halloffamecochrane

Violent Content In the News

by Andrew Cochrane

“Tear gas flushes a gunman out the house where he has been holed up. He comes out shooting, then falls in a hail of bullets from a SWAT team. A film of the shootout and the removal of the gunman’s body appears on the evening newscast.”(Too Much Violence?). As this example shows, violent content in broadcast news continues to increase and has reached the point were parents, doctors, educators, activist groups, and others worry that it will have a detrimental effect on America’s youth, however, some people believe the violence is necessary and appropriate considering the state of the world today. Regardless, many feel it is a major issue of debate and controversy in today’s society.

Victor Strasburger, a Pediatrician with a degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and Edward Dommerstein, who holds a PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara, state that each year young people will see an estimated 10,000 acts of violence on television (Strasburger and Dommerstein). Some people believe that a significant amount of this violent content airs on broadcast news. Dan Trigoboff, in his article for Broadcasting and Cable, “Mayors: Stop TV’s Violent Mantra”, illustrates the way many community leaders feel about violent content in the news. He cites Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini, president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, when she points out that practically every night the news broadcasts open with a story containing violence. Trigoboff declares that the superfluous nature of violent content in the news has reached the point where people are starting to speak out against it(Trigoboff).

Michael Katz, in his article for Broadcasting and Cable, illustrates that public response has indicated for years that there is too much sensational violence in the news (Katz). The author of the article, “Media Body Calls Local News ‘Vulgar’ ”, explains that extremely violent content in news broadcast is actually banned under Broadcasting Law No. 24/1997 (News, Vulgar). So for many the question becomes; “Why do the news broadcasts contain so much graphic violence?”

Dan Trigoboff relates that Deedee Corradini believes news reports contain an overabundance of violent content because it is easier to cover a dramatic and sensationalistic story of violence than it is to go through the effort of covering more complex stories. Trigoboff quotes Corradini’s plea, “We have got to stop being motivated by money”. (qtd Trigoboff). Corradini challenges news broadcasts to ‘take the higher road’ and stop airing so much gratuitous violence (Trigoboff). Bob Simmons, in his article “Violence in the Air. Why do We Show This Stuff?” for Columbia Journalism Review, relates Bill Lord’s opinion concerning network coverage of news stories. Lord, director of KIRO news in Seattle, argues; “Coverage is often a matter of manpower and money. You are going to have to invest more time and staff in the more complicated issue stories. We don’t always have it.” (qtd Simmons 2).

Armstrong Williams, a writer for the New York Amsterdam News, believes that television news groups intentionally air graphic images and stories in an effort to deceive the general public and slant public opinion. Specifically, Williams argues that the news groups misrepresent firearms, and their role in crime and society. He does not disagree that guns are often used in crime; but he believes, and the statistics show, that guns are more often used by honest law-abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families from criminals. Williams argues that news groups abuse society’s trust by using their power to push a political agenda. He believes news groups air dramatic footage and stories of the negative results of misused weapons to scare society. Williams argues that news groups base stories upon emotion, and not facts (Williams).

Many experts believe that the graphically violent content of today’s news broadcasts can have negative effects on children. Deedee Corradini says that she does not disagree with coverage of events such as the Littleton Colorado school shootings. “It’s the daily dose kids are getting that we object to”. (qtd Trigoboff). Juliette Molen, in her article for the Journal of Educational Media, points out that studies have shone that violent content in the news can be even more traumatic for children than other forms of media. She says this is possible because the realism intensifies a child’s level of involvement. Molen states that this heightened level of involvement leads to worry and the fear of being victimized. She points to research from the Netherlands showing that approximately 50% of school children described being ‘rather frightened’ by news reports, and 30% described being ‘very frightened’ by the news. Molen, in describing the research results, says that when asked how they felt about the World Trade Center attacks, the children said that they feared a terrorist attack would happen close to them, or that the events would signal the start of World War III (Molen).

Diane Levin, in an article for Educational Leadership, discusses several different ways adults can help to lessen the negative effect violent news content has on children. The first way she describes is through the children’s play. Levin believes that children often use their play and games to work out difficult emotions they are feeling but do not know how to express in an appropriate manner. She says that adults should carefully observe children’s play and see what the children are feeling. To illustrate this point, Levin points out that immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, primary school teachers started making some very interesting observations about their student’s play. She relates that the teachers were seeing several children building tall towers out of blocks and then knocking them down. The author reports that often the children would place people in the towers and bury them in the rubble, or children would bury themselves and pretend to be dead. Levin points out that this is not a unique occurrence. She says that teachers reported the same type of events after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (Levin).

