Mass Media and Children

Behind the Screen

One of the most important forms of entertainment and communication, Television, has also proved to be one of the worst inventions of modern times. All too often, television is harmful because of the shows it broadcasts, the effect it has on people, and the way it is used in homes.

Most Television broadcasters broadcast a variety of programs 24 hours a day, giving the viewers a 24 hour service, that some can’t resist. Programs that promote violence and murder teach people the techniques of killing, rapping, kidnapping, and stealing. You name it and they teach it. Censorship has been a major issue for the past few years but somehow people always find a way around it. Even cartoons, which we think are safe for children, in reality aren’t!

Tom and Jerry, for example, includes more violence than most movies. Yes we don’t see blood but the violence still exists in a different form. Take a flattened cat, a “broken” mouse, a ran over dog or even a blown up coyote, these aren’t particularly very nice scenes for children, although they find them funny. Reality is that this humor might lead them to try everything they see on T.V and if that happens then who knows? Tragedy might strike!

Television is considered both the most effective and the least expensive way to address the largest possible mass audience. If we look closely at the most recent tragedies such as the September 11, New York, or the January 24, Hazmeih, tragedy it is clear that the people behind both tragic incidents (though they are not related) were influenced by TV. Such incidents could , by all means, have occurred in a Hollywood movie but they