Children and Violence on the Screen

Dagmar Kopcanova, Ph.D., Slovakia

„Children and young people make up a great part of the population in most parts of the world. Whereas the number of young people in the wealthy countries of the world today decline in the coming decade, the number of young people in developing countries is steadily increasing. In these countries young people will make up half the population in the year 2000.
What kind of society will these children grow up in ? "
(In: Ulla Carlsson and Cecilia von Feilitzen, Children Media Violence. Yearbook from the UNESCO international clearinghouse on Children And Violence on the Screen, 1998 )
Media violence as one of the sources of societal violence
The results of the UNESCO global study on media violence which was conducted between 1996 and 1997 as a joint research project by the World organisation of the Scout Movement and Utrecht University under the scientist supervision of Prof. Dr. Jo Groebel. It is the largest ever intercultural study on the role of media violence for children with a total of more than 5,000 pupils from 23 different countries all over the world participating. Violence has always been an element of fiction and news reporting. It can not be exclude from any media coverage. However, its extent, extremeness and reward characteristic are the problem.
Draft of content
Television can have both positive and negative the on-off button at will, it can be a very useful addition to your life. If not, it can be dangerous drug. It is an integral part of our modern world for better or worse, but we must learn how to use it properly.
Lot of issues mentioned below were and are considered on national level. But there is a need to consider them on international level due globalisation.
*What does violence on network television mean ?
*Does the way violence is portrayed lead viewers to regard violence as a disgusting
behaviour that unnecessarily harms others while punishing the perpetrator ?
*Does the context lead viewers to want to imitate those acts ?
*What can policy makers do to change the practices of producers to present violence in such a negative context?
*Which role do the media and in particular TV play in the lives of children on a global level?
*Why are children fascinated by media violence ?
*What is the relationship between media violence and aggressive behaviour among children ?
*Are there cultural as well as gender differences in the media impact on aggression ?
*How do violent environments /War/crime/ on the one hand and the state of technological development on the other influence the coping with aggressive media content ?
*Can TV really destroy relationship within the family ? Do you think television is bad for children ?
*Does existing research provide help and advise to produce programmes of quality ?
*What do we know from existing research on children and violence on the screen ?
*What does research focused on children and violence on television does not question at all or does not question enough ?
*What are the ways in which children perceive and make sense of television violence ?
(central concern in this respect is sometimes not with the behavioural effects f television violence, but with the ways of perceiving – In: David Buckingham, Manchester University press, 1996,Moving images Understanding children’s emotional responses to television, Manchester University Press 1996 )
*What kind of research ? What perspectives for co-operative research ?

What can be done in this situation ?

One way to create solution to this problem, two groups will have to become enlightened as to these issues and will have to act :
a/ the people who create programmes and broadcast (or disseminate) this material.
b/ parents and those who take care on children to concern what the children see and how they learn from that exposure
The debate how we can protect children from the harmful effects of violence on television has intensified recently three major proposals :
a/to install a V- chip into all new television so that parents can program their sets
b/ to require television programmers to display a violence rating for each program
c/ to limit the showing of violent programs to" safe harbours" – when children are not viewing

On an international level three major strategies were proposed :

1.Public debate and „common ground " talks between the FIVE Ps : Politicians, Producers, Pedagogy, Parents, and the future Consumers (active consumers ).
2.The development of codes of conduct and self-control among media professionals.
3.Establishment of media education to create competent and critical media users.

TV Media protection counselling

Think globally, act locally.
The Council of Slovak Republic for radio and television broadcasting had organised a seminar on the possibilities of reducing of gratuitous violence and other harmful contents in radio and television broadcasting.
The event held on June 17, 1998 was aimed in bringing together broadcasters, regulators, parents, teachers, and other representatives of public to show the problem from different point of view. The impact has been put on possible legislative changes involved into new draft of Act o Broadcasting and issues of self-regulation of the broadcasters. Both should led ii the future in identifying television programme items / movies, serials, series, cartoon and documents/ in relation to minors age suitability.
The results of interesting inquiries were presented too.
In the first investigation more than forty volunteers were asked by the Council to watch and then classify 7 different episodes of different serials. Those episodes were broadcast on four screens of Slovak broadcaster within period from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.(the watershed is at 10 p.m. )
The appearance of sex, nudity, violence and dirty language in different „quality" and the context of used violence acts and their consequences were to determinate the classification into 5 categories./Based on French system of signing./According submitted scheme of classification not even one episode was classified into first-universal category. Two episodes from series Blue Dogs (country of origin Australia ) and the Passions (Italy ) were considered as not suitable for children under seven years .
Four episodes from USA series : Models, Xena, Blue Pacific and Airwolf were seen as not suitable for children under 12 and the episode from discussed serial Xfiles has been classified into fourth category- not suitable for children under 15 years.
Moreover volunteers were inquired on their attitude on the influence of media violence. More than 85 % of volunteers agreed with the statement that violence on the screen can negatively influence emotional well-being, behaviour, and partially even psychological, moral and physical development of children. All participants were convinced that television programmes should be signed in relation to age suitability.
Second investigation was carried out by professional agency MVK. The size of polled sample was 1 200 and the set of respondents was statistically balanced. Respondents were asked the same questions as volunteers- and the aim was to find out their attitude to violence and other harmful content on the screen in relation with possible influence on children. More than 83% of respondents complied with the statement that violence on screen can negatively influence emotional well being, behaviour and partially even psychological, moral and physical development minors. More than 64% of respondents are convicted that programmes should be signed in relation to age suitability. Only 2% of respondents think that such policy is the censorship.
Commonly agreed classification and rating system should represent a logical, transparent and internally compact system, part of media education system. Classification and rating of TV programmes should be than considered as „TV media protection counselling."
We are aware that counselling is meant more as individual communication between client and counsellor from point to point.
Such mass communication – counselling from point to multiunit in question what to see and what not to see via television screen can be considered as a special form of counselling.
The last European regulation initiative by this time is an amended of the Directive: „Television without Frontiers" which is the basic European Union document in the field of TV broadcasting. Directive contents special Chapter the complete text of which reads like this:
Protection of minors and public order / Article 22

  1. Member State shall take appropriate measures to ensure that television broadcasts by broadcasters under their jurisdiction do not include any programmes which might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors, in particular programmes that involve pornography or gratuitous violence.
  2. The measures provide for in paragraph 1 shall also extend to other programmes which are likely to impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors, except where it is ensured, by selecting the time of the broadcast or by any technical measure, that minors in the era of transmission will not normally hear or see such broadcasts.
  3. Furthermore, when such programmes are broadcast in unencoded form Member States shall ensure that they are preceded by an acoustic warning or are identified by the presence of a visual symbol throughout their duration.
Article 22a
Member States shall ensure that broadcasts do not contain any incitement to hatred on grounds of race, sex, religion or nationality.
Article 22b
  1. The commission shall attach particular importance to application of this Chapter in the report provided for in Article 26.
  2. The Commission shall within one year from the date of publication of this directive, in liaison with the competent Member State authorities, carry out an investigation of the possible advantages and drawbacks of further measures with a view to facilitating the control exercised by parents or guardians over the programmes that minors may watch. This study shall consider, inter alia, the desirability of:
March 16, 1999
Bratislava