Tune It Out! Media Violence, Children and Crime

• NCJ Number: 165783
• Author(s): J J Curran Jr
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 27 pages
• Sale Source: U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Description
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After examining research findings regarding the impact of media violence on child users, this report by the Maryland Attorney General proposes a public education and awareness campaign designed to reduce the amount of violence in the media and increase the use of the media as a positive educational tool.

Abstract

The overwhelming conclusion of over 30 years of research is that media violence is causally linked to real-world violence. Some children, with the wrong combination of other problems in their lives, will be moved to violence because of what they watch and hear in the media over extended periods of their lives. As part of a public education and awareness initiative, the Maryland Attorney General's Office will be issuing a "Media Violence Inventory" that will help parents reduce the amount of violence their children watch, minimize the harmful impact of what their children do see and hear, and increase consumption of educational programming. This report further recommends that schools and teachers include media literacy and critical viewing skills in their curriculum, and pediatricians should use their regular contact with parents and children to educate them. Also, local television stations should advertise and promote their 10 best television shows for children; set and advertise a goal for the percentage of air time they will devote to nonviolent programming; set and advertise a goal for the air time they will give to education programming greater than the new national goal of 3 hours; and present public service announcements about the effects of media violence on children. Local outlets that sell and rent videos and arcade-type games should take comparable steps to promote quality products for children; and local radio stations should set and advertise goals for violence-free listening hours as well as run public service announcements regarding media violence. Corporate advertisers should make violent content a primary factor in deciding which programs to sponsor, and State and local leaders should use the power of the "bully pulpit" to spread public awareness and to call for less violence in all media. This report also suggests specific steps parents can take to reduce the exposure of their children to media violence and to help their children interpret the violence they do encounter in the media. 1 table, 1 figure, and 48 notes