The Media's Decreasing Morals as Seen Through Television

The Media’s Decreasing Morals as Seen Through Television

In today’s world, it is not rare to walk into the living room and witness a man being violently shot in the head…in a television set. The general public seems to be constantly asking themselves where morality and values on television have gone. Taking a look back in time, it is easy to point out how violence in the media is much more evident than it was fifty years ago. Both in the past and now, the media has an ethical duty concerning the general public. Television’s content today has gotten incredibly dirty and contains content to detrimental for children. There have been advances in technology attempting to stop the violence from entering households with children. However it is still the responsibility of the media and the television industry to control the amount of immoral content shown on the air. While the media is only keeping up with the public’s distasteful demands, it has a responsibility to restrain the amount of offensive content because of the effect it is having on today’s audiences.

Consider the trajectory of sitcoms: strong and wholesome family values once promoted in past shows such as Leave it to Beaver and Andy Griffith have developed into the semi-dysfunctional and carefree family values of the present day. Currently, countless television shows, like Enterage and Weeds, both glamorize sexual promiscuity and frequently present illegal acts such as drug usage as acceptable (Bednarski). Movie characters, as well as the stars that portray them, disrespect authority and believe they can remain above the parameters of the law (Szaflik). On any given weeknight, a television viewer can tune into the immoral antics of reality television as well as the tasteless sitcoms and dramas that occupy their given timeslot. Whether portraying the scantily clad Paris Hilton or the stars of the OC, it seems that the Fox and ABC networks thrive to achieve an “almost-R rated” feeling to their programs (Szaflik). It seems television has lost its flair for wholesome entertainment and given into the pressures of an ever-changing world that boldly proclaims that less plot and more violence is better quality.

Today, watching television no longer consists of sitting around the living room with family members to see the next witty comment Mr. Ed has to say or if Opey forgot to do his algebra homework. For today’s audience, watching any sort of show promoting the feelings of lust, hatred, or intolerance seems to supersede the need to intake morality and honest behavior (Bednarski). America has turned to moral erosion rather than moral fiber. Commercials for alcohol dominate each station, and until recently, ads for cigarettes were aimed toward children (Blakey). While most of the blame must be placed on the media, part of the fault lies in the audience’s hands. The reason the networks continue to spew out less-than-classy shows like Temptation Island, and even supposedly acceptable shows like Sex and the City is because that is what viewers today crave. The media is only attempting to keep up with the demands it sees from today’s audiences (Bednarski).

Today, we live in a world of instant gratification because of the programming and services the media provides. Children often tricked into believing they sit at the center of the universe tend to pick up their behavior by watching the spoiled brats of today’s primetime and merely emulate the antics saturated in their impressionable minds (Halonen). They are frequently bombarded with messages of selfishness, greed, and “me first” attitudes (Blakey). These messages of vanity, illicit sex, hatred, physical aggression and rebellion against authority are boxed, wrapped, and marketed to an unsuspecting generation. It seems that television has taught today’s younger generations to solve problems through brute force. (Blakey) The media has said goodbye to television households featuring a functional and traditionally moral household. These days the programs people watch primarily feature divorced parents or estranged families, and the program’s children tend to demonstrate a spoiled or destructive manner about them. Recently, especially on cable networks, the drug abuse and sexual promiscuity, along with irreverent situations characters encounter in their thirty-minute primetime reign undoubtedly exceed entertainment purpose. (Szaflik)

Before the age of eighteen, the average American teen will have witnessed around eighteen thousand murders on television (Szaflik). While staggering in number, more disturbing has been the effect this steady diet of violence may have on American youth. Social scientists have attempted to measure television's effect on behavior in different ways, including laboratory studies, field experiments, and other analyses. Though