violence in the media

Violence and the media

Violence in the media includes ***********, the internet, on computer games, in TV news reports snd dramas, in films, videos and DVDs. They are all part of popular culture and more and more people are now exposed to violence with the creatin on new media.

Statistics estimate that by the time they are 18 American children will have been exposed to 16,000 real and fictional murders and 200,000 acts of violence on televsion. Belivers in the hypodermic sryinge model point to a number of films which they claim have resulted in young people using extreme violence. 

Jamie Bulger case.

An example that can be used is the Jamie Bulger case. Two year old Jamie Bulger was abducted and killed by two ten year old boys in Liverpool. The two boys argued that their murder was fulled and inspired by 'Chucky childs play 3'. The judge that viewed the case commented "I suspected that exposure to violent video films in part may be an explanation". This can be explained through the hypodermic syringe model with the idea that we inject ourselves with media messages that influence our real life decisions as this is seen to be a 'copycatting'. However, police that investigated this argue that they found no evidence that videos viewed by the family would have encouraged the boys to kill another child. With the uncovering of this case there was a wide spread of moral panic surrounding violence in the media and the effects of violent videos on children and adults. 

Responses to exposure to media violence

1. Copycatting: Like a hypodermic syringe injecting a drug, exposure to media violence causes children to copy what they see and this may result in children behaving more aggresively in the real world. Bndura et al uses the 'BoBo doll experiment' to prove this theory. He placed children in a room with toys and they were told they are not allowed to touch them, this then angered the children. The children were then showed a video of someone behaving aggresively to a BoBo doll and were then placed in a room with the same doll; to his expectations 80% of the children presented the same behaviour to the doll. Other children within a control group who were not eposed to any violent scenes displayed no violent behaviour to the doll

McCabe and Martin argue that media violence has a disinhabitation effect- it convinces children that in some social situations the 'normal' rules that govern conflict and difference can be suspended. For example: discussion and negotiation can be replaced with violence with no reprocussions.

2. Desensitization: Himmelweit et al have suggested that repreated exposure of children to media violence has a gradual 'drip-drip' long term effect, with the increasing risk of violent behaviour as adults. People tend to become less sensitive and disturbed when they witness real-world violence and have less sympathy towards their victims and will invetably become socialised into accepting violence as a normal part of their…