infographic by Neil Cathro; source: Crime Traveller
[heading]Media sources revel in bloodshed[/heading] [dropcap color=”#” bgcolor=”#” sradius=”0″]V[/dropcap]iolence is a universal language of humanity. The fear, the bloodshed, the gore — it instills the same horror for every human regardless of cultural or societal boundaries. Interpreting the expressions and actions of others is a natural human instinct, and on a media platform, such actions can be widely spread through mediums that especially cater to young adolescents like video games, movies and news outlets.
According to a 2000 report by the Federal Trade Commission, 80 percent of “R” rated movies, 70 percent of restricted video games, and 100 percent of music with “explicit content” warning labels were marketed to children under 17 years of age.
Media violence in the United States has not just increased in volume during the decade; rather, it has changed in substance and quality to contain more graphic, sexual and sadistic content. The dramatic nature of violence is what makes its selling point so high, as well as how easy it is to export violent materials to other parts of the world.
“[Violence] draws attention from people and can be understood by audiences from almost any cultural background,” Dr. Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz, director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) said. “In contrast to humor, which might be more culturally specific and dependent, violence can be packaged in television shows and films and be easily exported as entertainment media globally.”
She said this international brand name upon violence makes it a safe choice for news outlets to market because of their broad audience.
“Our news media has a tendency to focus on sensational events, which may lead to a negativity bias in news coverage,” Behm-Morawitz said. “Thus, it’s not surprising that news media frequently covers violence and features quite a bit of violent imagery and language.”
Columbia Area Career Center (CACC) broadcast journalism instructor Joseph Wittman said this sensationalism is what rouses bias and inaccuracy among his students’ conversations surrounding the most recent and current events, making it a prevalent issue among both students and the general citizen in society.
“Unfortunately, students are not always paying attention to the source of the news and if there is bias involved,” Wittman said. “Students make generalizations on happenings in the news and don’t always look for both sides of the story. Some take everything they see on television and assume that the world is going to end tomorrow. Others see it as isolated events that don’t really show the big picture of the individual situation.”
Wittman ensures he displays both the negative and the positive stories of the media in his classes, wanting to show that while violence has become a regular occurrence in some people’s lives, there is still good in the world.
“I prefer to show my students feature stories that do highlight the good in people and their personal voyage through life,” Wittman said. “I wouldn’t advise to only watch the good news simply because to make decisions in this world such as who might be your next president, you need to be informed, even if that information is not always pleasing.”
When senior Joy Wang sees this abundance of violence, she can’t help but feel uncomfortable, as she senses an air of glamorization across the various media outlets. She believes this heavy focus on violence only perpetuates its cycle.
“I feel like sometimes publicizing violence gives people the idea of carrying out violence themselves,” Wang said. “It’s like saying shooting a hundred people [and] punching people is actually okay.”
Behm-Morawitz gives weight to Wang’s ideas, citing studies such as one from Iowa State University that examines the effects of viewing violence at a young age; however, there are a wide range of effects on various age groups, Behm-Morawitz said.
“There are both short-term and long-term, or cumulative, effects of exposure to media violence,” Behm-Morawitz said. “Media content can influence individuals’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in the real world. However, media [is] only one contributing factor to how someone perceives the world and their place in it.”
[quote cite=”Joy Wang”]I feel like sometimes publicizing violence gives people the idea of carrying out violence themselves.[/quote] The relationship between exposure to media violence and effects on audiences can be complex. For example, there is consistent evidence that playing violent video games can increase players’ aggressive cognitions, according to the American Psychological Association, but when there is a prosocial narrative added to the video game violence — for example, when the video game character is fighting to save someone —- the effects of the video game violence can be prosocial in nature.
Both entertainment and news media faced criticism for some bias in the portrayal of violence. For example, mugshots of non-white suspects are more likely to be displayed than white suspects in the news. Language used to describe suspected criminals also may differ based on the race or ethnicity of the person. It is suggested that words like thug, terrorist, criminal, and “bad guy” are more often associated with minority individuals than white people being covered by U.S. news media, according to the Pacific Standard.
“Types of violent crimes and demographics of suspected criminals also do not always match or reflect violence and crime statistics of U.S. communities. The public may receive a skewed perspective of violence in the U.S. based on media portrayals,” Behm-Morawitz said. Her research particularly focuses on how avatar embodiment can be used to shift our perceptions in a positive way, of minority groups as well as ourselves.
“My research examines how mediated representations influence our perceptions of the self and others,” Behm-Morawitz said. “From a traditional media standpoint, I examine how viewing and identifying with television and film characters influence our perceptions of gender, race and sexuality. From an interactive media standpoint, I examine how embodying and interacting with avatars and virtual personas affect who we are as well as how we view others.”
Interaction between a person and avatars is inevitable in all genres, including those with violent material. Wang argues that the presence of violence may not necessarily affect this relationship; she uses reality television shows like “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” or “Two Broke Girls” to destress.
“I feel like having a place where people can escape the harsh reality of real life is a good idea,” Wang said. “Everyone has a threshold of how much pressure they can handle and if they don’t let it out, it may affect them negatively and they may become really aggressive. By having an outlet to release emotions to get a break from reality, people can rebound and be resilient.”
While taking a recess from life does reap some benefits, such as easing stress and boosting willpower according to WebMD, Wittman cautions against losing touch with reality.
“People need to be aware of violent happenings because they may be directly changed by an event. Their work, their family, potential vacations all are affected by bad things that occur in our world,” Wittman said. “There are parts of certain cities that you know are not safe. Thanks to the media reporting on events, this knowledge has been gained.”
Wang feels grateful for this rise of information, despite the accompanying heavy attention on violence. She adds that if one does not keep up with the news, regardless of what it may say, the person risks losing track of the world’s progress.
“I think we should definitely be aware of [the news],” Wang said. “We’re now living in a globally connected world and if we don’t know what’s going on in other parts of the world, we may develop predators and isolation against the outside and become really outdated.”
Written by Rochita Ghosh and Joy Park
Do you feel that the media glorifies violence?