Violence In Televison Essay Research Paper Political

Violence In Televison Essay, Research Paper

Political Involvement Concerning Violence in Television

Looking back in time, it is evident man has mastered his resources in an effort to increase his technology. This technology has had a measurable effect on society. To a certain extent, we have embraced, as well as feared, the growth of this technology. As far back as 390 BCE when Plato warned about the danger of storytelling (Cooke L19), to the 1930s and 1940s when “studies warned of the harmful effects radio was having on children’s ability to distinguish fantasy from reality” (Cooke L19), the idea of technology affecting our lives has been a frightful one. This age-old dilemma has played itself out over the past three decades in America regarding television violence and its effects on society. A recent census figure estimates that ninety-six percent of American households have one or more televisions (Murray 472). When this many households have a television that people view for more than seven hours a day, program content becomes a powerful influence. Because television influences people’s values, beliefs, and overall perspectives of the world, television programming has been subjected to critical examination by political interests.

Being a time of assassinations, racism, and political unrest, the 1960s were formidable years in researching the topic of violence in television. Due to the violent activity of this particular decade, the National Commission on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission, was created (Milavsky 1). Following the commission’s report in March of 1968, President Lyndon Johnson “established the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, headed by Dr. Milton Eisenhower” (Milavsky 1). One volume of the report was dedicated to an extensive examination of the relationship between the media and the public. Because of this report, Senator John O. Pastore of Rhode Island called for the Surgeon General to investigate the matter of television’s effects on young people. With these activities in motion, the issue of the effect of television on its viewers entered the arena of national debate.

As early as the 1920s, people voiced their social concerns about the effects of the motion picture industry. Awarded $200,000 by the Payne Funds, The National Committee for the Study of Social Values in Motion Pictures created a “special committee on Educational Research to study the effects of film on children” (Rowland 92). This group’s primary objective was “to find the facts and publish them to stimulate discussion from which programs of action . . . [would] eventually crystallize” (Rowland 92). Although primarily interested in the effects of motion pictures, this was the first attempt to study the social impact a medium had on its viewers. Lasting from 1928 to 1933, unfortunately “the Payne Fund studies [appeared] to have had little public policy impact” (Rowland 94).

The next major government undertaking regarding this subject was in 1954 when then Senator Estes Kefauver chaired hearings of a Judiciary Committee panel exploring the role of television in juvenile delinquency. In Robert Liebert’s book, The Early Window, he states, “Network representatives claimed at that time that research on the effects of violence viewing upon children was inconclusive, although they admitted that some risk existed” (48). While the committee did not have the conclusive research they sought, they surmised that “violence materials are anxiety and tension producing and acts of violence may teach techniques of crime and lead the child to imitate these acts in expression of his aggression” (Rowland 104). Although concluding “that televised crime and brutality could be potentially harmful to young children” (Murray 472), neither government nor television responded with change. The consensus was that data was scarce and the congressmen were critical of the industry (Pearl 17). The ensuing results were two-fold: a need for better social and behavioral research, and a need for self-regulation of the television industry.

The true birth of the debate, as mentioned earlier, occurred in the 1960s. This decade began with John F. Kennedy using the medium of television to spread his campaign message to the masses. America was now introduced to the profound effect television played within society (Comstock 57). With television and politics becoming so inter-woven, further investigations dealing with television’s impact on the public increased in number and intensity. This re-energized investigation began with the Dodd Subcommittee.

An extension of the Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, the Dodd Subcommittee addressed the effects television had on the youth of America. Headed by Senator Thomas Dodd, the subject of violence in children’s television was specifically targeted. Existing in 1961 through 1964, these hearings were of great importance because they paved the way for hundreds of studies in which the subject matter of television’s impact on children was the primary focus. Testimony at this hearing “revealed that previously promised research had yet to be carried out” (Liebert 48). The subcommittee offered the conclusion that “on the basis of expert testimony and impressive research evidence . . . the subcommittee does not believe that television is either the sole or most significant cause of the juvenile