4/29/2006

Study: Effects of TV Violence on Youth Disturbing
WB’s “Teen Titans” leads pack at 21.7 violent incidents per episode; verbal abuse also rampant

GREG JOHNSON
THE DAKOTA VOICE

U.S. Surgeon General Jesse Steinfeld testified before Congress that “the overwhelming consensus and the unanimous Scientific Advisory Committee’s report indicates that televised violence, indeed, does have an adverse effect on certain members of our society” That was in 1972. That’s when a lot of us might have shrugged off the warnings because the ‘certain members of society’ didn’t include us.

The 1982 report from the National Institute of Mental Health shed additional light, convincing professional organizations that viewing media violence was a serious threat to public health.  A 2003 report, The Effect of Media Violence on Youth, published by Psychological Science in the Public Interest describes a chronological account of major studies performed since the 1954 Kefauver hearings. We now have over fifty years of research showing the relation between media violence and its effect on human behavior.

A new study of children’s television programming, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: A Content Analysis of Children's Television, was conducted by the PTC (Parents Television Council). The PTC surveyed private and public elementary schools across the nation to evaluate the specific language and behaviors deemed unacceptable. Broadcast companies were screened for possibilities of inclusion. Of the seven qualifiers, ABC, Fox, NBC, the WB’s, ABC Family, Cartoon Network, the Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon, four offered continuous children’s programming.

Categories of offensive content were established by examining the published results from the countless studies on media violence and its effect on children and society. From this, the PTC found seven main categories of offensive and potentially harmful content: Verbal Abuse, Foul Language, Problematic Attitudes and Behavior, Sexual Content, Offensive/Excretory Content and Social Institutions. Some sixty subcategories were defined such as lying, physical violence, stealing, disruptive behaviors, disrespect, vomit, verbal abuse, occultism and portrayals of parents in a negative light. The peak viewing times, for children ages 5–10, were filmed from July 20, 2005 to August 11, 2005. A total of 443.5 hours of filming was reviewed for inappropriate content. Every incident was recorded, classified, and counted.

When the PTC looked at the highest number of incidents per program, they found that WB’s, Teen Titans had the most violent content averaging 21.7 incidents per episode. WB’s also lit up the sky with 4.3 demonstrations of verbally abuse language in Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, airing on Kid’s WB for one month, during the three week period of the PTC study’s peak viewing times. Numbers for offensive language take a dive with Nickelodeon’s Danny Phantom at an average of 1.7 incidents per episode. If these numbers were higher, Mom or Dad might hear it from the next room and come running, calling out with, “what are you watching!” WB’s, received two more top of the heap awards for most sexual content with an incident rate of 1.33 in The Batman, and a 3.66 per episode rate for offensive or excretory content in Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends.

Kids could count on 7 lessons in problematic behaviors on ABC’s Lizzie McGuire. Well, it looks like we’ve handed out all of the ‘biggest of bad awards’… but what’s this, another envelope? The Institutions category! I wonder who… Yes! It’s WB’s again, stealing the show with the most frequent references to social institutions on Teen Titans at 2.6.

Unfortunately there is nothing humorous or insignificant about these numbers, and these are only a small portion of the findings reported in the PTC study. While the harmful effects of violence in media are known, the effects are difficult to measure without some kind of unit of measure, which may contribute to a ‘don’t order government protection just yet’ mentality. Fortunately, US citizens enjoy free access to the Word of God as our guide and a V-chip in our televisions. Canada has both, plus a constitution that guarantees freedom of expression, but it embodies a greater acceptance that reasonable limits can be placed on individual rights for the greater good of society.

And do you know what they did with their constitutional rights? They stopped the poison right at their border! The entertainment giants can do whatever they want to us in the US. It’s their right to Freedom of Speech, and they must not be offended – so, we keep quiet, duck and cover, and be nice about it? The Media Awareness Network of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada has many resources on their website, where you can read how Canadian citizens are protected by their constitution. Do you think we as individuals will eventually find ourselves calling on the Canadian government for protection as America’s internal war against itself continues to bring harm to our society?

Two additional conclusions were present in numerous research projects: One is the echoing appeal made to parents by the researchers. The only hope to curtail the effect is in the home, with parent awareness and education. Parents can get started with guides like The Parent's Guide: Use TV to Your Child's Advantage, a book using plain talk that can get you and your kids to talk. Much of this book can be viewed online at http://www.parentinginformation.org/tvadvantage.htm. Mediawise is an online clearinghouse of free and very useful information. The Academy of Pediatrics recognizes the severity of the effects from media violence. They recommend no TV period for children age two and below. Visit the Parent’s Television Council site to view their full report.

The final consensus is a grave warning: Extremely violent content is already being served to our children via the rapidly growing selection of wireless portable devices. This is where we say goodbye to control. A tidal wave of violent content is forming and will come rushing into the hands, eyes, ears, minds and eventually… the hearts of the children who are left to their own. True, it can very difficult to stop thinking about second hand smoke, bird flu, or the color of the terrorist attack indicator hovering on the screen of our… well. We need to think about what is engaging the minds of our children. Consult with God on a description of human behaviors while reading 2 Timothy 3:1-7. Is this where we are headed?