Levin believes that children use violent play to work out their hurt and fear in a way that is tangible to them. She states, “Play allows children to meet one of their greatest needs as they deal with violence: suspending reality in order to create outcomes in which they feel safe”. (Levin). Levin also points out that over time the children’s play changed in nature. Instead of destroying the buildings, they pretended to be rescue workers or doctors helping to save people. Levin believes that this change was the children’s way of resolving their emotions. She also notes that this change was encouraged when teachers gave the children toys such as medical kits and fire trucks (Levin).

Levin also teaches that talking about disturbing things in the news can help children to work through their fears. She says that children are often looking for reassurance that they are safe. Levin suggests one way teachers can encourage discussions about topics in the news with their students. She suggests that the class begin discussing what they have seen in the news that day. Levin gives an example of a first grade teacher trying this with her class. She reports that at first almost all the stories were about something that happened to the kids, but the teacher would give examples of things she had heard in the news. Levin conveys that the teacher would then ask the children if they had heard any stories like the example. She explains that eventually the children’s “reports” became varied enough to include major events such as the D.C. sniper, and the possible war with Iraq. Levin reports that the teacher also tried to bring in positive stories to show the children that everything in the news was not grave. She says that; “By making their response to the news a legitimate part of the early childhood curriculum, we will contribute to student’s overall sense of safety and well-being, a necessary condition for effective learning to occur”. (Levin).

The author of “Is There too Much Violence on TV News”, an article for Current Events, A Weekly Reader Publication, reports that in response to the public outcry and the negative effects of violent news content on children, several news groups have begun offering less graphic news productions. The author reports that KRQE-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico is one of the stations that has made the change. The author explains that Jim Loy, director of KRQE-TV, describes his production as being “Family Sensitive” (qtd. Too Much Violence?). The author quotes Loy explaining that “once a day, we show no actual ‘real-time’ violence, no body bags, no bloody faces, no screaming people, none of the stuff that’s become standard fare [in] lots of TV news programs these days. It’s not sugar-coated; it’s just delivered in a form we think people will be able to receive it in”. (qtd. Too Much Violence?).

Michael Katz, in his article for Broadcasting and Cable, reports that KVUE-TV in Austin Texas has implemented a policy requiring crime stories to pass a series of evaluations before going on the air. Carole Kneeland, vice president of news for KVUE-TV, describes the evaluations as a series of questions: “Is the crime a threat to public safety? Is the crime a threat to children? Does the viewer need to take action? Will it have significant community impact? Is the story a crime prevention effort? If we can’t answer yes to at least one of these questions, we don’t put it on the air”. (qtd. Katz).

Juliette H. Walma van der Molen and Marijn de Vries, in their article for the Journal of Educational Media, report that there are several European networks that broadcast shows specifically for children. Molen and Vries state that the design for children’s news has two parts. They say the first part is the content that is left out of the show, such as overly graphic scenes of violence. Molen and Vries report that the second part is comprised of various ‘consolation strategies’, such as alternating ‘heavy’ and ‘light’ stories, including expert commentary, and telling the story from a child’s perspective (Molen and Vries).

Michael Katz, in his report “KVUE Curbs Violent News Images”, published in Broadcasting and Cable, states that all of these news productions have received praise and attention from parents and activist organizations, but they have also received some criticism. Katz reports that KEYE-TV, a competitor of KVUE-TV, has accused KVUE-TV of censoring the news (Katz). The author of “Is There too Much Violence on TV News”, an article for Current Events, A Weekly Reader Publication quotes Edward Domerstein’s, professor of communications at the University of California-Santa Barbara, warning; “You don’t want to sanitize the world. There are horrors out there” (qtd. Too Much Violence?).

Many people believe that in general, news broadcasts are becoming more and more violent. Some people believe this is due to several motives, most based on money and profit. Many experts believe the realistic violence portrayed in television news broadcast can have negative effects on children. But some experts say that parents and teachers can do certain things to help negate the effect on children. Many parents, educators, public health experts, and others hope more stations will continue to work toward providing less violent shows in the future.

Works Cited

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Williams, Armstrong. “Public misled by Violent Images” New York Amsterdam News 91.21 (2000): 8. MasterFILE Premier. EBSCOHOST. J Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC. 1 Oct. 2003.