source: Signorielli, 2003

22. Proportion of characters Engaging in violence by demography [Prime time, 1993-2001] Source: Signorielli, 2003

23. Proportion of Victims of violence by Demography [Primetime, 1993-2001] Source: Signorielli, 2003

24. Reasons for violence Source: NTVS

25. Proportion of characters involved in Justified violence [Primetime, 1993-2001] Source: Signorielli, 2003

26. Proportion of characters involved in Moral violence [Primetime, 1993-2001] Source: Signorielli, 2003

27. How Graphic is TV violence? Source: NTVS

28. This pattern is highly consistent across different types of programs and channels. The portrayal of rewards and punishments is probably the most important of all contextual factors for viewers as they interpret the meaning of what they see on television. • However, a much lower number go unpunished by the end of the show. • This is a special problem for younger viewers who often do not have the ability to connect later action to earlier events. Perpetrators go unpunished in 73% of all violent scenes.

29. Rewards/punishments Source: NTVS

30. Proportion of characters Rewarded for violence [Primetime, 1993-2001] Source: Signorielli, 2003

31. Reinforcements for violence Source: NTVS

32. Consequences of violence Source: NTVS

33. Remorse for Violence in prime time depictions by demography [1993-2001]

34. Very few violent programs place emphasis on condemning the use of violence or on presenting alternatives to using violence to solve problems. This pattern is consistent across different types of programs and channels.  Only 4% of violent programs emphasize an anti-violence theme.

35. Humor/fantasy in depictions Source: NTVS

37. The NTVS continues to find that cartoons contain high rates of violence portrayed in ways that many existing studies agree will increase the probability of harmful effects. Children under 7 years are particularly at risk because of limited ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

38. Cartoon violence is (frequently) performed by attractive characters, seems justified, goes unpunished, and results in minimal consequences for the victim — all characteristics likely to promote young children’s learning of aggressive behaviors. • Source: NTVS