Media Violence Summit Held in Shadow of Virginia Tech Tragedy

04/17/07

Indianapolis, Ind. – Key stakeholders in the growing controversy over the impact of media violence on children met today to assess their roles and propose effective ways to educate municipal officials, parents and businesses.  Held on the heels of the tragedy at Virginia Tech and a recent Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) report that shows children under 18 are still being exposed to violent media, the national summit on media violence held today in Indianapolis brought together city leaders, law enforcement officials, researchers, representatives of other national organizations and the media and entertainment industry to discuss this troubling and complex issue.

“In recent years, our communities have witnessed far too many incidents of extreme violence by and against children and youth,” said Bart Peterson, mayor of Indianapolis and president of the National League of Cities, which sponsored the event.  “Certainly a number of factors contribute to these disturbing trends, but a prominent concern that is increasingly capturing the attention of both researchers and policymakers is the heightened exposure of children to graphic violence in video games, television, movies, and music.”

“This summit is about bringing elected officials together so that they leave here better educated and with a deeper and more sophisticated understanding of this issue,” Peterson said.  “Local leaders will be able to use what they learned today about the impacts of media as a basis for discussion in their hometowns as they continue to protect the health and welfare of their communities.”

Robert Wehling, chairman of the Board of Common Sense Media and a panelist at today’s event, said, “We want programs that a parent can watch with a child on one side and one of their parents on the other and not be embarrassed by what they are watching.”

Wehling added, “Kids can legally download anything they want from the Internet.  Now they are also creating their own media to impress their friends,” referring to footage shown at the summit of “Fight Club-type” videos created by teens.  “Can’t we figure out something else for them to do to impress their friends?”

Another speaker at today’s event, Patricia Vance, president of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, noted that every video game is now marketed with a rating and that there has been significant improvement in in-store enforcement of children stopped who are trying to buy age-inappropriate video games. 

“We have common goals and share the same concerns,” Vance said.  “We are doing a lot as an industry but we can always do more.”

Cindi Tripoldi, executive director of Pause, Parent, Play (PPP) and a former vice president at the Motion Picture Association of America, urged parents to use the full array of ratings tools and information about the content of games and films found on PPP’s website. “We want to take (the information) to bus stops and soccer fields to get wide distribution,” she said.

Dr. Ellen Wartella, professor of psychology, executive vice chancellor and provost, University of California-Riverside, discussed the public health research showing that viewing violence is a risk factor in violent behavior.  She cited reports that show 60 percent of television programs across 26 channels had some sort of physical aggression and that children’s programming was the most violent, particularly shows involving superheroes.

“There is clearly a formula for media violence (in today’s media); it is glamorized, sanitized and trivialized.  (Our research showed) one-third of the perpetrators are attractive; one-half of the stories show no physical harm, pain or suffering; 20 percent do not show the long-term effects of violence.  Humor is most often present when violence is shown…and less than five percent had any anti-violent themes,” Wartella said. 

She cited 300 different scientific studies that led to the conclusion that media violence increases aggressive behavior in the short term and the long term.  Wartella said repeated viewings of violence can lead to desensitization and increased fear of violence.  Researchers are finding that sleep and eating disturbances also are common to kids viewing violent media.  She added that no socio-economic or demographic group is immune to the persuasive effect of violence but that over time reduced exposure lessens its impact. 

Participants offered a variety of possible strategies to raise public awareness ranging from better awareness and access for using the “V” chip in television sets, to ensuring that the growing wireless industry is putting into place some type of parental controls.  Getting kids involved in forming solutions is critical.  Wehling said that just increasing the level of awareness may not be enough.  “Every family knows that there is media violence; but most think that ‘I’m in control and it doesn’t affect me,’” Wehling added.

The challenge facing officials, Peterson said, is “[creating] alternatives to move young people in a different direction away from violent media.”  Panelist William Isler, president of Family Communications, Inc., and executive director of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media, echoed this comment.  “We have to use this technology for good,” Isler said.

Following the summit, Peterson said that NLC will focus on raising awareness, stimulating local discussions in communities across the country, and partnering with industry and other interested organizations.

A webcast of the event is available at www.ncntv.org.  A video moderated by NLC President Bart Peterson with a call to action as well as clips of violence as depicted on television, in films and in video game is available to view online.  Individual copies of the video can be requested by sending an email to: straub@nlc.org.

For more information contact:  Sherry Conway Appel at appel@nlc.org or 202-441-3160 or Laura Sweeney qt sweeney@nlc.org or 202-626-3051.

CLICK HERE for more information about the impact of media violence on children.

###