A Practical Approach To Television Violence Essays - Criminology

A Practical Approach To Television Violence As difficult as this issue is, I believe it can be addressed. My report shows that some progress has already begun in several areas. Attention needs to be focused on how and why some programming has begun to move in the right direction and why the rest has not. What this issue needs, more than anything else, is cool heads on all sides of the problem: the network executives, the creative community, the government, researchers and advocacy groups. All sides need to worry less about how each development affects only them and instead look at the needs of everyone.(U.C.L.A. 5) In the broadcast world, the four television networks, ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, have begun to get the message about television violence. The programming they completely control, series and television movies, has, for the most part shown some promising signs and now reflects, on the whole, relatively few issues of concern as compared to other network television formats. I contend that this is a result of consumer pressure, rather that governmental regulation. The violence contained in the most disturbing television series is minor in comparison to that contained in theatrical films shown on network television. And that violence, edited as it is, is tame compared to films shown in theaters, in home videos and on pay cable. Today, we see few programs with violence as their central theme. More programming uses violence well or does not use it at all. The public seems to be responding. Of the top 30 shows of the season, only two are listed as raising concerns about violence. It is possible to create popular programs that do not resort to inappropriate uses of violence. Advisories need to be more consistently applied here.(U.C.L.A. 13) Ultimately, however, it was the regulatory framework established by the Communications Act of 1934 and a belief and trust in the strong private broadcasting system that has been allowed to evolve within that framework that proved most crucial. Section 326 of the Communications Act provides the abiding standard. In matters of content, nothing in this chapter shall be understood or construed to give the [Federal Communications] Commission the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio [or television] station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere with the right of free speech or radio communication.(U.S.C. 31) This body of laws clearly define any governmental involvement as a non-viable scenario. The only group involved in this volitile debate that feels otherwise is, ironically, the government. Must we, the people, obey the dictates of a government that refuses to obey those same dictates itself? The tension over potential content regulation that filled the air in the late 1960's and early 1970's, however, remains with us in the 1990s as we celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Communications Act. While more hearings and reports littered the landscape throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, Congress assiduously avoided any acts that smacked of direct content regulation.(House 64) In 1990, however, this began to change as Congress took two significant steps that threaten to alter drastically the delicate balance previously maintained in this area. First, Congress passed the Children's Television Act of 1990, which not only sets advertising limits in children's programming but requires the FCC, for the first time, to consider the extent to which a TV licensee has served the educational and informational needs of children when reviewing that station's application for renewal of license. (Childrens 16) As the 1993 Senate hearings drew to a close, an illuminating exchange took place. The committee chairman, Senator Earnest Hollings (D,S.C.), after hearing witnesses from the major networks, sought to discredit their position by playing a video tape, in the hearing room, of a short clip from the half-hour situation comedy Love and War. The clip was from an episode in which the cast of male and female actors, departing from their usual comedic wit in a restaurant that serves as the show's regular set, engaged in a short slapstick barroom brawl scene. Senator Hollings seemed appalled, strongly suggesting that this type of prime-time violence was indefensible. Senator Conrad Burns