Criminal Justice relating to Media - Research Paper Example

According to Freedman (2006), “The belief that media violence is harmful is widespread. In the recent poll conducted in the US, 10% of the people said that television violence is the major cause in the increased number of the crime rate”. Nowadays, media has been the source of violence in the society as media consumption has been continuously rising for the past decade. Media has been a part the human civilization since time immemorial. Hence, society’s dependence on media has been significantly flourished throughout the decade. One particular source of news and entertainment is largely attributed to television programs and the internet. The type of programming contained in news reports, soap operas, family sitcoms, even children’s programs have demonstrated a level of media violence that needs immediate attention especially by the parents or guardians of the kids. This is so true when it comes to children’s cartoon channels. Most of the time, their parents or guardians fail to monitor what they watch on the television. Cartoon programs were created to entertain young children, but research has shown that a significant value of media violence is attributable to cartoons. On the other hand, the internet has also played a substantial role in the proliferation of media violence as seen in computer games which most of the young kids are fond of. This study shall focus on the violence content that is being shown in children’s programming, while mixing it with the element of humor. “This helps create that illusion that violence is fun and largely without any negative consequences. The unpunished violence perpetrated by attractive heroes provides the best description for encouraging imitation of violent scripts and adoption of pro-violence beliefs and attitudes” (Gentile 2003). Content of Violence in Children’s Programs Violence has been used as a key factor to make the audience glued to the television. With the presence of humor and combined with violence, the audience’s attention will be fixed watching the program from beginning to end as a form of entertainment. “The recent studies have shown that the average American child witnesses more than 10,000 violent crimes, which include murder, rape and assault each year on television; and about 200,000 violent crimes by the time they are in their teens”. Percentage of Violent Television Programs by Content and Program Genre In a study conducted by NTVS in 1998, it was shown that excessive violence was defined as nine or more acts of violence in a given program. Program Genre TYPE OF VIOLENT CONTENT ALL CHILDREN’S COMEDY DRAMA MOVIES MUSIC VIDEOS REALITY EXCESSIVE VIOLENCE 32 31 5 40 59 3 17 FANTASY VIOLENCE 45 87 14 11 19 12 0 PUNISHMENT OF BAD PERPETRATORS 55 59 47 66 56 27 45 LONG-TERM NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES 16 6 8 33 33 10 7 SHORT-TERM NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES 55 67 44 49 49 41 47 NO NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES 29 26 48 18 17 49 45 VIOLENCE WITH BLOOD OR GORE 14 1 1 21 24 9 16 VIOLENCE WITH HUMOR 42 68 89 16 32 14 8 USE OF GUNS 26 12 15 41 33 18 45 USE OF BODY AS A WEAPONS 39 43 53 31 39 56 25 REPEATED PERPETRATOR 61 58 51 59 63 62 71 OVER-ALL PROPORTION OF PROGRAMS WITH VIOLENT CONTENT 61 67 37 75 89 53 39 Therefore, in view of the foregoing study conducted b ...Show more