Censorship of Violence in Television Media

The Censorship of Violence in Television Media

My topic is based on research in the United States regarding television violence and its impact on juvenile crime. Since the beginning of television broadcasts there have been investigations regarding television violence and its effects on juvenile who watch it.

In the early 1950s the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency held a series of Congressional hearings to address juvenile crime. Because there is no definite answer on the effects of television violence on juvenile crime, the investigations continue. In 1963 a major experiment was conducted by Bandura, a psychologist, that showed that when children after viewing violence on television they acted in aggressive manners. Another study done by Gerbner showed that over a 22 year period analysis eight out of ten every plays broadcast during the survey period contained some form of violence and eight episodes of violence occurred during each broadcast hour of broadcast time. Especially those designed for children such as cartoons. Studies have shown cartoons are the most violent of all programming.

They first tried to allow the television industry to censor itself. The industry agreed to place warning labels on violent programs. People felt that by doing this the warning labels would be ineffective for two reasons: A) The children would want to watch the television shows labeled violent. B) The children were unsupervised during the television viewing. Then in 1990, Congress passed the Children’s Television Act to provide funding for increased children’s programming and limit advertising. In 1993, The Children’s Protection from Violent Programming Act was put in place to restrict violent programming during the times children would be watching TV.

Current options in 1997 include, President Bill Clinton signed legislations to implement the v-chip as part of the telecommunications act. Beginning in 1998 all the television manufacturers were required to equip new television sets with the v-chip. The v-chip is an electronic chip in a television that enables parents to block programs