The best method of informing the public is using television. Thus, the news is televised. Many believe that it is the news media’s job to report to the public what is happening in our society. Some, on the other hand, claim the news media are only interested in increasing their ratings and do so by reporting events that are violent in nature. Those who believe this also think that violence in the news has a direct effect on our society. Its precise effect would be dictating a society’s behavior. Because the news is an informative service and the crime rates are decreasing one can claim that the news media is just a reflection of society.
The news media’s main goal is to inform the society. Their task is to notify viewers of new developments around the world. News broadcasts generally strive for accuracy in reports. These reports are presented in an objective manner otherwise they would mislead the masses. It is because the masses do not wish to be mislead that viewers expect these qualities. Censorship should not be imposed upon the news because …
The Effects of Television Violence on Children
Shortly after a Boston television station showed a movie depicting teenagers dousing a
derelict with gasoline and setting him afire, six youths attacked a woman and set her on fire in an
identical manner. Several months later, NBC televised Born Innocent, a made-for-television-
movie, which showed the sexual violation of a young girl with a broom handle. Three days after
this program aired, a group of girls committed a similar attack on another 9-year-old girl (“Wild”
A20). These are just a couple of shocking examples out of many illustrating how televised violence
can spark violent behavior. Violence in society is a complex problem, and numerous sources can
be cited for blame. If control is to be gained, one obvious place to begin is television, for television
violence can promote violence in those who see it. This is especially true for our children and the
programming provided for them.
Many people claim that no cause and effect link can be established between violence seen
on television and behaviors in children. They insist that those who do assert such a connection are
merely engaging in an elaborate post hoc fallacy which hinges on simple coincidence. However, an
experiment at Penn State University begins to establish the conclusion that a strong tie does exist
between children’s behavior and the violence they are exposed to on television. In this experiment,
92 kinder- gardeners were divided into three groups according to measured levels of aggression
they displayed (high aggressive, middle aggressive, low aggressive). Over a four-week period, each
group watched set quantities of different programs. One group of programs contained high-
violence programs such as Superman and Batman. A …
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