TV Violence Consensus
“America's children are being exposed to more dead bodies, fistfights and perverts than ever before, according to an analysis of violence on prime-time television released yesterday by the Parents Television Council. Violent content from 8 to 11 p.m. on weekdays jumped 75 percent from 1998 to 2006, largely because of popular crime-solving shows and medical dramas such as "Law and Order" and "CSI," the Los Angeles nonprofit concluded in its report, titled "Dying to Entertain." For its second such study, the group pored through 1,187.5 hours of prime-time entertainment programs on major broadcast networks from the first two weeks of the November, February and May sweeps periods during the 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons. The analysis excluded movies, news programs and sports events. The group, which lobbies against sex, violence and profanity in entertainment, measured violence by tracking scenes that contained violent elements and counting the frequency of violence within each scene. For example, if a character were to pull out a gun during a fistfight and shoot someone, it would be recorded as two instances of violence. CBS had the highest percentage of deaths portrayed on each of its shows during prime time. On all the networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, WB and UPN -- 54 percent of violent scenes depicted death or implied it. Guns were involved in 63 percent of violent scenes, and knives featured in 15 percent. At 309 percent, ABC had the biggest increase in violent content since 1998, which the group examined in its study released in 2002, ballooning from 0.93 instances of violence per hour to 3.80 instances during the 2005-06 season. Fox had the smallest increase in violent content since 1998, a 12 percent rise to 3.84 instances per hour. NBC is America's most violent network, according to the numbers, with 6.79 violent instances each hour. CBS came in second at 5.56. At the bottom of the list, UPN and the WB -- which in the fall combined to form the CW Television Network -- had 0.86 and 3.52 violent instances per prime time hour, respectively. ABC's short-lived murder drama "Night Stalker" was the most violent program of the 2005-06 seasons, with 26 instances of violence in one hour. The series, in which an investigative reporter searches for his wife's killer, was canceled after six episodes
"Despite the widespread consensus that TV violence is a significant problem, it has not only become more frequent, but more graphic in recent years," Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council, told reporters yesterday at a press conference featuring Federal Communications Commissioner Michael J. Copps.
In addition, Mr. Winter noted, violent scenes are becoming increasingly sexual as rapes, sexual predators and characters with fetishes are popping up on prime time dramas.
"There is an absolute, objective consensus" that children exposed to violence on television are more likely to use violence to solve their problems and become desensitized to its consequences, said Jeff McIntyre, legislative and federal affairs officer at the American Psychological Association.”
Works Cited
Rowland, Kara. "TV Violence Found to Be More Frequent, Graphic." THE WASHINGTON TIMES 11 Jan. 2007. 14 Feb. 2007 <http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20070110-115757-9439r.htm>.
The article I read was violence on TV. The article, wrote by Kelly Rowan, is not in favor for violence on TV. I agree with the Kelly Rowan for two reasons: it is showing the children that it is alright to do what they see on TV and is showing that parents aren't supervising what their children watch on TV.
Tim Winter wrote, "Despite the widespread consensus that TV violence is a significant problem, it has not only become more frequent, but more graphic in recent years."
I think TV violence influences children in a bad way. Children watch violence on TV every day. It is said that average child watches 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence before finishing school. Watching TV violence increases childhood violence. Violence on TV is kind of entertainment for children. Also much violence is shown in news to increase their ratings. Violence refers to physical aggression. Aggression is defined as any behavior involving making something bad to another person. To me, I believe violence in television is related to acts of violence from children. Children growing up watching violence are more pronged to commit such acts, because children model behavior they see on television. Even though there are chips stopping them from watching, they still manage to find a way to watch the violent television shows. Because of all the violence on television, children spend more time watching TV, than studying or playing some sport. I think, if parents don't let their children watch violent television, violence would go down.
During past couple decades, violence on TV has been increasing. I think that there is relationship between the violence witnessed on TV and violent behavior of children. There is much blood, car wrecks, murders and screaming victims shown on TV. Violence is even shown funny, that there is no pain. So children think there is nothing bad to use violence with their friends. Also there are a lot of cartoons on TV that show violence. Children's aggressiveness increases after watching such cartoons. Children who watch a lot of violence on TV they became rude and aggressive. Children learn a lot from cartoons. They solve their problems with violence and fighting. TV influences children because they don't really think what they are doing. Children change their sport activities, friends, studying for TV. It is important for you to check the content of TV programs and set viewing limits for your child. Children have to read books, play sport games, play with friends, and do their homework. When you see children hurting someone, they say “I saw it on television”. This is very bad. This tells me that parents are not supervising what their children are watching. I believe that it is the parent's fault, if their kid commits an act of violence. The parents should be held responsible for letting what their kid did, because of what they saw on television. If everyone saw the violence on TV I think they would be more positive for better blocks on television, and then violence will go down.
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